Caray, Caray!

Tonight’s episode started with Jacinta thanking her new son, Federico. (Both of them being very creepy.) Then we got a quick flash of Nurias car crash thanks to Manola. Back to Federico who wants to see some of the vineyard land sold. Jacinta agrees and tells him that she prefers to know nothing of the deal. Meanwhile Remedios is outside the door listening to them.

Maite is upset that it looks like Jacinta will keep her daughter due to the pictures in the newspaper. She gets a backbone (although with the wrong person) and yells at Victor that the LAW has taken her daughter. She tells him he doesn’t know what it feels like because he is not a parent. He tells her that he does understand being very patient and kind telling her she has to continue fighting. Maite says that Jacinta has a horrible soul. Jacinta es una mala persona. She knows that Jacinta will tell her daughter all these horrible things and that Valeria will hate her. She says she has lost her daughter forever.

Jacinta admits that had Adolfo signed the divorce decree she wouldnt be so anxious. Had he signed the decree Jacinta would have an easier time of keeping Valeria away from Maite. Federico says he will sign for Adolfo. Jacinta agrees, then asks him if he would like to smoke as he is about to sign Adolfos name to the divorce decree. The Jacinta tells him to blow the smoke away from her. Funny scene of how she manipulates! Federico stalls a little saying he needs to practice Adolfos signature, so he doesnt sign the document.

Remedios is upset by what she hears. She says she needs to talk to someone who is impartial who can give her advice.

Unibrow gets the news that Nuria has had a wreck from el gordo. Meanwhile Manola wonders if Nuria has had her accident yet as she walks through the airport. Unibrow is relieved to find out that Nuria is alright except that she lost the baby. He wants to see her but the doctor tells him that her mind is fragile. He tells unibrow that an old couple with Nuria died. Unibrow figures out it was her parents or his or whosever’s. (Interesting scene here where Unibrow is able to look through a window and see Nuria. Just like fathers do on their newborns in the hospital nursery. I didn’t know that hospitals had observation rooms like these for adults.) While he gazes at Nuria he asks God on how he will tell Nuria of the deaths of the older couple and her unborn child. This is a very religious novella...

Remedios goes to a Father/priest for advice. She admits that she is having problems with Federico but first she has to fill him in on her past. This is where she tells him of how she conceived Federico with Jacintas husband. She also admits to Federico being envidious, he holds resentments but isn’t a bad person. The priest believes that because Jacinta is taking in Federico she is doing a grand thing. Remedios argues that Jacinta could hurt her son but the priest doesn’t believe that Jacinta could hurt anyone. Remedios says she is very afraid that Federico could abuse his position with Jacinta. Again the priest argues that Federico is getting close with Jacinta on his on volition. He says Remedios needs to have faith in God. Ask God to give you faith and faith in Jacinta and Federico too. Vete con Dios tranquilla.

Elvira (Rodrigos nanny?) hopes the catechism class at the church will help Rodrigo. Meanwhile the child has skipped his church appointment and meets up with Federico behind the church. Federico says he is the same as Rodrigo, he never wanted to go to church either! He says he wont tell Rodrigo’s parents that he skipped the class. They share a moment throwing rocks.

Unibrows family is all crying talking about how they miss their mother and now the grandparents will be with her. They are sad that they lost their sibling too. They all wear black. Magdelena and her daughter Veronica decide to go to the park. The other whores are going to the cine. Magdalena feels a little stronger and thinks the air will do her good., she is feeling better.

Valeria gets scolded by Jacinta for drawing a picture letter for her father. Jacinta tells her that the only thing memories do for us is hurt us, that is why she ripped Valerias drawing. Valeria doesn’t buy it and tells Jacinta that if her mother was there her mother wouldn’t let Jacinta do these things. Jacinta tells her that she shouldn’t talk to her in this manner and the only bad one is Valerias mother who killed her father. Valeria asks why her mother is bad but is sent to her room without dinner. Valeria runs off yelling for Remedios.

Unibrow prays for his family and complains to God about Maites betrayal. We get to see Jacintas fine car as she leaves to give clothes to the poor.

Magdelena and Veronica are getting ready to leave. Veronica has to get her sweater that she left downstairs. Maggie takes the letter she wrote to Adolfo but never sent and says she will keep it to give to Veronica so the child will know who her father is. The bad guy investigator arrives at the brothel and starts laughing with Jacaranda about what they have done to Maite. Magdalena overhears while Veronica is caught hiding behind the couch. The guy admits to everything to Jacaranda, that he is there to help take Valeria away from Maite, when Magdalena confronts them. Veronica sees everything as her mother confronts the bad people and then gets strangled for her efforts. (Another witness down the drain.) Even Jacaranda is frightened to see Magdalena killed but what do you do when you are left alone with a mad man? I guess you say nothing so he doesn’t kill you and that is exactly what Jacaranda and Veronica did. Yuck!

Meanwhile Federico digs through Jacintas desk and finds her will. He finds out that he will get something for all his years of service. (They dont tell us what exactly). He says she isn’t an ungrateful woman after all. OF course whatever she left him is less that what he deserves but…. Sure Jacinta will give Valeria what Adolfo was to inherit but he will get the rest. That isn’t bad he says to himself. He has assured himself his future…..Adolfos death has been the best deal he has done in his life….

Veronica switches personalities to Violeta and runs and hides from Jacaranda and the crazy murdering, investigator, pedophile guy. The girls return from the movie to find Jacaranda upset sitting on the couch. The guy is there and answers for her saying they have to be strong….blah blah blah... Magdalena has died. He has the death certificate saying she died from a pulmonary affliction of some sort. The girls ask where is Veronica - she is no where to be found. A little later Maite and Victor enter the house with Veronica who claims she was in the park playing. She is informed that her mother is dead. Later she acts like she hasnt seen or heard of her mothers death. Her multiple personalities are coming out to help her through this tough time.

Labels: barrera

Before I get back into the story, I have to put out a couple things I forgot to mention. Sylvia pointed out in the comments to my last post that the actress who plays Lety’s mother in the show is the real mother of the actress who plays Lety, which my wife also mentioned to me the first time Mama Padilla appeared on screen “Oye that’s her real mom!” Based completely on two people telling me that, I’m going to believe it.

While we’re on the subject of Lety’s parents, let’s talk about Papa Padilla. The Alborada recaps referred to Rafael as ‘the stuffed boy.’ In that spirit, Papa Padilla will be known as Papa the Robot. This guy looks like he was made from an erector set, then had Mr. Rogers’ clothes draped on. His voice sounds like gravelly voiced asthmatic. My wife tells me that the actor, Jose Jose (great name), was a raging alcoholic and that’s probably why he’s so messed up and can’t talk. So why we have someone who can’t talk in a TV show, I have no idea. He is also extremely one dimensional. “All men want to hump daughter….all men evil…..lock daughter in ivory tower….rrrarrrrgggghhhh.” Ok, not that last part, but he has a Frankenstein’s monster thing going on.

Lastly, Jean pointed something out that I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t mention. Lety’s spastic facial tics. Any time she’s nervous, which is most of the time, she gets this one eye squinting/blinking and one corner of her mouth twitching violently thing. Basically, she looks like she’s having some kind of seizure. When Fernando imitates her right in her face and the does the “what the hell?” gesture, it’s good comedy. I think the actress who plays Lety got the part due to her ability to make this seizure face. I try to imitate it and just can’t do it. There are always some rubber band ‘boinnnnggg’ sounds that accompany the face too, adding to the fun.

Back to the story -

Lety and Tomas are reading an article in a magazine called ‘Caras.’ It has a story about Conceptos and the people involved. As we get to each part of the article, a little flashback scenario is shown, this is still all part of providing some background for the story. One photo shows Fernando and Marcia, with a caption saying that they are getting married. We fade to a flashback of the day the picture was taken…. (there was no funny flashback music or anything, but I still can’t ever see a flashback on any show without thinking of Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World wiggling their hands and saying ‘doodle oodle oop doodle oodle oop’ when fading to a flashback, such as the time Wayne was recalling how he made out with Madonna.)

Fernando is with Marcia at a company party, it’s a nice sunny day. Fernando is hitting on the models present at the part any time Marcia is more than 2 feet away. This guy has balls. I’m not saying that in a good way, any self-respecting girlfriend would drop him like a hot potato. If Marcia was self-respecting, however, she wouldn’t be an interesting character and we’d be robbed of some good storylines. Asi es y asi sera.
Fernando sidles up to a model and drops the incredible line (I’m rolling my eyes, I’m not sure how to be sarcastic in print sometimes) “Hola Guapa!” Surprisingly, this gem of a pickup attempt works. Then again, this model might realize that hooking up with this guy will get her some steady work. Her opportunity is spoiled, however, when Marcia’s radar goes off and suddenly she’s right there at Fernando’s elbow. She gives the whole making a smiley face but showing her teeth like an angry animal routine, I haven’t seen a lot of soap operas or novellas but I’ve seen this look plenty of times. The model quickly runs away. A photographer approaches and takes a picture for the story being written for Caras, Marcia tells Fernando that ‘all his girlfriends’ are going to die when they see his picture with Marcia, since for some reason he hasn’t really told anyone about their engagement. Fernando senses a cold front, or perhaps Hurricane Marcia, on the horizon due to the look on Marcia’s face, so to calm her down he takes her by the arm, goes to the microphone someone was using to make announcements, and tells everyone that he and Marcia are getting married. Everyone is excited, etc, Fernando looks like he’s thinking “holy crap what did I just do.” (end flashback)

Lety’s parents are very proud of her for landing a job at such a prestigious place like Conceptos, but she lets them believe that she is the Assistant to the President, not just one of his secretaries. She plans to buy some new clothes, perhaps to look like simply a fashion victim, rather than a victim of a heartless Communist regime.

Lety happily trots off to work the next day, she rides the bus to work. I forget exactly where in the first couple weeks it happens, but RoboPapa Padilla trades in his sweet, but broken down, car for an extremely boring but reliable “newer” one. Newer, as in made after 1980. It looks like a late 80’s Chrysler LeBaron, something like that. All straight lines and corners. RoboPapa is worried that it cost too much (what kind of weak job does he have where he can’t afford a 20 year old used Chrysler?) but Lety, with her sweet new job, says she’ll help pay for it, she wants him to have a better car.

