No, you’re right. Their plot is what the f/f couple would usually get, it’s pretty separate from everything else. If you took Renata out of the show, nothing would really change. It’s a cute romance for Guille and a way to cause friction between him and Eva but she’s not doing anything plot-wise.
Juliantina is one of the most central aspects of the show, you need them as an actual plot device to reveal the body-switching and the connection between the cartels.
@dealanexmachina pointed out to me that Guille/Renata might actually be another way to appeal to the audiences for Juliantina, to parallel the rich/poor trope viewers are already used to seeing and to have them to compare directly. If you’re going to root for the m/f couple then you should root for the f/f couple too. Juliantina are paralleled both by Guille/Renata as well as Lucia/Jacobo (Leon), where Lucia and Juls are from the wrong side of the tracks and brings complications to the relationship while Leon/Val are still besotted and willing to do anything for them.
Guille and Renata almost match the progression of Juls and Val beat for beat. Compare:
1) Renata seeing the house for the first time (and taking that selfie) vs Juls marveling in awe at her first time in the Carvajal house. Both times, Chivis features in that introduction.
2) Renata being Guille’s secret keeper with secret texts and calls about Mr. Castillo vs Juls being the only one Val confides in about her dad, secret calls in the night when she can’t sleep.
3) Both Juls and Renata dealing with the money/wealth/hey Carvajals you don’t live in the real world class divide, wherein Val and Guille have to check their privilege (the fight about Renata getting kicked out of the car and leaving her bag situation vs scholarships)
4) Renata giving Guille the perfect birthday gift of the puzzle that shows she knows him best vs Juls giving her gift for Val as an apology the same day. Both gifts are personal and make the Carvajal kids feel special in ways money can’t buy.
5) Both Carvajal kids realizing their feelings for Renata and Juls are quickly veering toward romantic on the same night (Guille remembers the kiss, Val almost kisses Juls)
6) Both Carvajals bringing their secret working class girlfriends to the Valle house, which was a gift to their mom from Leon- a sacred, safe place to escape to. (Also filed under: reasons why Lucho is the Worst).
7) Val and Guille having their snacking/work out chats wherein they are talk about how much they love their girlfriends.
8) Val and Guille both getting encouraging pep talks from Leon/Jacob when he is in a good place (and getting bad prep talks when Leon/Jacob was wrecked by the Johnny as murderer reveal, so the audience knows to read those conversations as Not Good Advice).
9) Both of them being outed by jealous exes/almost exes (Lucho, Maylene) and Eva meddling.
10) Both of them yelling at Eva and standing strong against her, in the same episode.
By taking arguably the most traditional, familiar telenovela storyline, which the audience is expected to recognize and root for the couple, and then mirroring it with Juls and Val, it sends a direct message that same sex relationships are no different than heterosexual relationships, and we should root for the good ones. In fact, I would go a step further and argue that the writers deliberately gave Juls and Val a healthier, less problematic relationship than Guille and Renata, to emphasize that point.
Because I love Guille but he is a Dumb Boy sometimes, and Renata is too good for him. A lot of their problems stem from a lack of communication or Guille doing stupid shit, whereas Val and Juls’ problems stem from outside circumstance of cartels threatening them and the fact that they love each other too much.
Comparisons between Juls and Val vs Leon and Lucia can also be made, because Juls and Val are basically the purer, less problematic version of Leon and Lucia’s love, if Lucia hadn’t been conning Leon from the start and fallen in love with her mark. The ways in which Val is her father in how she shows her love is another list I could go off on, but I’ll stop here.
Lol, see? There is hard evidence!
And share the Leon/Val list! It’s great.