Velvet 4x11 "El gran día" / "The Big Day"

OMG I got to watch the show from my desk in NYC and using Velevt's Twitter feed..and it's translations of each scene...I was able to watch in real time.
I was on pins and needles wondering will these two EVER get married. How sweet that Alberto was able to bond with his son. Then seeing MAS propose to Ana.YES!
I was cheering when Alberto finally confronted Carlos about the stealing the letters. Then the wedding...and when Rita fainted I was like UH OH!!!
It broke my heart when we saw her conceal the truth, but Rita's will to see her best friend get married made me cry. Who I should feel sorry for was
Cristina. YIKES! The scars were really bad. And she lost an eye..That is what her insane jealousy led to.
NOW when they switched to the live performance I couldn't believe it! The cast was splendid. And Ana's dress...pure dream. The energy of the live wedding was just
joyful to watch. Literally I was thinking the writers better NOT ruin the wedding again when they all look so gorgeous! AND when they said their vows YES!
So much happy ending even Raul's character found love again with the returning actor guy.

I haven't seen the episode yet but it turned out about how I expected, sans Rita's cancer coming back. A shame we won't get to see that play out.

As for Patricia and Enrique I'm not surprised they ended up getting away with it. The police have no real evidence against them. No one saw Enrique shoot or later suffocate Valentin and his motive is circumstantial. There's no proof of the infidelity either.

I'd love to see Clara and Mateo with kids, still arguing and making up. Mateo's conversations with Alberto would be hilarious! Other than seeing Ana and Alberto more, I'm going to miss that we won't see Clara and Mateo juggle family life.

Ana and Alberto should have at least one more child, preferably a girl.

I'm not surprised people felt the episode was rushed. I thought it would be. I understand S4 had to be the last. Once Ana and Alberto get married, there is no story really because they'd leave Spain and that would be it. But it would've been nice if the season was longer, even an additional 2 episodes so they could really bring everything to a conclusion and MAS be available for most of the season. Either that or they should've ended Velvet after S3.

I can see in the FB comments, viewers in Spain feel cheated by this season. They promoted it as being all about Alberto's return and in actuality it was a side story until the final 3 episodes.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Amazing that you take the time to provide subtitles. But the blogs also help. I have rarely been this connected to a show, where I actually follow related blogs and read all the comments. Grateful to have this additional way to connect to the show. These characters will stay with me for a long time to come. And this has also given me a deeper appreciation for the Spanish language and culture. All the best to you, VV, Alfi, NorthboundTrain -- and to all the commenters!

Okay, my thoughts on the episode:




THE GOOD

* Some of the Ana/Alberto moments: the proposal set to "You Are the One" (so glad we got to hear the song one more time), Alberto screaming to Ana up on the roof of the hotel, and the two of them together on the Velvet roof at the end.


* Mateo and Clara's reunion.
They're so perfect for each other.


* Alberto and Carlos' fight (and in the same place as their last fight, too).


* Barbara's return. I've always gotten a kick out of the character, and I think AS does a great job with her. I said this up thread, but I appreciate that the writers acknowledged that Barbara's friendship with and love for Cristina is actually true.

* Alberto's flashback to being with his father at Velvet. It's a testament to the writing in S1 and the performances of both MAS and Tito Valverde that Alberto/Rafael's relationship has loomed so large over this show in spite of the fact that Rafael died in the pilot.

* Raul finding happiness, and that moment when Humberto covered Raul's hand with his own. (Though I still miss Toni. If a spin-off with Raul does happen, that's a triangle I'd like to see.)


* MI (Max)'s presence in the live shots of the actors after the finale aired. Swoon. He is so gorgeous.





THE BAD

* Nothing on earth will ever make me buy Emilio and Blanca as a romantic couple. ASG and JS are fantastic actors, but they don't have the chemistry to overcome the age difference. And I'm sort of resentful of the idea that they'd both get together because they're the last two characters over 40 who are still standing
. True, that's not how the characters see it, but that's what the writing feels like.

* For every song choice that worked, there was one that didn't work. For example, "Will You Fly Away With Me?" which played during the S1 finale as Alberto married Cristina and Carlos swooped Ana into his arms, took me straight out of A/A's wedding vows. Is it as bad as "Vegas Wedding Bells" for A/A's reunion last episode? No. But it's close.

* Part of me likes the realism of Rita's cancer coming back. Far too often, that's what cancer does. And it took courage for the show to go there. But I still hated it...it casts a shadow over every Rita/Pedro scene in the finale, and when I go back and rewatch the show later, I'm worried that's going to be on my mind then, too.