Lety arrives at work, everyone recoils as she passes again, and presents herself in Fernando’s office, ready for work. Fernando has cleaned out the storeroom, no windows, off the back of his office and put a desk in there for her. She’s the man behind the curtain, Alicia is the Great and Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We all know where the real work gets done.

Lety meets “El Club de Las Feas,” a group of women who work at Conceptos. They consist of a few secretaries, the cleaning woman, Luigi’s assistant, and the receptionist. They have given themselves that name, or perhaps Luigi named them that, I wasn’t able to clear that up and then forgot to ask my wife about it. Surrounded by models all the time, they have latched onto each other for support. The one member of the club that confuses me is Paula Maria the receptionist, played by Niurka. I guess she’s in this group because she’s the receptionist, but she’s really, well, hot. She wears little tiny skirts and looks good. So putting her in a group of Feas doesn’t make sense to me. She does have a 10 year old son by a guy who just up and disappeared after knocking her up, so I think it’s the whole single woman/kids/broken heart or just plain ugly that gets you into this club. The club isn’t openly welcoming of Lety at first, they are a bunch of gossipy hens, but in time they open up and become her friends.

Poor Lety – she’s so ugly that Fernando’s parents actually come in and have a meeting with him to discuss the fact that he hired her. She is referred to as “La Fea” throughout the entire conversation. Cripes, these people. Fernando does, however, defend Lety’s skills to his father and insists on keeping her.

Marcia is determined that Alicia get inside Fernando’s private zone, she urges Alicia to play dirty and do whatever she can to get rid of Lety. Right away, that task is made harder as Fernando gives Lety his personal phone book, which is not so little and brown, but still technically his ‘little black book.’ Alicia and Marcia seethe, maxing out their shared brain cell to see how to get their hands on that book. Why? Who knows. Again, if Fernando running around is such a problem, dump his ass. You’re hot and rich. Go find someone else.

Luigi has completed his latest masterpiece, so there is going to be a presentation of his newest ‘videoclip.’ Fernando and Omar head down to the models’ dressing room to hit on some chicks, and proceed to do just that as brazenly as possible. Fernando finds a girl he knew before and proceeds to make out with her right in front of everyone! Then, as I’ve said before, Fernando is a master of the smooth line. He tells the girl “with another kiss like that I’d have to marry you.” I’m sure that this girl, who is the type to make out with whoever in the dressing room, wants nothing more than to get married. This is the type of behavior exhibited by women looking to settle down. Right. Anyway, time’s up, so the models get going and Fernando and Omar leave. Omar, by the way, contributes mainly by looking at girls bodies and making faces like he’s constipated, I think it’s supposed to be uncontainable lust making him look that way but I think he just needs a box of prunes. Then he’ll be able to stop looking so pained.

Fernando sends Lety down to production to get some CDs that he needs for the show, of course these are vital and nobody remembered them. And instead of somebody who knows what they are and where they are, Lety gets sent. She trips and stumbles her way around, frightens some people along the way, and managed to find them. She comes back to the showroom with them and manages to come out the door right next to the film screen. The audience is watching Luigi’s video for…… get ready now music fans…. “El Club de Las Feas” by El Bando de Recodo. The song/video that plays at the end of each episode of the show. Yes, I know you’re all sad you missed this episode, I know how much you love that song. We have a Three’s Company type moment, lots of tripping, physical comedy, Fernando finally gets her out of the way and takes the CDs.



I’m almost at the end of the first week of recaps. I keep telling myself “just summarize to get up to date, you can channel Hemingway later.” But I can’t help myself. I’ll get caught up someday.

Labels: fea-e

The episode opens at Adolfo's funeral. It is pouring rain, Jacinta stands alone at the grave surrounded by flowers from the local families, Remedios in a white plastic rain poncho walks out with an umbrella to protect Jacinta as she cries by the grave. Only Jacinta, Remedios and two employees from the hacienda are present. Either nobody came to the funeral (my vote) or the scene is post-funeral.

Magda is sleeping as Veronica (Me, myself and I) enters with her dolls ... Me, myself or I scolds, "I have to fix what you did, only you would think of stealing Jacaranda's ring." "She deserved it. She’s a witch." "It's all because of that stupid Veronica. If Jacaranda discovers that you put her ring in the doll we'll really be going to the fair (we'll be in deep doo-doo)." "I don’t want her to lock us in the closet or to beat us again. (Looks at ring.) What are you going to do?" "Give it back to her? No! She would know we lied. I’m going to put it where she’ll never find it." Drops it into toilet. My precious...

Maite say Magda looks better. This will soon change as Maite spies Adolfo's obit in the paper. She tries to hide it but Magda, seeing the shocked look on Maite's face grabs it, reads it and breaks into tears.

Manola has made another happy trip to Ensenada, this time to share the local newspaper with Unibrow. First the news of Adolfo's death: He can't believe it. He wants to speak to Gustavo to find out the details. He regrets what happened to Adolfo, and in spite of all that happened he forgives him. God is the one in charge of judgment. But Manola's not done yet. There's just one more thing... she shows him the article and picture of Maite getting busted in the brothel. He doesn't believe it's true and he doesn't wish to discuss Maite with Manola.

The whores console Magda, she can't believe Adolfo is dead. He is the only man she has ever loved. Maite tries to console her. Magda says she will never be happy again.

Victor is back from Turkey. He asks Maite why she feels guilty about Adolfo's death, it was an accident. She says if she hadn't allowed him to think she was working as a whore in the brothel things might have been different. Victor tells her she can't know that. Adolfo's accident might have been due to a mechanical failure. The most important thing now is for Maite to get her daughter back. Maite agrees, without Adolfo Valeria is doomed to be by Jacinta's side. (If only she knew what a dud dad Adolfo was.) Victor teases her; he's irritated because she didn't tell him she was arrested. Maite tells him he was preoccupied with his mom's illness, and anyway why did he come back so soon? He says he told his mom about her and she’s dying to meet Maite. They snuggle. He teases her about them being "together." She laughs. Then he says he spoke to his mother many years ago. She knows what he is and she accepts him. (So I guess he’s gay? Did we already know this?) Maite says why wouldn't his mom accept him, she has every reason to be proud of a son like him. Victor says Maite's daughter will be proud to have her as a mother. Then he gives her a necklace, I guess it was her mother's necklace that she had to pawn? He managed to buy it back from the pawn shop, and what better time to wear it than on the day she goes to retrieve her daughter. They plan to get Valeria when she leaves school...

Maite sees Valeria in the schoolyard. She tries to approach her but a guard stops her. Maite demands to know why and she wants to speak to the director. What a surprise, Jacinta is in the director’s office and tells Maite she cannot see her daughter and that a judge has determined she can't have Valeria due to her immoral conduct. She has lost all rights to her daughter.

Unibrow can't understand why Manola is showing him the article about Maite. Displaying a stunning lack of logic, Manola replies "Because once and for all you should forget about her." Unibrow accuses her of just trying to bother him. He says she is beautiful and attractive, the dream of any man, but she is wasting her time with him. "Perhaps not," she replies, "I've always liked you. Nobody needs to know..." The poor schmuck tries the "but Nutria is pregnant" line. So Manola turns it into a "Congratulations" kiss, a long, disgusting one. "What good is love?" she asks. "You saw how the love of your life ended up." Another kiss. FUG (Unibrow's friend Dionisius aka Fat Ugly Guy) catches them just as they finish their kiss. Then Nutria and the boys show up. Two-faced Manola congratulates Nutria on her happy news. For some reason Unibrow insists on having Manola to lunch. FUG disapproves.

Back at Valeria's school Maite says it's a lie! She works in a restaurant and leads a good life, a life she has been building for her daughter. Why does Jacinta continue treating her like this? Jacinta says she blames Maite for Adolfo's death. It happened the same day he went to Mexico City to find Maite and sources report he was a crazy man when he got into his car. Maite screams it's not her fault. Jacinta asks Maite who in the hell does she think she is? She's an insignificant waitress who thought she could be a Vallodolid. Maite will pay for her sins because there is a divine justice that nobody can escape. (Jacinto should be very afraid if she believes this.) She's going to make sure that Valeria finds out not only did her mother kill her father, but also what sort of woman Maite is. She shows Maite her picture in the paper and the article reporting she's a whore. Maite is dragged off screaming. She runs to Victor's arms and he tries to convince her not to give up.

Back at the hacienda, the two little girls come home from school and run to Remedios to brag about their academic exploits. Jacinta paces angrily in the background. When they scamper off the wash their hands for snack time she screams at them not to run, she's told them a thousand times not to act like savages. Remedios asks Jacinta what's eating her. "Adolfo's assassin showed up at the school and tried to get her daughter."

Nutria has prepared lunch, it's the Unibrow family with guests FUG and Manola. She says she has found out about the vineyard situation at the Valladolid Hacienda through Teodoro who works there. All is not well and it has gone from bad to worse. Many people are selling their vineyards cheaply because they can't afford to maintain them. FUG says the vineyards are "going down with the train,"i.e. will be lost unless something is done. This makes the price of grapes go down. But it's also a good time to buy land. Manola is interested that Unibrow might be coming back to Aguascalientes. Unibrow says he wouldn't mind having a little ranch. The love of the earth is a good legacy to bequeath to one's children. Manola say Gustavo is always saying the same thing. FUG says Unibrow should get some land, vineyards are healthy there, it's an excellent zone for grape cultivation, but Unibrow isn't sure he wants to go to Aguascalientes. FUG is talking about forming some sort of cooperative? Manola says Gustavo is president of something-or-other and can help them get started. Uni will think about it.

Victor and Maite go to the Hacienda to see Remedios who doesn't want to talk to Maite. She asks if Victor is her boyfriend and snidely comments "but of course you must have many boyfriends." Maite explains to Remedios what happened at the brothel, she's not a whore, she was just delivering a birthday cake to a little girl. Remedios cannot be swayed, she's not sure she believes Maite and she's beginning to think that perhaps the hacienda is the best place for Valeria after all.

