Un poquito tuyo - Capitulo 1 - English recap (summary).

 DISCLAIMER: My Spanish comprehension is "decent," but there WILL be mistakes. I'm still learning. This is a pet project to help me improve my Spanish. Since the excellent recaps by Urban Anthropologist for this show on Caray Caray were not completed due to insufficient support (no other recappers), I decided to give it a go. I figure that my sometimes faulty recaps will be better than nothing. 

This will be a work in progress and some of the recaps may be "outlines" and will not detail every scene at length. It depends on how much energy and time I have when I'm recapping a particular episode.

At the time of this writing, this show is available (with Spanish & English subtitles) on Peacock TV. Other downloads of the show are available online, some from dubious sources.

Antonio & Julieta

UN POQUITO TUYO

A comedy-drama telenovela from 2019 features a father who came from humble beginnings, but who has now enjoyed financial success. His family is indulged and spoiled and while his kids aren't bad, they don't appreciate him. None of his family appreciates him. 

He meets a hard-working woman from a middle class family through a series of weird telenovela circumstances. He's treated by her and her family with grace and decency and realizes what he's been missing. 

And so the story begins.

We start with our hero, Antonio (Jorge Salinas) on a yacht preparing drinks for his family. One by one, he "introduces" his family to us via voice over. He says that time has not affected his wife due to plastic surgery. He has three children, teenagers and young adults. The oldest son is a playboy who can't decide on a career. The daughter dreams of social media fame. A second son is not a great student. Antonio also has a sister who married a good man who doesn't have a big salary. His mother-in-law is indulged and lives a life of luxury because of his income. 

Antonio loves his family but he's made sure to give them everything—which we can see is too much. 

As Antonio brings his family drinks on a tray, they all circle around him and inundate him with demands and requests. Stressed out, he screams and jumps off the yacht into the water to escape them. Then he wakes up. It was a dream! A nightmare! His wife is sleeping by him and asks what the problem could be–he has a high position at a prominent bank in Mexico and his kids are all doing well.

Just then two of his kids come in to squabble about the car keys. The daughter will be late for school and doesn't want to driver her little brother to school because she's "nobody's chauffeur." (Entitled much?) The little brother will flunk AGAIN if he doesn't go to class, though. He cavalierly says that dad should buy him his own car, then! Antonio is tired of their shenanigans and goes to shower. Meanwhile, his other son, who will drive the little brother to school, steals money from Antonio's wallet as Antonio's wife looks on and smiles. 

When Antonio comes back, he gets a robocall from work, wishing him a happy birthday. Antonio realizes that it's his birthday and not one family member remembered it!

We switch to a more humble neighborhood. Our heroine, Julieta, is asleep in bed. She is awakened by her sister and father. It's her wedding day. Her novio (boyfriend) Elvis, is outside her window singing to her with a Mariachi band. They are going to get married soon. Julieta is very touched, while her younger sister Elena looks uncomfortable and unsmiling. The fiancé/novio, Elvis, sings a bit off key but Julieta doesn't mind and seems enchanted. 

At breakfast, Antonio's wife Catalina talks about getting more plastic surgery. Antonio can only smile as he knows there's no use arguing. She doesn't remember his birthday.

After Catalina leaves without having breakfast, Antonio's mother-in-law comes to the table. She wants to buy an apartment (that of course he'll pay for). She says that he and Catalina need their "privacy." Antonio notes (in good humor) that she has lived with them during their entire marriage of 23 years. But oh well, new apartment it is!

Eduardo (the older, wallet-stealing son) is dropping off the younger (bad student) son, Javier, at school. There's a protest going on and Javier uses this as an excuse to ditch school. Eduardo just laughs. 

Eduardo is at work when his daughter, Vivi, calls. He says to himself that she's calling to wish him a happy birthday! But no. Her iPad is getting slow and the only solution is for him to buy her a new one! He agrees with resignation. 

At his office, his secretary has a birthday gift for him. He thanks her profusely and mentions that none of his family have remembered. She thinks that they're planning a surprise birthday party because SURELY no one would forget his birthday! He is cheered up and agrees that this must be it. 

Julieta's sister Elena asks her if she's totally sure that she loves Elvis. Julieta is sure and talks about how qualities. Elena doesn't think Julieta's list of Elvis's qualities constitutes real love. So Julieta asks Elena to tell her what does. Elena starts enthusiastically say that love hits you like a ton of bricks, yadda yadda, and describes these exciting feelings of love so enthusiastically that Julieta says "Aha! You're in love!" Elena denies this with a laugh.

