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I finished my rewatch but ended up fastforwarding a lot of sergio Bc I really cannot stand him lol. Maybe I’ll have to go back w more patience at some point. It WAS a total gutpunch when it happened back then, i remember everyone was attacking the person who spoiled it on twitter Bc no one thought the show would go that route after how good it’d been, but I’m glad I listened to that person Bc it happened! My rewatch reaffirmed that it was such a stupid choice at that point in the narrative 1/2

Like???? Val had made it thru everything without backsliding to Lucho. Juliana had not felt the need to experiment w sergio when she realized she was falling for Val. Neither gay panicked after they had sex. Juliana stuck up to Lupe AND moved out Bc she wouldn’t deny her love for Valentina. And after aLL THAT I’m supposed to believe she went & fucked sergio?? Nah. Unnecessary. Esp disgusting that it was sergio, who treated Juliana like shit & was stalkery. Also was childhood “friends” w Val 2/2

Yeah, I didn’t want to believe it but it seemed too obvious from what was being set up, sadly. And once the screenshots were up, well. 

At the time, I was hoping they’d pull out something…educational, at least? But like, they didn’t even use it to cause enough drama for the relationship? Maybe that’s also because the show packed so much into the last quarter, everything happening at once, nothing really being dealt with at length, which I hear is a thing in the genre.

But you know, for me, it’s such a long time ago, I’ve just put it all aside and focused on everything else. It wasn’t nearly enough to ruin the ship or experience for me. It’s weird how small a thing it was in the show, like, yes, for us it was huge and impossible to ignore, but to the characters, the way they all handled it, it was practically forgotten by everyone in the space of days. I mean, yes, a kidnapping and the violent death of a fellow 20ish-year-old is enough to make you shift perspective, but that’s kind of the point too, right, the show had all that going on and just added this. I dunno. It’s not something I dwell on but it was definitely my least favorite part of their story. 

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Omg thanks so much for the speedy response! I just got to the part where Lupe walked in on Val and Juliana kissing and I was like asdfghjkl I know I’m heading into the danger zone now but still couldn’t remember how much safe content was left or where to pick up after the grossness Bc I stopped right before then, so I really appreciate it! Lmao juliantina are The Worst at breakups, Val stays so thirsty and they can’t stop looking at each other and touching. i love them sfm lol

Ugh, I remember that time well. I think that’s partly why the Sergio part was so shocking and a punch in the stomach. We’d been so sure that the kind of forced if still explainable breakup would mean they’d spend a lot of time apart, what else was the point of it, and then the Jacobo revelation happened so we were afraid of what THAT would mean, if it’d carry into a whole arc of mistrust. But instead Val absolutely listened to Juls and the way she STARED at her at Camilo’s house, honestly, perhaps one of my favorite f/f moments of this year, and then they continued flirting and it was just so great. AND THEN Sergio happened? POINTLESS.

And same anon:

Okay aam writers, wHYTHEFUCK is sergio in pretty much every juliantina scene post-bs storyline???? Like!!!! He wasn’t even important in the entire first 2/3 of their content??? And still isn’t important although he’s revealed himself to be a piece of shit! Whew, I’m not even finished in my rewatch yet but there’s so much unnecessary sergio happening rn that I honestly feel like I didn’t miss anything in my original stopping point lol.

Right, he didn’t ADD anything. That whole arc didn’t add anything or develop either of them or their relationship or like, teach anything about sexuality or homophobia, which I’d been hoping at the start. At best, my reading of it is, if you force your kid to go and try to be straight, they’re just going to be miserable.

But the best way to go forward is to just treat him like the platonic prop he is, I think, anon, because otherwise he’s gonna ruin a lot of scenes for you. I think my favorite post-kidnapping ep he’s still there with Val, when they go to Barbara the bruja.

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So I stopped watching juliantina after I found out the sergio bs was happening, but when I was finally ready to return all the videos were removed from ur. Finally remembered to check for the released juliantina scenes & found it all on yt & woooooow thought I was ready to watch everything but imma hafta stay skipping the sergio stuff Bc watching the lead up to it w how he’s acted makes me even more angry than in real time lol any chance u remember what happened w juliantina right before that?

Heh, totally understandable. If it hadn’t been for the plot parts that kind of needed it, I wish they’d just done away with that, it didn’t add anything to anybody’s arc. 