Jacinta is in a funk and Federico, teary-eyed, is trying to console her. She says that Adolfo was respected at the ranch and will be remembered as the last remaining Valladolid heir. Federico says the worst pain is that Adolfo died without leaving a grandson to carry on the family ancestry. "And all because of that waitress he could never forget," snarls Jacinta, "who, by the way, appeared at Valeria's school today to take her away." Federico is shocked. Jacinta said she suspected such a thing might occur so she was ready for her. Luckily Valeria didn't see her mother. Federico agrees that Maite has no right to see Valeria, especially since she caused Adolfo's death. (Is he really starting to believe this???) Day after day Adolfo suffered because of her. He hates what she has done to Jacinta, to such a good woman, and so pious. Jacinta will never forgive Maite for causing the death of the only Valladolid heir. Federico says who knows, maybe Adolfo has had an heir by visiting a brothel? He kneels at her feet, says she can count on him in any capacity. He hopes she will forgive his audacity, but he has always viewed her as a second mother. She says she will find tranquility in the thought that if she can't have her own son she has Federico. She can count on him. That thing about busting Maite in the brothel worked out excellently. Her lawyer assures her that she will have full custody of Valeria. To be safe she intends to send her to Canada when she gets out of kiddie school. She holds Federico's hand and he gets all teary-eyed.

Ensenada: while the guys are fixing Nutria's car Manola spreads the gossip about Maite. She tells Nutria that at first Unibrow didn't believe it but now he is worried about Maite. She says she brought the newspaper to try to help Nutria. Manola tries to tell Nutria the history between Unibrow, Adolfo, how she was engaged to Adolfo and how "that woman" wrecked it. Nutria, apparently not big on gossip says she's heard it all before, and anyway, isn't Manola happily married with Gustavo? Isn't it absurd for Manola to keep bringing up Unibrow's relations with his ex who left him over seven years ago? Manola insists that Unibrow is still in love with Maite, she's sorry (NOT) but that's the way it is. Maite always was "una fichita", a nasty piece of work, who had to behave herself in the pueblo, but in the big city with nobody to watch her she became her true self. Nutria better be very careful in case Maite comes looking for adventure! (Funny, coming from her.) Nutria doesn't believe it, she trusts her husband, they have a nice family and she won't lose confidence in him, especially now that she is expecting. By the way, she is very annoyed that Manola has come to Ensenada to bother them with more news about Uni's EX-girlfriend. They get a little bitchy with each other, and Manola tells Nutria that getting preggers is the best weapon for winning the respect of any husband. Nutria says it's time for Manola to go.

Outside the guys are working on Nutria's car. The problem was only a loose battery cable so she is good to go to her Dr's appt. and they can take the other car to visit Don Benito's ranch (to tend to his sick colt?). The kids want to go with FUG and Unibrow. Manola says she has to go to meet her kid Rodrigo back in Aguascalientes so she leaves. For some reason FUG and Unibrow think it's fine to leave the hood open because "who would steal an engine around here?" They go into the house and Manola sneaks back to disconnect the brake fluid line.

At the Hacienda Valeria is sad. She still can't believe her papa is dead. She hopes papa knows she still loves him even though he's up in heaven. She asks Remedios why her abuela says her mama is bad. Remedios says her mama's not bad, it's just that Jacinta is worried about Valeria. Jacinta loves Valeria, she's just stern and carries a big stick so Valeria needs to study hard and be a good girl. Valeria asks will she meet her mother one day. Remedios says "of course, if it's God's will, of course."

Jacinta is back in the chapel and having a one-on-one with God. "First there was you, the only love of my life, then you gave me don Pedro. I had to be strong, very strong. And I managed to advance his property to my son, my Adolfo. Now he's dead and I am alone, without anyone. What's missing here is the presence of a man, a Valladolid. It's the first time since I came to live here that there has not been a Valladolid in this house." Enter Federico, rain dripping from his hat.

Ensenada: Nutria sees the men off, telling them to be careful. Unibrow says he loves her, "quiero", not "amo". All of a sudden his parents show up, they are looking for a ride to Reina's place. Nutria volunteers to take them because Reina lives close to her doctor. Things are not looking good for Unibrow's family.

Back at the hacienda we have YET ANOTHER conversation between Jacinta and Federico, the creepiest yet. He wishes he could ease her pain, he'll do anything for her, Adolfo was like a brother to him, how could his mother be such an ingrate after all Jacinta has done for them, oh the pain it causes him. Jacinta says she appreciates those who are faithful to her. He kneels (again!!) at her feet and says "I am only an employee and of course no substitute for your son, but nothing would make me happier than to have a place in your heart." He weeps. She pats his face and calls him son.

Nutria and her in-laws are in the car speeding along the road. Ahead of them a man gets a flat tire and his car is parked in the middle of road. (What? He can't pull off to the side?) Nutria's breaks don't work, she pumps and pumps, they still don't work. She screams! The car does a double endo and lands upside down, crushed and smoking.

P.S. Thanks Jean for your technical assistance.

Labels: barrera

[This was one of those annoying episodes that advanced the plot not at all. In fact, you could summarize the whole thing in about two sentences: (1) As news of Maite’s arrest as a prostitute spread though the pueblo, people said either (a) I knew she would end up like this or, (b) I can’t believe she ended up like this, depending on their previous attitude towards her; and (2) Adolfo’s death seemed to have had major psychic consequences. All of a sudden everybody had something important to say to or about Adolfo and many had nightmares or other intimations of his death but most people don’t know about it yet. That will be tonight’s episode. Ok, here we go.]

Federico’s attack leaves Adolfo dead or unconscious but still twitching on the ground. Federico drops the tire iron in horror. “What have I done?” he says.

Jacinta feels like she is suffocating as she is psychically aware that Adolfo is dead or dying. Remedios helps her to sit down. Jacinta asks if Adolfo has come back. Remedios says no and she does not expect him tonight. She explains that Adolfo found the letter with Maite’s address and is probably in Mexico City at this moment with her. Jacinta hopes this is not the case because, if so, there will be serious consequences for Maite.

Federico covers up his crime by putting Adolfo in the car, weighting down the gas pedal with a rock and sending it into barrels of something flammable that are conveniently at hand. Spectacular explosions ensue and if Adolfo wasn’t dead before, he sure is now.

Jacinta has sent for all the newspapers and finds the story she wants – Maite’s name is among those arrested for prostitution. She calls her lawyer and says that now she has the proof about Maite’s character that can derail the custody suit.

Victor calls from Turkey (!) where his mother had an operation. She is holding her own. Maite tells him that everything in Mexico is great, except for one little thing she won’t mention. “Take care of your mother and don’t worry about a thing,” she says.

Jacinta is sharing the disgraceful news about Maite with Manola and Gustavo. “No podemos tapar el sol con un dedo,” she says. “You can’t block the sun with a finger.” [I guess the equivalent in English would be, ‘You can’t make a silk purse out a sow’s ear.’]
Gustavo can’t believe Maite would have done such a thing. Manola says that there will be gossip in the pueblo and Jacinta says that she won’t try and stop it. She’s not going to protect a shameless hussy like Maite. Gustavo is worried about Valeria. “So am I,” says Jacinta but it’s God’s will. I just hope the scandal dies down before she makes her first communion.” Manola asks to take the paper with her. She wants to read it more carefully later – just to be well informed, she says. Jacinta says, “Sure, take it.”

Valeria and Juanita have a conversation that is way beyond their abilities as actors. They say their lines without any intonation at all so it is almost impossible to understand. Thank God for the titles. Not much info though. Valeria knows her mother is alive and that Jacinta doesn’t like her. She is going to ask her father to look for her when he comes back.

Gustavo’s driver finds that there is brake fluid under his car. “There could have been an accident,” he says. Manola looks guilty? hopeful? disappointed?

The Mother Superior (MS) says to a nun that Valeria needs her mother. The nun says that no one has heard from Maite. The MS says that Remedios has told her that Maite is ok and is staying away from the Valladolid family. The nun suggests that Jacinta was at fault in this and the MS says that Jacinta is only trying to protect Valeria.

The driver interrupts Gustavo who is yakking to Manola about buying some more cows to tell him that the brake line has come loose. “At the speed you drive, we could have been killed without brakes,” says Manola as if getting an idea.

Maite looks at her pictures of Valeria and saying that soon they will be together.

Jacinta talks with the priest and a woman. She modestly accepts praise for being such a good Christian and then when the priest leaves shows the newspaper article about Maite to the woman.

Valeria is worried about her father. Remedios reassures her and proposes that they decorate a cake that her father will like. But Remedios too has a bad feeling about Adolfo. “Surely, if something bad had happened, Federico would have contacted her.”

Gossipy ladies in the pueblo discuss Maite’s run in with the law and sympathize with Jacinta in having such a disgraceful daughter in law.

Federico arrives back at the hacienda. He has a flashback of killing Adolfo. Jacinta and Remedios come in and ask about Adolfo. “He’s not back yet?” says Federico. “Something terrible happened.” His story is that when Adolfo found out about Maite’s new profession, he went crazy and drove off in the car. Federico couldn’t follow him on foot so he caught a bus back to the pueblo expecting to find Adolfo at the hacienda. “Maybe something happened to him,” says Jacinta. “Oh no,” says Federico, “I’m sure that he just went somewhere to drink.” “From your lips to God’s ears,” says Jacinta, “because if anything happened to him, it’s Maite’s fault.”

Alone with Jacinta, Federico basically repeats the same story adding that seeing Maite in the brothel had turned Adolfo against Maite. “He will never return to her,” says Federico.

Now fat ugly guy and Unibrow are talking about Adolfo. Unibrow says that Adolfo isn’t a bad person. He just has a terrible mother who makes him do bad things. “True,” says fat ugly guy, “but Adolfo isn’t a child. There is no excuse for the ‘marranada’ or ‘disgusting thing’ that he did to Maite.” “I could forgive what happened,” says Unibrow, “but not what they did behind my back. They betrayed me.” “Whenever you talk about Maite, you get mad,” says fat ugly guy. “You understand perfectly why," says Unibrow. "Even though Maite deceived me and is in my past, she is still the most important person in my life and because of that I feel guilty about Nutria.”