* Alberto and Ana going to New York doesn't work for me. First, because as others have mentioned, "their" place has always been Paris, and second, because does Alberto seriously want to bring her back to a city full of women who know him as some sort of sex god? If his intention is to keep running Silk, isn't that going to be sort of awkward? If not Paris, why not a new place? Or why not just say they plan to travel the world and don't know where they want to settle yet? I don't know, it just doesn't feel well thought out.




THE UGLY

* Patricia/Enrique. Patricia/Enrique. PATRICIA/ENRIQUE.

* Patricia and Jonas not sharing a single scene or exchange. While I long ago resigned myself to the reality that the show wouldn't be revisiting their relationship, I actually DID expect that they would interact briefly at the wedding, maybe with a snarky exchange, before moving on. So the fact that they didn't act like they knew each other (THEY SLEPT TOGETHER FOR MONTHS, WRITERS! JONAS BELIEVED HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HER, WRITERS!) really, really sucked.

* HOW DO YOU HAVE MAXI IGLESIAS ON HAND AND NOT FIND A WAY TO SHOVE HIM INTO THE FINALE? I know, I know, because it would have destroyed the "Blanca/Emilio 5 Eva" narrative. Ughhh.

* Finally, the biggest and most upsetting consequence of the shortened season -- and especially the lack of MAS -- is how rushed everything felt. Alberto learning about his son was rushed. Father and son got used to/comfortable with each other immediately, when it would have been more interesting to see them have to build a relationship. And, as much as I loved some of the individual moments of Ana and Alberto's reunion, that was rushed too -- they went from "KISS" to "OUR SON IS IN PERIL" to "ENGAGED" to "DAY BEFORE OUR WEDDING" to "WEDDING" to "SECOND WEDDING" to "FINAL ROOF TOP SCENE" with very, very little in between. These are two people who have spent the last five years apart and have grown and changed. They could have gotten a season's worth of material out of Ana and Alberto getting to know each other again, and instead it was just two episodes.

Alberto's other relationships also suffered as a result -- we got little to no Patricia/Alberto, and I'll never be over the decision not to show Alberto/Mateo's reunion.


I'll probably have more to say when VV puts up the subs, but that'll do for now. Overall, definitely mixed feelings, which I hate...I wanted to love the finale so much.

I like your main points. I don't have a problem per say if Ana and Alberto go to NYC..Because remember Ana is a famous designer now. I envision they would be a power couple in the fashion world.
Even if Alberto has been with other women..HIS HEART BELONGS TO ANA. Alberto would need to be the one who worries someone else could try and steal her away.

Northbound just to add some stuff to what you said... MV/Luisa was there too. It would have been great seeing the Velvet chicas together one last time. Overall, I was surprised that we didn't get any of our old favorites back this season like The Montesinos, the Madres, Luisa, Manolito, Max, Sara, Gloria, even Carmen and Pilar.

I enjoyed all the moments you mentioned with MAS, loved that his car was back lol. His shouting to Ana that he was crazy about her was sweet and I loved when they flashed back to his first ep with Rafael. However, overall, I agree with your uglys. Alberto's return was not handled well in my opinion and A/A were largely lost because of that and also Ana this season. The roof scene did sort of bring some of the old A/A magic back. None of the questions we discussed were addressed though, not even much of the Carlos situation like Ana's reaction to him stealing the letters, why would Ana call him in the first place and why she was with him so long? Nothing was said about Cristina attacking Ana. The entirety of Alberto's absence, what happened on both sides, was basically forgotten about. 

I was disappointed that there was no wedding reception. I remember in S1 Alberto asking Ana how she learned to dance when she was teaching him the waltz for his wedding and she said she dreamed her whole life about that moment. 😣 I also loved Rita and Pedro's reception and wish we got to see more of that kind of fun. I did think Ana's pause at saying I do was odd. It reminded me of Alberto when he married Cristina. 

Cristina basically got away with trying to kill however many people live at Velvet. I guess she'll keep Cris with her. Marco mentioned something about her, probably about her leaving, but I'm not sure what. No one acknowledged her starting the fire. A/A I don't believe mentioned her at all. Enrique's investigation was just suddenly dropped which was very abrupt. I guess the Oteguis know how to get away with murder.

Clara and Mateo were fine, but how could she not know they were still married? Not only would she get paperwork, but what if she wanted to remarry at some point and didn't know she was still married?

As depressing as Rita's story was, I'm kind of glad they went there. I'm only sorry we can't see it play out no matter which way it would have went.

Emilio and Blanca I'm choosing to ignore. Lol