I gotta be honest, I’ve never seen a good product made by televisa and I find aam just as bad as all of their shows. The thing is, I love Juliantina (I found them thanks to your gifs) and I’m sure that the reason why it feels kind of well done is Maca and Barbara making the best of what was given to them. After the kiss the only conflict the writer introduced steamed from lack of acceptance and indecision, stretching it as long as he could, making them go back and foward between… 1/2
… 2/2 wanting to be together but not being able to. The finale showed the lack of development around their story, their conflict was easy to solve so they didn’t need a lot of time focusing on them and that’s why it feels sort of anticlimactic. Anyway, even with its shortcomings, I’m happy they took a step forward to show inclusion and I feel everyone tried their best with what they had. Also I’m so happy we got Maca and Barbara, they’ve been truly a gift.
I would disagree that the sole reason Juliantina was so good was the actresses, the writing and setup early on was amazing. And at quite a few parts later too. Admittedly, the actresses elevated those scenes, I can’t imagine how some of those lines would have sounded from different people, but they did cast these two, they did let them play off each other as they did, they did let them improvise and then included those takes.
But I do think you’re totally spot on in that their storyline was somewhat limited by having a lack of conflict. Well. This is what we thought would happen that week after the breakup, right, we were like, well, they’re going to be kept separate now because there’s no plot for them while they’re together, they can’t figure out their dads this early. But then they questioned Camilo, they had that great set of scenes at Silvina’s house, we really thought maybe they’d somehow continue the whole series like that. *sigh* They were doing so well.
BUT then they had to bring in the other conflict. You could see how forced it had to be to even get the Sergio story going, as if Juls would simply turn and leave at seeing Lucho, or Val wouldn’t just chase her down and be like, dunno what you think but it wasn’t that. Although, again, as if Juls would even think that. I mean, it’s possible that she would, all the things that happened can be believed of their characters, but while in the earlier parts of the show they would have gone for the most direct, believable route, here they definitely did not. You always had to stretch characterization a bit to accommodate actions. It was a lot of plot leading the characters, I suppose. The opposite of which was so appealing in the earlier arcs. The writing was unreal before, how much they avoided unnecessary drama when they could just talk.
A lot at the end was precipitated more by plot, why Val couldn’t just call Juls, a lot of that whole final ep, pretty sure they arrived at the TV confession first, and then were like, how we can we get these two to that place…okay, we’ll make it a media scandal and…we’ll add weight to it by having them stay apart because Juls’s life is under threat (also, wtf, Beltran was threatening her??) Like what was Val really saying in the kitchen scene, what was her reason for staying away? Juls’s safety or her own family? And since when did she care what her family…but anyway, yes, so, the plot needed certain things to happen, and their conflict is really so tame, like, neither is going to willfully hurt the other, they both clearly wanted to be with the other, so just pull out some fake high stakes stuff to include a grand gesture in the finale.
Ultimately, what defined the finale was more what it didn’t have than what it did. But it didn’t wreck the characters, it didn’t ruin their dynamic, it didn’t make it impossible for them to be together, by death or permanent separation. I can blame their planning but I don’t really blame them for a lot of the decisions they took along the way or the motivations behind them. They wanted to keep these two likable and healthy and destined and I can’t dislike that. Maybe if there’s a spinoff or even just a new project by the same team, they’ll have learned what works and what really didn’t and we can look forward to that.
Yall can tell me if im deaf or something BUT DID THEY REALLY JUST PLAY ESO ES AMOR IN THAT LAST SCENE TWO YEARS LATER WHERE VALS AND JULS LOOKING EACH OTHER LIKE THAT IM CRYING
They sure did! And honestly, the way they looked at each other and then DIDN’T kiss? Did not compute. It would have been a perfect parallel to the other time Lupe caught them kissing but this time it’d be like, oh, it’s a thing that happens often because they’re gay and in love and they’re all family now.
thr juliantina fashion show scene was honestly ruined so much for me by the fact that val is wearing a plains native american headdress. not only because it has significant cultural meaning and is constantly worn just for the aesthetic, but also bc fashion appropriating and profiting off of indigenous designs is such an issue, and neither of the girls are plains native american…. the headdress felt so unnecessary and so shitty to see, that such a sweet moment was ruined.
Mhmmm, yeah, I think a whole bunch of us recoiled. I actually went to google “mexican feather headdress” just to see if maybe I just wasn’t aware of what it was supposed to be, but.
Juliantina not getting a kiss is disappointing, but I also remember being a baby gay looking up lesbian scenes on youtube like 10 years ago (much like many people are watching AAM now) and the lesbian couples not even being allowed to be shown on a bed together. So I don’t want to diminish anything because yes it is literally homophobia, and yes we do deserve better. But also? Focus on the good. (And always write fanfiction.)