Valeria has helped make a cake for her father. Remedios puts it on the table. Jacinta and Federico come in so that everyone is there when the Commandante comes in to tell them that Adolfo died in an accident on the highway to Mexico City.

Valeria is inconsolable, Federico manages some crocodile tears. "We were like brothers," he sobs. Jacinta says that it wasn’t an accident – Maite killed Adolfo. Then she whacks the cake that Valeria has decorated with her cane and cries to God. [As dramatic scenes go, cake whacking is not that moving.]
Jacinta tells the portrait of Pedro that their son is dead. She admits to herself that she was never loving or tender with Adolfo.

Maite talks with Magdalena about, what else, Adolfo, while Jacaranda listens outside the door. Maite doesn’t care that Adolfo thought she was a prostitute. She doesn’t care about him at all. Magdalena would have given anything to marry Adolfo but life didn’t turn out that way. It turns out that she too had a nightmare when Adolfo died that Veronica would end up alone in the world. “Don’t think ugly thoughts,” says Magdalena. “Magdalena wants Maite to promise to take care of Veronica if something happens to her.” Maite tries to reassure her that everything will be ok. When Valeria comes to her, she and Valeria will be like sisters… Magdalena thought bubble: They ARE sisters – both daughters of Adolfo but I don’t want to tell his wife that.

Jacinta runs to her chapel with her hair all messed up. This time she addresses the crucifix, not the weird painting. She first berates God for taking her only son. Hasn’t she done everything God asked her do, etc. Then God appears to smite her with a bad headache.
She collapses onto the ground begs forgiveness.

Remedios tries to comfort Valeria.

Veronica is sent off with Jacaranda who breaks her doll and then says that Veronica must spend all night in the closet as punishment. Veronica steals a ring and hides it in the doll.

Federico congratulates himself that the police believe that Adolfo’s death was an accident. He is now free to manipulate the accounts of the estate and win over Jacinta but Federico is not a cold-blooded murderer yet. He keeps saying, “Adolfo, what have I done?”

Jacaranda counsels Magdalena to seek out Adolfo and tell him that her child is his. Thought bubble: Maybe he will take her and the brat out of here.

Cayetano and Nicolas are having the same conversation as everyone else about how bad Maite is. The cook at the hacienda calls to tell them about the accident.

Magdalena writes to Adolfo that they have a child.

Jacaranda discovers that the ring is missing and accuses Veronica. She denies it and Jacaranda is about to beat her with her shoe when Elvira comes in. The TiVo stopped here. Why does anyone think this woman should do child care?

Labels: barrera

I had fun putting that list of characters together, so I'll jump right in to some summaries. The show has been on for two weeks now, I'll try and catch you all up with what's going on in general, then as time goes on I can be more specific. It begins -

Note - there may be a couple of things out of order since I'm going mostly from memory here, but nothing that will change the story.

Lety comes home from another day of getting turned away from jobs due to being so ugly. Her friend Tomas is at her house, they have a discussion that fills us in on the burden of being Feos. We meet Sr. y Sra. Padilla, Lety's parents, who refer to each other as "Viejo" and "Vieja" (old man/old woman) but make it sounds nice, not insulting. Like I said, Papa Padilla is convinced that the whole world is just waiting to take sexual advantage of Lety.

We next see inside the offices of Conceptos, where Fernando is talking to his father Don Umberto, we learn from their conversation that Umberto is retiring and turning over the presidency of the company to Fernando. The stockholders voted on the new president, Fernando won by one vote, which happened to be cast by his fiancee, Marcia. Again, as I said before, Marcia is the daughter of Umberto's former partner, but her father died in a car accident I think, well at any rate some horrible accident. Marcia has a brother and a sister, the sister is named Ana Leticia (as soon as I heard this I knew there would be some name confusion written in, it only took until the second week of the show for this), and brother named Ariel. Ariel is a horrible bitter, ugly, whiny man who was Fernando's competition for the company presidency. This in spite of the fact that he only worked for Conceptos for a short time a long time ago. He's convinced, however, that Fernando does ALL his thinking with Little Fernando, which will drive the company into the ground, and his stock along with it. He fills the villian role nicely, in spite of being named after The Little Mermaid.

I don't remember specifically why Fernando is not keeping his father's secretary, or even keeping the secretary he had before being elected president, but whatever the reason was, it was contrived to lead us to the interview scene with Lety and Jessica Rabbit arriving simultaneously to interview for the job. The contrast couldn't be greater, JR is taller and has long blonde hair, a dress that starts about two inches above her navel and ends about two inches below, while Lety is dressed like one of the women waiting in line for radishes or cheese in a WWII-era photo from Russia. This is her interview look? I don't think it's her ugliness keeping her away from getting hired, it might be that she dresses like a bag lady, albeit a bag lady who found a couple quarters and washed her clothes.

Lopez (Personnel chief) and some other guy who I forget are performing the interview. It takes about three minutes, they recoil at the sight of Lety and then silently thank God the table is not a glass top and see-through as they openly ogle JR. In today's business environment, this guy Lopez would get fired in about five minutes, especially with him being in the Human Resources area to begin with. Lopez gives us the first taste of his unique tic - he licks his fingers and then brushes off his shoulder, no it doesn't look anywhere near as cool as when Jay-Z does it in his video for the song "brush your shoulders off", and then he uses the same spittle and dandruff/dust covered hand to smooth down the three hairs he has left on the top of his head. All in all, thoroughly disgusting. This is his trademark move I guess, it's what he does every time he leaves the room, sort of like snapping his fingers like a diva, but a little (very little) more manly. Anyway, I digress - they talk to the girls about their resumes, first they smile and let JR talk and just nod at whatever she says, then Lety tries to get in and they brush her off. Then they hire JR before Lety is even out of the room.

Lety heads home and commiserates with Tomas some more about being ugly and unemployed.

Lopez shows Fernando the resumes of the two women. Due to her struggles with getting a job, Lety stopped attaching her photo to her resume. Fernando is NOT pleased with Lopez having hired JR. Lopez says "I thought you liked the shapely ladies" with a little whistle and a hand gesture in the place of 'shapely ladies.' Fernando says "yes, but this (whistle/gesture) is the BEST FRIEND OF MY GIRLFRIEND." He's very concerned. Marcia, his fiancee, has obviously sent JR in as a spy to keep track of Fernando. He seems to have a girlfriend for every day of the week, in spite of the fact that his fiancee is rich, owns part of his company and is basically responsible for him having his sweet job, and also happens to be totally hot. Some men don't know how good they have it. (Personal side note - I know EXACTLY how good I have it!)
Well, on the other hand, Marcia is conniving and apparently a little dumb, since she is convinced that she can reform Fernando of his philandering ways.

Fernando confronts Marcia about it, Marcia manages to put him in a corner where he has no choice but to hire JR, not hiring her is basically an admission that he wants to have the freedom to run hoochies in and out of his office all day. Then he has an idea - he'll hire JR to sit out front and look pretty, and he'll also hire Lety (who he hasn't met yet) to take the little storeroom off of his office and do some real work. He was very impressed with her resume and is convinced that she'll do a great job.

Back at Lety's house, the phone rings, it's Lopez telling Lety to come back in, they want to talk to her again. She goes in, each person in the company, regardless of whether or not they've seen her before, manages to comedically recoil as they see her face. The funniest reaction is that of Luigi Lombardi, the in-house talent scout/photographer/videographer and all around 'light in the loafers' guy. He turns around and is face to face with Lety and says "Oh my God!" in English, with a great accent. The actor here is obviously not gay in real life, he plays the stereotypical gay creative type so well, I think a real gay actor wouldn't be so over the top. He's hilarious and a great character. Lety gets upstairs to Fernando's office and even though he recoils back into tripping on his desk when he sees her, he figures he can lock her in the back room and be ok. He hires her.

My lunch hour is almost over so I'll stop here for today. I didn't realize I was so verbose. Hopefully it's entertaining reading, I look forward to your comments. If you prefer something more short and to the point, please let me know. Otherwise, thanks for letting me prattle on. Back soon with more.

Chris

Labels: fea-e

Hello all - I'm going to take a stab at occasionally posting some La Fea recaps. Melinama said anything is better than nothing, so I'll give it a shot. Just a quick intro, I'm a gringo from IL, 34 years old, my formal Spanish education was in high school 20 years ago. However, I'm now married to a beautiful Mexican woman so my Spanish education has been re-started. Part of my homework is watching an hour of Spanish TV each night, it started with Alborada. My search for a little help with translation led me to the Alborada recaps, y la la la, here we are.
Just to get started, here are the main characters in the show -

Leticia (Lety) - The main character, the ugly duckling. Anyone with internet access (all of us, duh) can look up the actress and see that of course she's not so fea after all. The makeup people for the show did a pretty good job of making her look bad, but really even with this look she isn't as "fea, pero FEA" as the characters on the show like to say she is. However, the Groucho Marx eyebrows really help ugly her up. There is also a smear of what looks like ash above her lip to give her that nice moustache look. Anyway, Lety has a Master's degree in finance or business or something like that, she's sooo smart, etc etc, but nobody will hire her because she's so ugly. Apparently these employers all live in Spanish TV land where every woman looks like J Lo... Oh wait! They do! The show starts with Lety getting an interview with Conceptos, a big fashion photography/video studio (I think that's what they do). The company has models drifting through all the time, I think they are there for photo shoots and videos, things like that. The other person who shows up for the interview is...

Alicia- AKA Jessica Rabbit. Alicia is a standard hot dumb blonde, tongues are wagging from all the men when she's around. She gets hired for her looks and connections, Lety also gets hired for her skill. They were both hired by...

Fernando - Fernando is the president of Conceptos, his father previously ran the company and is retiring. He is getting married to Marcia. Fernando is a major league womanizer.

Marcia - Fernando's fiancee, partial owner of the company. Her father was Fernando's father's co-owner before dying in an accident.

Omar - VP of the company, but President of the Lusting After Alicia crew. A horrible influence on Fernando, Omar calls him daily from some bar where he always happens to have some extra babe sitting there pining away for Fernando.

