Even a chance at a second chance doesn't mean life won't have its pitfalls.
- One common thread put in this story is the idea that even if you find a way to Take a Third Option and create a more even and smooth idea of what your life should be, that doesn't mean life will go smoothly for you. The Rivera clan make sacrificial, generous, smart choices through the whole story, but they still suffer the whims of fate.
- Poor Ernesto. Despite choosing to not kill Hector, he still lives with a Guilt Complex, trying as hard as he can to make up for it, but still wrestling with knowing every breathe Hector takes he has some responsibility in giving. It's part of this why he initially didn't want to be a godparent to the twins.
- Leti wasting away slowly to CANCER!
- Remember Me in the movie is a symbol of Hector's love for his daughter. Unfortunately, it was one of the last requests that Leti had before she died. And THIS is what convinces him to give it over to Ernesto. Continuing the tragedy of the song even in this more positive timeline.
- Leti thinking her parents will want to forget her because she left them behind by falling sick and dying, and her grandparents have to reassure her that no, her family isn't angry at her for something she didn't mean to do.
- Julio wanted to name their first daughter after his mother, and Hector's other daughter. Both of whom died before they got a chance to see their families unite. He wants to name her Victoria Leticia. Oh dear.
- Imelda going into early labor due to the surprise pregnancy she experiences at 39 years old. And on Day of the Dead! Her 2nd daughter is even forced to watch her life slowly ebb away with almost nothing to do for it. (key word being almost)
- 1942. The year of the harrowing of the Riveras. Passion, hope and love run headlong into tragedy, anger, and the differences that each member inherently have with each other. Needless to say, it proves to be a VERY difficult year for all the characters.
- Barto dies in a surprise attack, and Mateo is forced to see that he lost ANOTHER best friend in his life.
- Mateo announcing that he's enlisting in the american war effort, and that subsequent choice breaks the bonds of Hector, Imelda, and him. Imelda even kicks Hector out for not stopping him.
- Hector goes into a drunken depression, hurting both his career and his creativity, making him think he's about to lose everything by the end.
- The confrontation: Hector finds out a hit of Ernesto's self harm tendencies, and confronts him about it. And seeing so much love and care poured out on him causes Ernesto to break down in fearful sadness, all his internalized hate almost bubbling out to confess his own guilt.
- But it never happens because times runs out. And Ernesto has a giant bell dropped on him before he can tell his "brother" the full truth.
- The bell dropping itself is tonally different than it was in the movie. There it was quick and shocking yet meant to be played for laughs. In this story it is a horrifying and tragic accident that nearly destroys Hector and has lasting effects on him years later.
- It also is in a different tone due the the change in Ernesto’s character. With the context of his actions, the bell dropping in the movie can be seen as Laser-Guided Karma for murdering Hector and bastardizing his songs. Here? Given Ernesto’s much more moral character here and his guilt, it feels like a Heel–Face Door-Slam.
- But it never happens because times runs out. And Ernesto has a giant bell dropped on him before he can tell his "brother" the full truth.
- Despite all the changes in the Riveras' family history, Miguel is still living under a music ban, albeit not as strict a one as in canon but Hector still enforces a "no music when I'm around" rule.
- Matty's shell-shock caused him to break his five-year-old son's arm when he mistook a backfiring car for gunfire, prompting him to tackle Charlie to the ground, and is clearly devastated by that even after having gotten therapy as well as petrified to contemplate what would have happened if he had done the same thing with his wife and baby.
- There's a surprise death in the fic during the time jump between 1944 and 1951. On the Riveras’ shrine are memorials to Gaspar, Mirasol, Leticia, Barto, Ernesto, and Facundo. The jolly carpenter who, along with his children, Julio and Rosita, forged close relationships with the Riveras and rose to his life station as Mayor died as well soon after his daughter got married. Another reminder that we don't get to choose when we go, no matter how great things could get.
- Hector smashes Miguel's guitar just as canon!Elena did. Only here it's worse because while Elena immediately lovingly reached out to her grandson, here Hector is too furious to even attempt to prevent his son from running off in tears. And on his birthday no less!
- Hector proceeds to follow this by accusing Matty of being a bad father which naturally burns his bridge with Matty and Wanda and deliberately calling Imelda cold and unfeeling; he ultimately alienates himself from his entire family right before he's then brought to the Land of the Dead.
- Hector finally gets to meet his birth mother. And it's tragic because she's just a teenager. A teenager who made a bad choice, got dragged into a worse situation, and was Driven to Suicide.
- Hector even stresses that even when she thought she had nothing, she could've still had him. And "I would've been a good son."
- And then Hector leaves and she forced to say goodbye to her baby for the second time.
