Week 3: Weekend Review

We are about to enter a new week of multiple confrontations and exposures, in the unfolding episodes of "The Gardener's Daughter". The week that just ended has laid the foundation for that.

Don Fernando Alcantara's conscientious repentance to bring both his enstranged daughter- Amelia, and his grandaughter back into is life was the key that ruled all the five episodes of last week. It set Consuela in desperate motion to cover up all leakages, and as she does that, the shifting sand of her lies continue to threaten to swallow her.

Last week taught us a lesson that, as parents, we should not manipulate our children to do our 'selfish' motives. If we do, we would reap deceit from our children in future, just like Don is grappling with now from Consuela. Don Elcantara confessed his desire for a son, lacking that, he recriuted an intelligent and hansome guy- Heriberto Sotomayor, as foreman in his giant factory. He rapidly promoted the guy through the ranks to manage the factory, hoping one day he would marry one of his daughters. Eventually, the guy married Consuela, one of Don's daughters. It was an unhappy home. Consuela is sterile and the man had a daughter- Vanessa, out of wedlock.

Now with frail health Don has come to himself and wants to undo all that he had done wrongly before, but this only stirred the hornets nest as Consuela threatens to fight her father's decision to will all his fortune to his grand daughter. What would Consuela do? Would she plan to poison the old man before he appends signature to his new will? Would she find a weakness of Luis Alejandro Montero and use such to blackmail him not to execute Don's desire?

Another lesson for us ladies, is that we should not enter a love relationship with questionable motives. If we do, then we are laying the basis for future circumstances that would question that relationship or our marriages, which we would not be able to find answers to. Jennifer de la Vega is one such questionable lover in last week's episodes, who entered a love relationship with Carlos, and now that relationship is being questioned by the formidable emergence and entrance of Luisa Fernanda into the life of Carlos, and Jenny has lost every solution to keep Carlos under her love wings.

It is even being rumored by those who have watched the full episodes that, not only was she older than Carlos (question 1), but that she already had a child(question 2), by another man before meeting Carlos, and she made it a well kept secret until the bubble burst. Let that remain a rumour and not reality. We would wait until we get to the real happenings. We won't ride on the wings of rumour if we must enjoy this telenovela.

Pedro Perez is one miserable fellow to me in last week's episodes. He lived and dreamed a life of lies for 18 years. Somebody called it 18-year celibacy. The divorce that Amelia is seeking is running him mad, but it is better to live in truth and crash than live in lies and hope that one day, the lies would be wearied enough and now be converted to truth. Nooo, it doesn't work that way. Lies would never be a foundation for the truth. As a woman, If I were Amelia. I would not condone nor sustain a life of lie for 18 years. She has no reason not to redefine her life and move forward, after she child-birth.

The new week will be interesting. Would Amelia accept the job offer after discovering that the woman(Marissa), she was assigned to work for as a messenger is the wife of her ex lover Luis Alejandro Montero, that jilted her 18 years ago? Would L.A. meet her in his wife's office and recognise her again?

Would Vanessa know this week that she has no hope or chance of winning Carlos' heart because it is already captured buy Luisa, her best friend? Whatever happens, we are going to have confrontations in the new week.

Letter from a Ghanaian 'Gardener'

We received this letter from a Gahanaian fan of the Gardener's Daughter (la hija del Jardinero), I call us 'The Gardeners' (LOL). I am serving it to us (along with our reply) because, it is very educative towards our crusade for African reckoning in the Telenovela world.

"Thanks very much for your mail on 'The Gardener's Daughter'.

I really do appreciate it.

I would like to ask for one big favour from you. Is it possible for to get at 5 episodes at time? This is because the programme is aired 3 times a week and we have gotten to the part that, Ceaser and Poncho smuggled Pedro out of the mental institution so they could have some bit of fun since its Ceaser's Bacholer party.

Then Carlos Eduardo shows and there was a fight between Carlos Eduardo and Pedro and they were arrested and sent to jail.

I'd like to know whether is possible to get the episodes from there.

thanks once again for the good work".

This is our reply:
Dear friend and fan of the "gardener's daughter",

Thanks for your compliments, it is appreciated. Like I always tell people, it is my passion, you don't thank a person for ejoying what that person loves doing best.

The truth is that Ghana started airing this lovely telenovela- "The Gardener's Daughter", about 5 weeks before Nigeria. You are about 25 to 30 episodes ahead of us in Nigeria.

What we should realise is that, nobody has consciously prepared and documented this 180-episode "La Hija del Jardinero" for posterity as we are doing it right now with our blog- http://www.gardenersdaughter.blogspot.com

What we are doing is not even for now, but for posterity. The hordes of guests visiting to read our daily episodes would be nothing, compared to future generation of youngsters and families that would tap into the inestimable moral and social lessons that the telenovela holds in shaping personal future and destinies of youths and families that watch or read it..

I want you to enjoy the episodes as they come, no rushing, just flow with the soap. It is futile to seek to know all the rest, when it is not available. We are still on the look out, and most of our Malaysian friends who should have- (they have watched it since 2004), don't have the complete summaries.

What we should focus on now is how to put Africa on the telenovela map. We are 3 years behind current happenings in the telenovela world. For example, last week, the latest of Mariana Ochoa's soap opera was simultaneously released in 72 countries of three continents of America, Europe and Asia. Not a single African country was in that reckoning! We still appreciate the modest efforts of MYTV (Nigeria) and TV3 (Ghana), in bringing us these soaps, but we can do better than our current position.

Let Africa do something now that would bring her to reckoning. It is time to rise up in the entertainment world to be counted.

thank you.

Philomena Ojikutu