Lety's Mom and Dad - Mom is nice and sweet, Dad is horribly over-protective and is convinced that Lety is 30 seconds away from getting mauled by horny guys at any given time. Being her father has made him blind to her plainness I guess.

Tomas - Lety's male counterpart and best friend. A huge nerd who is also highly educated but unemployable due to his horrible look.

This about covers the major players - I'll try and get some stories up soon and within those the minor players will be introduced. Also, I'm new at this, so I haven't figured out how to put pictures in yet. Hopefully you won't all get too impatient with my learning. See you soon!

Chris

Labels: fea-e, synopsis-cast

While looking at a photo of her late husband, Jacinta wonders how his son, Adolfo, turned out to be such a sentimental weakling. How could the blood of Pedro be flowing in his veins? Remedios comes in to say that she going shopping but is drawn into the conversation. She points out that being a family does not mean that everyone is the same.

Jacinta says that Federico would be worthy of being my son because he has the strong character of my father in law. Remedios says that it is not surprising that Jacinta recognizes the characteristics of Don Pedro (this must have been the father of Jacinta’s husband – also confusingly named Pedro) since her and Jacinta’s children are his grandchildren. Jacinta says that sometimes she envies Remedios because Federico is what her son never will be – a true Valladolid.

Adolfo is taking hits from his flask when Valeria comes in to show him what she has done in school. He has a flashback of when he raped Maite. How could he have done this to her? He recoils from the child whom he calls the product of a violation and runs out of the room. Thought bubble of sad, cute child saying, “Why don’t you love me, Papa? Why have you never loved me?”

A seemingly pointless scene of Juanita and an older boy in the library looking for a book Remedios showed to Juanita. They don’t find it in the bookcase in the hacienda. It must be in Remedios’ room.

Fat ugly guy is walking with Unibrow and is overjoyed to hear that Nutria is preggers. Unibrow says they are hoping for a girl. Fat ugly guy notices that even this news is not making Unibrow happy. Unibrow says that he has treated Nutria unjustly. “You feel guilty because you don’t love her?” asks fat ugly guy. “Nutria is a good looking, intelligent and sensible woman. I can never repay her for the love and dedication she has given me and my children all these years.” He hoped that if they had a child together he might feel more for her. Fat ugly guy says that he knows that Unibrow still loves Maite and Unibrow says that he has tried to forget her.

The hookers and Maite huddle under blankets in the chilly prison cell during the night. Magdalena is coughing in a way that in soap operas usually indicates a fatal illness. The other women say that she should see a doctor but she doesn’t have any money.

A person named Rafael comes to get the prostitutes out of prison [I guess he is the corrupt private investigator who has gained the confidence of the prostitues. He is is the one who was harboring evil designs on Veronica when she was alone in the brothel] He has paid the fine or whatever and the women leave the cell.

Now the book finding episode with Juanita becomes clear. Last night, Remedios hid a letter addressed to Maite in a book when someone came into the room. When Juanita fetches this book and carries it away, the letter falls out and Adolfo finds it. He is astonished to find a letter with Maite’s address in Mexico City.

Rafael reports to Federico that the plan to discredit Maite has gone perfectly. Federico says that Jacinta will be very grateful.

Jacinta is in the chapel praying before a painting of woman with broken chains surrounded by flames. [I am unfamiliar with the iconography of this painting. Most people in novelas pray to the Virgin of Guadaloupe].

An agitated Adolfo is searching for Remedios.

The prostitutes are back in the brothel. Magdalena and Maite come in with Veronica. The child first describes an imaginary birthday party with her school friends and then says she can’t remember anything that happened. Everyone is confused.

Manola comes out to eat with her husband and child on the patio. However, Gustavo is furious. “What was she doing alone with Federico in the Valladolid hacienda?” [This happened yesterday and I forgot to put it in my summary. Rodrigo, Manola’s son interrupted Manola and Federico fooling around at the hacienda.]

Adolfo finds his mother in the chapel and says did she know that Remedios has been in communication with Maite. Jacinta replies in a zombie-like fashion that it was Remedios’ fault that she, Jacinta, had to kill Pedro. “You killed my father?” says Adolfo, stupefied. Jacinta goes on to confess to ‘purifying by fire’ Griselda and Martina because they were going to rat her out for drugging Maite. “You can’t be a murderer?” stutters Adolfo. “I am only the humble servant of the Lord” says Jacinta. “You’re completely crazy!” concludes Adolfo and he stumbles out.

Rodrigo has ratted out his mother and Federico to Gustavo. Manola tries to tell Gustavo that the kid misunderstood, she and Federico have been friends forever. They are worried about Adolfo who has been moping since Maite left [SEVEN YEARS!]. Gustavo looks bemused. It isn’t clear if he is going to buy this yarn.

Adolfo runs into Federico. Adolfo won’t tell him why he is so upset. Federico sees the letter to Maite and Adolfo explains that Remedios has been in contact with Maite all this time. Federico says that Remedios was wrong to hide this from Adolfo. Adolfo says he is going to Mexico City RIGHT NOW and find Maite. Federico says, “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

A supernatural wind blows out all the candles in the chapel. Jacinta comes out of her trance apparently not remembering that she blabbed about her crimes to Adolfo.

Manola scolds Rodrigo for blabbing about her and Federico to Gustavo.
Manola thought bubble: She will do what is necessary to set things right. She is not prepared to lose what she has gotten by marrying Gustavo.

Remedios returns and one of the servants says she must see something they have found.

Maite is cooking at the restaurant and then leaves the place in the hands of some other staff. She has to go to Magdalena, who is ill.

Two of Jacinta’s staff are talking amongst the smashed wine casks. Apparently, this is what they showed Remedios. “Who would do this?” one asks. The other suggests that it was Adolfo when he found out that his mother wouldn’t continue with the vineyard scheme.

Magdalena is coughing away but she can’t afford to see a doctor.

Now Remedios is looking for Adolfo but he went off with Federico in the car.

Nutria can’t believe that soon she will be a mother. She never thought she would have a baby and is happy the fertility treatments worked. The doctor told her to be careful in the first months, not lift anything heavy, etc.

At the brothel, Maite says that as soon as Victor gets back, she will go get her daughter. It will be hard but she knows that she will be able to get her back. Rafael comes in. Maite says that he looks familiar. He says no.

Adolfo and Federico arrive at the address in Mexico City that was on the letter – Victor’s restaurant. Adolfo lets Federico go in and ask about her. The waiter says that Maite is not there. She will be back in the morning. Federico asks to use a phone. He calls Rafael and says he needs to know where Maite is. No problem says Rafael.

Unibrow fools around with the engagement ring he gave Maite and has a flashback to when he asked her to marry him. She agreed. Later, when he was in prison, she gave him back the ring and told him she loved someone else. “When will I be able to forget you, Maite?” he asks. “ How much longer will there be this barrier [get it? a Barerra de amor] to me being happy? How much longer?”

Remedios finds out that the letter to Maite is missing from the book.

Federico arranges with Jacaranda and Rafael to make Adolfo believe that Maite is a prostitute. It doesn’t seem to matter that much to him (after all, he just found out his mother is a multiple murderer). He begs Maite to come with him and tells her that they can be happy away from his mother. Maite tells him that she is committed to getting custody of her daughter for which she has scrimped and saved for years. Adolfo tells her that he loves her and to give him a chance. She tells him that all he represents to her is suffering and to go away and never come back.

Rodrigo goes to see his father and says that he is upset that it is his fault that Manola and Gustavo are fighting. Gustavo goes and apologizes to Manola who is fantasizing about making love with Federico. A little smile of triumph crosses her face. She has deceived the old guy again.

In the car with Federico, Adolfo, is, guess what, drinking heavily. Federico says that it must be hard to see that his mother was always right about Maite. Adolfo says that his mother is crazy and Maite is just one of her victims. They get a flat tire.

Valeria is calling, “Papa, Papa” in her sleep and Jacinta comes in to comfort her.

Federico is having trouble loosening the lug bolts on the tire and Adolfo is annoyed at the delay. He comes out to help but can’t loosen the bolts either and Federico mocks him, saying, “You see how useless you are? Adolfo gets angry and says, “You are forgetting your place. You are no more than a cat (no eres mas que un gato). I pay you to follow orders. [Cats follow orders in Mexico? I would like to see that.] Federico says, “You are a drunk and a failure who can’t do anything without your mother’s permission.” Adolfo retorts, “Is this the thanks I get? How dare you call me a failure. You are a miserable bastard, a nobody (un don nadie).”

Federico says, “You might be right. I may not be a Valladolid but Manola and I are lovers and we laughed at you in bed when she was engaged to you.” Adolfo is enraged and Federico pours fuel on the fire by telling him that he has been helping Jacinta with her plans, including running Maite out of the hacienda to earn the place at her side that Adolfo was too useless to take. Adolfo gets a gun out of the glove compartment and aims it at Federico. He forces Federico to kneel on the ground and insults him some more. For some reason, he cocks the gun and then fires it into the air. At that moment, Federico grabs the tire iron and attacks. Adolfo goes down and Federico, screaming, die! die! hits Adolfo again and again. Back at the hacienda, Jacinta feels a pang as her son is killed. This is where the TiVo stopped but whatever I missed will be replayed on Monday’s episode.

Labels: barrera

I didn't see all of last night's episode but I will post a very brief
summary of what I got from what I saw and maybe others can fill in.
Maite's legal process to get custody of her daughter is going very well.
Jacinta is really annoyed that she might succeed and tells Federico she
would be really, really grateful to anyone who prevents her from
succeeding.

Victor has to go take care of his mother.

Maite goes to Veronica's birthday party at the brothel and is arrested with
the prostitutes when, I think, the evil private investigator working for
Federico engineers a police raid on the place. Maite is pretty blasé about
the whole thing until she realizes that her name will be in the papers as
being arrested for prostitution.

Some really creepy guy (is this the private investigator?) was acting like
a child molestor and making advances on Veronica who was left alone in the
brothel when a child protection worker arrives.

