Caray, Caray!

Ok, I don’t know, this seems to be all over the place. I’m also cursing Rosy Ocampo for her overpacked scripts this friggin recap took me about 5 or 6 hours. Jeez.

We ended up with Santi and Mari arriving to a surprise engagement party, but then we got to Candy in the office saying she’ll be done soon and Ceci shooing everyone away. Once they are gone Candi notes how odd Ceci is acting.

This next part apparently was edited from the US version I guess for obvious reasons. I'm not so bright as I recapped it anyway not thinking it wouldn't appear. There is a scene where pipi is being visibly made too that was edited out, you'll read about that below.

We then go to Abuela scolding her young grandson for pointing out the anatomic differences between males and females and that his dog has a penus and is therefore male of course because females have vaginas and he’s not sure why it’s a cuchinada to say that. Abue isn’t hip to this frankness and nearly escorts him upstairs to his bath by his ear.

Ali and Pat are dressed up leaving for the surprise party but Pato is proclaiming how much he doesn’t want to go.

Candi and Zamora are discussing that Tio hasn’t been home yet and they are worried about him. She asks Zamora for a favor.

At Sole’s house, Meno is there telling her she’s right that her son is being raised around a gay. Like Serrat said, the truth is never sad but it has no remedy. He very somberly tells her that he has only had their best interests in mind, but if they want him out of their lives, so be it. He hands Sole the letter that he doesn’t have the courage to give to Candi directly. He worries about seeing them but is informed that at this moment everyone has left for the party, that he was invited to as well, so he won’t see them. He comments that he has his own funeral and doesn’t need to attend any other. Sole just kind of stands there impactada.

We go back to the party where Santi feigns excitement at his surprise engagement party. He immediately chugs a glass of wine then guardedly greets his guests. Mari worries he’s not enjoying this. He walks toward the door telling everyone to be happy, but under his breath, not like him. He walks out the front door and who is right there but Candi who is spying because she wants no surprises and wonders if her widow and sister are going to be there. Santi of course doesn’t know since this was all a surprise to him. Candi makes one more call to Meno before Mari sees her and drags her in. We see Pat in the background with Ali while she is talking.

Mama sees Meno packing and wonders what’s up, Candi didn’t mention he’s going on vacay. He says no, it’s for good, say goodbye to everyone for me. Of course Mama is impactado.

Santi is discussing this whole idea with Mari that this wasn’t right, and they don’t even have a ring, but of course our scheming Mari has taken care of that as she very slyly hands him a ring while holding his hands. He is therefore forced to present it happily to her in front of the crowd.

Her turn to feign pleasant surprise as she accepts the ring. Candi is the first to hug them congratulations and Santi doesn’t let go of her too easily. She says first a gift to them with all her love and the mariachis file in singing the cumbia, Tiburon a la Vista (Shark in sight) – wonder if it’s Santi or Mari….or maybe Pato? We see the Pato head coming in the still open front door and happily joining in the dancing. Candi ducks behind and grabs on to Santi again after seeing the Pato head through the crowd.

Candi and Santi begin dancing, but Mari thinks she should be dancing this first dance with the groom. Claro que si, but Santi’s Ma brushes her off - it’s a party, relax. Just then Ali and Pat greet her and distract her for a moment from her green envy. Until Ali notes the Novio dancing with someone else too, but Mari says well I guess I’ll have him my whole life so what the heck.

We turn to Candi begging Santi to help her. He ends up moving her towards the door and giving her his car and she trades him for her son. Mari rushes up and learns she’s leaving to find her uncle. An interesting trade, car for kid. Candi drives off, Mari is more than happy to see her go I’m sure.

Back at the house Gregi is telling Meno she won’t stop him if he wants to leave, because after all it isn’t right that her grandson and his son grow up with an abnormal. The have the same old argument that he’s not abnormal and she thinks God punished their whole family but meno realizes it’s futile. He says God isn’t punishment, he’s love, but she doesn’t know love. This departure is barely believable given how Meno is so strong and proud and running his restaurant and his life for so long. I guess I could only see it if he’s supposed to be that fearful of outing himself to his son. I suppose strangers are one thing, but your own children, maybe it’s not so easy to be as confident around, I don’t know. I still think he wouldn’t just abandon everything like that. Oh Candi, you’d better do something, look at where your lie has gotten us!

We see our young lovers plotting to steal away from the party for more groping. They communicate by cell phone and work their way up to Lucia’s room. While Issy and Jaime talk about their children’s respective discontent with their relationship, she looks up and notes the suit clad sneaker wearing young buck not so clandestinely ascending the stairs towards his waiting lady. Issy is not far behind. She knocks on Lu’s door and wants to know where the boyfriend is. Now here's where it’s dumb. Lu says he’s not there, but of course Abue is no tonta and discovers him behind the door. What would bother me most about this is not that they are trying to steal away, but that they lie about it, but heck, I would have done the same thing when I was that age unless there was no way to get away with it. Sigh. Abue yells at Charly to get out, appreciates he tries to cover for Lu but says Lu knows no boys allowed in her bedroom. She departs saying she already knows she’s an old-fashioned old lady and Lu doesn’t even have to say it.

Downstairs the new best friend foursome is chatting again about why Santi was dancing with that other woman and he says well she gifted the mariachis so it’s only right that I shared the dance with her. Mari thinks they should meet her someday and maybe even come by the institute.

Santi screams at this possibility, which alarms everyone, and so he covers that Donato should not be putting out the candles just now, because people will leave; and something like if the candles are out then they can’t be put on the cake. Mari tries to tell him there is no cake but he says this is a party so of course there is cake and he asks what kind they all want. They all say Mil Hojas ( Thousand Layers - not an easy cake to just pick up).

Back at the multicolored home, Candi probes her Ma for info about Meno leaving, Ma doesn’t know, she tried to change his mind but he is too stubborn - she isn’t too bothered.

Back at the party Issy is having a good conversation with her granddaughter about not rushing things and there is plenty of time. Santi hears this part and wants to know time for what, and she says to make love with her boyfriend. Santi reacts to this with a spit out of his drink, and Issy orders Donato to help him out with the mess. Ha. Santi will deal with Lu later.

At the bottom of the stairs Pat introduces Ali to Chava as his wife. Chava, having studied the finer points of Abues and Papas and Mamas with his pal Beto, rightly comments that ah, but she isn’t the Ma of Beto. Ali, who looks as though she may have enjoyed her share of champagne at this point does something waaayyy weird and asks Chava if he wouldn’t like it if she were the Ma of Beto. He listens to her Bubis, er, heart, and decides nope, she’s a bad person. Santi interrupts explaining this is just a child’s game and well his heart sounded the worst. Ali says fine, but she is zero bad. Hmmmm….

We see Los Arcos and can guess that Meno is in a hotel still in Guadalajara. This is certainly not random because of it’s inscription declaring Guadalajara the hospitable city and that an enjoyable stay is a guaranteed return. Meno’s not going to get far I surmise. He flashes back to his days of "parenting" Chava and cries profusely. Very tender moments. Poor Meno.

Back at Santi’s house it’s time for Chava’s bedtime (notice Santi does this, not Mari, the woman) and he gets to sleep in one of Santi’s shirts, of course it’s waaay too big, and this is so cute and they discuss the finer points of what makes a heart good versus bad. Honestly, I think he couldn’t really hear a heart through all that Bubi, and well, that’s what makes her bad, wink.

Candi reads the letter that basically says Meno doesn’t want to burden her with having to raise her son around a gay and that with love for her he’s left to make it easier on them. She calls him again and note, she asks yet again for something, not to leave her alone. Nice.

Chava and Santi also discuss the bedwetting and Santi tells him if it happens, to let him know and he’ll take care of it and that accidents happen. We had some comments about this bed wetting and possible causes and I like that the adults are very understanding and not stressing him out about it, but I still can’t help thinking this poor child needs some medical attention, physical or mental, to help him over this hurdle. That or they shouldn’t be handing him tequila shots before bedtime!! Adorable scene indeed. Santi tells him a story of him having to take his Roci to the bathroom and of course is first thought is to take her to the ladies room, but that upset the other ladies when he went in, and so when he took her to the men's, well it was disgusting, so while he was trying to figure out what to do, poor Roci let loose on herself and all over him and it looked like both of them wet themselves!!! OK, really, I’m echoing the sentiment we’ve heard, really what is it with all this pipi humor. I hope there’s a moral or a point or some sort of tie in at the end!

When Santi comes downstairs it turns out that Meno has come to ask him a big favor. Santi comes down, glad to know Meno is ok. He says he didn’t come to the party because he didn’t want to meet up with Candy.

Candi goes to yell at Sole for making her uncle leave. She doesn’t care about Serrat only her Uncle. She tells Sole not to say those things anymore, besides just how people don’t understand Meno, they might not understand how it is that Beto and Chava have the same Dad. Good point.

Santi talks to Meno who appears to be getting drunker by the minute. Meno asks if Santi likes his niece, he says much and that she made him a believer again, not in God but in love. They discuss how he got used to no one bugging him about where he put his socks or that he snores, but Meno says Candi hates snoring. Meno tells him not to let her go. He tells that he read Santi’s astrological cards and he’s got two paths, one with his girlfriend but the other is with his heart and that is Candi. Anyway, we know Meno likes the two of them together.

Candi calls Santi and learns Tio is there.

Pat has a dream that he sees Candi and tells her he still loves her and she’s all he cares about despite Ali and they kiss.. He wakes up with Ali there.

