TV

Pepa and Silvia Get Married

This Wednesday, on this season’s second-to-last episode of the Spanish TV comedy/drama Los Hombres de Paco (Paco’s Men), Pepa and Silvia are getting married.

Set in a police precinct, Los Hombres de Paco revolves around the professional and personal lives of several characters, include Pepa the cop (Laura Sanchez) and Silvia the forensics expert (Marián Aguilera).

The series has a large international following, thanks to the internet – you can watch the episodes online in Spanish at antena3videos.com, and with English subtitles at various other places, and there are several fan sites and forums devoted to the show and the lesbian couple. This growing popularity is one of the reasons Sanchez landed on the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 this year.

The series has already been renewed for a ninth season, tentatively scheduled to air in October.

(For more background on this show and Pepa and Silvia, read our recent article about lesbians on Spanish TV).

The lesbian wedding is a favorite plot point for TV writers – on American shows like Friends, Queer as Folk, All My Children, and The L Word, and even international shows like another popular Spanish series, Hospital Central.

But unlike other clichéd storylines lesbian characters are often saddled with, heterosexual couples are just as frequently subjected to the wedding storyline, and Pepa and Silvia’s engagement and the subsequent wedding planning has not been dragged out for most of the season – it’s all happened in the last few episodes.

Meanwhile, Pepa and Silvia have continued to be involved in other storylines, as well – some good, some great, and some a little lame, like most of the other characters on the show.

They’ve also been allowed to engage in the same level of physical affection as their heterosexual counterparts on the show, which is definitely not the norm for lesbian/bi TV characters in America (and in many other countries).

Antena3, the TV network that broadcasts Los Hombres de Paco, is heavily promoting the wedding, even creating a special section on their website devoted to “The Wedding of the Year,” which includes a compilation of videos featuring scenes of the couple, and this overview in a subsection asking readers to weigh in:

It’s one of the sweetest, riskier and most surprising love stories of Spanish TV. The love between Pepa and Silvia has become a social phenomenon, even crossing frontiers, receiving international awards like the Visibility Award 2008 to the best international lesbian/bi show awarded by the prestigious site AfterEllen.com.

After lots of fighting, doubts, kisses and hugs, there comes the moment of truth for pepa and Silvia. They’re getting married.

Silvia finally sees her dream come true. She was married to Lucas, but things did not work out. Later, she found Montoya, who was going to be the father of her child, but, in a fatal shooting, Silvia lost the baby and the desire to continue with the inspector in a relationship. Silvia’s love life was trending downwards until Pepa, Paco’s sister, re-entered in her life.

Pepa’s life has been a bit of a roller coaster. Her return to San Antonio incited an earthquake in the Miranda family. Once old wounds and problems were solved, Pepa settled down in the Precinct and then she saw Silvia. A spark was ignited between the girls, and slowly became love, despite Silvia’s fears.

Finally, both of them are preparing for their life’s biggest moment.

What do you think of this love story?

There are currently over 250 comments on Antena3’s website responding to this question.

There is likely to be unexpected drama at (or after) the wedding, especially since the following episode is the season finale. Several of the guests at the wedding are on the local Mafia’s hit list, which suggests the event may turn violent. According to rumors, someone may get kidnapped, and someone else may die (check out our “Pepsi” forum if you want to know more about that). But what’s a good lesbian wedding without a kidnapping, anyway?

At least we know the couple will make it past “I do” before any shooting starts.

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