Final Episode, Final Review

They pulled out all the stops last night on El Color de la Pasion, starting with Marcelo's mother, who had been a real bitch about Lucia, being the one who brought the two lovers back together again. Also, Mario and Magdalena adopted a baby, Daniel and Roderigo received both of their now-single parents' blessings for the baby on the way, Gloria made a play for Roman, Normita caught the bouquet and hugged Narazino a lot, Segio gave Leticia an engagement ring, and Lucia and Marcelo had an elebaorate wedding at a beautiful church, then a lovely honeymoon at the beach.

Fio was especially interested in the wedding ceremony, which involved elements not found in her own plain and simple Lutheran wedding and maybe unknown to non-Mexican Hispanics either: Marcelo poured something that looked like gold coins into Lucia's hands, and the priest draped a kind of silver rope around them. But that's just another reason Fio needs to get DVDs of the show--so she can study all the details.

All in all, El Color was drama at its best. The plot twists were non-stop,the cinematography was outstanding, and casting was perfect--supposed family members actually looked like each other. Oh, and there 's one more twosome that Fio should add to the list--Amador and Vicinio. They both ended up in jail, in the same cell. Happy life, muchachos.

Linda Howard Revisited

Fio had become so involved with writing romances lately that she hadn't been reading any, which was a mistake, one that is currently being rectified while she sweats out the retrieval of her accidentally-deleted work-in-progress. Her book of choice was a vintage Linda Howard, McKenzie's Mountain.  The story line involves love, suspense, action, and mystery, and, most important to Fiorella, the ending is happy. Fio strongly recommends it.

Happy Endings

In a former incarnation, when Fiorella taught English literature, she used to tell her classes that a happy ending depended on where the author ended the story.  For instance, "Cinderella" has a happy ending if the story stops just after the wedding.  But what happens a week later when Cindy discovers Prince Charming has a foot fetish?

Quick switch to true life.  What happened to Princess Diana's HEA when learned that Charles had a longtime mistress he was devoted to?  What happens to our own lives, when disappointment or tragedy enfold us?

For the most part, we eventually pick ourselves up and start all over again, unless, of course, we're dead or the next thing to it.  That's why Fiorella never reads biographies, which, by their very nature, always end with the main character dying.  That's why she doesn't write tragedies, which start with HEA's and end with everything shot to hell--compare the confident, arrogant, happy Oedipus at the beginning of his eponymous (Fio loves using that word) drama to the wretched creature he is at the end of it.  Compare Othello in the first act of his own eponymous drama to Othello in the final act.

No, Fiorella writes romances, and she knows where to cut off the story.