Santi is now drunk and professes he’s scared to be with her. I think they have switched to Jalisco’s finest instead of wine. Meno asks how he could be scared if he looks for her all the time. He says because he loves it when she yells and even when she bites her lip when she’s nervous. He says they play a cat and mouse game. Just then Candi shows up.

He tells Meno he did trick him, but he’s leaving them alone. Candi and Meno hug and make up. Oh yeah, and cry. He says he messed her make-up, but he put on none today himself because he was too depressed. On the balcony Santi and Donato contemplate why men flee marriage but do everything to get it, Santi replies that a single man is the only incomplete animal, and Donato remarks in that case marriage is the whole animal?

I think the theme here is dark suits with red ties. Now Pato is wearing one and Charly and Santi wore the same thing for the party, and well our president wore the same thing yesterday. Hmm.


Pato is in Santi’s office and they are discussing that he dreamed about his dead wife. Santi wonders her name? Candi. Pato tells all the virtues of her and Santi agrees knowingly, until he catches himself. Pato tells the whole sister kissing story. Santi says yeah, you have to forget this chic, in fact you and your wife should move far away. Really far away, the farthest, to get away from all of this. He picks up the phone to make them reservations even. He recommends Spain because they love Mexicans and there are a lot of lawyers there. Pato says he’s staying then because he’s not a lawyer.

Rocio is forced by Beto and Chava to decide which "boyfriend" she wants to keep.

Santi continues his discussion with Pato and is surprised to learn that she always said yes to Pato and never fought him or yelled at him or gave him guff. Anyway, he calls this an obsession that he needs to get over.

Charly wants to know why his parents split up. Meno asks him if he really is prepared to know the truth. All we get initially is that it was his fault because he fell in love with another person. Charly looks interested.

Santi tells Candi that Pat dreamed of her last night. She wants to know how he knew this happened and Santi tells of their chat. She thinks Pat is dreaming about a ghost because she is dead to him. Santi presses on and tells her Pat loves her, and he’s not in peace because of her death. She says good it was his fault. Santi tells her she should give him a chance to listen to him and that he really loves her. Candi is a bit impactada.

Chaya tries to demonstrate that a housewife is worth something. 11200 pesos to be exact. He says yes, but they don’t charge. She says maybe they don’t charge, but they have value and so you either pay me for what I do or you let me work and we hire someone. This plea has fallen on deaf ears again. He reminds her how much she has to do.

Meno continues to Charly that he was a bit egotistical, but he never forgot his son. He reminds him that he wouldn’t have been happy with unhappy parents but he never meant to leave him. He says he didn’t leave for another women, just fell in love with another person in a relationship that didn’t last long. But they split up and if it was up to him, he never would have left Charly alone.

Back at school Abue comes to pick up Roci so she has to decide quickly who is the novio, so she does eeny meeny miny mo and chooses Beto. Abue says this is silly, you can’t choose a boyfriend when you are hungry, so this will have to wait and she escorts Roci off. The boys fight about who she chose.

Pat takes off to go to Beto’s soccer match when Ali comes in. She asks to go with him that she won’t get in his way. He laughs and says she doesn’t know how not to and besides she hates soccer. She chides that he always brought Candi, and he says well Candi loved soccer. When really pushed of course Ali would rather be hanging around that luxurious office than going to see the Chivas on the weekend and she agrees not to go. Instead she makes an appointment with the plastic doctor for today. Nice.


Lulu is pushing this love thing with Meno and coordinates Zamora to sing to Tio Meno the song, Wake up my Sweet Love :

Despierta dulce amor de mi vida
despierta si te encuentras dormida
escucha mi voz vibrar bajo tu ventana
en esta cancion te vengo a entregar el alma
Perdona que interrumpa tu sueno
pero no pude mas
y esta noche te vine a decir
te quiero
Despierta dulce amor de mi vida
despierta si te encuentras dormida
escucha mi voz vibrar bajo tu ventana
en esta cancion te vengo a entregar el alma
Perdona que interrumpa tu sueno
pero no pude mas
y esta noche te vine a decir
te quiero
Te quiero, te quiero, te adoro


Candi notices and comments on the fact that yes Lulu appears to be flirting and or courting him. She essentially tells him he hides his sexual preference fairly well so she might not even realize it.


Still talking to the invisible maid, Ali is in front of the plastic doctor’s office on the phone. As she is parked exactly in front of the entrance, an amazing feat pulled off only by telenovela actors who have incredible parking karma, in her rear view mirror she spots someone getting out of a taxi that just pulled up. She wants to be sure what she saw, so she watches this person go in the building and up the glass elevator. Without taking off her huge designer sunglasses to get a better look, she asks if that was Candi. We’ll have to wait until next time to learn if she catches her.

Wagers anyone? What are the odds statistically….? Well, even if she does figure it out, she’d probably be in agreement to keep it from Pato for obvious reasons, not the least of which would be to keep her husband, and even more of which, as something to blackmail Candi, so maybe we are in luck with at least another person learning the gig is up. Slowly but surely the house of cards will tumble. I only hope the little kids aren’t playing Fort in it when it does. :)

Labels: Tontas

We start off with Olga helping Marichuy and Cande bring there things in. Cande tells her not to tell anyone that they are back.

The housekeeper tells Patricio that Ceci and Estephania came back from there trip and that Ceci is devastated. Patricio asks Ceci how it went and she tells him that they did not find her.

Onelia says out loud that the trial for the murderer starts tomorrow. JM asks Onelia if she has talked to the authorities regarding there accusations about Viv. She does not want to talk about it. She tells JM that as of today they will be on opposite sides.

Cande is making breakfast and Marichuy tells her that she has things to do today. She will be going to see JM.

Ceci blames Estephania for missing Marichuy before she left.

Leopard goes up to Marichuy’s room sadden by her sudden departure. Oh, no she forgot her damn bird! He grabs and starts talking to the bird and says something about a bird and how they fly or something like that. He sheds a tear.

Patricio defends Estephania that she is not to blame for missing that girl. Ceci tells him it’s not that girl but our daughter. She starts recalling events of the previous day and remembers that she crossed paths with her while she was leaving and they were arriving. She gets hysterical and he tries to calm her down.

Marichuy is walking towards the house with a bounce in her step. Mayita is playing by the fountain with a baby. Marichuy calls out to her. She goes running to greet her and asks her about her brother that she promised to bring her. Marichuy tells her later and asks where JM is.

Estephania is walking down the street talking to Isa on the phone regarding what happened the day before. She tells her that they just missed Marichuy and that the whole way back she had to hear her cry. They were told that Marichuy left the hacienda forever. Isa says that Ceci will never find her again and she must be crying buckets. Isa is too happy about this. Estephania thinks that she may know where she is.

Mayita tells Marichuy that her dad left. Marichuy wants to know where, but Mayita does not know.

Leopard yells out to Micaela to get his bags ready because he is leaving to go find Marichuy (Lirio).

Marichuy and Mayita go sit in the living room. She asks Marichuy again about the baby she promised to bring her. She tells Mayita that she will complete her promise. Mayita tells Marichuy that someone in her school told her that her mother is dead. She knows it’s a lie like the other time when they told her that her mom was dead and then she came back. Also that her nanny left too. She asks Marichuy if she will return to live with her. Marichuy tells her that she does not know, but will be waiting for JM.

Cosme tells Leopard that he is wasting his time looking for Marichuy (Lirio). Leopard does not care he will not just cross his arms and do nothing. He doesn’t understand. They were going to be married. He was so happy and now in such pain worse then before. When he finds her he will demand an explanation. He will move heaven and earth to find her.

Back at JM’s house Estephania asks Balbina where Marichuy is. Balbina is confused, but hears laughter in the living room and goes in. She sees Marichuy and says “I knew it”. She was sure that Marichuy would return. Yes, I have responds Marichuy, and what’s it too you. Estephania asks her what her intentions are. Marichuy tells her that it’ none of her concern. Estephania tells her that she is the same naca as before and has not changed. Mayita sticks up for her and tells Estephania that she has changed. Marichuy tells her that she has changed inside and is now a woman. She tells Mayita to go to her room and play with the baby for awhile. Before Mayita leaves the room she gives Estephania a dirty look. Marichuy tells Estephania what do you have to say to me?

The lawyer is talking with JM about the case. Blanca sees JM thru the bars.

Estephania asks why she came. Marichuy tells her that she found out that Viv was dead. Estephania tells her you think there is room for you now? Because now there is another. Marichuy tells her that if she is trying to scare her off she is wasting her time. Estephania tells her that she thinks she knows everything but does not. Marichuy tells her that she knows JM is going thru a lot, that he is alone and that I care for him. That is why I am here. Estephania tells her that there are definitely things that she does not know. She is going to tell her everything.

JM asks the lawyer if he can get close to Blanca. The lawyer thinks that it is not a good idea. JM wants to find out immediately after what happens and will be waiting for the attorney.

Marichuy tells Estephania that she does not believe her. She is not the old Marichuy who believed all her lies. Estephania asks her why she is defending JM. Do you not remember what he did to that night? Marichuy says that is in the past and she has forgiven him. Estephania tells her that JM is waiting for Blanca to get out of jail so that they can marry.

Mayita tells Abuela that Marichuy has returned.

Marichuy tells Estephania that she is lying. She will wait until he returns. Estephania then says that JM will be kicking her out again like he did before. She then asks why she left the hacienda since the owner was crazy about her and the baby. Marichuy says how do you know that when no one else does. She then says that it must have been Amador. Estephania tells her that it does not matter. She now knows the truth.