Aye, but you don’t get good by not acknowledging the bad or unfair. That one scene with Guille and Renata talking and kissing, like, we didn’t even see Juliantina getting back together! Let alone being allowed to kiss.
But you’re definitely right, lots of progress was made and there has been a lot of good in this series, especially in the context of being one of the very first in a conservative country. And us dwelling on the bad without action only makes ourselves unhappy. If we want to do something about it, the show and network are super receptive to feedback on SM, so let them have it, for sure, and then come back and let’s feel better.
So Michel brown said in his ig live that theres no s2 ? so maybe maca getting all excited is for juliantina spinoff?
I guess so, I’ve seen Angelique say no too, but that’s for more obvious reasons, lol. Bye, Lucia. ;_;
And another anon:
let this sink in Lucia died without knowing about Val and Juls. goodnight
…aw, man, that’s true. Tsk. I really wish they’d restructured some of the last weeks. I know certain characters had to be kept apart for plot reasons, e.g., when Juls was kidnapped Val and Eva didn’t meet so Val couldn’t say, Alacran has Juls, and Val often needed to be in a place where she had no support so her despair and resulting strength would be clearer, but dammit, there really could have been a time and place for them to talk and for Lucia to find out and offer some quiet support.
And another anon:
So Lucía really came and went huh?
🙁 Not really pleased Lucia died, Eva went to jail, while Chino is walking around free AND happy. I’m happy Mateo survived, at least! But I don’t really get the purpose of “this character did bad so they must pay” when it’s not applied equally. How has Chino paid? And for the mistakes he’s made, including his terrible parenting of Eva, Leon’s fine too?
I loved the interview scene, Val making sure all of México knows Juliana Valdes is taken lol. Flozmin did a similar scene, I hope main rich girl proclaiming her love for her gf in an interview becomes a telenovela trope for lesbian couples
Lol, Jade on the Filipino drama The Rich Man’s Daughter did it too! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it when I start watching Flozmin.
It was a great scene, I don’t know its place here, but it was great in itself. And tbh, why not, it didn’t hurt anything and a lot of us loved it. That the finale was rushed doesn’t mean that the parts we did get weren’t great.
I just immediately thought of a headcanon that val’s pr team is losing theyre shit after that interview fjdjdjdj
Arghhhh, I would have been 100 times better with no other scenes if we’d gotten reaction shots of EVERYONE for that interview, Eva, the Carvajal office, the Carvajal PR team, Renata at the rival company beaming, Nayeli, Montilla, Chivis, Milagros. Another scene you owe me, AAM.
I gotta be honest and say I fucking loved every minute pre-sergio plot and was disappointed by everything post-sergio, but overall Juliantina is almost incomparable and in its own league as a whole, even if I think that mostly applies to the part I loved. I think the ending was rushed and lacked a lot of resolution after the buildup, but I’m happy they survived AND were together. I do think they could’ve added more romance Bc i can’t even remember if juliantina had a kiss post-sergio but eh
Yeah, true, everything was rushed at the end. Except for like, Guille/Renata, who stayed stalled on the same level for the last half of the whole series. When you think about Lucia/Leon, they were split up for so long, then he revealed who he was at the theater and they didn’t share any scenes again until the very end of the penultimate ep. And then while they had their true talky reunion today, she ended up dying. We had our real reunion the other day, and then today was just a last minute kind of bonus conflict to drive the drama.
Personally, I totally did not mind the post-Sergio eps at all. They focused so much on the feelings between them, even with them not together. Val working so hard to rescue Juls, then how quickly after their space talk she caved and tried to chase her down.
I absolutely think, on a technical level, they needed some more scenes to round off things, considering their freaking dads switched bodies and what Barbara knew and that Death was following Val around, but I’m so much more lenient on things when it’s not because of malicious or thoughtless intent. They did so well by us overall, our girls being shuffled a bit to the side in the finale because they weren’t in the middle of the dying or prison drama isn’t the same disappointment it would be in different circumstances.
Also, they needed a final dance scene.
I have questions and I’m hoping someone can answer. Where was Leon’s body? Where was baptised spirit ? What happened to panchos family?
Whoooo knows. We weren’t kidding when we said it was rushed, lol. Panchito is getting a divorce, though, so I think that’s dealt with. He’ll probably visit them regularly but that’s hardly finale material. Omg. Juliana’s getting stepsiblings. Well, it’s probably a good thing she can stay with her super rich girlfriend now for some peace and quiet. I mean, from other people’s noise.