My Wife?????????????

Max enters the room and finds Raquel asleep. He wakes her up and covers her mouth when she's about to cry out in disbelief. She hugs him and excitedly bombards him with questions. He asks her to follow him to the garden where they can talk. He then tells her his real name and that Antonio is his stepbrother. Raquel is full of horror and anger at his lies and demands to know if he had anything to do with the plane crash, which he hotly denies, insisting that Antonio had a lot of enemies. But now that everyone believes her to be Mrs. Lombardo- Antonio's widow, she is his heir. Afterwards, she can marry Max after her mourning. That's his 'great plan' folks, marry Raquel and have unlimited access to her money!

So finally... we learn the reason behind the lies to Raquel and the plane crash. What a grade-A bastard! 

Raquel angrily refused to have anything to do with the scheme, vowing she will march upstairs and tell Victoria the whole story. Max then turned nasty and silences her with blackmail-should she open her mouth, he'll tell everyone the whole thing had been her and her family's idea and it was her word against his. Raquel is stunned at the change in the man she loves. Martha is told and is torn between staying at the mansion and avoiding going to jail for something they didn't know about. Angry and confused, Raquel wonders what to do. Getting back to her room, Raquel finds Martha there and tells her what happened; she married Max, Victoria's son, who had passed himself off as his stepbrother and how he'd threatened her. Martha feels she should go ahead with the deception; they will now be rich. Raquel doesn't want to do so, especially deceiving Victoria, who has been good to us. Martha points there was nothing they can do. They had no money to hire a lawyer and besides, if Raquel denounces Max to Victoria, she will say she's never met nor laid eyes on Max and say Raquel was crazy. She and Daniel weren't going to jail because Raquel got involved with the wrong man. 

Unable to sleep, Raquel went downstairs to the pool area very early in the morning and saw the staff cleaning the pool. Ezequiel hurried over to see if  'Senora Raquel' needed anything and talked about how the household missed 'Senor Antonio' very much. Raquel asked Ezequiel what type of boss her 'husband' was and to see a photo of Antonio, she misplaced hers.   Ezequiel is surprised but takes her to Antonio's study and rummages about until he finds one. He left Raquel alone, staring at Antonio's smiling face.

Hmmm....

 

Meanwhile, Chucho's nephew manages to get help and Antonio-from now on I'm calling him  'Tonio'- is taken to the Red Cross for treatment. He asked the doctor to please call his house and alert his family.

Raquel is unable to forgive Max for his deceit and adamantly refuses to pass herself as Tonio Lombardo's widow. Max tries to manipulate her, saying Tonio is a ruthless bastard who has enemies an didnt respect women. Raquel pointed out, if that was true, then Max was no better and she wasn't going to be his accomplice. She was going to tell Vicky. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that, her photo was all over the papers and Vicky, to cover for Tonio, had told everyone they'd known Raquel for a long time. Max asks why she was so upset, she now has wealth and power and she'll have him as a husband eventually.

 Raquel roughly pushes him away from her, snapping that a man in love wouldn't do what he did. And there was no way she'd marry him. (The one they had is of course invalid).  Max leaves the room and Raquel starts packing her suitcase. While having breakfast with Martha, Max tells Martha to convince her sister to keep her trap shut. Martha is more concerned about the benefits than going to jail, which she doesn't want. Vicky joins them, asking where Raquel is. 

At the Red Cross, the doctor tells Tonio he had a broken rib but no serious damage to his head, according to the X-ray, though he may forget some details. 

Raquel packs her bag and catches a flight to Guadalajara, leaving a note for Martha. Max is furious to hear Raquel is gone and tells Martha not to tell anyone, she should say Raquel is lying down. He leaves the house to fetch her back. Ezequiel receives a call from the doctor treating Tonio, that he was ALIVE! Amazed, he gives the phone to Victoria who is overjoyed. As Camilla and Maura discuss Tonio's secret marriage, Camilla gets the news from Victoria via the speaker phone, Victoria adding she had already sent Pablo to bring Tonio home. 

Victoria hurries to Raquel's room to tell her but finds Martha, who is shocked by the news and tells her to wake Raquel, she needs to go and tell Max. Not knowing what to do, Martha grabs her purse and runs to the main gate, much to the surprise of the guards. The guard tells her Max instructed him not to let her leave.  Victoria is surprised to find pillows under the blanket and Raquel gone. 

Evil Max gets to Raquel's apartment before she does, as he used the company's jet, while she had to change planes in Mexico city.

Pablo enthusiastically greets his boss and tells him how happy everyone would be thrilled to see him, especially his wife. Tonio stares at him in surprise. What???