Back at the hacienda Micaela is packing Leopard’s bag. She asks him how long he plans to be gone. He says I don’t know, but I will not be returning until I find her. (here’s a thought. why don’t you ask PA) I have no idea where to look for her, but she has to reappear. Micaela thinks to herself that he will never find out if he uses the name Lirio. But she cannot tell him anything.

Balbina tells Rocio that Estephania is in the living room talking with Marichuy. Rocio runs in the room and greets Marichuy warmly and tells her that she missed her immensely. She wants to know how she is. Marichuy tells her that she found out what has been going on and believes that JM is innocent. Rocio tells her that Blanca was the one to kill Viv and that JM said he did it to protect her.

In the courtroom the judge reads the charges while Onelia tears up. The prosecutor asks Blanca is she is pleading innocent or guilty. She pleads innocent.

JM is thinking about Marichuy and wonders who she will be marrying.

Micaela is having a full conversation in her head about the difficult dilemma in regards to staying quiet or telling Leopard that truth.

Rocio tells Marichuy the truth about Blanca and what has happened. Marichuy asks if there is something between JM and Blanca. Rocio tells her that they are engaged. Estephania is like “I told you!” Rocio tells her that Blanca is a very nice person and asks her about her upcoming marriage. If she is married yet. Marichuy tells her no.

Micaela could not tell Leopard the truth about Marichuy (Lirio).

Rocio tells Marichuy that she hopes she will be happy in her marriage and thought that she would never see her again. Rocio lets slip out that Viv was pregnant when she was killed and Marichuy says what? She was going to be a mother again. Yes, responds Rocio but Blanca is not at fault. I will tell you that part of the story another day. Blanca is sick and that is why JM is defending her. Today the trial starts and JM is there.

JM is thinking about Marichuy. He says that she is fair away and that he has lost her forever.

Rocio asks Marichuy if she is okay. Marichuy gets up quickly and says that she has to go. She runs out of the room. Estephania runs after her and asks her what she plans to do. Are you returning to the hacienda? Marichuy tells her that she does not have to explain what she is going to do. Estephania tells her that she feels sorry for her. Marichuy tells her that I do not need your pity. Estephania drives in that JM does not need or wants her and to return to the hacienda. Marichuy runs off.

Marichuy returns home and tells Cande that JM was not home when she asks if she saw him.
Marichuy starts crying and says that JM does not care for her, but another. Who, asks Cande. Marichuy informs her it’s the woman that killed Viv.

Estephania tells Isa that Marichuy is back.

Marichuy tells Cande everything that she found out. Cande scolds her and says that you should not have left the hacienda or Leopard and that we should return immediately. PA does not even know we are here. Do you want me to tell him? Marichuy does not want PA to know because she does not want to get scolded by him.

Patricio asks JM why he is sitting outside. JM tells him that Onelia is in there and he does not want to be with her. Patricio says that he would have been here sooner, but Ceci was upset. Why, asks JM. Because she went to look for…..

Cande tells Marichuy that she is going to get a taxi to return, but Marichuy stops her. She tells Cande that we cannot make rash decisions. Cande reminds her that when she read the paper she immediately decided to return. And see where that got me responds Marichuy.
Ceci is in her room wondering where Marichuy is. She thinks that maybe Marichuy went back home and decides to leave now to find her.

Tomorrow: Mayita tells Onelia that Marichuy is back.

Labels: Cuidado

Eduardo Juárez Cruz / Franco Santoro - Fernando Colunga is a happy, noble boy, of profound sentiments, who adores his mother. His father died when Eduardo was 6 years old, from him Eduardo inherited his love of animals and respect for nature. He is a dreamer, but his love for Fernanda is solid as a rock. Even though Barbara's malice will separate them for years, when he sees her again he realizes his love is intact and he will fight for Fernanda and for justice.

Fernanda Elizalde Rivera - Silvia Navarro - beautiful, sweet, generous, of strong convictions, without social prejudice and worried for other people. Her innocent heart suffers a great blow when she is separated from Eduardo and, a little while later, when her mother dies. Her positive attitude helps her recover from her losses. When she groes up and works in the family business, she wants to open a center of handicraft activities (aha! Gewgaws R Us!) for her community.

Bárbara Greco / Rebeca Sánchez - Lucero is a beautiful and intelligent, but also perverse and manipulative, woman, who will do anything to succeed in her intentions. A childhood full of blows and abuse deformed her soul, and her way out was to assassinate her parents. Years later, under the name of Barbara Greco, she gets a job in the Gonzalo businesses in order to destroy the Elizalde family on Artemio's orders.

Gonzalo Elizalde - Rogelio Guerra is a rich hacienda owner and owns an important dairy business. An educated, honest, hardworking and responsible man, goodnatured and kind, easily manipulated by emotional blackmail. When he becomes a widow, he marries his assistant Barbara, whom he trusts blindly. He is considered a fortunate and happy man.

Monserrat Rivera de Elizalde - Erika Buenfil - beautiful, distinguished and traditional, with strong religious and moral principles that she promotes in her children. She is a classist and keeps her distance from the serving class. Her children are at difficult ages and she cannot communicate with them. She resents Soledad, the housekeeper, who better understands Santiago, Fernanda and Liliana, and has gained their affection and respect.

Damián Gallardo - Sergio Sendel is Fernanda's fiance. [And our favorite cellphone hurler.] A social climber allied with Barbara, who hires him to work in the business as Finance Director. He woos Fernanda on Barbara's instructions, and gets her to accept his wedding proposal. He left his home when he was of age because he was sick of his overprotective mother, Ursula.

Soledad Cruz - María Rojo is Eduardo's mother, and her son is the world to her. Widowed after just a few years of marriage, she dedicated herself to caring for the Elizondo children. When Barbara arrives, Don Gonzalo cedes the important decisions in the home and the business to her little by little. Soledad confronts the new assistant when she notices her viciousness. Barbara dedicates herself to nullifying Soledad, separating her from her son for many years and threatening to kill him.

Liliana Elizalde - Dominika Paleta - of strong convictions and noble sentiments, she is frank and direct, she hates hypocrisy. She is a vivacious, rebellious teenager. She is her mother's headache and her father's joy. She loves Soledad and Eduardo very much and protects her little sister Fernanda. Her life goes to pieces when Barbara frames her for the assassination of Monserrat and she spends years hidden in a psychiatric clinic.

Labels: manana, synopsis-cast

More making-out with passed-out persons. Nice. Juan wakes up and is insistent to go get the girls to protect them. Sofia and he argue about who gets to protect the girls.

“Hello Padre. Let me emphasize my ass in your face. Let me curve my back over the couch for you. Let me stretch my arms to the ceiling, giving you the false appearance of double E’s.” No, no. I have come to combat evil, and if that means only half pretending to see you air hump me, we will consider my fledgling self-restraint a success. Apparently Rooty has information which can save Gramps. Salvation and repentance are not sexy, Paddy. She only ruins marriages, not fix them. Seeing that her seductive minutes are numbered, she goes for the “let me lie down and expose myself to you” in a desperate attempt, but PadTad can barely interpret his own feelings, let alone the ultra-mixed signals of an overage, oversexed societal reject.

Speaking of unstable “marriages,” Juan is explaining to Sofia that he never wanted sex with who’s-her-face, it just happened because “they” drugged him. “Ah, I see. I’m confused. That’s why I’m going to make a decision that will change our lives.” Or not really…

Whattayaknow, Jimena still hasn’t flown the coup, and I thought for sure Tijuana was gonna be her big break…

God, what is this? Everyone is having a shitty day around here. Sarita, barer of all things shitty, tells Oscar, who from this point forward will be eternalized as “Cheney” that Jimena is “leaving.” How he didn’t see this from his ever-contemplative state, I don’t know. He wheels away in fury…

I still have no idea who this chick with the painted scar is, but we will call her Shelly. Shelly tells Raquel to face her fears and face her husband. Face…tehe…

Cheney begs Jimena to come back, but she’s nearly made it out the door, and she’s never looking back. He loves her, but she doesn’t know if she loves him. They hold hands.

Gabi tells Hubby that she doesn’t trust anyone around here, not even her own newly-found daughter, Root. Who is “probably getting it on with you [Fernie].” She’s so quick, that one.

Juan is still paranoid that the daughters aren’t safe at the compound. It’s breeding season, after all. Still, he’s content that Sofia “understands” why he was caught with Root. Oscar is sad about Jimena’s slow but sure departure. When he needs them most, the bros. tell him to forget about her because he was a prick from the onset. So he does what they say and decides to fidget with the combination on Fernie’s safe.

Sofia is caught praying in PadTad’s chambers. I always wonder why all the main characters never pray where the normal heathens pray. “Now more than ever,” her kids need a babysitter, and her mother is evil. What should she do? “God is good, child. Honor your mother and father. But it is also written, father: don’t provoke your children.” Does it really say that? Just then he goes of on a preaching rant about parents who are only interested in themselves are evil, and the children are good. So, you’re saying that me hating my mother is perfectly godly? Yes, child, it is.

The nuns are itching to go home and take care of the children. I feel a musical coming on.
Shelly has come to see Gabi. She wants Sofia to know that Gabi isn’t her mother. How sad are you when you hit a blind crippled Scarface? Why is it that the scar changes form and location with every scene? She’s insistent to leave. Oh, her name’s Soledad, Shelly for short.

