My better-late-than-never rehash of Duelo de Pasiones - Part 1

By the time "Duelo de Pasiones" ended, I was fed up with its silliness and didn't want to think about it anymore, but enough time has passed that I am -- yes -- actually starting to feel nostalgic for the good old days with all the crazies in Sierra Escondida. But not so much so that I want to think about them for more than 10 minutes at a stretch.

So, while I'm finally going to do my own little Duelo de Pasiones awards show to applaud the good things about the show (Maximo and Gaspar) and hiss the bad (the writing, and every expression Emilio never had on his face), I'm going to break it up into several parts so I don't overdose on Duelo again. (Sorry if that didn't make any sense. I'm in the mood for run-on sentences.)

Let's begin with... BEST ACTOR. And the winner is: Pablo Montero as Emilio! Ha, just kidding. No, I'm going with Sergio Goyri as crazy villain Alvaro Montellano, better known on the Caray Caray blog as Don Loco.

As I mentioned above, I think this show was badly written, but I always found Alvaro believable, and at times I even felt sorry for him. And that's thanks to Sergio Goyri. What I remember most about Alvaro, the supposedly all-powerful, was the pathetic way he confided his anxieties about his wife Soledad to his traitorous underling Hugo and his traitorous neighbor Maximo. Who else could poor crazy Alvaro turn to? He had no friends. And it's no wonder, given his bad behavior, but Sergio Goyri made me think his loneliness was a sad thing. Good work, Mr. Goyri.

RUNNER UP FOR BEST ACTOR: Rene Gómez (Intocable) as Gaspar. He was the only character I never got tired of -- well, almost never. I don't know whether people who sustain brain damage as adults really talk in that childish way(?) but I certainly found Gaspar believable as a retarded person. In fact, at first I assumed the actor must be retarded himself because he was so believable. How can any grown man have such a sweet, innocent smile? That's good acting. I know Intocable is a pro wrestler, but I hope he continues to act.

WORST ACTOR: Clearly that would be Pablo Montero as Emilio. All he did was stand around looking vaguely pained. He was good at that. I could give him an award for that. But I'm not going to.

RUNNER UP FOR WORST ACTOR: David Ostrosky as Elías. Not that I actually thought he was bad. He was OK, especially in the scene when he found Blanca's body. But I think I was actually supposed to like Elias. Wasn't I? Even his love interest, Soledad, seemed to find him creepy, and I have to agree with her on that.

Maybe this was a case of poor casting. And there were probably worse actors on Duelo that I'm forgetting. Tell me what you think of my choices in the comments section, please.

To be continued (eventually)...

Maximo from "Duelo de Pasiones" as a Sim

He likes to play video games -- for some reason I find that quite humorous.

Juan Querendon characters as Sims

Nidia from "Yo Amoa a Juan Querendon" as a Sim:

Well, that's the best I could do. She's dancing with Juan there, if you can't tell. The designers of The Sims obviously don't share his fashion sense because I couldn't find the right clothing or hairstyle to do him justice. (I couldn't find a remotely Yadira-like hairstyle, either.)

Here's my Sim version of Marely. I've just noticed that I made her eyes blue -- they should be brown! (Actually they look black to me on TV, but The Sims doesn't offer that option, unfortunately.)

And finally, Juan and Nidia having dinner:

The Great Cachibombo Mystery

Sylvia wondered (in a comment on an earlier blog post) whether the "Cachibombo" song was written for "Juan Querendon." After a long Internet search, I still can't answer that question, but I can guess, and my guess is that the song was written for this telenovela, or at least was unknown before this telenovela, because there are relatively few references to it online and when it is mentioned, it's usually in conjunction with the show.

The song is performed by Eduardo Antonio, who also performs "Palomita" (heard on the show every time Juan starts thinking romantically about Paula). One show with THREE good theme songs -- it's hard to complain about that.

Now if only they would change the incidental music from one telenovela to another. Maybe it's me, but I could swear I keep hearing the same little pieces of music over and over.