'I'm not married' he tells Pablo. Pablo insists that he is, they found the wedding certificate with his signature and they've all met Senora Raquel. 

'Raquel?' Tonio repeated in disbelief.

The doctor said as he had a severe concussion, maybe he had temporary amnesia. Pablo told Tonio about the plane ticket found in his study. Apparently, he got married in Guadalajara the day before the accident. Tonio, of course, is baffled. He would remember being married, even if he missed some details! 

Raquel arrives and is very angry to find Max already in her apartment; he had arrived first because she'd had to change planes on the way. He reminds her there was nothing she could do and demands she returned with him. She refuses to return with him, preferring to go to jail and will hire a lawyer to charge him for fraud.  Max warned  Raquel she would have her father's fate in her conscience, as he's been helping his friend sell stolen goods, to Raquel's horror. Her timid father admitted it, the reason why Max was able to blackmail him. Daniel begged his daughter to forgive him, he did what he did because he felt bad about Raquel being the primary provider. Max insisted he had nothing to do with Tonio's death and it was her word against his. A journalist to interview Raquel but she leaves the room, and the reporter notices the framed photo of her and Tonio. Max makes excuses for Raquel and the man leaves. Raquel too sees the doctored photo of her and Tonio, guessing it was Max's handiwork. 

Vicky is not pleased Raquel left and that Martha kept it from her, surprised when Martha explained Max told her not to tell anyone.

On the drive home, Tonio asks Pablo what Raquel's surname was. 

Martha calls Daniel, who tells her that Raquel and Max already left. Daniel is horrified to hear the real Tonio is alive and on his way home. Vicky is now happy, eager to see how Raquel will react to Tonio's return. 

Camilla and Maura discuss the good news, Maura is quiet and abruptly walks away when Camilla asks her if she would confront 'her naughty boy' for jilting her. Victoria felt sure the reason Raquel left was out of grief for Tonio. Camilla makes a rude remark about her in-law and Vicky warns her not to disrespect Raquel. 

On the plane, Raquel coldly tells Max she now hates him. Max is confident she will come around. 

 Tonio comes in and warmly hugs his stepmother who of course, is very happy to see him. Pablo takes his leave. Vicky wastes no time telling him they all know about his secret wedding but support him. Tonio tells her he doesn't remember Raquel. Mummy Victoria immediately suggested he must have short-term amnesia. Tonio argued even if he doesn't remember his wedding, how can he not remember what his wife looked like? And why would he marry in secret without at least telling Victoria? And where was Raquel? Vicky told him  Raquel had gone home and Max went to fetch her, which baffles Tonio even more. Why would his wife leave? 

Victoria shows him a photo of Raquel in the papers, which he looks at thoughtfully. Well?

Tonio said no, she doesn't ring a bell. However...  'she's very pretty,' he admits.

Mummy Victoria is sure he'll remember once he saw her in person and tells him how she had to cover for him because people would find it very strange he married in secret. Vicky added that while she saw Raquel was working class, she found her sweet and already liked her.

Camilla and Claudio come in to welcome him, his sister scolding him over the secret wedding.

 Playing along, Tonio grinned, explaining he wanted to surprise the family. Camilla again disses Raquel and Vicky tells her to keep quiet and let her brother rest. The couple leave and Vicky goes to arrange a meal for him. 

 As Tonio helps himself to a glass of water,  Raquel comes in, heading towards the stairs. She spins around when Tonio calls her name. She stops, staring at him in shock.

Tonio takes in her beauty, with narrowed eyes. 'Come closer.' he said. Zombie-like, she does so and Tonio continues staring intensely at her. 

Mummy Victoria comes in, delighted that Raquel has seen her husband was alive and well. Max comes in too, frozen in shock (as well as he might be), expressing his happiness at Tonio's miraculous return unconvincingly.  Vicky wondered why Raquel looked like she'd seen a ghost. 

Tonio moves close to Raquel and takes her hands, telling Vicky Raquel was merely overwhelmed with emotion. Raquel was obviously filled with terror when Tonio calmly said it was late and he'd been waiting for her, now he wanted to go to bed. Taking her by the arm, he led her upstairs.

Kata kata don burst be that!

NO ONE BUT YOU: Snippet 2

Grief stricken,  Raquel catches a flight to Acapulco to attend Antonio's memorial service. She's accompanied by her sister, Martha  and find  the entrance to the mansion packed with reporters. She wonders if they were at the right house. Ezequiel is sent to the gate by Victoria to bring them inside, after one of the guards calls the house. 