So even though it makes her an even bigger hypocrite, Sofia’s going ahead with the DNA testing per the attorney’s recommendation. *Putting on my legal/fiscal hat* Never do wills, do trusts. Never leave assets to your children with clauses like “have an heiress on the third moon of the summer solstice then lose it at a waterfall. Taking off hat…

So, naturally, like narcotic/human trafficker father, like narcotic/human trafficker son, Coyote is the “son” of Ricky Uribe. Shelly urges Coyote to accept this and move on. He can’t. So now, like some of the other lost characters, he has telenovela dreams of vengeances, but amateur film abilities of realizing them.

After understanding that DNA was a blood test and not a code for “I killed your sister,” Juan agrees to test the orphans. So will they brand the real kid or what? I won’t even mention how this would never happen in our childcare system. Well, after what was probably the only test Juan ever passed, he gets the results and pulls his crippled brother out of bed by his dead legs and takes him to the bus station. It wasn’t good enough, though. Eva actually had to restrain him in the wheel chair. Something similar happened earlier today when they told Cheney about Guantanamo…

While her parents are arguing about marrying for love or money, Root comes in and blames them for her messed up life. Somebody’s been watching Jenny Jones again… She heads for the bars, while Coyote aims his gun at her. She stands a better chance of crashing into an exploding tree… oh, wait, that already happened.

Not surprisingly, Jimena never made it out of town, and “forgot” something back at the ranch. She accidently kisses Cheney.

Tomorrow: Sofia is “this close” to telling everyone about Root and Fernie. Oh yeah, you all have two days to get out, because I’m now the owner of everything. Root’s going to pay big-time for her adventures.

*Kiddies, I'm exhausted. I'm in over my head with school, and as much as I love you, I can't do this anymore. So, I will do my best to finish my days with FELS, but when it's done, I'm done. Thanks.

Labels: Fuego

Here are two different versions I found on line.

Fernanda is the youngest daughter of Gonzalo Elizalde, owner of a hacienda and proprietor of an important milk product business, and Eduardo is the son of Soledad, housekeeper to the family Elizalde. The two children grew up together, united by an innocent and loyal love, despite the difference between their social classes.

Gonzalo lives happily with his wife Monserrat and his five children, without suspecting that an implacable enemy lies in wait. Artemio Bravo (Gonzalo's half-brother) feels an intense and bitter hatred toward Gonzalo; it has corroded his mind, and his only aim in life is to destroy the entire Elizalde family slowly and sadly. To achieve this he will use an unscrupulous young woman who arrives at the Gonzala business under the name Barbara Greco. Her intelligence makes a good impression on Gonzalo, who hires her as his personal assitant. little by little, with great cunning, Barbara succeeds in gaining his complete confidence.

Barbara's first victims are Fernanda and Eduardo, whom she discovers in a tender kiss. With a subtle, venomous tongue, Barbara convinces Monserrat that Eduardo is a danger for the girl, and the boy is sent to boarding school in the city. The children's letters come into Soledad's hands and she, with much sadness, decides they will not reach their destination. This makes Fernanda feel that Eduardo has forgotten her...

Gonzalo, Fernanda's father, has never been concerned with class differences, but his wife Monserrat energetically rejects this friendship, given that Eduardo is the son of a hacienda employee.

Eduardo gives Fernanda a charm with his initials FE, as a symbol of his strong sentiment. The youngsters have marvelous moments meeting in secret, until the moment they are unfortunately discovered by Barbara (personal assistant of Don Gonzalo), whose wickedness insures the two will be separated for many years.

When the couple meets again, their sentiments are intact, but she doesn't realize that this man, who worries her, is her great love.

Labels: manana, synopsis-cast

Some news: It was so obvious that they are only shooting Génesis from the head up that I prowled around on the TW site until I found the reason - Génesis broke her shoulder.
There was also the rumor that the novela has been extended to 160 episodes, which would take it into March or April. It's definitely running through the end of Feb. Much as I like DB, I think it's time to wrap it up. How long can they drag out the Santos/DB/Marisela thing? IMHO, extending a novela never works.

I've got you beat, novelera, I went to the inauguation on Monday. No ticket. I just stood on the mall near the Washington Monument but I wanted to be a part of history and standing around with two million 'blissed out,' to use Maureen Dowd's term, people was great. The cold was not a problem for me. I have lots of cold weather gear for birdwatching but my feet hurt and still do!

Back to the Arauca-
Not surprisingly, the payback that DB demanded of Marisela is that she refuse the gift of the hacienda. Marisela says that she wants to go far away from here. Santos asks why she changed her mind and Marisela asks him to just respect her decision. Santos won't give up. He wants a reason. We can see Marisela thinking and then she tells him that La Barquereña doesn't exist. DB turned it into El Miedo and her influence is in every corner. Marisela says that she doesn't want anything DB has touched.

Leaving Altamire, DB tells Melquíades that there is a little problem - Lorenzo refuses to return the property transfer document to DB. DB says that she is sure Marisela will keep her promise.

Lorenzo is sure that DB is behind Marisela's decision. Santos returns and Cecilia tells them both that she thinks she knows what happened. A few days ago, DB came to Altamira and spoke to Marisela. Since then, she has been very sad and withdrawn.

Those who are invited to Marisela's birthday party rub it into the faces of those not invited: Mujiquita to Pernalete; Eustaquia to DB.

Santos accuses DB of doing something to keep Marisela from signing the document. He asks what she told Marisela during their conversation. DB denies having a conversation with Marisela and suggests that Marisela is capricious and probably wants to go off somewhere with Gonzalo. While Marisela avoids looking Lorenzo in the eyes and telling him a lie, DB has no problem swearing to Santos that she had nothing to do with Marisela changing her mind about accepting the gift of the hacienda.

Santos admires Marisela in her party outfit and says that he wants to be friends with her like they were before. "My poor Santos," says Marisela, "always thinking about the wellbeing of others, always concerned about everything. You fought so hard to get that woman to give me the hacienda." Santos reminds Marisela that the woman she is referring to is her mother. Marisela says that she will never call her that. Marisela says that DB never changes. Once again, Santos asks Marisela if DB forced her to change her mind about accepting the hacienda. "Why do I have to swear to you about something to do with DB?" says Marisela, "You should believe her above anyone else, including me and if you doubt her, how can you marry her?"

Don Encarnación and Lucía arrive at the party as does Eustaquia with Juan Primito. Juan Primito has his hair all slicked down but is wearing the same overalls as always. I guess he has a new shirt.

DB doesn't like being left alone and considers crashing Marisela's party.

The rebels arrive at the party is ridiculous diguises.

Marisela comes down to the party and dances with Lorenzo.

María Nieves arrives with Federica and Josefa to make Altagracia jealous. He does some very dirty dancing with Federica to the surprise of Gervasia, Melesio and the priest.
Mujiquita and Dr. Arias get an eyeful when Josefa leans over in her short dress to pick up her fan.

Antonio leaves the party when he sees Cecilia with Lorenzo. Lucía follows him.

Santos dances romantically with Marisela until DB arrives at the party and dances with Santos herself. That makes Marisela start to dance with Gonzalo.

Here, Marisela imagines herself dancing alone with Marisela or is Santos imagining that?

Antonio tells Lucía that he does stupid things when he is drunk. She begs him to take her with him when he leaves with the rebels. He refuses. She kisses him and Cecilia sees them.

When Santos asks Marisela to dance with him again, she refuses to leave Gonzalo saying that he is her boyfriend (novio). Santos is impactado.

Wednesday-

The Mondragons and BP crash Marisela's birthday party. At DB's instructions, they provoke a brawl and after Santos stops it, DB tardily orders them to leave and goes back to El Miedo with them, Eustaquia and Juan Primito. Casilda overhears DB telling Melquíades about the plan so soon everyone at Altamira knows.

Josefa recognizes Gonzalo as a fugitive and is going to blackmail Mujiquita for her silence.

Antonio takes leave of his father. Melesio tells him that when he gets his life straightened out, to please return to Altamira. Melesio says that he won't be around forever.

Lorenzo gives numerous farewells: he tells Marisela how proud he is of her; he thanks Santos for giving him some dignity in his last months; he tells Cecilia how happy he is that they had this time together, and he forgives DB for what she did to him and tells her that she won't win and that while he will die in the bosom of his family, she will die alone.

Lorenzo also makes sure that Cecilia has securely hidden the property transfer document. This is obviously going to be important in the future. All Marisela has to do is sign it and El Miedo belongs to her. He leaves a note for Marisela and tells Cecilia that she will know when to give it to Marisela.

Santos returns from the party to El Miedo and he is angry with DB.

DB manages to cajole him to making love to her, however, during which Santos sees Marisela's face instead of DB's. Even though Santos doesn't say anything, DB understands what happened and is devastated.

Marisela says a final goodnight to Lorenzo.

Cecilia makes Lorenzo sleep next to her in her bed.

DB gets a haunting in the middle of the night presumably when Lorenzo dies. He tells her again that she will die alone. The next morning Cecilia finds Lorenzo dead in her bed.

Labels: barbara

Hello all,

If you're interested you can click the tiny icon at the bottom of the left column and see our statistics - as of right now, there have actually been more than 607,000 visits because I had to reset the counter in March of 2007. At the moment we average 696 visits per day.

Hello everybody!

Melinama

Labels: announcements

Alternate title: Marichuy goes ashore to find her shipwrecked prince.