Javier is in the middle of the protests near school. The cops start getting aggressive so he and many other protesters run off. He collides with a hoodie-wearing stranger and his cell phone is broken. He yells at hoodie-wearer who turns around and is a pretty girl. All of Javier's outrage dissolves and a love song swells in the soundtrack.

Vivi enters a coffee shop and smiles at a handsome barista. (The actor played a younger version of Jorge Salinas—who is Vivi's father in this novela—in "Te doy la vida." So that feels a bit strange!) The barista looks at her adoringly, while her older brother Eduardo notices. He says, with good nature, that his friend shouldn't crush on her since it's doubtful that she'll ever be interested in him.

Javier sucks up to the pretty protester and pretends that he's poor like her. She goads him into showing his sincerity in the protest cause by spray painting a protest message on a wall. But he misspells the message and she laughs.  She tries to leave and mentions that she's got a fiancé, but he wants her number anyway, which she gives. 

Antonio has returned home and is still under the delusion that his entire family is preparing a surprise birthday party. When a maid sees him, he shushes her and says that he "knows everything" and that he doesn't want to ruin the surprise. The maid, obviously unaware of any plans for a birthday party, just looks confused.

Antonio goes to every room in the house, expecting his family to spring the party for him. But nobody is there. Crickets. (They literally used cricket sounds on the soundtrack.) Poor Eduardo.

Julieta is in her wedding dress and her dad congratulates her. He's so proud of her! He makes some comments about "finally" she's getting married and wishes his wife (her mother) could be there. (He's obviously a widower.) Elena comes in and asks to speak to Julieta alone for a minute.

Antonio goes to the pool and says to himself that "this empty house is the result of my bad decisions." The family dog comes up and drops a dog treat at his feet. Antonio muses that only the dog remembered his birthday. Then each of his kids approaches him and each time Antonio at first assumes they are wishing him happy birthday, but each time they disappoint him. Vivi bought herself a new iPad. Javier met the girl of his dreams and NEEDS a new car of his own by next week, he informs Papa. Eduardo approaches Papa to ask for congratulations because he won second place in a swimming contest! Oh, and by the way, he's dropping out of school and going into business for himself and of course Papa will bankroll that. 

Antonio looks like he's had enough!

Elena tells Julieta that she needs to know the "real" Elvis. She shows her a video on her phone of Elvis having some sort of orgy-type encounter with several women. Julieta stumbles to sit down, in shock.

At the church, Elvis gets out of his car with his mom. She seems a little jealous and not entirely happy about his marriage. He says that she shouldn't be jealous and that nobody can compete with his mom! Madonna (the hoodie-clad girl that Javier is crazy about) is part of the wedding party as well and takes a photo of the wedding party on her phone.

Julieta, stunned, says she never could have thought Elvis was capable of this and asks Elena why she waited until the last minute to tell her. Elena replies that she just found out herself. Their dad comes in and says the car is waiting. Elena and Julieta exchange looks.

Antonio's family swarms on him again with their own selfish requests and desires. He stops them all and asks them if they know what day it is. "The 25, a Monday." Yes, and his birthday! His wife, slightly panicked, starts to sing him the Mexican happy birthday song and the rest of the family starts in. Too little, too late. Then they say they're going to throw him a party. Too little too late, and besides, he'd be paying for it all. No, what he wanted was a gesture, a hug, a card. The only member of the family who gave him something was the dog! (He pulls out the dog treat from his pocket.) The family looks chagrined. 

Julieta's dad is rushing her and telling her their rented car is waiting. Elena says that Julieta has something she needs to say, but Dad is in a hurry and says yes, he's sure it's about how their mom is looking down from heaven, yadda yadda, we're in a hurry! So Julieta stays silent. 

Antonio chews his family out. His wife spends all her time shopping and on plastic surgery. Why, look, another pair of shoes! She already has 215 pairs. The other kids are always asking for money and are very selfish. The family tries to tell him that he's exaggerating. He says he feels disappointed in them all. But "things are going to change!" he says ominously and walks out. He calls someone on the phone and says he needs a favor.

Elvis is getting nervous as he waits for Julieta to arrive. His mom calms him down. Meanwhile, Julieta is silently crying as she and her family approach the church in the rented car.

Elvis and his mom are relieved as the car pulls up. Julieta looks cold and annoyed as she gets out of the car but Elvis doesn't seem to notice. She approaches him and tells him she's not marrying him. He's astonished and his mom starts to faint. She throws the wedding bouquet at him and runs off.