Right before, you had Juls and Val at Chivis’s house after returning from Camilo’s, that older gray haired therapist friend of Val’s father, where Val kept on staring at her, remember. They’d broken up but Val had found out about Jacobo being Juls’s dad so they went to ask Camilo about him. So at the house, they flirt a bit on the stairs, then inside in the kitchen, and then just as they kiss, Lupe sees them and yells at them and Val leaves. Juls leaves soon after too and that kinder older restaurant lady Perlita takes her in, and then you can skip to Juls being kidnapped. Because the parts in between, where Juls walks in on Lucho comforting Val and walking off in a huff, that was already just contrivance for the Sergio plot.

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Hey, thank you for your gifs and answering asks. I feel AAM is doing a good job with many things especially Juliantina. But there’s still something like an itch that I keep feeling. It’s not just about how they never addressed Juls’ trauma and how Sergio manipulated her or how Lucho was somewhat redeemed that way. It’s how they kept bringing Sergio into the narrative of Juliantina when it’s so cringeworthy and unnecessary. I’m not complaining but I really can’t watch that trash anymore. ???

I totally understand. I get that he serves a plot purpose, to get certain things going, but mehhhh.

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did we ever definitively figure out Val’s age? i know she’s older than Juls but at one point i saw 25/26 floating around and i really don’t think she’s *that* much older. isn’t she like earlier college she?

I don’t think we ever did, no. I remember people referencing the home video of them as kids that had a timestamp but I don’t know that I’d take it as definitive yet. As we’ve seen with the Juls/Juliana on Val’s phone, sometimes the prop department may make choices that don’t have anything to do with the writing. 

I definitely also don’t take it as 25, which was Eva’s actor’s guess. Mateo’s actor, when asked, said something like 21, referencing her being in college, so now we have a whole range.

And another anon:

I just dreamt of Macarena fuckin Achaga and she and I were a thing! In my dream we worked in the same company but only officially met at a company outing/retreat. My dream was soft then hot then ended in angst! I didnt wanna wake up! It is so vivid in my memory. And we fucking kissed! My brain, i love you for doing this to me. ❤ ❤ ❤ I mean she would seek me out every time there’s a group activity and we would laugh and have lingering touches and intense eye fucking. Mhayhggaaaddd!

Damn, anon. I’m jealous, I just woke up a little while ago where my family and I were being kidnapped. AAM’s power!

And another anon:

I so appreciate the complexity that AAM gives us (along with Maca and Barb) . So many layers in how their backgrounds affect their behavior… everytime i break down a scene ..i get emo abt their acting choices. it’s so brilliant. I wouldn’t want another season or spinoff without the writers we have tho.. they’ve been so intentional w Juliantina. It’s amazing. We really are blessed. It’s def. my fave ever ship. ill miss them ??

Yeah, they just get so much. So much time, so much attention, so much plot, so much thought, so much effort. For sure, if there’s ever any kind of continuation, I would really want the same writer involved, and if possible, same directors.

And another anon (mentioning future BTS spoilers in answer):

“and I’m certainly not happy Sergio’s going to be present at so many of their remaining scenes” what makes you say this

The actor’s shared a lot of BTS vids from throughout filming and there are at least several scenes that haven’t yet aired.

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As much as I like Panchito, I can’t get over the fact that he has his own family. It is his family right? He’s got a wife and kids?

Yep, he does. 

I think…this series is not really one where you’re meant to judge the characters like that. Except for Johnny and Servando, who the show wants you to hate, they’re all kind of sympathetic or likable in one way or another. Even Alacran gets his goofy moments with Eva.

Panchito gets called out on it in the show, but beyond that, it’s not like the audience wants him staying with a woman he doesn’t love either. It’s not necessarily about things being excused or justified, it’s just a lack of judgment overall. 

Even Sergio, who I personally still hate, gets a much kinder framing in the cultural context in which the show exists than the one I apply (and I can also admit that I don’t love him for his involvement in Juliantina). That’s a whole different discussion, how our background influences how we see things, compared to how they’re written to be seen by their target audience. There are different lens to look at this through, and they’re all understandable.

It’s not like I have to like Sergio or you have to like Panchito, it’s just not that big a deal in the show. Hell, look at freaking Lucho and the hero’s sendoff he got, even when his penultimate action in the show was to break Sergio’s confidence and go off and tell Val about Sergio and Juls, in a scheming manipulative way the general audience would have recognized.