In the study, Juan Miguel tells Rocío that the detectives think that Viviana shot a man she was involved with and dumped him in the sea, then fled to Madrid. Rocío is shocked and thinks that it may be divine punishment that Viv was also murdered. Juan Miguel thinks that life provides its own punishments and God doesn’t so much bother with it. No deity has any need to bother with punishing Juan Miguel, for sure…he is a master of self-punishing behavior. Anyhoo, Juan Miguel is off to the jail to see Blanca. He and Rocío are hoping to get her out of the pokey and back home with them soon, because Viv’s murder is so last month’s news and they’d like to move on to the next one already. Life’s been getting dull for them with only an attempted murder and devastating heartbreak.

Side note: we never actually see Blanca in this episode, but I hope that JM took her a change of clothes. It pains me to see her in that flimsy nurse uniform day after day. She’s got to be dying for something fresher and warmer to put on.

Marichuy and Cande discuss the newspaper story. Marichuy refuses to believe that JM conspired to kill Viv.

Stefi drives the car along a country road while Ceci navigates. I don’t think she’s very good at navigating, though, because Stef has to tell her that they’re about 40 km from San Felipe. Ceci voices her plan for what must be the umpteenth time—as soon as they get to town, they will stop at the first business and ask for directions to Hacienda Escondida. I know, I know, says Stef. They stop on a road which is NOT in town (we see a pueblo in the distance) and Ceci wants to ask some passing farmers in a wagon for directions. Stef tries to block Ceci’s progress by saying those hicks won’t know anything, but Ceci says in a small town people know everything. She asks the men. Escondida? Escondida?, they repeat, as though they’ve never heard of it.

Mari is crying and telling Cande that she must go to see Juan Miguel, and that she still loves him. Cande is all kinds of shocked and rants at Marichuy at length: Are you going to leave Omar? He trusts you and everyone is getting ready for your wedding; he has been so good to you; you are a total ingrate; how can you just stand him up? Marichuy says it’s not just a matter of her feelings, but also that Juan Miguel is Jr.’s dad.

One of the farmers gets off the wagon (but he looks sober enough) and says sure, everyone around here knows that hacienda. He then gives them complicated directions to get there, mentioning the storm damage and the livestock he lost in the floods. He says they won’t be able to miss the hacienda; there’s a big sign. Ceci thanks him and as they get back in the car, Estafa says she doesn’t want to drive her fancy car on bad roads. Ceci’s like, oh shut up, if this car gets ruined Patricio will just buy you another one, even though you are NOT OUR DAUGHTER. She didn’t say that last part out loud.

Onelia yells at Rocío and accuses her and Juan Miguel of inventing the story of the Jamaican boy-toy’s murder just to defame Viviana.

Marichuy tells Cande that she doesn’t think she has the right to deprive her son of knowing his father, and she doesn’t think it’s right to deceive JM either, besides, surely he would find out her lies eventually. So why did you agree to marry Leo?, Cande wants to know. Mari says she’s been turning it over and over in her mind, and she was never sure she was doing the right thing, but she wanted her son to have a home and family and she thought that Juan Miguel already had another one. She begs Cande to understand that, as it turns out, Miguelito can be with his real father. In spite of everything, Juan Miguel is her one twue wuv. The baby looks like he’s thinking hard about all this.

JM tells Ornerylia that the investigators will find out the truth, and soon they will know what happened.

Marichuy says that it pains her to think that she will hurt Leopardo, but when she felt like she was falling in love with him she felt like she was betraying herself at the same time; that’s why she wanted to leave once before. Besides, JM must be suffering also, and needs her now more than ever. There is much more binding Marichuy to JM than to any other man, including Leo—they were married and have a son, and now they will never be separated, ever (which of course means they will). So, let’s get out of here, says Marichuy.

Onelia marches into the study with steam pouring from her ears and flames shooting from her nostrils to tell JM that she’s thought about it and she’s sure he’s just inventing the murder story to make Viv look bad. JM is like, why would I need to invent anything? You know what your daughter was like, and you know exactly what she was capable of. Onelia insists that he is just determined to mar her memory. JM assures her that he is actually working very hard to make sure no one finds out anything about Viv’s escapades, for Mayita’s sake.

Mayita is in TwinkleLand, where Abuela Mariana is telling her and Cuate the story of the little mermaid. In this version, the mermaid saves the handsome prince when he is naufragado (shipwrecked). The mermaid gets a potion from the seawitch to get legs because they’re so in luurve, and finds her prince on shore, but granny says it’s late so we have to wait for another time to find out whether they get married and live happily ever after.

JM says eventually the truth will come out, and everyone will know Blanca=good and Viv=bad. Onelia says Viv had lots of friends who will vouch for her angelic character. JM thinks the police will disagree. He gives Onelia the detectives’ phone number.

A taxi has arrived at the hacienda. Marichuy is all packed and saying goodbye to her bird. Marichuy thanks Micaela for everything and asks her to ask Omar to forgive and forget her. It’s a tearfest all around. She begs Mica not to tell Leo who she really is, and Mica agrees. Cande says they’ll write and call, and Marichuy takes a long teary look at the hacienda before getting into the taxi. They drive away. Mica cries some more.

Stef and Ceci seem to have gotten lost. Stef of course wants to give up, but Ceci sees a field wall that the farmer mentioned, and tells Stef to go that way, where the taxi is exiting. They pass the taxi taking Marichuy away.

Leo is in another taxi, excited to be arriving home because he’s getting married and they’re going to be so happy. His taxi passes the other taxi. That is a really nice section of pavered road that they all seem to be going back and forth on which makes no sense directionwise.

Ceci and Stef arrive at the hacienda and Mica tells them that Omar Contreras is not at home. We’re not actually looking for him; we’re looking for Marichuy, says Ceci. Mica is impactada. Does she know that Lirio’s real name is Marichuy? I forget.

Onelia begins to wonder whether Viviana really did kill someone. She calls the detectives.

Ceci tells Mica that she is Marichuy’s mother. Mica is impactada again. She asks whether her brother Padre Anselmo sent them. Ceci is delighted that they’ve found the right place and says she wants to see Marichuy. Mica says you’ve missed her; they just left fifteen minutes ago. And they’re not coming back ever.

Isabela calls Martirio, who reports that Stef and Ceci should have arrived at the hacienda by now, but she doesn’t know what’s happened. Isa worries that if they bring that guacha back with them it will just cause problems for her and Stef, but have no fear, she will find a way to get between Ceci and Marichuy.

Mica doesn’t know where Marichuy has gone, so Stef and Ceci leave. Leo arrives as they are getting into the car, and he asks Mica who the ladies are. She doesn’t answer, so he asks why she’s crying. Where’s Lirio?, he yells frantically, and she tells him that she’s gone. Poor Leo is muy, pero muy impactadisimo. Then he thinks it’s a mean joke, but Mica would never joke like that. Leo runs to the bedroom and sees that they really are gone, but left the bird.

Ceci cries in the car, devastated to have missed seeing Marichuy again. Stefi is totally sympathetic, all “oh well! Maybe next time!” She says she’s sorry, not bothering to sound the least bit sorry. Ceci says she’s lost all hope.

A bus with a very wide aisle, in which a guy is standing and playing guitar, ambles down the road past the cows. Marichuy, Cande, and Miguelito sit in the back and Cande worries about what is going to happen to them. Marichuy doesn’t think she’s very helpful.

Onelia is still telling herself that Viviana may not have declined to amedrentar (frighten), but she couldn’t have killed anyone. She is saying it much more quietly and with much less conviction, though.

Mica tells Leo that she doesn’t know why Liriochuy left or where she went, so will he please stop asking? He tells her to find the taxi driver.

Marichuy and Cande are dragging their numerous belongings through the old neighborhood with a great deal of difficulty. It must be very late, because no one is out and about to help them. Finally Olga sees them and welcomes them warmly and helps with the stuff. Cande is happy to be home.

The taxi driver reports that he took the ladies to the bus station in town, but he doesn’t know what bus they took. The only things he heard them say were “thank you” and “goodbye.” Why doesn’t she want me to know where she went?, Leo laments.

Olga is doubly surprised and delighted to find that Marichuy has a baby. She invites them in for dinner. Cande says they’ve already eaten, but she could eat again. They haul all the stuff up the stairs. That baby basket stand does not look sturdy. They enter the dusty old apartment, and ask Olga not to tell anyone they’ve returned, because they’re tired and don’t want to explain to everyone at this hour. Olga says she won’t say a word. Marichuy says that, being back there, it’s like no time has passed, except she left with her heart broken and her arms empty, and now she’s happy with her baby. The rosy pink lighting tells us it’s nice for them to be back.

Avances: Leo says he’s going to find Marichuy. Marichuy goes to see Juan Miguel and Mayita.

Labels: Cuidado

Read more »

Labels: index

Hello friends, this is the second of my four stand-in-for-Cheryl Tuesdays.

We start with: Coyote thinking murderous, vengeful thoughts towards Gabriela while she thinks amorous and trusting thoughts towards him; Soledad begging Juan to protect her son Coyote from those murderous, vengeful thoughts of his; a quick recap of the entire Fuego storyline; Franco and Sarita kissy and hijinxy while he complains that her sisters are stubborn.

Oscar, doing his floor exercises, suddenly can move all his toes. "I will walk again! I'll surprise Ximena!"

Ximena is going to rent a car or get train tickets or something to leave town. Darth Ricky watches and decides she'll be his first victim. X shows Sara her ticket, is determined to leave and not give Oscar another chance. Sara proposes she spend her last night at the hacienda, but Ximena doesn't want a fight with mom, she'll come by in the morning for her things.