 Raquel is very bewildered at the grand surroundings and wealth  Antonio never  mentioned he had, while Martha is thrilled. Victoria kindly welcomes her stepdaughter-in-law, showing her the marriage certificate for Raquel to verify. Raquel cannot understand why Antonio hid his wealth and family from her.  Camilla instantly takes a dislike to her brother's wife. Go fuck yourself freeloader.  

 Max of course keeps out of sight , under the pretence of carrying out thorough investigations about the crash. In Guadalajara, he tells Daniel the truth about himself and blackmails him.  Before he left, he removes a photo of Raquel and himself from the frame and replaces it with a doctored one of her and Tonio, in case journalists came over to interview Daniel. 

 Raquel and Martha are loaned mourning dresses by a very reluctant Camilla...what the hell is her problem?  Victoria comes in with purses for the two girls to use and finds Raquel sobbing in her pillow, poor thing.

Downstairs, Camilla is also crying for her brother. Claudio is bitter over Antonio's unexpected secret marriage , which entitled Raquel to be the heir of the vast estate instead of Camilla. All Camilla can think of was the idea of her brother marrying a low class woman instead of her good friend Maura, who is also angry about what he did. They all go to the memorial service.

Antonio staggers  until he reaches a road before passing out. A boy about 18 finds him and hurries to get his uncle Chucho. Chucho examines him but finds he's not dead. They carry him to their shack. The family returns and Victoria urges a subdued Raquel to go upstairs and rest. She asks a servant where Max was and is told he's not been home all day.

Antonio regains consciousness again and asks Chucho where he was. He checks the time but notices his gold Rolex was missing from his wrist and indignantly questions Chucho, who protests he only took it off to keep it for him (a likely story). Antonio asks him to find a way of contacting his family. Chucho replies that his nephew would do his best to get help when he goes to sell their wares.
Back in Acapulco, Max returns after everyone else had gone to bed. A servant tells him where Senora Raquel is sleeping. Max braces himself and goes upstairs...

Let's see how you intend on explaining yourself, Evil Max. 

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: NO ONE BUT YOU (Snippet 1)

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, things are a bit boring now that CATALINA y SEBASTIAN has wrapped up, although there's LA REVANCHA on STV and EL CUERPO DEL DESEO on AIT, GoTel as well as Superscreen (which was once called Clapperboard )but somehow I just don't fell inclined to follow them, which is why there are no posts about them in this blog.

Instead I'm taking my visitors waaaaayyy back in time to about 1993,when NTA presented us with a telenovela most people argued was as fabulous as its predecessor, THE RICH ALSO CRY. This was TU O NADIE or as we knew it then as NO ONE BUT YOU, a.k.a YOU OR NO ONE.

Starring Andres Garcia (currently playing Pedro José Donoso in EL CUERPO DEL DESEO) the lovely Lucia Mendez and Salvador Pineda as the villain, Max(see him as the very nasty and obsessive Lucio in ESMERALDA).

The story opens to the city of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Raquel Samaniego, the beautiful heroine of the story,  reddish brown curls framing her face,  is just returning from the shop where she had purchased her dress for her wedding to her love whom she had been dating for six months; a young engineer called Antonio Lombardo. She enters the humble apartment she shares with her disdainful younger pouty faced  sister Martha (Luz Maria Jerez) and their widowed (and simple minded) father, Don Daniel. Call me harsh but these two are going  cause poor Raquel a lot of  trouble several episodes from now. Moving on...

Raquel shows her wedding dress to Martha who admires it.  Raquel  then receives a phone call from her fiance, who promises to return from his business trip in time for their wedding day that very weekend. But as soon as he hangs up, the fiance's face visibly changes as his henchman, Luis (Tony Bravo) tells him his stepbrother, Antonio wanted to see him.
  
Ehh???

The viewers are initially confused but it's actually simple as we follow it.

 Raquel's fiance's real name is Maximilliano Alveniz and he's the stepbrother of the real Antonio Lombardo, a fabulously wealthy  man whose father, the late Alberto Lombardo,  married Max's widowed mother, Victoria. Alberto had left a huge trust fund and a permanent position in his company to Max in his Will but to the angry and greedy Max, he had been cheated as Antonio (the legal and true heir) had been given the entire estate, minus a big trust to Antonio's married sister Camilla. Let's go on...

Max sulkily goes to find Antonio, who is at the balcony watching the ocean view. We don't see his face immediately but  Antonio turns when Max demands to know what he wants.  The camera zooms in on   a very  handsome man roughly  in his mid or late thirties - the extremely yummy and manly looking hero of the story, played by  Andres Garcia.