Julieta runs off, collides with a balloon vendor (poor guy!) and steals his bicycle. Meanwhile, Elvis is absolutely outraged that he's been stood up on his wedding day. His mom urges him to go after her so he and two of his moronic buddies take chase.

Julieta's dad is beside himself. Where is Julieta?

Julieta rides on her stolen bike and collides with Antonio, who is distracted by an argument with Catalina. It doesn't appear that he actually hits Julieta, but she falls off her stolen bike right in front of him and he barely misses her.

Antonio, full of apologies, goes to check up on Julieta. He wants to take her to the hospital but she's not interested. She sees that Elvis and his buddies, along with the balloon vendor, are chasing after her. She gets in the driver's seat of Poor Antonio's car. He's able to barely run to the car and get in the passenger seat before she drives out. Elvis and his friends are thwarted!

Antonio has a heated discussion with Julieta about her bicycle and car-stealing habits. They're both hysterical. He's trying to pull the key out of his car and she's telling him not to touch her. She's unhinged. They almost hit a truck with boxes in the back. The boxes all spill out and Antonio goes to help the driver put the boxes back and apologizes. Julieta wanders off, crying.

Antonio approaches Julieta and asks her, if she's not a thief, what is she? She says she's a bride. (Which should be obvious because of the wedding dress!) He almost gets up to leave her, but returns. She asks him why he's staying and he replies that he's a gentleman and she's obviously a lady. He's sympathetic of her tears and distress. 

Elvis returns to the church where everyone is waiting. He won't give up and the wedding will continue! His mom thinks it should be postponed. One of the family members (a guy with a bright orange baseball cap) mentions a telenovela where the bride ran off with her lover. This enrages Elvis and he says that's not the case here! He and his idiot buddies rush off again to locate Julieta.

Elena and her dad rush up to ask what's going on. Now Elvis's mom gets it into her head that Julieta ran off with a "lover" and Julieta's dad looks dumbfounded. 

Meanwhile back at Antonio's home, Catalina and the kids are wondering what to do and wonder where Papa is. Catalina tries to blame the kids for their spending but they turn it around on her for her shopping and plastic surgery. (I missed some of the details here.)

Antonio drives Julieta up to a fenced estate with woods. She mentions that her family went there when she was a kid. She wants to spend some time there. He says something about how his family grew up poor. Catalina tries to call him but he won't take the call. Julieta thanks Antonio, saying that he "saved her life" and gets out of the car. She starts to climb up on a fence but gets stuck. Antonio is ready to leave but sees her and gets out to help. He finds an open gate and is trying to help her as her wedding dress is stuck and she says she can't breathe well.

Julieta's dad is offended at the suggesting that Julieta has a lover. He and Elvis's mom bicker back and forth. Elvis is the victim here! Elena argues back that Julieta had a VERY good reason for doing what she did. The priest is sick of them all.

Antonio is able to free Julieta from the fence. She offers him a coffee and he laughs about her being a runaway bride and car thief and says why not to the coffee. He makes sure to lock the gate so that nobody else can get in.

Catalina is distressed because Antonio won't answer the phone. Her mom hints around that maybe that means he's being unfaithful. Javier is like, "You're talking about my DAD, lady!" and Catalina also doesn't believe it because Antonio is crazy about her.

Just then Antonio's sister and her husband burst in, wearing birthday party hats and singing the Mexican happy birthday song. At least someone remembered, but he's not there to enjoy it!

Antonio and Julieta are in some sort of cottage drinking coffee and talking. He thinks that maybe this will give her novio time to explain things. But she protests "What?" What can he explain, it's obvious he was cheating. Just then Antonio gets another call from Catalina, which he ignores. She asks him about it and he says that he too is on the run, from his family who all forgot his birthday. She is quick to congratulate him but they are interrupted by Elvis, who has caught up with them and is accusing her of running away to her lover. 

Antonio immediately wants to go out there to tell Elvis et al that he's got everything wrong and there's no hanky panky going on. But Julieta wants to take some time. 

Elvis continues to yell threats as Julieta and Antonio come out of the cottage to confront them. Antonio starts with a gentlemanly stance, saying "We can explain everything" confident that he can clear everything up. But Julieta isn't having it. She sees her out. She yells, "You're right about it all. He is my lover!" and gives him a long kiss and his eyes bug out from the shock. Elvis can only look on, completely blindsided.

"We're lovers!" Not what he was expecting her to say!

END OF CAPITULO 1.