Evidently, Adolfo wanted to set up a winery but his mother nixed the deal.
I didn't see the part where it was explained why. There was something with
Jacinta, Manola, Gustavo and her parents and a house but I was switching
back and forth to the ballgame and wasn't paying attention. Anyway, Adolfo
gets drunk (big surprise) and smashes up some wine barrels. (It looks from
the sneak previews of tonight's episode that Federico is going to put
Adolfo out of his misery.)

Remedios was teaching Valeria and Juanita to play Für Elise on the piano.

Nutria found out she is pregnant and she and Unibrow were very happy.

That's about all I can recall.

Labels: barrera

Friends, we need somebody willing to blog barrera on Thursdays (Ruth can't do it) or you're just going to get four days a week. You'll have to guess about Thursdays... if you're willing to help out, comment on this post or email me at melinama@mappamundi.com

thanks,
Melinama (away in Seattle)

Labels: barrera, recappers-needed

After Victor gives Maite two pictures of Valeria, and after her tears, Victor tells Maite that he is going to pay her more. He tells her the dinner guests liked her desert and he wants her to help in the kitchen also. She tells him she will help him and nothing has to change. He says she needs more money and he wants her to earn more. She cries and thanks him.

The boys are excited that Pirata has been saved. Antonio gives the boys credit and says they make a good team.

Adolfo, Federico and the lawyer take a walk talking about what the lawyer has found out about Maite. The lawyer tells them that he talked with the bus driver of the bus that took Maite out of town, the driver remembered her, and reports that Maite is in Mexico City. The men say they suspected that she was there. Federico says it will be easy to learn more about Maite in Mexico but the lawyer says No the city is very big, it will take time. Adolfo gives the lawyer some money and leaves. Federico takes this opportunity to slide up to the lawyer and to claim that they should be business partners and that the lawyer needs to share with Federico the money he was just given .

Antonio, Nuria and the boys are congratulated by the blind owner of Goliath for saving the dog. She tells them that the dog is not just for her but for her sight, her company, like family to her. The lady gives thanks to all, especially the boys because she was aware that their dog too was hurt. The lady tells Daniel that he has a special touch with the animals and he announces that he will be a Vet like his dad. The other boy says he is going to be a BULL FIGHTER! Now we know who is in the opening scenes!

Maite shows Victor around his old apartment - her new one. He says he like the femine touches she has made to the place. They share a piece of desert talking about how handsome they are, complimenting each other nicely. Maite asks why Victor doesnt have a girlfriend. He says he likes to be alone.

Back at the brothel Magdalena is sick. She has a bad cough and is tired. Jacaranda says she will watch the baby for Magdalena so Maggie can get to bed. The other women question Jacaranda if her intentions are for real. Jacaranda claims she can do it.

Victor and Maite go grocery shopping in a market. They talk about Remedios and Maites past, and how she was ill while living at the Hacienda. Maite says she got better one day after of leaving the Hacienda. Victor thinks it was strange.....

Jacaranda is questioned by one of the whores if really she is going to watch the baby. She says yes. Then once the door is closed and Jacaranda is alone with the baby she says the baby isnt going to eat nor is the baby going to keep her awake as she stuffs plugs in her ears. I really hate this side story.

Maite is in the kitchen preparing food talking with another lady who tells Maite that she has never seen Victor pay attention to a woman like he does Maite. She tells Maite that she isnt telling her this to make Maite think bad of Victor but the opposite. The lady thinks this is great that Victor is so attentive to Maite. She tells Maite that they would have beautiful children together. Maite agrees that Victor is handsome, a good friend but that Antonio is the love of her life and always will be. Victor is in the doorway behind them listening to the whole conversation. At the end he look pensive as he walks away. Maybe he is sad that Maite still dreams of the frog?

Manola comes to vist Antonio again. (The same trip as before.) He says that he thought she would have left town by now. She says how could you believe that I would leave without telling you good bye? As she slips her arms around his bullfrog neck. He tells her that he knows what she is doing, the game she is playing. He reminds her they are both married and he wont disrespect his wife. Manola says that she didnt believe that Antonio loves Nuria much. I think you still love Maite. He tells her he wont talk about Maite. Manola then starts whining claiming a pity party of how difficult this period of her life is. Gustavo is so much older than she and there is nothing between them..... She hasnt forgotten the betrayal of Adolfo standing her up at the alter for Maite. She was an idiot to believe that perhaps between her and Antonio there could be something..... She made a mistake.... Antonio says he is sad that she doesnt have a good relationship with Gustavo but to look for another man? Its a cowards way dont you agree? Somehow Manola gathers her wits and says she needs to dedicate herself to her son. She ends the encounter by saying its too bad she didnt meet him before she met Adolfo.

Victor sits Maite down in the restaurant and tells her that he overheard her talking in the kitchen. He asks her does she not have interest in a love relationship? He asks her is she sure she is not guarding something that hurt her, a little bit compulsively, that prevents her from moving on.... All under the umbrella of friendship. Maite exclaims why are you asking? And then looks like she is thinking about his words.

SEVEN YEARS LATER
Victor has bought a new van for the restaurant. He tells Maite that she has worked hard and helped grow the restaurant. She should have gone to school to be a chef, she has a real cooking talent and she has helped a lot. Basically he recaps all the success they have had in 7 years. She tells him she is in a hurry to go to Agua Calientes.

Two men are talking under the hood of Jacintas car. They admit the car is over ten years old. They mention it is Valerias birthday tomorrow.

Maite tells Victor that it isnt that she doesnt want him to go with her to Santa Maria it is she doesnt want people talking about her. The people there wont say Oh look at Maites gentleman but that they will say Look at Maites lover! That is how the people of Santa Maria are and she doesnt want that as she goes for her daughter. Victor tells her that he wants to propose that she become his business partner. He tells her that they have made the restaurant together, she has enough money to get her daughter but he also wants her to have a dignified life for her and her daughter when the daughter is brought to the city.

Remedios is teaching Valeria and Juana. The girls are cute and Valeria shows how smart she is naming all the capitals of countries around Mexico. Enters Jacinta to brow beat the girls and to tell Valeria that she has to do everything that Jacinta tells her to do. Valeria tries to charm but there is no charming her mean abuela. Then Valeria looks at Juana and starts to talk in Naughatec the language of the Aztecs. Jacinta does not like that! Remedios explains at one point that the girls have grown up together. I gather that Juana is not of Valerias level in Jacintas mind. Jacinta tells Valeria to go practice the piano so if someone asks her to play at her birthday party tomorrow then she will do well. Jacinta says she will be listening for her in her room.

Magdalena is in bed coughing and her daughter is watching. The girl asks why Magdalena has to sleep during the day and is up all night while she herself is up during the day and asleep at night. (A brothel life for you.... I really cant stand these terrible children stories to this novela.)

Valeria devises a plan to have Juana dress up in one of her dresses and play the piano while she goes outside to play with the brothers of Juana. The girls switch places.


Maite shows up at the hacienda. Maite tells Remedios that she is there for her daughter, she has had enough of the situation. She runs up stairs to find Valeria. Flash to Anotnios family who are mourning the about to die Pirata. Daniel has been in the operating room with his father while the other boy is with Nuria. Flash to Jacaranda yelling at Veronica about how many times has she told her not to touch her things. Jacaranda says what am I going to do with you? Yucky music plays as Jacaranda opens her closet and pushes Veronica inside. Veronica says Dont lock me in the closet! She says some prayers and hopes that Jacaranda will pay for what she has done to her, but she doesnt leave because Jacaranda told her not to leave until Jaranda says to.

Maite goes upstairs to the piano and finds Juana. She asks who are you just as Jacinta walk in saying What are you doing here! The women stare at each other. In another room Juana tells Remedios all about the girls plans of switching places and then Juana asks who is that woman? Remedios says she is a friend of Jacintas and then sends the girl out to find Valeria.

Jacinta tells Maite How dare you enter into my house! YOu have no right to see your daughter. You lost your right. Maite says she has every right to see her daughter. She has worked all these years and she has sufficient money to get her daughter, and she has a lawyer. She has the law on her side! Jacinta gets mad at this and tries to hit Maite with her cane. Maite gets a backbone and grabs, then throws the cane away telling Jacinta that she wont let her touch her again. Maite says she is no longer an innocent young girl that Jacinta used to know. She is going to recuperate her child.

Remedios and Maite are outside talking about how Maite shoudnt make Jacinta as an enemy. Federico overhears and finds out that his mother helped Maite all these years know about Valeria. Maite wishes she could have been at the party for Valeria. Remedios tells her that she will watch over Valeria as if she were her own child.

Jacinta is pissed that Maite was there and she is pissed that Valeria tricked her with her switching game. Jacinta yells at both of the little girls. Adolfo stops Jacinta from raising her cane at the girls. Jacinta then tells Valeria she wont have a birthday party tomorrow. Valeria will have to call all her friends and tell them she is sick. She tells Valeria she is punished and to go to her room without a party and with out dinner.

Federico asks Why Mama! have you been helping Maite. Remedios reminds him that although Jacinta has done a lot for Valerias education she has not given her maternal love and Valeria needs that. Adolfo consuls Valeria who swears that if her mother were there all of this would not be happening. Why dont you ever talk about her?

Jacinta talks with an attorney who tells her that Maite will get custody of Valeria. Jacinta asks Federico to plant or find some immoral conduct of Maites to mess with the custody suit.

Magdalena cant find Veronica. They find her in Jacarandas closet. Just as Veronica was going to talk Jacaranda comes in acting all nice. Magdalena has to go because she is coughing again leaving Veronica alone with Jacaranda who tells Veronica that she did well not to open her mouth about the closet. If she keeps it up they will be real good friends. Yucky!

Victor makes Maite eat. Maite is worried about getting Valeria back. They have a good lawyer and in Mexico the laws favor the mother. But Maite says that yes the laws are for the mother but how the law applies these laws is not good. Worry Worry.

Flash to Antonios family who is finally mourning the death of Pirata. The boys say that their classmates tell them that boys dont cry. Antonio tells them to cry. Never hide their feelings......

Federico gives their mean attorney the address to Maites place and some more money. This is the same lawyer that Maite went to see or saw (somewhere) when Antonio was in jail. He doesnt believe Maite will recognize him. The attorney is to investigate (find) some immoral behavior of Maites.

