dramaljdiva

Since "Amor Real" ended in March, not a single telenovela had impressed me. "La Esposa Vírgen", "Apuesta Por Un Amor", and "Mujer de Madera" were awful. "La Madrastra" was okay, but a little too over-the-top at times, as is "Contra Viento y Marea", and "Inocente de Ti" never got my attention. But "Piel de Otoño" is a completely different story. It has an excellent storyline, realistic and interesting characters, a coherent script, great dialogue, and wonderful acting. The story is basically about a housewife and mother of two who's husband treats her like dirt, and her kids take her for granted. She starts talking to this guy on the Internet, and he becomes her refuge for when things are not going well in her personal life. She lives in Mexico and this guy lives in Spain. But due to two important reasons, she goes to Spain and meets the guy from the Internet, without knowing that he's the same guy she's been chatting with.

In short, "Piel de Otoño" is a realistic novela, with a script that entertains each episode without the need for over the top villains or massacres. Every thing in the story makes sense.

The cast is super, and features a great mix of experienced veterans and charismatic young talents. No one is miscast here. The biggest surprise is the young actor Franco Gala, who plays Miguel Ángel, the son of Lucía, the main character. For an actor without much previous experience, he does an exceptional job at portraying a complex character, and is very expressive, adding interesting depth to his portrayal of Miguel Ángel.

So far, each episode has been so good, that I wished I would have watched it from the beginning instead of missing a few weeks. There is only one possible thing that could ruin this telenovela for me, but I doubt that would happen. So far, I'd give it a 10 out of 10.

María Isabel was a beautiful story, not at all pathetic. Perhaps insults were used against the indigenous by rude, hateful people, but that's a reality... there are some hateful, racist people in this world who make fun of someone who is different. Yes, it's awful, but it would be very unrealistic to show that no one rejected María Isabel for being different. And it isn't true that dark or indigenous people are never in novelas. That is such a misconception. If anyone saw "La Madrastra", the leading lady was dark with indigenous features! Anyway, about María Isabel... the story is basically about a poor indigenous girl who works hard in order to support her adopted daughter, who is actually the daughter of her best friend who died. María Isabel is hired by an engineer named Ricardo. He comes to admire María's dedication, hard work, and inner and outer beauty.

It's one of the best "telenovelas rosas", or fantasy soaps that I've seen, and definitely recommend it.

When "Mariana de la Noche" first started, it had everything to be a success: Mystery, suspense, great cast, great locations, excellent background music, and a beautiful love story. Each episode was simply excellent, and when the episode ended, I couldn't wait until the next one. This good quality production and exciting storyline went on for about 45 episodes or so... and after that, it was as if the whole story started falling apart. What happened? Well, first of all, they had to go and kill off the wonderful Engineer Montiel (Rafael Rojas). What was the purpose in getting rid of such a good character? Then, the whole story became relocated in some casino/hotel in Costa Esmeralda, which was pretty ridiculous. After that is where the story lines started getting ridiculous, like turning Marcia into a super serial killer villain, having Mariana become so naive, that when she found out that Atilio killed all of her past boyfriends, she decided to marry him anyway (and this was the man she grew up thinking was her father), and having nearly every character in the script become either dumb and naive or over-the-top. It's so disappointing to think that they took such a good show and ruined it, and all because they decided to drag it out.

After having been a fan of telenovelas for almost 11 years, I can honestly say that "Amor Real" is one of the best I have seen. The story, wardrobe, actors, scenery, and characters are simply superb. I must confess, I found it a little slow and so-so during the first weeks, but as each week passed, I began to like this show more and more, until I fell in love with it completely. There are no actors miscast in their roles, and they all portray their character with such skill, that even the villains are believable instead of cartoonish as in most novelas. The one actor that mesmerized me here was Rafael Rojas with his Amadeo Corona, the kind revolutionary leader who helps and protects Manuel. Here you have a character that comes into the story near the middle, and isn't a part of the main love triangle and their obstacles... yet, he manages to make this character just as remarkable and memorable as those who have been in the story since the beginning.