Duelo de Pasiones awards, part 3 - time to wrap things up
I'm sorry for delaying this, but I will now finish my own personal awards show for my favorite terrible telenovela, "Duelo de Pasiones"!
BEST EVIL COUPLE: Sylvia suggested this category, and I agree that the winners can only be Siena Perezcano and Second-Actor-Who-Played-Hugo as Alfonsina and Hugo.
There were other evil couples on this show -- Orlando and Thelma; Alvaro and his wild-eyed sidekick Sergio; Maximo and his mustache; Vera and her pitchfork* -- but I agree with Sylvia, none of them topped Alfonsina and Hugo for sheer back-stabbing, double-crossing trickery.
I only regret that we didn't get to see First-Actor-Who-Played Hugo in the later episodes. Second Actor was a good actor, but Hugo just wasn't the same without his muscles and ever-present bandana.
BEST ROMANTIC COUPLE: Jorge De Silva and Alejandra Procuna as José and Mariana. We barely saw them together at all, but it was easy to believe they were in love, and I was hoping to see them get back together.
Malena should have received some punishment for keeping them apart (for no apparent reason except snobbery). I'm glad Mariana ended up with nice-guy Ricardo (aka Dr. Love, aka Orville Redenbacher), but I would have preferred to see José and True Love win out in the end.
RUNNER UP FOR BEST ROMANTIC COUPLE: Um... ok, I've got to say it... Rafael Rojas and Aida Pierce as Maximo and Rebeca (better known as Singing Aunt Rebeca). Admittedly, Maximo couldn't stand Rebeca. That's a bit of an obstacle to romance. And he was an evil rapist who deserved his inevitable demise etc. But admit it, didn't you want to see those two end up together?
I just rolled my eyes whenever Alina started sighing, "Ay, Emilio..." to herself or when (in every episode) Emilio stood alone in an empty room, stared into space, and announced woodenly, "Alina. Why can't I forget you?" etc etc. Nor did I care about the outcome of the Rosita/Santos, Ángel/Claudia, Soledad/Elias relationships. But I did want to see Maximo and Rebeca get together. What a perfectly matched, colorful, singing, mustache-twirling couple! Alas, it was not to be.
Which leads me to... BEST REASON TO WATCH THIS SHOW: Rafael Rojas as the evil (yet disturbingly loveable) Maximo Valtierra. There was never a dull moment when that guy was onscreen.
My grandmother, who is old enough to remember silent movies, disliked Maximo because he reminded her of overacting silent screen stars. But that's what I enjoyed so much about his performance: Maximo never let you forget that he was Evil with a capital E. I kept expecting him to grab Rosita and tie her to some railroad tracks. I loved all of it: the flamboyant wardrobe, the mustache twirling, the evil chuckling, the rose-kissing.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that Rafael Rojas is a very good-looking, charismatic man. I'm going to have to track down some DVDs of his older shows. In the meantime, I thank him for giving me a reason to look forward to this silly show night after night.
For my fellow Maximo fans, a link:
Página Oficial de Rafael Rojas
This blog post is running a bit long, so let me wrap it up with a few quick final remarks:
CHARACTER MOST ILL-TREATED BY THE WRITERS: Poor Nurse Susy. Why did the writers spend all that time convincing us of her secret love for Angel, only to suddenly drop Susy from the story? Both Susy and the show's viewers were cheated of a resolution to this storyline.
RUNNER UP FOR MOST ILL-TREATED CHARACTER: Blanca, played by Isaura Espinoza. She actually had a brain, and that didn't fit with the show, so the writers had to kill her off. I was sorry to see her go.
I wish the writers had explained whatever happened to her final letter to Elias. Alvaro made off with it and it was never seen again.
BEST HAIR, MALE: I'm going to give this award to Jorge De Silva because I enjoyed his facial hair. I just enjoyed looking at him, period. Honorable mention to Castulo and Angel for also being easy on the eyes.
BEST HAIR, FEMALE: Alejandra Procuna as Mariana. Her haircut really suited her.