Victor and Maite talk about what is best to give a child, simple gifts, blah blah blah. They get a call from the brothel for Maite to make them some soup. Flash to Antonio and Nuria talking about the death of Pirata and the death of the boys mother. Antonio thinks this will hurt them a lot just like the death of their mother. She asks if he was as hurt a lot when his wife died. He tells her life continues and says she has been a real mother to his kids. (I really like her. How she does these scenes with this feo I will never understand.) They kiss.

Remedios and Jacinta talk about how Jacinta should not have taken the birthday party away from Valeria. Jacinta quickly puts Remedios in her place and then says she believes Remedios let Maite in. She brings up the night Maite ran into Adolfos room. She says she believes it was Remedios who has been helping Maite see her child.

The scenes for tomorrow night let us know that Maite will get custody of Veronica! Gotta have a little sugar with your arsenic. And the theme song is by Noelia a pop singer and its a really nice song.

Labels: barrera

Remedios helps the stricken and staggering Adolfo back to his room. He swears he's not crazy, Maite was really there! Remedios cradles his head and calms him.

Elvira and Magdalena are cooing over Veronica. Magda thanks Elvira for being so kind to them, especially the baby. Elvira is angling to be the godmother and agrees Veronica is adorable, that's why all the whores like to take care of her. Magda says most of them yes, Jacaranda not so much. Elvira says at heart Jacaranda's not a bad person. (So I guess this Jacaranda is about to give Magda some grief pretty soon.) Magda says one doesn't need the same blood to be like family, Elvira is her family. Elvira says, "I'm like the sister you never had." (Sister? She's pretty generous with herself, mother is more like it.)

Maite has made it outside the hacienda walls and thanks Remedios for helping her to see Valeria. Remedios says she'll do everything she can to help. Maybe she'll try to reach an agreement with Jacinta. (Another agreement, how dense can she be?) Maite says "There’s no talking to that woman." Then she goes into how perfect life would be if only Jacinta would give her the baby AND money for Valeria's education. She would even let Valeria visit with her grandma and dad, but Valeria would live with Maite. Remedios thinks that's a reasonable request and will help all she can. (What on earth makes them think Jacinta would agree to this?!?)

Next morning at breakfast Jacinta tells Adolfo she's going to send him to rehab if he doesn't get off the sauce. He insists Maite was there. Jacinta says it was alcohol and a hallucination. Seeing Maite has given Adolfo renewed vigor and he's determined to look for her because she's not a woman he can easily forget. Maybe he IS crazy, crazy for Maite. Jacinta, not happy to hear this, reminds him Maite was leaving him for another man and taking his daughter too. But Adolfo has decided... he's going to look for Maite!

In Victor's kitchen the cook tries to teach Maite a recipe, but all Maite can do is daydream sadly about Valeria. Victor comes in and sees her teary-eyed. "Why so sad? Are you tired?" He tenderly comforts her.

Back at the ranch Jacinta and Federico are hatching a plot. She says Adolfo plans to hire a private investigator (P.I.) and she wants Federico to help her. Naturally the obsequious little worm says he'll do anything she wants. They need to keep Adolfo from finding Maite, otherwise he might refuse to sign the divorce papers and she will re-enter their lives. She gives Federico the name of a P.I., but as far as Adolfo is concerned Federico will have found him and Jacinta knows nothing of it.

Maite, looking out the window, has another tearful flashback of her daughter. She thinks that all this sacrifice will be worth it to one day get Valeria back with her. Valeria is the only thing that gives Maite strength through the daily grind. (Someone said Maite is a better crier than Hippólita. I'm beginning to think Maite is the godmother of all criers.)

Adolfo and Federico talk about Maite. Federico says Adolfo had an alcoholic hallucination, why would Maite come to the hacienda? Adolfo says maybe to see her daughter. Federico tells Adolfo he is on his side, he'll help him find a P.I. in Aguascalientes, but don't keep talking about this to Jacinta because it sets her off. "Don't worry Adolfo, I'll take care of the P.I." Corazones arriba=Cheer up!

Later, in Aguascalientes, they "hire" Jacinta's minion, Sr. Rafael Cardoso to look for and find Maite. The P.I. wants a photo, names of friends and relatives. Federico volunteers to interrogate all the hacienda workers on the P.I.'s behalf because they all, both inside and outside the house, have his confidence. The P.I. can tell him what questions to ask and Federico will take care of it. Since the P.I. is getting paid by both Jacinta and Adolfo, why should he actually do any work? So yeah, he thinks having Federico do all the legwork is a grand idea. Adolfo the lemming agrees.

In between all this P.I. business are several scenes of Victor and Maite, first he is doing her work for her, sweeping the floor because she's tired, then he has gone to the butcher to get the meat and ribs for tonight's special, pork ribs in white wine, he's going to teach her how to make it. They chatter happily as he tells her his recipes. Later in the gym he tells her how happy he is to have here there, what a big help she is to him. Because of her he doesn't have to worry. Maite says because of him she doesn't have to worry about where to sleep, to work or to eat. He says she still seems too sad. She says she misses her baby who is just turning one year old.

At the hacienda, Adolfo and Federico are whispering about visiting the P.I. early so Jacinta doesn't suspect, she walks in and tell Federico to put out his cigarette because she doesn't allow smoking, and by the way what were they whispering about? "Oh nothing, just the vineyards." Jacinta is on her way to Aguascalientes to visit the Sisters of the Adoration and she wants the cattle accounts ready on her return. Federico wants to go with her to buy some vineyard things for Adolfo. Jacinto agrees and says, No Smoking! As soon as she leaves, Federico lights up and says Jacinta will be less suspicious of them if he is obvious about going to Aguascalientes rather than trying to sneak around. Adolfo the lemming agrees.

In Aguascalientes Federico tells Jacinta that Adolfo doesn't suspect she is behind everything. Jacinta wants Federico to tell her everything that happens. They are with the P.I. who is trying to look more hoodlum-like in front of Jacinta. She hands him money and says "Here is what I promised you. Nobody is going to find Maite, nobody!"

Weeks later Adolfo is complaining to the P.I. that it has been weeks and no sign of Maite. Is she with Luis Antonio? The P.I. says his people are working on it, these things take time and no, she's not with Unibrow. He is concentrating on Mexico City, checking the restaurants because that's her background. She might be a cook. He tells Adolfo to be patient because his wife is going show up faster than he might imagine. (What does he mean by that?) Adolfo hands him a big wad of cash and says "This is only an advance."

In Ensenada Unibrow marries Nutria!! It's a bleak little wedding and she wears an unbecoming dress that makes her look like a sausage. His parents are thrilled that he has a good woman by his side and a mom for their grandsons. Nutria says they'll be happy because they have a lot in common. Such passion.

Jacinta gives Adolfo the divorce papers and tells him it's time to divorce Maite for abandoning him, time for him to be firm. He's firm all right, he tears up the papers and says he won't even think of divorcing Maite. Jacinta asks him doesn't he have any pride? No, he answers, what I have is shame for all I have done to her, and I won't rest until she forgives me!

At Manola's ranch she is going crazy because she can't bear the howls of her snot-nosed brat. (Her words, not mine.) Her maid is the one holding the child and seems more bothered by Manola's howling than the baby's. Gustavo calls Unibrow to consult on some calf vaccinations and he's simply thrilled to hear about the wedding. What a surprise, when can he meet the wife? Manola? Oh she's here with me and sends her congrats too. Manola is surprised to hear Unibrow got married. Headachy from being a mommy and wishing to stir up trouble, Manola angles for a little vacation, a small change of air. Gustavo takes the bait. He says he'll arrange a trip for Manola but unfortunately he can't come. Her wish is his command. He hopes she doesn't worry about him or the baby because they will be fine.

Surprise! Manola shows up in Ensenada to congratulate her dear friends personally. Nutria is glad to see her, too bad Gustavo couldn't come. Manola tells Nutria she'll be very happy by Unibrow's side, and she better be careful because there are women out there who might steal such a catch from her. Unibrow, not appreciating the comment, says Nutria never has to worry about that. (I'll bet in telenovelas when someone says "never" that means the "never" is about to happen.)

At the restaurant Maite tells her story to Victor, that she had a very bad experience with her husband, there was violence involved. Victor wonders why she married Adolfo if she loved another. Did Adolfo blackmail her? Maite tells him she loved Unibrow but there was a bad experience at the train station that started many things, she went to jail, Remedios got her out and she had to leave her daughter. That's why she needs money, to get Valeria and give her a good life. Victor tells Maite he wants her to know she can count on him and he doesn't expect anything in return.

In Ensenada Unibrow can't wait for Manola to leave but she keeps hanging around. Finally the phone rings and Nutria runs to answer. Manola has a secret to tell Unibrow, Maite ran away with another man and left her husband and daughter! This was about a year ago and nobody knows where she is. Nutria, standing behind Unibrow, overhears...

Elvira thinks Magda should tell the father of Valeria about his daughter, he has a right to know. Magda says Adolfo doesn't love her (Magda) and she doesn't want to cause problems in the marriage. Elvira says Veronica has the right to a better life (than being raised in a whorehouse? No kidding.) But Magda has decided to raise her alone. She will just step aside.

Jacinta is having a hissy fit and tells Federico that Adolfo tore up the divorce papers right in front of her face. Federico says Adolfo will never find Maite but Jacinta is still unhappy because "tiene pajaritos dando vueltas en su cabeza." (Little birds are flying circles in her head=she can't stop being worried about it.) Does Federico think that Maite was really in the house? Federico says no, because why would she go to Adolfo's room of all places?

In Ensenada the "happy" couple say goodbye to Manola. Nutria is pissed off. Manola smugly thinks "Perfect, think what you will, Luis Antonio is totally disillusioned with his little waitress. And furthermore, his wife knows very clearly that he still thinks about Maite."

Victor's kitchen is the cleanest and emptiest professional kitchen I have ever seen. I don't believe anyone has ever cooked there. He is upset and Maite wants to know what's up. His cook left with a toothache, followed by Oscar who was the ace up his sleeve. Now what is he going to do? Maite says she'll help him cook the meal, what's on the menu? Nothing much, just chanterelles, lobster, salad, mussels in parsley, escargot, spinach quiche and crème brulees. Maite says "All that rich food? I don't know to cook that stuff. What is all that stuff anyway? No matter, I'll help you. How many people?" "Only 60, I'll teach you, come one!"