And another anon:

Am I the only one who still kind of wants to slap Lupe?? Liiiike lady u didn’t notice how much Val loved your daughter Before she got kidnapped?? Val legit hooked y’all up with a nice, safe place to live??? She supported your daughter while you were in the hospital, risking her own safety??? She makes Juls smile in a way that she rarely gets to Bc of urs and chinos shit!! Damn Lupe!! But then I’m happy she turned it around Bc it’s what Juls deserves.

I wanted to answer the ask above first because I think that same reasoning applies here. The show and its writing are pretty lenient on most characters. All your valid points aside, Lupe especially was serving a specific storytelling purpose, a loving parent getting over her homophobia because it’s the loving, right thing to do, and that’s that. We can spend our time continuing to hold a grudge against or just shrug and move on. I should probably do that with Sergio too, he had an even more specific purpose to serve (but we’ll see how successful I am at that, lol).

And another anon:

do we like el chino/beltrán? i mean clearly he does love Juls but like he really treated her and Lupe like shit in the past. also is he actually nice to Beltrán’s kid? i saw a scene of home feeding him soup and he seemed oddly fatherly..

Pulling up another older question to answer now because it fits with the theme. You asked this before his recent attack on Lupe but the thing is, I don’t really think even that’s really changed anything. He literally freaking attempted to rape her and yet, within the show, the way he apologized before leaving and then how we see him talking to Barbara about it, there’s still mostly likely an incoming redemption on the cards and we’re supposed to want it. 

I really didn’t like his character regression when watching, but presumably the purpose of THAT was to have Lupe finally get over him as the culmination of her longer arc, she’s been fruitlessly chasing after him for the whole show, and also to get them to move from the house.

Do we like him? That’s up to you. As I said above about Sergio, how Beltran’s intended to be read as a character is pretty different from how some of us will. We’re used to regarding rape attempts as goddamn inexcusable, but within the show, it might just get skimmed over. And with these kinds of issues it’s really hard to say, oh, well, it’s just a difference of culture. But the important thing to understand is even if you do think a certain framing is harmful and that it’s not “just a TV show”, who and where and how you target your frustration is important. The general audience for this show are the people who live with those attitudes and suffer from them the most. So while the default behavior is now to cancel him, I’m not going to judge people who continue to want to be okay with him or who still want him and Juls to be in an okay place, even if just for Juls’s sake.

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in a couple meaningless scenes when Guille went to jail and that fireplace scene where there was nothing if not more exposition about how much Val loves Juls? and also so that Juls could see him and Val which is what sort of pushed her to this horrible Sergio plot? *and* then he showed up and suddenly and to everyone surprise he was useful? 2/4

he had hacker like abilities and he found Lupe, therefore, finding where Juls was kidnapped and drove Val there only to sadly die lololololol (he actually served as a human shield for Lupe and Val) and as fun as that was, his death was used to further push Val to this abyss of sadness that she’s currently living in? you can see the writers kept including him in the plot so that when *all that* happened it was not a random thing?… ¾

I think that whatever it’s going to happen with Sergio will be the same? it’s a guess. 4/4 

I didn’t get the first one but I know you’re talking about Lucho’s inclusion and purpose in the story. Which, fair enough, and I do get that that’s why Sergio’s still around, possibly even help them get together again, or be there to remind us that Val’s grieving hard for Lucho and maybe to help her research more into death and all that but the writers chose him for that purpose, they didn’t have to. 

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Hey, you have been really good with answering asks and giving your perspectives. Just want to let my thoughts out. I understand the decision of the break up. It might be needed even though I expect more reaction from either Juls or Val on it. However, I overestimate the writers in sidelining Sergio. I mean that’s the most awkward and unnecessary hug. They didn’t even address how Sergio manipulated Juls and then have him back in the story just like that gaining sympathy from both? Idk. ?

Aw, thanks! 

Oh, man, that, I don’t get. Why is he there? Why is he like, crying about it and being the one to get sympathy when Val saw Lucho die and Juls was kidnapped and just released? I don’t get what purpose the writers have for him. 

Lol, I just saw the hug again and had to laugh for five minutes. The music’s playing like it’s supposed to be all emotional but it is the most awkward thing I’ve ever seen. And really unnecessary, given what he is to them. 

I’ve given up understanding how the show sees its men, but yeah, he’s served his purpose, can he just go?