At over 190 episodes, my brain tells me that the telenovela is too long, but Lo Que La Vida Me Robó rarely felt too long. It had sufficient variety of story and locale to constantly feel like it was moving forward or something new was developing, helped enormously by its subplots and secondary characters. Too many telenovelas artificially extend their length through the repetition of a couple plot points played over and over. The fairly pleasant De Que Te Quiero, Te Quiero (weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on Univision) is overlong and feels it because it relies too heavily on the back and forth break ups of its two lead couples to an extent they all look foolish. (The other usual telenovela lengtheners – the protagonist in prison or the protagonist medical crisis – were also avoided in the final weeks.)
One unfortunate trend the final weeks of Lo Que La Vida Me Robó did suffer from is in striving for a “big finish” the story became a succession of cliffhangers, almost all involving physical peril that could only be achieved through characters acting illogically and stupidly. Most ridiculous was when the lead protagonists, with two psychopaths threatening them and their family, inexplicably decide to get away for a romantic weekend isolated at their ranch with predictable results.
Tied into the overused cliffhanger element of these final weeks was the seeming omnipotence of the telenovela’s chief villain played by Sergio Sendel which became increasingly tiresome and silly. Daniela Castro as the other lead villain, the scheming mother of the heroine, often veers over the top, but it is a genuine camp performance, funny and horrific at the same time, and it fits that character and this telenovela.
Sebastián Rulli and Angelique Boyer were both fine as the protagonists, but in the final third of the telenovela, the two are given too little to actually do. That is the biggest flaw in this telenovela and it is a surprisingly common one – the protagonists are not really active in moving the story, rather, they are acted upon by the villains.
The emotional core of Lo Que La Vida Me Robó is ultimately carried by what amounts to the struggles for five souls - some are lost, some redeemed – five internal conflicts portrayed in varieties of moral grayness by Luis Roberto Guzmán, Osvaldo Benavides, Ferdinando Valencia, Lisset and Grettell Valdéz. A heavy melancholy haunts all five characters, and their fates are what I found most moving in the telenovela. A scene late in the run where José Luis, alone after losing everything, is visited by his dead wife Angélica who asks him, as she often did when they were married, never with any bitterness or jealousy, but with complete empathy and kindness, if José Luis was still in love with Montserrat and his answer is telenovela at its best – an exquisite blending of memory, sadness, love into a catharsis as the character finds peace.
Mention also should be given to a several other actors who were excellent through the run of the telenovela: Ana Bertha Espín, Gaby Rivero, Ale García who started shaky but improved quickly, Verónica Jaspeado, Margarita Magaña, Alexis Ayala, Juan Carlos Barreto, Alejandra Procuna, Isabella Camil, Alberto Estrella inventively creepy as usual, the child actors Ana Paula Martínez and Óscar Daniel Duarte, and Eric del Castillo.
Hasta el Fin del Mundo
Hasta el Fin del Mundo takes over the slot left by Lo Que La Vida Me Robó on Monday at 9 p.m. ET on Univision. It is a Mexican adaptation from Televisa of a 2012 Argentine telenovela from Telefe called DULCE AMOR. Hasta el Fin del Mundo is produced by Nicandro Díaz González who is coming off a string of four big hits in the US that started with Destilando Amor in 2007 through Mañana es para Siempre, Soy Tu Dueña and Amores Verdaderos.
The story follows the love lives of three sisters, the eldest of which takes over her family’s chocolate company after the death of their father. Despite a scheming fiancé, she finds herself attracted to her chauffeur, a former race car driver facing hard times.
Hasta el Fin del Mundo stars Pedro Fernández (Hasta Que el Dinero Nos Separe) and Venezuelan actress Marjorie de Sousa in her first lead role at Televisa after playing the villainess in Amores Verdaderos and a number of Venevision Miami productions most notably Sacrificio de Mujer in 2010. The other two sisters are played by Claudia Álvarez (Porque el Amor Manda) and Jade Fraser (Por Siempre Mi Amor) as the juvenile lead, Diego Olivera (Mentir Para Vivir) and Miguel Martínez are their love interests.
The cast also features Julián Gil (La Que No Podía Amar), Ximena Herrera (El Señor de los Cielos), Mariana Seoane (La Tempestad), Olivia Bucio (Amor Bravío), César Évora (Amor Bravío), María Rojo, Aleida Núñez (Un Refugio Para el Amor), Roberto Palazuelos (Qué Bonito Amor), Roberto Vander (Pasión Prohibida), Mariana Van Rankin (Amor Bravío), Eddy Vilard (Amor Bravío), and Alejandro Tommasi (Corazón Indomable).
FAVORITES FOR WEEK OF JULY 25-31
Favorite telenovela: Manual Para Ser Feliz (3 p.m. ET on MundoFox)
Favorite performer: Andrés Suárez from Manual Para Ser Feliz
Favorite scene: from Manual Para Ser Feliz, Osvaldo spies his fiancée Luisa and Juan at their romantic getaway.
FAVORITES FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 1-7
Favorite telenovela: Mi Corazón es Tuyo (8 p.m. ET on Univision)
Favorite performer – Silvia Navarro from Mi Corazón es Tuyo
FAVORITES FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 8-14
Favorite telenovela: Lo Que La Vida Me Robó
Favorite performer: Silvia Navarro from Mi Corazón es Tuyo
Favorite scene: Ana overindulges on chocolate in Mi Corazón es Tuyo.
R.G. Morin writes a regular column for We Love Soaps, "Telenovela Watch: A weekly look at the world of telenovelas for non-Spanish speakers." For feedback or questions, you can email R.G. Morin at [email protected].
Yes, yes, yes! after Maria died and there was no separating Montserrat&Alejandro, there was nothing to drive the novella and it just kind of floated to an end. I was sad Jose Luis ended up separated from Romina, he deserved fatherhood and proved to be the true hero of the show.
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