CHARACTER I MOST WANTED TO SLAP: The doctor Aida (aka Dr. Loca). I don't have time to look up the actress's name but my goodness, the character was annoying. Someone should cast the actress as a villain.
DISHONORABLE MENTION goes to the writers, editors, and directors. This show was so disjointed that sometimes it was hard to figure out what on earth was going on. I saw a little bit of "Heridas de Amor" recently on YouTube and was reminded of what a high-quality production it was, despite its faults. Duelo de Pasiones was a lousy production. Only its sense of humor and its actors made it at all watchable.
I am in a hurry so I've got to stop writing, and I didn't even get a chance to mention Tonki/Donkey/whatever that dog was named! Oh well. Adios for now.
*You know, the pitchfork Vera waved while leading the mob to kill "witch" Luba... ok, I don't remember if she actually carried a pitchfork herself, but I'm sure she wanted to .
Labels: Duelo de Pasiones
posted by NONE @ 5:58 PM
10 Comments:
Thanks Carmel for keeping Duelo alive. Should I be thanking you for that? :) I had this sudden feeling like Ricardo on Duelo and Ivan on Amar sin Limites were the same actor, but I can't verify that. I found the actor who plays Ivan but there's no mention of him being on Duelo on his resume. Perhaps hindsight in my old brain is tripping me up.
Have you been watching Amar, or any show, for that matter? Maybe you're watching Destilando Amor. I feel like I've lost touch with some people since Duelo ended, some drifted off to Destilando and some stayed at Amar, but I suppose we'll all be happily reunited when Pasion the pirates spectacular starts.
Right now I'm watching Juan Querendon, which is pretty good once you get used to the weirder characters (Nidia, Alirio, and Yadiara). I do miss the fun we had with Duelo. I really wanted to see Amar but couldn't because it ended up at 8 PM instead of 7 as I expected.
What time slot is Pasion going to air in, do you know? Probably too much to hope it will be a 7 PM show -- that is the easiest time for me. If not, maybe I can tape it. It's hard to resist pirates.
Correcting a typo: Yadira not Yadiara!
I'm not sure yet when it's going to be on. I'm hoping it follows Amar, this should last 3-4 more months, I think Destilando is going to be longer than that, I'm not sure how much longer Juan Q is going to go. I'm sure Pirates will be on at 7 or 8 (central), I think Alborada was on at 8 back when it was on. So basically that was a really long way for me to say I don't know.
Oh, I hope you're right about it being on at 7!
I found the name of the actor who played Ricardo on Duelo: Rafael del Villar. Is that the same actor who plays Ivan?
Well, wait, you said 7 central, I'm in the EST zone... oh well, we'll see.
Carmel, I LOVE your telenovela wrap-ups. You do a great job of analyzing the pros and the cons, the highs and the lows. Maximo was my absolute favorite character on Duelo, and I adored his overacting. (There is a lot of that on Juan Querendon too.) I read that Pablo Montero will have a bit part on JQ, he plays his boring self I think, although admittedly he's my guapo.
The woman who played Dra. Loca plays a bad, rather sluttish girl on Destilando Amor. Her name is SanJuana and they have nick-named her SayinIWanna, hee hee. I don't watch Destilando regularly but I saw her once or twice and she was perfect in the role.
Thank you for your analysis. I really enjoyed Duelo even though it was rather horrid.
P.S. I agree with your Maximo/Aida couple idea.
I ran out of time when I was posting this, but I had intended to give Pablo some kind of "best dressed" award. I know not everyone liked his wardrobe on the shore, but I did. He's a pleasure to look at so it will be fun to see him on Juan Querendon. He's probably better at playing himself than anything else!
I saved one of the first Duelo episodes so that I could watch it when the show was over. It was the episode where Emiliooooo drove around in his convertible and he sang his version of Sway. It was wonderfully tacky but he looked great and his voice was fantastic. Then he turned into dismal, boring Emilio. Oh well. The few times he sang were Emilio/Pablo at his best.
That episode had so much promise! If they would keep him in light, fun situations like that, and let him sing... I'd be happy to watch that show.
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