In the marketplace, Quintina is selling bread with a side of singing thrown in for free. She and Hortensia have a little squabble. The tiny uncle sings a nice song about pigs/riffraff (I didn't get much of it - can somebody post it?) and there's dancing.

In the hacienda, Juan and Sofia commence almost tearing their daughters limb from limb, fighting over who will give them baths. Finally, Juan leads a procession up the stairs - each toddler in the arms of one of the mute rent-a-nuns.

At the bottom of the stairs, Root appears; she and Sofia glare at each other, and Sofia, despite the fact she doesn't give Juan the time of day these days, smugly informs Root: "Every day he is closer to me and farther from you." "You'll pay - your girls first" is Root's malevolent thought-bubble in response.

After bedtime, Juan and Sofia glare at each other in the hallway and say goodnight over and over. He grabs a kiss. She pouts just like my donkey Jethro.

Proof this story does not take place on our planet - I just realized! The full moon every night! On our planet it is not thus.

Anyway, on this particular night the full moon is shadowed for a while, while Ximena tosses in her bed. The clouds part and the moon is bright when Darth Ricky, swathed in black and with a bandanna over his face, sneaks in, grabs her keys, and then tries to rape and/or kill her. Luckily and pluckily she brains him with a hefty crystal vase and he staggers away.

At the very same time, Ruth (whose mischievous outfit tonight is a tied-off shirt, exposed belly button, gloves without fingers, and ridiculous studded chaps) gleefully puts a poisonous snake on the bed of one of the toddlers. Oh! No! Heh heh. She sneaks away...

... but at that very moment, Juan suffers a cramp and realizes the toddlers are in danger! He rushes into their room, grabs the snake (this is at least the second snake in this telenovela) and stamps on it, but it bites him first, so there is general rushing around and Rosendo arrives with the antidote and Juan staggers all over the place wanting to do stuff but he's too dizzy so they put him to bed, where Sarita tells him he's great and that Sofia loves him and the toddlers need him.

Darth Ricky, with a really aching head, staggers off through the night after being brained. A bunch of guys shows up; he knocks a couple of them down but there are lots more, with guns. They point their guns at him. He begs them not to shoot - "Whoever's paying you to do this, I'll pay twice as much! Triple!" - and gets quite hysterical. Coyote calls off his guys ("That's enough for tonight") and they all disappear.

Sofia busts into Gab's room and accuses Furd of the snake-in-toddler-bed trick. He denies it and Gab is indignant etc. and then the exact same scene I got last week: "Mother, why do you hate me so much when I am your own blood?" "Why do I hate you? Do you really want to know?" etc. and they end up in the study in the same positions as last Tuesday, and Gab is again perfectly ready to reveal the sad secret, but this time it is not Soledad but Ximena who disrupts the revelations; she wants to report her night's adventures.

Gab rolls her eyes in profound disinterest as Ximena complains she was nearly violated. Sofia and Sarita are aghast and take their sis away to give her comfort. Ximena tells them her story. Sofia, of course, has to counter with memories of her own, ACTUAL violation and cries a bit before she says, "well it's not about me this time."

Darth continues staggering off through the night and goes to complain to daughter Root about his headache and failed vengeance. He doesn't want a doctor, just some tequila.

Gab stomps off to the bedroom to complain to Furd: "Why didn't you defend me?" but he is not there. She has some uncomfortable flashbacks and decides he's with Ruth and stomps off to find him...

... and Ruth and Furd are, in fact, in bed together ("Let me go," "You know you want it," etc.) having first fought about Ruth's failed snake-bitten-baby vengeance. (Furd: "You failed because you acted alone, get me involved next time.")...

... Gab blows past Root's unconvincing protestations to look in the her bed, but Furd is gone! So Gab goes back to the hacienda...

... and there's Furd in the bed he shares with Gab! He's pretending to be asleep (about as well as I did when I was eight and had just bolted upstairs at the sound of the garage door). I bet he still has his shoes on. Gab yells and accuses him; he makes unconvincing protestations of innocence ("With your DAUGHTER? You think I'm capable of such a thing?") and obediently, after Gab demands: "I must be loved!," puts his rubbery lips on her.

Sofia, still in her supremely ugly purple outfit, sneaks into the room where Juan is sleeping off the snakebite poison. Oh! No! He's burning up with a fever again. This is perhaps his third fever - one in the barn, one in the jungle, and now. Were there others? Poor lad is so susceptible. So Sofia recaps her rape (which we know was committed by Furd, but perhaps she still mostly doesn't suspect...) to the unconscious fellow (just as well, nobody wants to hear it again, wish I was unconscious too) - and kisses his febrile lips.

I missed the scenes from tomorrow, sorry!

Labels: Fuego

Alternate title: What just happened here?

Alternate title 2: Are we there yet?

Alternate title 3: Lotsa talk but not much action.



Oh my, lots of dangling carrots again but in the end, not a whole lot happened tonight. It was like munching on one big rice cake. A lot of chewing but no satisfaction. Not for me anyway.



But I'm a good soldier...here's the rehash and the new hash. Read it if you must. But don't worry, it won't be on the final!



Old stuff: Marissa and Raul are having their umpteenth heart to heart about Santiago and Candy. He's warning her off Santi...he knows he's a womanizer. She, on the other hand, is sure he'll be faithful once she has that wedding ring on his finger. After all, he was faithful to Paula! (faulty logic, but hey, I've been in love and it's never logical....so we'll give Marissa a pass on that one). She suggests he nail down Candy so she can "keep her enemy near". Faulty logic there too. Remember that old blues refrain "Don' worry 'bout that strange woman, baby, jus' look out for yo' bes' friend." Amen to that one.



The other old stuff is Patricio telling Chava he wants to meet his mom and Chava dutifully calls her. Oh what a tease! How many times have the writers done this to us!? Did you really think it was going to happen this time.?...nah...and dang it, they end this episode with another tease at the engagement party. It's enough to make you cranky. (Plus the Buckeyes are losing tonight.)



Now the new stuff and it gets rather dramatic. Candy's at the door, hearing Chava call her, biting her lip (symbol for deep thinking) and she says to herself...Alright, let's get it over with...and opens the door....to Meño, dressed in drag, ready to be Mother and save his niece.



The plan backfires. Patricio is horrified that Meño's garbed himself up as a woman. He says he's okay with his gayness but not that. You're damaging the kids Meño. It's not good for them to be raised around that and I don't want Beto coming over here anymore.



After Patricio exits with Chava and Beto, heading for the soccer stadium, Charly enters and is as put off by Meño's outfit as Pato was. Why are you dressed like a gay? Candy chides him for using the word like it was something dirty (roña=grime, dirt, grubbiness) and Charly throws in a few more perjorative words like "mariquita" and says he's ready to move into Lucia's house. After all, nobody at this house seems to pay any attention to him or his feelings.



This is broken up by a couple of scenes that are supposed to be light and funny. Patricio has the boys at the stadium and they're cheering and having a good time.



And the Club de Abandonados is pulling a "24" type surveillance of Head Tattoo Waiter (sorry, ever since Paula started the Sven/Olé thing I CANNOT remember his name). He's merrily riding along on his bike, singing a love song and ogling women when the Abandonados, led by Santiago, trap him, stuff him in the trunk of a car and whisk him off to the clubhouse.



He has a bag over his head and is begging for his life while Santiago does various primitive Iron John moves with some big broom-like thing. Don't ask me what the ritual represents other than that Santiago's p***ed about the tattoo. He assures Santiago the tattoo will disappear in two weeks (good thing since they mispelled Marissa's name) and furthermore Candy MADE him do it. To chants of An Eye for an Eye, Tattoo for a Tattoo...we get some idea of where the plan for vengeance is going. Nowhere...as usual.



However, the fallout from Meño's escapade is going somewhere....toward a real conflict between Candy and Soledad. Soledad is siding with Patricio, saying it's unhealthy for the boys to be around a cross-dresser and from now on Beto can't come to Chava's house. Well, Chava can't come to Beto's house either, snaps Candy, because I don't want him around such intolerant people.



Meanwhile, Meño, upstairs, removing his makeup with cold cream, is staring at himself in the mirror and crying. The Meño situation seems to be going in a truly tragic direction but then it too fizzles out. Here's what happens. First, he stays away from the restaurant and Candy handles his end of it, figuring out the receipts. He asks her if she wouldn't like to live alone, just her and Chava and she says an emphatic NO!...she wants to go on living with her son, her mother (really!?) and her uncle who's the best uncle and friend in the whole world!



Evidently this reassurance wasn't enough because the next time we see him, he's in a drunken stupor at the restaurant while Sven and Olé try to persuade him to quit. You're not a drinker, they plead. And you're not funny....neither one of you, he snarls. Go away...all of you!...I want to be alone.



Lulu, of course, thinks Meño's suffering from lovesickness....over her. Prompting the one funny line of the night as head waiter says....Yeah, that's when "medio naranja" (one's better half, literally one's half orange) turns into "medio limon" (one's bitter half....literally half lemon/lime) Okay, not so funny when you have to plod through a translation but still....



Later we see Meño passing a hotel, checking in to a room alone and beginning a letter (a suicide note?) starting with the words "Dear Niece". I'd be more worried if later on, we didn't see him walking outside again. This time he runs into Patricio, who touches him on the shoulder. Meño's surprised...aren't you worried I'm infectious!? Don't worry, you won't catch anything from me unless the virus is already inside you, he adds.



Look, Patricio counters, I respect you but I don't think it's healthy for you to be dressing up like a woman around the boys. I don't want them growing up with that.



