Why is it similar to ‘Cuéntame’ and what is its big difference?

19 seasons later, seven since it started as Loving in troubled times on TVE and 12 like Love is foreverthe successful daily serial has come to an end on Antena 3, and it has done so with an applauded ending in which The entire Gómez family sealed their fate in a time jump in which they saw their story brought to the small screen.

Comparisons with the end of Tell me how it happened They have not been long in coming, and no wonder, since in this outcome there have been several plots with similar characteristics: a long-awaited family reunion in the face of a possible tragic outcome (Herminia in the case of the public channel, Pelayo in this fiction, although fortunately he does not die), the launch of a book regarding the characters of the series (Carlito’s in that one, Leonor’s in this one) and, finally, the broadcast of their own fiction regarding their lives.

“There are many common elements. We wrote the ending in Septemberand was filmed in October. The end of Tell me how it happened It aired in November.. We had no idea how it would end. Yes, it is true that they had the Carlitos novel out there, but we didn’t know how they would close it. I have followed its final season and it is true that we have many common elements, many parallels, but I think they are approached in a very different way,” Pablo Fajardo, plot director of the production, analyzes exclusively for EL CONFI TV.

Fajardo, on the comparison with Herminia’s ending in ‘Cuéntame’: “Thank goodness we didn’t kill Pelayo!”

“Yes, it is true that I believe that Amar y Tell me They have many communicating vessels, As for the type of series they are, the period they have addressed, the philosophy of the series,… then it seems quite logical to me that we would reach the same point, because the story takes you there. Both share many elements in common, such as the vocation to tell the history of Spain through a family that is passed down through generations, the tone even,… for me It makes some sense that we ended up arriving at the same place.“says the screenwriter.

An image of the end of ‘Amar es para siempre’. (Antenna 3)

The big difference between both endings is the grandfather’s deatha step that they have not finally taken here: “If we had killed Pelayo It would have been worse, thank goodness we didn’t do it! Yes, we take advantage of it as a trigger for the family to unite once more, but we have not given it as much family drama, as in Tell me they have done with the last season. We had been asked to make a happier and brighter ending, also with the intention of separating ourselves a little from the more dramatic plots that have always characterized all of our seasons. Here we do not delve so much into family separation as they did bet on doing in Tell me”, Fajardo explains, thus highlighting the great differences between both outcomes, within the obvious similarities that he does not try to hide.

The problem, as he himself comments, has been he timing recording and broadcast of both fictions: for when the finale aired Tell me, they mightn’t do anything anymore. The end of Love is forever It was rolled and sealed. “Nothing might be done regarding it, because when the end of Tell me the decorations of Amar they are destroyed already. We had the feeling that the two series might end more or less similar, but when I saw the ending I calmed down a little because the tones used to approach the ending are very different. They opted for drama within the family, we do not exploit that avenue,” says the screenwriter.

Two endings in one: how to close 19 years of history

“When it comes to facing the final of Amar we decided that the series It should have two endings: on the one hand, the end of season 12which is the latter, and, on the other, an ending to the entire series following these 19 years,” shares Pablo Fajardo, explaining that from the script they planned “the scenario that we had to close the main plots of this season, this time being Lola’s the most core, that fight to recover his daughter, while also finishing those of all the secondary ones. After that, the time jumps to address the definitive closure.”

“In that sense, although it is true that the series began with the characters of El Asturiano being secondary, as comic relief, with the passage of time they gained prominence until they always became the characters who carried the weight of the trunk plot. Having to address the end of the series, they had to be the main protagonists, but we did not want to close with very high tensions, as happens with all season endings, so that is why we chose to give a six month time jump with which to let the characters rest a little from all the climaxes they experienced,” explains the script coordinator.

An image of the end of ‘Amar es para siempre’. (Antenna 3)

“This is how we faced a last block that was more focused on closing the series itself, as a kind of gift to the public, much kinder, more emotional and less dramatic than is usual in the final stretch of the season. We wanted to leave a good taste in the viewer’s mouth, that’s why we gave it a brighter ending, also following the guidelines of the network and the executive production,” Fajardo reveals, a request that they fulfilled thanks to finally bringing together all the Gómez family: “When it came to articulating this last block we liked fulfill the wish of the followers to finally bring the whole family together, something that had never happened. The public deserved see how they functioned together as a family for the first timebut also see how they have been evolving during all this time, what had happened to them.”

“It had been repeated a lot that the series would have to end the death of Pelayothat’s why we take advantage of it to gather all the grandchildren, although we were always more or less clear that he was not going to die“, he adds in this sense, an ending that they ended up discarding in order to opt for a less dramatic outcome. The series deserved to leave with a good taste in the mouth, something that this death might tarnish: “There was talk of killing Pelayo because it is something that has always flown over our fiction, but we ruled it out knowing that the executive production would not view it favorably. It is true that what we always had in mind was to see this family reunification, so we started from there and the ideas arose. “There weren’t many versions of the ending, we had it pretty clear from the beginning.”

A continuation with all the children?

With the data in hand, the final season of Love is forever has worked really well on Antena 3, figures that, given the number of television returns that we have been experiencing in recent years, lead us to be interested in a possible continuation in the future. His screenwriter doesn’t consider it so crazy: “We joke regarding it a lot because of the revival fever there is. Obviously, there’s nothing on the table now, but I think I might come back, especially because the family reunion has worked very well.. The seven children of the couple had never met on screen, so There is a lot of territory to exploit there. With this we might do many seasons with a new generation of Gómez. “Who knows what will happen in the future!”

“Amar’ leaves a historical legacy far beyond pure narrative, it is the chronicle of a country”

In any case, Pablo feels very satisfied with the work done in this closing: “I am quite happy with the development of the last season, and in fact it has worked very well in terms of audiences. The following dropped a little last season, but this season we have recovered, having audiences that we have not seen since 2021. I have the feeling that the season has been liked, also because we focused it on Lola, who had left very soon. Pulling that thread, that last piece of the puzzle of the El Asturiano family, with a plot as exciting as that of his daughter, with a villain to match like the one brilliantly played by Miriam Díaz-Aroca, has been key to making the season work.”

“One normalizes what is exceptional on television, because the normal thing is that series and programs do not last much more than two or three seasons. The thing regarding Amar y Tell me These are unusual situations that I don’t think will happen once more, because consumer habits have also changed a lot. For the industry, its success has been great news, because It has been a school for both the actors and the entire technical team. And in a more historical sense, I believe that they are series that leave a historical legacy, they are testimony of historical moments far beyond pure narrative, they are the chronicle of a country,” concludes Fajardo proudly.