In Ensenada Nutria is trying to talk to Unibrow but he keeps dreaming of Maite. When she calls him on it he admits he doesn't believe Maite did all those bad things, it sounds like another person, she must be innocent somehow. Nutria says she's sick of talking about Maite, why is he always talking about her? They should go to San Francisco.

Back in the kitchen Victor has just spoken to his friend Ricardo, aka Nacho, in Zacatecas. Maite mentions Zacatecas is only 2 hrs. away from Aguascalientes by car. Victor thinks of an excuse to send her out of the kitchen, calls Nacho, and arranges for him to pay a visit to Aguascalientes...

At this point Caray, Caray must ask all the ladies to sit down and grab a cool cloth. Are you ready? Good. Our hero Unibrow is daydreaming of better times, a time when he was sweetly serenading his love Maite, it is a song about her looking at him, and he is singing the song for us now in his dreams. (I wonder if this is an attempt to make Unibrow seem less, er...wooden shall we say, and more romantic?) He sings as sweetly as a toad in love, and he looks like one too. "You're not a bad person, Maite" he thinks, "I don't believe you left your daughter to run away with another man." (Of course that's exactly what she did, she just screwed up the plan.)

Adolfo is drinking again and wondering when Maite will return to him.

Federico tracks down Manola in San Diego and telephones her. She tells him she saw Unibrow and the wife yesterday and she's just like the little waitress (Maite). This really cracks Federico up. She adds that she told Unibrow that Maite abandoned her husband and kid a year ago. "You should have seen his face, it looked like someone threw a bucket of cold water on it." Federico wants to know why she's down there telling Unibrow about his ex-novia's exploits, is it simply to bother Unibrow or does she want to go to bed with him? Ick. She says it's her business. Anyway, it's evident that he doesn't love his wife, because when she mentioned the "little waitress" his reaction was incredible, the face of a man in love. Can you believe it? He still cares about his old love. Federico asks, "Why do you care? Are you trying to make me jealous or what?"

Unibrow's sons were playing in the park when all of a sudden their dog Pirate got sick and fell over. They are hysterical and want Nutria to help them take Pirate to dad's clinic. Unfortunately they have to wait in line because Goliath the black Lab got hit by a car, has internal bleeding, and needs surgery immediately. To make matters worse, I believe it is Unibrow's parents who have brought their friend Reina's dog, Goliath, to be saved by Unibrow. Choices must be made, his parents or his sons? Goliath or Pirate? Goliath has stopped breathing, but the boys say Pirate is dying, too. Unibrow tells them to put a cold towel on Pirate while he saves Goliath. His son dutifully starts to do this. Could we have a new vet in the family?

At Victor's restaurant he and Maite are cleaning up. Victor has a surpise for her; turns out he had his friend Nacho from Zacatecas visit Aguascalientes to secretly take pictures of Valeria's birthday party. He gives the photos to Maite so she can see how her baby is doing. Maite is grateful, cries, and caresses his shiny pate.

Labels: barrera

• The cliffhanger of Friday fizzled immediately - Maite's mugging lasted about 24 seconds. Victor roars up on his motorcycle and dispatches the thugs. Maite runs right into his arms, but then remembers he accused her of robbery and fired her so she pulls away.
  
  He's very embarrassed - remember, he found the money he'd accused her of stealing in his own pocket - so he offers her a free apartment over the restaurant as a peace offering. She says, "You don't need to apologize, you didn't know me, why should you trust me?" He asks her to come back to work: "You need the money, and I need you." They go get her stuff from the brothel immediately.
  
  He tells her his dad, now dead, was Mexican, but his mother is French Canadian and after she was widowed, she met a new guy and moved to France with him.
  
  
• Federico continues his aggressive sucking-up to Jacinta. She's mad at his mother Remedios for paying Maite's bail. He says, "I agree with you Jacinta, and to prove I'm on your side, here's a letter from Maite's aunt Griselda, written to Unibrow." "How did you get it?" "I saw Martina and Maite plotting to leave with the baby. I waited all day and intercepted the letter." He points out: now that Martina and Griselda are dead, nobody knows about any of this. Jacinta: "Let's keep it that way." "Doña Jacinta, your wish is my command, I couldn't let Maite leave with your granddaughter." She praises him. He rats out his mother: "I don't know why my mother did it." "You're not responsible for her mistakes." "I have a grand affection for you and I'm grateful." "I'm glad you're grateful. I reward those who serve me - what do you want? Money, a car, a trip?" "Just to be in your confidence."
  
  
• Maite mopes and reviews her plan to earn a lot of money, hire a lawyer, and get her daughter back. She has an awful nightmare of all the awful things that have been happening to her.
  
  
• Federico scolds his mother. I think both of them are heavily Botoxed - he has the stoniest, most inexpressive face ever. "Why did you save Maite? That money was ours, for us." "I had to, I couldn't be peaceful thinking of her rotting in jail." He points out, trying to sound sympathetic, that Maite's husband has fallen apart since she left, going crazy and drinking, and it's Maite's fault!
  
  
• Adolfo has a flashback of Maite reminding him of his evil deeds and that she can't love him. He's drunk and lets the baby cry for a while. Then he stamps into the room where Remedios is trying to get Valeria to sleep. "Why can't you shut up this kid? I can't stand to hear it, it reminds me of Maite."
  
  Jacinta looks to God and thanks Him for putting the child in her hands. "I'll make her a good Catholic - thank you for choosing me among all mortals to be the one to help You save souls from the fires of Hell."
  
  
• Federica fondles Manola in the car and reviews his successful manipulation of Jacinta. He wants to get the letter back now, because its possession confers power! (One ring to rule them all...) He boasts that Jacinta is now eating out of his hand.
  
  
• While Jacinta gets ready to go to the cemetery, she reads Griselda's letter and then crumbles it up and throws it in the wastebasket.
  
  
• Remedios and Jacinta put flowers on the graves of Griselda and Martina, and while they're there decide to leave some on Padre Anselmo's grave too. (That was a big couple days for Jacinta when she dispatched that trio.) They argue about whether G & M are in Purgatory or Heaven. "They died without confessing," Jacinta primly chides. Her thought bubble: "My bracelet, the one Pedro gave me, ended up on the arm of his lover [Remedios]." She remembers a day when Adolfo was a baby and she had had a picture of the two of them taken. When she gave it to Don Pedro he said: "Oh, you were wearing the bracelet I gave you last year for our anniversary - the one you said you'd never wear until I loved you."
  
  Jacinta wonders how Remedios got the bracelet, as she thought Pedro had never seen Remedios again. Helpfully Remedios's thought bubble informs us that even though she had begged Pedro to stay with his wife and son, he came to find her in the little town she'd moved to and finally she could not resist his blandishments...
  
  
• Federico retrieves Griselda's letter from the trash and takes it back to Manola (they seem to have regular gropes in the car). He rides her for calling him Mr. Nobody. She says, "You have a knack for making money but you'll never be classy." "You can buy class with money. ... Why'd you marry your husband?" "He adores me and he's easy to manipulate." They talk about the baby - which could easily be Gustavo's grandchild, he's so old (much as with the baby-boomers of today). They decide Manola's father is not going to tell Gustavo about the hanky-panky he witnessed. Manola reminds Federico: "Gustavo has poured out money on my family and I don't want the spigot to close so you better keep quiet, too."
  
  
• Unibrow asks Nutria if she'd like a more serious relationship with him. Would she be his girlfriend? Why, yes! He plants a squishy one on her - he's even an ikky kisser. Jeesh! Then he reminds her he's not in love with her, but she figures she can get past that. "My boys need a mother, I need a real companion."
  
  
• Victor wears the greenest shirt ever seen outside St. Patrick's Day. He asks Maite if she has family and she reluctantly divulges vague details. She asks him the same, and he says he would have liked to have had a family. He offers to take her shopping so she can learn the ropes and when she can do it herself he'll be able to pay her more. Later she ogles him a bit in the gym. He yells to somebody on the phone, "There are some things you can say that can never be taken back. I can't live with you."
  
  
• Unibrow's noisome boys chant, "Daddy has a girlfriend. Will you marry her? Will we have little brothers? The best thing is that she's like Maite!"
  
  
• Adolfo staggers out of bed, ready to eat something, and says he doesn't like to hold the baby cause it makes him miss Maite so much. Jacinta keeps reminding him that he's handsome and "they're making them thangs every day," but he says there is nobody like Maite.
  
  
• After Remedios says she's worried about Adolfo's pining, Jacinta gives her a lecture about child-raising. (Neither of them has done a good job to judge by the outcome.) "He has never behaved like a Valladolid with dignity and strength." "You always held him up to his grandfather and father." "Bulls need to be stabbed [it's some bullfight term I am too tired to look up]. I needed to rule him with a hard hand." "No, he needed affection." "He'd have hidden in my skirts." They descend to squabbling about Pedro.
  
  
• Magdalena has her baby. As the whores are cooing over her, the madame says they have to leave the house - their landlord had financial problems and had to flee the country. She's thinking they should pool their savings and buy a smaller one farther out of town.
  
  
• It's Valeria's birthday and Jacinta has decreed she's to start sleeping alone in her own room. Maite sneaks into the house with Remedios's help and holds and plays with the baby. Jacinta can't sleep and comes toward the room - Maite hides, Remedios covers and gets Jacinta to take the baby away. Maite bolts and runs - right into Adolfo's room! He wakes up, sees her, staggers after her shouting her name. Jacinta says "I told you that name is forbidden in this house." "She was in my room, I swear it."

Labels: barrera

Hello friends,

On my other blog (Pratie Place) some anonymous person left this remark:


This shows some ignorance of what goes on here. We are people who have lives - families, jobs, etc. - who spend quite an unbelievable amount of time watching these shows and producing these recaps. We do not get paid by anybody.

The Cristina show was long and the people talked fast and the person who is recapping it has other things she has to do, too. If your thought is, "what good is this blog?" then I suggest you start your own.

Labels: announcements