I hope this situation gets resolved without anything irrevocable happening. Meño's everybody's favorite character, aside from the children. Let's not sacrifice our good buddy for the sake of drama, writers.



So that's the tragic gay theme, complete with trumped up strife between the two best friends Chava and Beto, and interwoven with Charly's questions about his dad. He ends up grilling Gregoria (who wants to be called Gogo) and for once, she's discreet. When he asks about the reason for his parents' breakup she simply says she assumed they weren't getting along. One can't know everything about another person's marriage (or even one's own).



So let's put that theme aside and look at some of the other threads woven through this evening's crazy quilt (a little Inauguration imagery here). We have a scene showing Santiago's tender side. He sees Lucia weeping over some old photographs of her parents and together they remember how he helped her commemorate some good memories by burying a bag of family photos and momentos, underneath a plant , within the protection of Mother Earth. At the time he reassured her that anytime she wanted she could dig up those photos again....but in the meantime, Mother Earth would watch over them. But you and Abuela are part of my good memories too! she cries, and they hug and roll around on the floor, similar to an exuberant hugging session Candy had earlier with Chava. I'm sure we're supposed to be convinced by these twin scenes of parental affection that Candy and Santiago are meant for each other. Okay by me, but Marissa's not on board.



Meanwhile, another plot is brewing. This one is the revenge action against Candy...eye for an eye, tattoo for a tattoo. She leaves the house, chipper and saucy (evidently not worried about Meño's depression), hops into a phony yellow cab and is abducted to the club house where Santiago is waiting with the tattoo artist. Very scroungy looking guy with a menacing way of snapping on his rubber gloves.



Santiago asks her where she wants it...on the back, on the front, on the boobs, encircling that little mole...where? Another fizzle. They're not really going to force a tattoo on her, but the artist is going to hit Santi up for a good sum. (More expensive than sending a dumb kid to Harvard! mutters Santi). So what's the payback going to be? How about going off somewhere with him? Just the two of them? She reminds him that it's not just the two of them....there's Rocio...who prefers Marissa as her mother. (The romantic music which was swelling suddenly dwindles to a halt).



Okay, it's complicated. He's a package deal. So's she. She comes complete with Chava. So how about something simple....just going to a little bar and having a tequila or two. Another recurrent joke...he doesn't drink tequila right. It should be done simply and slowly (are we talking about tequila or lovemaking?) Anyway, he concede and does it her way (hmmmm). She's happy, he's happy, the romantic music starts again, they finger dance, his fingers collapse on hers....whoops...she snatches her hand away. Another fizzle.



But he's making inroads. In a later scene back at the Institute, Candy's acting a bit dreamy about him...to the horror of Cece. He's a typical seducer, snaps Cecilia. Marissa's going to be miserable with him but he's exactly the type of guy YOU WOMEN fall for! Not you? asks Candy. No! he's a "borrego a medio morir" (could this be like our "wolf's in sheep's clothing"?) who just wants to get women into bed and then strut off when he's satisfied. Oh, I know he's a liar, muses Candy, still a bit starry-eyed, but I find myself wanting to believe his lies.



While we're on the subject of Cece and her secret love for Candy, there's a later scene where she's objecting to Candy taking time off to go home and help her son with homework. Cece doesn't like the absences. The others don't like Cece's controlling ways. Cece stomps off in a snit. More fizzle? Or delayed drama? We don't know at this point.



One more little fizzle to recount before we get to Marissa's scheme for a surprise engagement party. We have Chayo's campaign to get Santi to augment her bosom in the hopes of reviving the passion in her marriage. And we have her husband's objections to the whole idea...fighting with both Santi and Chayo over the situation. There's a telling scene where Eduardo dismisses his wife as "estupida" (there's that word again) for wanting the surgery. So are you saying all our clients are "estupidas"? counters Santiago.



It's all resolved when Chayo realizes that if she has it done, and it still doesn't help the marriage, it will all be very confusing. So she's changed her mind. She's going to stay just the way she is. Candy naturally approves.



Now the biggie: Marissa's campaign to nail Santiago has taken a new tack. She's seducing his mom. First she overrides Isabella's objections to the "surprise" engagement party. Shouldn't Santi know? No. Mom folds rather quickly and says I know we haven't always gotten along but I WANT to get along with you, and want you to see in me the mother you lost. Ooooh, gushes Marissa, may I call you Mama Zu?



I thought Isabella would gag at that one...I did...but she gamely plays along. So they're off to do some female bonding over shopping for the party. But first we see Marissa talking to Isabella's photo and saying, You didn't think I was right for your son but I'm winning you over. She kisses the photo triumphantly. The strategy is working. Isabella sees her and is touched....and asks her to kiss her on the cheek rather than the photo. Ugh. If we didn't already know Marissa was a sneaky schemer, (after all Chava listened to her heart and it wasn't good) we get further evidence when she's back from shopping and after gushing all over Rocio and forcing her to put on a drippy looking dress she bought, she muses to herself about how irritating kids are. Flee, Rocio, flee!



We're nearing the end of this episode now. The stage is set for the big surprise engagement party. The guests are already there, Lucia and Charly on the balcony, and Isabella and Jaime down below. He thinks the engagement party is a perfect time to ask her to marry him. No way, she laughs. I don't want a "borrowed engagement party". Give me my own. But her smile convinces him it certainly wasn't a "no".



Enter a confused Santiago (he thought they were going out to dinner) firmly in tow with Marissa and when he sees all the flowers he thinks it's a funeral. (Yeah, his.) Welcome to your surprise engagement party, she crows. And of course we end with Santiago looking very very IMPACTADO.



And the previews: They're a great big tease. Are Patricio and Alicia going to catch sight of Candy at the party? Three guesses.

And will Santiago convince Candy to see Patricio? He's dreaming about you. He loves you. He deserves to know you're alive.



Well, call me cynical but I think we have another big fizzle coming up folks. Here's hoping I'm wrong.



Vocabulary:

amolado = ground down, crushed. Meño in this episode

roña = dirt, grime, mange, Can also mean "stingy". "Jugar a la roña" means to play tag

ojos de borrega a medio morir - lit. eye of a half dead lamb, but in our lingo we'd say "puppy dog eyes" (thanks Margarita)

medio naranja, medio limon = better half, bitter half

Labels: Tontas

Candy feels remorse for something! Como puede ser? (How can this be?) She regrets that she was harsh to her mama. Meño tells her that Pat asked him about Chava’s dad named “Patricio.” They recall that when Candy was little, she thought the water stain (mancha de humedad) in her bedroom wall was a monster. Meño helped her to not be afraid of monsters, and they cleaned up the stain together. Now she is afraid of another mancha named “Patricio,” but that one isn’t a monster either.

Ed is annoyed that Chayo is falling short on her “waiting on him hand and foot” duties, since he works a real job, as opposed to the girls’ club she calls a job. And as for what she does at the house, well that isn’t even work.

Santiago takes Raúl to his office to interrogate ask him about his so-called relationship with Candy – it doesn’t seem genuine. Raúl wonders why Santiago cares so much, and assures Santi that he is very satisfied, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, with Candy. Upon hearing that, Santi plays a game with Raúl called “Sadistic Chiropractor.”

Marissa is serving Rocío breakfast, all lovey-dovey, just like Hansel & Gretel’s stepmother was just before she took them for a walk in the woods. Roc says she wants Marissa to be her mother, not Candy, even though her papa kissed Candy at the movie theater. That news certainly gets a reaction from Marissa. Notice how nervous and stressed Rocío looks? She has more acting talent than some TN headliners!

At Marissa’s request, Candy goes to Santiago’s office to meet her. This time Santiago is on the other side of the interrogation, and he looks like he’s been in bed with the flu for the past three weeks. Candy sits down and Santi moves next to her – is it to protect her or hide behind her? Marissa wants to know why Candy kissed her novio in front of the children. Candy and Santi kibitz, trying to decide who is in the biggest trouble. Santi more-or-less discreetly begs Candy to cover for him, since he knows she’s a much more accomplished liar than he is. Candy tries the sincere approach, but every time she says something like, “You know I’d never do such a thing to you,” and Marissa almost swallows it, Santiago feels compelled to chime in, “Neither would I.” That just hurls the credibility of their defense right out the window! Candy leaves so they can work it out alone, but not before whispering to Santiago, “Suerte! (Good luck!).” After Candy leaves, Santi tries to claim that Marissa is the only woman engraved (grabado) on his heart. Even Marissa is not stupid enough to believe that whopper. Listening outside the door, Candy observes, “Lo del grabado, se le va a cumplir.” Or as Yul Brynner’s Ramses said, “So let it be written, so let it be done.”

Do you remember that we’re seeing a transition in Santiago? He is shifting from trying to get Candy into his bed, toward trying to get her into his life. It seems to be working. When she found out about the hamsters, she told him to leave her alone instead of screaming at him. When he kissed her in the theater, she left but didn’t kick him. And today when Marissa challenged Santi on his andanzas (running around), Candy covered for him instead of helping Marissa attack. Yes, the weather is getting a little warmer. Or maybe it’s just Indian summer.

Jaime meets with his son Ramón, who hasn’t visited him for a few months. They meet at Guadalajara’s kiosko. My friends tell me that all the older towns in Mexico have a kiosko in a park (or the town plaza?), and it is used for band concerts, etc. In fact, even the predominantly-Hispanic city near me in central California has a kiosko in the city park. Back in Guadalajara, Jaime shares his delight at finding love again. His charming son tells him to stop making a fool of himself. People his age don’t fall in love, and he should spend his attention on respecting his wife’s memory instead. Jaime’s wife has been dead for a few years, but his son would prefer to see his dad crying for her, rather than finding love.

