You’re right, anon. That was pretty tough as far as days go but she stuck it out and was even able to argue back against Eva’s literal conversion therapy idiocy. Usually in plots like this the characters are left with some doubt but she absolutely turned it around on Eva and stood her ground. She showed a lot of strength today, honestly, there’s some steel behind all that fluff. AND she did stand up to Lucho for Juls. A lot of standing up for Val yesterday. 🙂
I didn’t really mind the missed call so much, in the context of the ep. If she had answered she would have sounded so upset, she would only have upset Juls further. Though she does need to call her back, girl is justifiably worried.
I don’t think they’ll specifically bring it up again, it’ll probably go under the umbrella of how they address it in general, you know, stop trying to use drinks and drugs to mask what you’re feeling and so on. I think the way it was handled in that ep, shut down so quickly, probably implies it was supposed to be considered a minor thing and not going to come back.
But goddarn, that scene was so amazing to me, for the choices Barbara made as an actress and the choices Juliana made as a character. I hope you don’t mind if I expand on that a bit?
Juls was sooo taken aback by it. A million things probably went through her mind, Val knows her stance on this, was she deliberately challenging her, was she testing her, was this just a part of their friendship?
You can see her roll the pill over and consider her options and then decide this is just Val playfully giving her something that is fun for Val.
But I’ll always wonder why she chose that moment to play along, seemingly about to drink the water to chase it down until Eva came along and inadvertently saved her.
She’s been fine with refusing Val before, what made that moment different? Did she consider actually taking it and letting loose like these carefree rich kids for once? Was Val Like That too irresistible (though let’s face it, as if she could ever resist her)?
I included the last gif for meee, because Juls is super hot in that dress and also because I think the scene transition was really effectively done. In fact, we get a whole little story play out here, a subtle unexpected one, and Juls doesn’t say a single word. And then we see her spitting it out in the foreground as an end to it and the focus changing to Eva vs Val which had Juls then siding with Val and saving her.
I don’t think they’ll bring it back but I kind of wish they would, if only to see how they’d discuss it in the context of how their relationship and they have changed since.
I haven’t seen any of this discourse, lol, but yeah, even if she had many more boyfriends than that, it still doesn’t rule anything out. I think it’s more people kind of just want to claim her for their own but since it’s not really–wait, I thought you meant as an excuse for why she doesn’t like only girls. As in, is she bi or lesbian? And I was gonna say, well, as long as it’s not defined in canon and people are respectful of each other, whatever. but I think the only thing we do know is that she definitely likes girls.
1. when Juliana just straight up says she wouldn’t stop the make out, and then that they’re in love
AND Juliana reassured Valentina that whatever they felt, it was for them and not anyone else to judge.
2. when waking up from their first time together, Juliana wants to leave, and Valentina can’t even handle the thought.
I kind of love that after their first time, their reactions are completely in character, Val being extra clingy while Juls wants to take a breather to process it all, including waking up in a romantic partner’s bed for the very first time and to the immediate threat of discovery at that. But a drowsy needy Val snuggling into her calms Juls down too and we know she can never resist her.
Now, I hope you don’t mind, but I have a few more I wanted to mention too.
It’s clearly become a habit, a kind of safe space for Val. After the confrontation with Lucho, she just helplessly falls into Juls.
The next one is similar, born out of a desperate need for comfort, but it’s not exactly the same. I love these kinds of developing motifs in their relationship. Gift-giving, clothes-exchanging, teaching other things, handholds, playing with hair, pinkie promises. And like in real life it isn’t just plain repetition but evolving, and often something changes to give it even more significance. The pinkie promises are now part of their pact. And the neck snuggling after learning that Val loves how Juls smells? These things all add to it. That THAT’s actually her safe space.
And the thought that they fell asleep like that?
And then a really fun little bonus? Maybe this is all when it really started. 😛
Oh good, we’re talking about favorite ways to snuggle? Because I would like to submit that when Juls is EXTREMELY happy, her favorite thing to do is dip her head down and tuck into that spot right on Val’s shoulder, all curled up, her cheek resting against Val’s solid frame, leaning completely into her almost to the point of imbalance when they hug.
And as bonus, here is both of them doing just that when they apologize to each other (Juls, resting her cheek against Val’s shoulder because thank god Val still wants to be friends; Val going straight for Juls’ neck because she’s so relieved that they’re talking again).
