YMMV / Somos Familia

• The Woobie: Even with a second chance at life, the Riveras still suffer incredible hardship.
  • Poor, poor Hector. He returns home to have two new additions to his family, and then loses his second daughter to cancer while she is still a child. He nearly loses Imelda and his fourth child during their birth, and when his son Mateo enlists, Imelda throws him away in a fit of grief and anger. From there he spends a long time with Ernesto wasting away, never getting much contact with his family. And then Ernesto still gets killed by the bell, just moments after Hector discovered his long time drug abuse and self harm. This causes him to have severe trauma over music and causes the music ban. And once he discovers Miguel was secretly playing and planning to perform, he loses his temper and quickly earns the anger of the rest of his family. You can’t help but wonder which timeline is worse.
  • Mateo Rivera loses his twin sister as children, with immense Survivor's Guilt over her death because he was an ill boy while she was the lively one. He’s mistreated by the school bully to the point he skips school, until he finally snaps after a horrible comment after his sister’s death. Later his friend Barto is killed during the war and he enlists in spite of his family’s protests. He survives, but is left a Shell-Shocked Veteran who accidentally broke his son’s arm tackling him after hearing what sounded like a bomb. Not only that, but his attempts at trying to help his father get repeatedly rebuked due to his father’s adamant denial of his problems and distrust of therapists.
  • Ernesto de la Cruz is a far more sympathetic and moral person here, starting from the very moment he lets Hector live. He does far more nicer things such as exposing his pedophilic manager, hiring a struggling circus during the Depression, and changing Remember Me into a big lively version out of respect of keeping the original lullaby a personal song for the Riveras. However, the guilt of having thought of killing Hector haunts him for the rest of his life. He feels that he doesn’t deserve the happiness and success, especially with his original plan. It results in him doing drugs and self-harm and even a suicide attempt. And worst of all, before he can confess his guilt to Hector, he is called up to his fatal show and still gets a bell dropped on him.
  • Nieve, Hector’s mother. She met Hector’s father while he was abroad with his uncle. They hit it off and had a passionate night together, resulting in her getting pregnant with Hector. However they are discovered by her family and his uncle. Nieve’s family disowns her and her lover’s uncle sends him back to Santa Cecelia. Having been led on to believe he really loved her, Nieve works long and hard to save enough money to go there, the only light at the end of the tunnel for her. And when she does, she’s turned away by the boy who once said he loved her, refusing to associate with a poor girl like her and forced out by the servants. After having Hector, she feels as if she cannot provide for him and it is her fault his life is hard. Her grief consumes her and she is Driven to Suicide, just wanting the pain to go away. However, it only grew in the afterlife as she is left with only her regrets, never getting to see her son grow up, the one precious thing she had in life. And then she has to say goodbye to him again. Oh and did we mention she’s only 14?!