Lulu tells Chayo her great news – that Meño is wild about her. Chayo tries to enlighten Lulu about Meño, but Lu charges blindly ahead. Lulu asks Chayo for advice on how to show Meño how much she likes him, since she has never had a boyfriend.

Candy asks Sven and Ole for a favor, but we don’t find out what it is.

At a café, Jaime introduces his son to Isabel. Ramón says, “Are you the one who is after my father’s money?” Isabel slaps him and walks out. Jaime just stands there feeling awkward and whines, “Why did you do that?” instead of tearing his fool head off. Is it any wonder his grown son is such a brat? Jaime takes the brat on a field trip to see Isabel’s mansion, outbuildings, lawn, gardens, and groves. He suggests that maybe he is the one suspected of being a gold-digger. The brat doesn’t even understand that his dad plays piano in hotel bars because he likes playing piano for other people, not just for himself, and he met Isabel because she liked his music. Ramón apologizes for being so stupid.

After surgery, Ed asks Santiago to cover for him tonight since he told Chayo he’d be with the Abandonados. Santiago tells him he should be ashamed of himself, but by the way, is his date fair or dark? Ed only remembers what she looks like from the neck down. I wonder if she has a mole.

Marissa tells Raúl she’s worried about her novio because he kissed Candy in the theater. Raúl advises her to forget about Santiago. Marissa tells him she’s not about to quit. She has endured so much already, she can endure a little more. Raúl thinks he’ll never change, but Marissa recalls that he was faithful when he married Paulina. She knows he has a strong attraction to Candy, but she’s not worried because she knows Candy will never betray another woman. She won’t get in his bed, and he‘ll get tired of waiting for her. She assures her brother that she earned Santi, and she knows she’s going to win.

Candy calls to invite Santiago out for coffee. He fondles the bell cord and sighs. At the restaurant, Sven and Ole greet him with flowers and a drink, and they treat him like an illustrious potentate. Candy has reserved the restaurant for him alone. She brings another drink which he tries to turn down because he just finished one, but Candy is offended so he complies. She hands him a menu and asks what he’d like. “Tacos de ranchera, or caldo tlapeño (chicken-garbanzo bean soup), or to ask you to marry me,” he jokes. Don’t you just love that face?

Isabel is thinking about Jaime, trying not to cry. Donato brings her a cup of tea and a listening ear. As she starts to ask about his romantic progress with Tina, the doorbell rings. It’s Jaime’s son, Ramón, who brings her a rose and an apology. He asks that she not be mad at his father; it’s not his fault that he has a fool for a son.

Back at the restaurant, Santiago is looking a bit drunk Sven and Ole, acting like Funhouse extras, bring him a bowl of soup, and they all crowd around as Candy encourages him to drink it all. That’s some right-powerful soup! The voices get fuzzy, the faces get fuzzier, his speech gets muddled, and Sven and Ole step up just in time to catch Santiago as he passes out. Candy discovers that Ole put an extra-extra dose of knock-out drops in the soup, so did Sven, and so did she. Santiago will be separated from his senses for a good, long time. Candy needs him to be heavily sedated, so he doesn’t wake up while the tattoo artist decorates his upper back behind his shoulder. The artist tells Sven it turned out super-chido. Sven thinks he’s writing “Chivas.” On Santiago? Que horror! Chido means cool; but hardly anyone over 25 says it. Sometimes I use it just to get a reaction from my native-speaker friends.

There are so many things wrong with this tattoo scene, I don’t know where to begin. A tattoo artist who works on someone against his wishes. Candy gives Santiago a permanent inscription against his will, as a joke. They do such work in a food preparation area. Candy gained his trust by staging it as a date, with the two of them alone in the restaurant. The artist can hardly work because Santi’s shirt is in the way. The list goes on and on. When Santiago regains consciousness, he will drive his car while still heavily drugged, but with his seatbelt safely fastened, just like every telenovela actor. They can drive drunk, drugged, drowsy, or decapitated, but never without a seatbelt.

Jaime and Isabel note that adolescent novios have to watch out for their parents, while novios their age have to watch out for their kids. They reprise their “Somos Novios,” both in song and in relationship, and refer to Armando Manzanero, the lyricist who made it famous. I could’ve posted clips with Manzanero singing it, or clips of two young lovers, but instead I’ll post this one. The two people in the clip are not young, not lovers, and not Manzanero.

Mar thanks Raúl for his support. He feels like he has failed as a big brother because he hasn’t protected her. One guy hurt her badly (when she was 15 and got an abortion), and he isn’t willing to let Santiago break her heart again. In Tontas it’s a little hard to tell whether Raul is a good guy or a bad guy, but one thing is certain, he loves his sister very much and he’ll do anything for her. Marissa assures him that she’ll live happily ever after, rose-colored glasses and all, just like it was before Candy showed up. She pushes Raúl to make Candy his wife, the sooner the better, because you want to keep your enemies close.

At Meño’s dance class Lulu, in a spaghetti strapped sun dress, primps herself, comes waltzing salsa-ing in, and starts dancing with Meño.

At home, Chava asks Charly what novios do, since Chava now has one. Charly says they talk, they laugh, they kiss. Chava thinks that kissing girls on the mouth is really gross, but Charly assures Chava that he doesn’t have to at his age.

Santiago wakes up in the restaurant, muddled, with his shirt askew. He’s still so dopey, he has trouble remembering who Candy is. Marissa calls to beg him to meet her tonight for some excitement. He makes faces at his phone because he finds Marissa so annoying.

At his house, Raúl explains to Candy that he has left everything as it was when his wife died. It’s like a museum. Candy sees the shrine to his wife in the bedroom – a collage of pictures, her wedding dress, four lit candles, and fresh flowers. He invites Candy to try on the dress. She just wants to exit, stage left. Raúl begs her to stay; he likes Candy because she looks so much like his wife. She tells him he needs to get help; he can’t live in the past, and she thinks they should never see each other again. I figure Candy is Pat’s dead wife; why can’t she be Raúl’s dead wife too?

Lulu is putting the finishing touches on a pink heart cake (she had to do a heart because M’s are too hard to shape). She proudly shows it to Meño who congratulates her for her improving pastry skills. He hopes an anniversary couple comes to the restaurant tonight so her work won’t be in vain. Poor Lulu.

Beto and Pat decide to invite Chava to the Chivas vs. Club America soccer game.

Candy told Meño about the creepy scene at Raúl’s. She thinks Raúl is the living dead. Meño says, “Look who’s talking,” and Candy doesn’t have any legitimate defense, so she sticks her fingers in her ears and hums. Not really, but she might as well have. Lately people have been confronting Candy with her lies and her selfishness – Soledad, Meño, her mother, Santiago, etc. She is not willing to change, so she just refuses to hear them. Meño tells her he’ll never forgive her if Raúl drops his horoscope column because of her, but Candy only cares about Candy.

Santiago wakes up with Marissa pawing at him in the clubhouse, and he is stunned to find her zebra-striped lingerie under his pillow. Last night, he must’ve been too drugged to remember anything. She says “WOW!” and he thinks she’s impressed with his manly talents. He’s pretty impressed with them, himself.



Marissa is ecstatic about his tattoo – not the one on his arm, but the one on his back. Both Santiago and Marissa are impactados, but their impactadidadidades couldn’t be more different. Remember that Candy heard him tell Marissa in his office, “You are the only woman engraved on my heart”? Remember that Candy said, “So let it be written, so let it be done”?

Gregoria and Alicia compete for the “Cruelest Wench” title, and the venom snowballs quickly. It starts with “Why do you live with Meño? If you're lonely, buy a dog.” It quickly passes “Your marriage is going under,” and “I know what you did in Tijuana,” and it ends with a slap and, “I sacrificed my dreams so you could grow up in a family.” Suegrita scores more “Cruelest Wench” points in this round, but we all know, just like a rigged TVyNovelas Premios show, the only points that matter are in the final round.

Marissa is all over Santiago with appreciation, but he just wants to cover himself as if he’s been defiled. One might ask, if he feels that way about her, why did he meet her at the clubhouse? Remember, he was drugged last night. The other times, no, but last night, their first time together since he started changing, yes. Marissa wants to get a tattoo with his name, and he advises against it. When she goes to look for champagne, he acts like he never takes women to the clubhouse.

Santi tries to figure out how he ended up with the tattoo. Then he remembers Candy foisting the drinks and soup on him, and it all adds up. He calls an emergency meeting, Codigo Rojo, of the Cuartel.. oops! I mean the Abandonados. High treason has been committed within the club, and they cannot allow that.

Pat and Beto invite Chava along to the soccer game. Chava has to ask his mom, and Pat is intrigued. He suggests that Chava call his mom to come downstairs so Pat can meet her. Candy hides.

Tomorrow: A taxi abducts Candy. Talk about dumb heroines! Even a gringa like me knows it’s dangerous to take a non-secure taxi in Mexico!

We’ve all noted that this show jumps around a lot. Often one conversation is broken into three scenes separated by other plotlines. Taking my mentor’s advice, I tend to gather one broken-up parts into one paragraph. That means my recap will have a slightly different sequence than the show itself, but in exchange for exact sequence, you get smoother continuity. Please let me know if this works for you, or if it creates difficulties.

Labels: Tontas