 Max gives him the deep stink-eye (he's very good at that as viewers will find out for the rest of the telenovela) and  flares up as usual at the calm yet firm queries from his stepbrother about some business matters- Max had approved   a construction project Antonio didn't authorise. After Antonio informs him the project was a no go,  he walks out on him, running into  Mummy  Victoria (Magda Guzman; La Usurpandora  viewers will recognise as Fidelina) who guessed from the scowl on her son's face and snarky words  that there has been another   altercation between him and his stepbrother. 

 When she asks him what happened between him and his 'brother', Max coldly reminds her that just because she married Tonio's late father- Alberto- it doesn't make Tonio his brother and how unfair 'the old man' had been to him and Victoria, leaving the bulk of his wealth to Antonio.

  Is this guy for real? 

Back in Guadalajara, Marnie wonders why Raquel and Tony preferred to have a small civil ceremony, which will not be .attended by their friends. Raquel reminded her of their plan to  have a large church wedding after there's more money. Martha goes all sulky when Raquel tells her she will have to start paying the rent and other bills after the wedding, as their father will not be able to, apparently Raquel is the only one in the household that has a steady job and has been the primary provider. 

In Acapulco,  the  Lombardos are at dinner and Victoria tells Antonio that Maura (his girlfriend) came looking for him while he was out but Antonio doesn't seem interested in calling her back, as he was going to be busy the next day. Max tells them both he will be going out of town and gets angry when Antonio tells him he could go since there's nothing serious pending- snappishly telling him he didn't need his permission, storming off.   

Distressed, Victoria  discusses his latest argument with Max, urging him to see Max's  ( non existent) good qualities. Antonio calmly brushes Victoria's concerns aside, he's  more than used to Max's tantrums  and envy and reminds her that he only tolerated Max because of her. Planting an affectionate  kiss on his stepmother's  hand, he  bade her goodnight.

 

Don Daniel returns after celebrating his favourite daughter's upcoming wedding at the bar with his friends, brushing off Raquel's worry about him ruining his health with too much drink. 

At Guadalajara a few days later, Max and Raquel have their civil wedding in Raquel's apartment officiated by a judge. Max used Antonio's signature (he spent hours practising it)on the marriage certificate after the bride signed, then followed by Don Daniel, Martha and the judge's secretary who are the only witnesses.

The couple then go to his apartment where he begins to  passionately kiss her neck but she gently pulls away, reminding him that they were not yet married by the church. Yah... our heroine is old fashioned that way. He's about to argue when the phone rings. It's Luis, to tell him that Antonio was leaving on a business trip.

Raquel is very confused when he tells her the office demands his presence and takes her home, with the promise of calling her and arranging the big church wedding after he got back from his trip.
Antonio is mildly surprised to see Max back from his vacation, Max sullenly lies that he had some work to catch up on.

Antonio leaves the mansion and the villain asks Luis if the trap has been set... the reply... YES.

Oh no... the foreshadowing of murder afoot.  

Antonio and two men enter his private plane and take off. They haven't been in the air long before the plane makes odd noises and moves in an alarming way. The pilot does his best but is unable to prevent what happened next. The plane plunges down a valley and there's a huge CRASH!

Back in Guadalajara, Don Daniel talk with Raquel about Tony. When the subject of finances come up, Daniel tells Raquel a  rich old woman wishes to have an estate sale but Daniel's friend doesn't have the capital to buy several of the items. Raquel is appalled when Daniel coaxingly asks her to help him out with the  money. She doesn't approve of Daniel's relationship with his so called friend because he sells stolen goods. 

Back at the mansion, Antonio's sister Camilla and his voluptuous girlfriend, Maura (eww)  are at the pool, discussing him. They go in just as Max is about to relay the bad news to his mother... Antonio's plane had crashed and there were no survivors! The three women burst into tears.

Camilla runs to her house at the other end of the beach to tell her husband Claudio the bad news. He looks pensive then gently reminds her that Antonio's estate was now theirs. Very sensitive Claudio. 

Camilla is of course  furious. 'What are you talking about, Antonio was my brother!' and cries again.

As Victoria is grieving, Max gives her another surprise, he hands her a document he had found in Antonio's drawer in his room.To her amazement, it's a marriage certificate; why on earth had he gotten married without telling anyone and to a girl they did not know?

Finding the number in Antonio's address book(Max's doing), Victoria calls Guadalajara. Raquel is amazed when Victoria introduces herself as Antonio's stepmother as he'd told her many times that he had no family. Victoria gently gave her the bad news.

                             'NO!' Raquel cried out in anguish. 'IT CAN'T BE TRUE!'

Meanwhile, several miles away from Acapulco, Antonio, the only survivor, regains consciousness. Not knowing where he is, he  staggers away from the wrecked plane and the dead bodies of his friends.

                          To read ALL the episodes in the proper order click  HERE