With a Light Touch...

Gonzola Montoya

angie005, MPep

Montoya and Silvia are very similar in characters. Before the era of PepSi, Silvia was portrayed as a disaster in love. She openly pined for her ex-husband, Lucas who didn’t share the same feelings, she was briefly engaged to the biggest idiot in the world Marquez, and she had a complicated on-and-off relationship with Montoya.

Montoya shared the same fate. Although he pined for the redhead, he wasn’t able to keep her heart. That rollercoastered to his relationship with Ruth (that was undoubtedly heading to ruins), his lovesick crush on Pepa, his lust filled fling with Rita’s cousin Marga but when he finally found his true calling with Rita, he was met with untimely death.

However, what was the preparatory point of Montoya’s unlucky fate in the love department? It can be considered that his relationship with Silvia was the cause. So instead, how was he able to move on from La Pelirroja?

In the early episodes of LHDP, Montoya was head over heels in love with Silvia. He was always there to reassure her intelligence and beauty and he eagerly took the position of Silvia’s rebound boy. It was Silvia that called the shots whenever they were together. But Montoya was so determined to have Silvia love him as much as he loved her that it worked against his favor. After they were no longer dating, it’s notable that he still had feelings for Silvia.

The couple share a long history:

Their first kiss

Their work professionalism (note: sometimes professional, it's LHDP!!) Their relationship ups and downs The lost of their unborn child And dealing with Montoya's depression after the death of Ruth But Montoya and Silvia shared a pivotal scene that helped him move on from her. With the introduction of Pepa, Silvia and Montoya had limited interactions together. However, they were able to share a moment of unspoken words in Episode 4x26.

This scene wasn’t just Pepa comforting her lover by holding her hand, looking at her reassuredly, and simply displaying her love. It was for Montoya to realize that Silvia had found solace with Pepa. Silvia was no longer going to seek for comfort with him.

When Silvia asked for comfort and Pepa provided it, Montoya began to process what he had observedWhen Montoya turned to Silvia, in a way, Silvia challenged Montoya’s gaze as if to say “Do not ask me. It’s not the time.”Pepa caught Montoya’s stare but she knew the two Inspector’s history and instead of pouncing to her first instinct to protect Silvia from him, she, with kindness, let them communicate with each other.

As Montoya ponders again, he knew he would always respect Silvia for all they had been through. With a slight nod, he gave Silvia his answer. He acknowledged Silvia’s relationship with Pepa and he accepted it. She responded with her own gesture: Thank you.

As the scene ended, Montoya was left with his thoughts. His period with Silvia has ended. Will he be able to find what Silvia has?

With a light touch on his arm, Rita was there to answer his question.

angie005, MPep Commentary

I chose to write about Gonzola Montoya because Silvia (and Pepa) affects all characters on LHDP. PepSi University is Pepa and Silvia but I didn’t want to disregard the rest of the show. Hence, the reason why my first thesis was about Don Lorenzo.

I want to be able to explore the characters around PepSi and want to show readers that without them, we probably would not have such a diverse storyline with Pepa and Silvia.

Maybe Everything's Right with the World

Don Lorenzo's Struggle

angie005, MPep


Elisabeth Kubler-Ross defined The 5 Stages of Grief aka The Kubler-Ross Model in her book titled “On Death and Dying”.

Stages:

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

The model was first applied to human illness suffering but future development found these stages can be applied to any catastrophic personal loss.

Kubler-Ross noted that the stages do not necessarily come in order, nor will humans go through all said stages.

Don Lorenzo discovering the world he once knew was changing is no exception to the Kubler-Ross Model.




Pepa and Silvia’s First (Second) Kiss also known as the infamous Bathroom Scene was the “wake-up” call to disrupt Don Lorenzo's content life.

“When you get to a certain age, it becomes increasingly difficult to accept when you're wrong, and much more difficult to change your values.”

After witnessing that his adult daughter Silvia was intimate with a woman, Pepa Miranda, he experienced his stages:

Anger - After Don Lorenzo processed what he had seen between Silvia and Pepa, and after the initial shock was dealt with, he turned to the emotions he was most comfortable with: anger. Except his anger was dealt within himself, instead of verbally expressed as per his norm.

“The juice? The juice that I’m going to squeeze from your BRAIN. You...bitch. (Despotenciada)”

Denial - When Paco approaches DL on the subject of Pepa and Silvia, DL was quick to dismiss the event ever happened.

Bargaining - As comical as this scene was, it showed that was DL was willing to do anything to make his daughter change her feelings for Pepa.

What father would set up a surveillance, wasting thousands of dollars of police equipment and demanding an employee to do his dirty work? Only on Los Hombres de Paco.

DL was hoping he could change Silvia's feelings for Pepa in exchange for his self worth. He needed to know his values were still the same and that he was still right.

Depression - Depression and Acceptance came quickly for DL. First, he had realized that he had lost this battle; his daughter was truly happy to be with a woman and he couldn’t change that. His values, morals and ethics and everything he believed were diminished.

Acceptance - Even though DL's timing was horribly off, it was also most memorable. He begins to tell a story about Silvia’s mother - manuals and the important things in life. He had come to terms that happiness comes within the person and basically gave his blessing to Pepa and Silvia.

Don Lorenzo’s acceptance was handled in such as positive outlook that it should be a reference to all parents and people in general that who other people love should not matter. Values and morals should not play a factor on how to judge others.

With a pivotal moment as Don Lorenzo’s acceptance, it is a stepping stone further to educate the world to do the same.

“But even if you think you know how things should be, the reality is that things are simply how they are. Life isn't like a tractor that sows virtue wherever it goes, and in that you find happiness...”

angie005 MPep Commentary

Now that I have your attention, I’m pleased to announced that PepSi University has a PepSi Student Council.

Our first order of business is the new PepSi University Student Cards!

All PepSi Students are encouraged to apply for their Free PepSi Student Cards!

The Student Cards will allow access in and around the PepSi University, including the Frisking Parking Garage. It also has a 10% discount at the 24/7 Bar and University Bookstore. Other promotions and deals will be added all year round.

Piper's Note:

Angie005, MPep's lecture title came from a song by Barrie Gledden called "Planet Earth". Please download and listen to it and realize how poignant that whole song is.