Moving twitter ramble to here: I feel the official ages of the Madrigal triplets is too high at 50; it means Julieta didn’t have the first grandchild until she was 28, and that Pepa was FORTY-FIVE when she had Antonio. With Isabela feeling so much pressure to marry and have kids at 22, it just feels like a stretch.
Shifting their ages down to 45 makes everything click into place: 40 is fairly late to have kids but much more common than 45, and Julieta would be near Isabela’s age when she got married!
This also makes Bruno and Julieta’s graying hair more poignant (not that it’s unusual to have graying hair at 45, but it’s more advanced for them than Pepa). Bruno’s anxiety and decade-long self-exile is an obvious reason for his, but what about Julieta? What could the backdraw of her gift be?
Imagine having the pressure that someone might die if you didn’t work just a *little* harder, cook a bit more food, feed not just a large family but an entire village, and having extra just in case of emergencies, on top of raising three children and trying to keep your accident-prone husband alive. And her buried worry for the conflict in her family, and trying to be the best mother possible to the odd one out—all with a warm smile on her face to never hint that anyone is asking too much. It’s easy to see her as a workaholic and a mediator and a golden child all at once.
