Calling the help
Handywoman Griselda finds love in an unexpected place.
Weekdays (from 1 May) e.tv (*194) 09:30
The last 15 years have been tough on Griselda (Sonya Smith) in Latin telenovela Marido En Alquiler (20132014; translated as My Dear Handyman) after her hubby and the father of her three kids disappeared sailing on the ocean. “Griselda has been forced to dig deep and prove to herself and everyone around her that she is more than just ‘some poor, helpless woman’,” explains Sonya. Griselda is anything by helpless, thanks to her late father, who raised her to work with her hands and think with her brain. She hires out her services as a Mrs Fix-it, “And she does a better job than a lot of men in the DIY industry,” laughs Sonya, who admits that she isn’t all that handy herself. “I had to learn the correct way to hammer and use a paint roller, but it was fun.”
FAKE IT ’TIL YOU MAKE IT
While Griselda doesn’t mind coming home covered in dust, dirt, paint and grime after a day at the office, her son Antonio (Gabriel Coronel) disapproves. He’s studying medicine and judges his family, adds Sonya. “Antonio is embarrassed and refuses to introduce ‘low- class’ Griselda to his fiancée Patricia’s (Kimberly Dos Ramos) snob parents in episode 2 (Wednesday 2 May).” Antonio has made his mom “disappear” as far as Teresa and Reinaldo Palmer (Maritza Rodríguez and Juan Soler) are concerned. Patricia’s parents have met Antonio’s “mom” Giselle (Elluz Peraza), an actress hired because she has “a classy look of a woman who would be in the company of top chef Reinaldo and his socialite wife Teresa,” explains Sonya. “This hurts Griselda terribly.”
HITTING THE LOVE SPOT
But Antonio’s secret is almost exposed later in episode 2 and not because his lies have caught up with him. “It’s pure coincidence,” laughs Sonya. “Reinaldo saw Griselda’s DIY van in the neighbourhood and she is called to fix the lights at his home. He sees her working around his mansion and he is immediately infatuated.” Teresa and Reinaldo are living a lie and Juan Soler says that “Reinaldo feels increasingly estranged from his wife. He’s having second thoughts about his marriage because Teresa is rude and insolent and demanding. He’s unhappy”. He takes an interest in Griselda, unaware that she’s his future sonin-law’s mother. Teresa isn’t blind to her husband’s new-found interest in fixing every broken thing around the house and why he’s refusing to have anyone but Griselda do the job. “Griselda’s proximity [to Reinaldo] unleashes Teresa’s worst demons and she becomes the focus of Teresa’s hatred and unbalanced state of mind,” explains Maritza, grinning that “she is beautiful but Teresa is despicable. Crossing her is bad, bad idea.”