Diksha Sundriyal
The final episode of Netflix’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ brings the story of the Buendia family to a shocking conclusion. The finale reveals secrets long hidden and unravels mysteries that have plagued the Buendias for seven generations. At the same time, the cycle of doomed romances also continues with the return of Amaranta Ursula. While Aureliano Babilonia is happy to see her again, his heart also breaks upon discovering that she has brought a husband. Still, forbidden desires ignite between the aunt and nephew, who have no idea they are related, leaving the question of her husband in the lurch. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Gaston Gets Out of Macondo Right on Time
When Aureliano Segundo sent his daughter, Amaranta Ursula, to Europe, he hoped she would find a better life there and not return for her own good. Even back then, he could see there was nothing left in Macondo. And the town is even worse off when Amaranta Ursula eventually returns, after both her parents and her brother have died. It turns out that she did make a life for herself in Europe. She married Gaston, who, despite being more than a decade or so older, seemed to be a good match for her. He was rich and adventurous and very much in love with Amaranta Ursula. Though he has no interest in Macondo, a town in the middle of nowhere, he still travels across the world to go there because his wife wants to.
Still, he thinks that once she spends a few days in that squalor, she will accept that she is too set in her European ways to live there now. He doesn’t realize that Amaranta Ursula has returned to set roots in the town and live in her family’s house, from where she was sent away all those years ago. Even as Gaston expresses his disgruntlement, he cannot leave Amaranta Ursula. So, he decides to start an airmail service to Macondo, for which he needs his plane. He has it shipped from Europe, but it is mistakenly sent to another obscure town, Makondo, in Africa. While he sends a strongly worded response to this mix-up, his wife succumbs to temptation and sleeps with Aureliano Babilonia.
Eventually, Gaston realizes he will have to go to Africa himself to retrieve the misplaced equipment. The last we see of him is taking a train out of Macondo, and he is never heard from again. In the show, his absence frees Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano Babilonia to freely indulge in their sexual escapades. In the book, however, Amaranta Úrsula does him the courtesy of informing him of his affair. She sends him a letter while he is still in Africa, telling him of her infidelity and how she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. Gaston doesn’t take this betrayal to heart. If anything, it likely comes as a relief to him because it means he doesn’t have to return to Macondo.
He decides to let go of Amaranta Ursula, perhaps realizing that she was never his in the first place. The only thing he asks is that she ship his velocipede to him. In the show, no such conversation takes place. There is no confession or confrontation. Gaston simply hops on the train, which doesn’t even properly stop, showing that Macondo is slowly being forgotten by the world. In the end, Amaranta Ursula dies in childbirth, and soon after, Macondo is swept away by a storm, permanently removed from the face of the Earth. Thus, Gaston’s timely departure saved him from dying in a town he never wanted to come to in the first place.
Read More: One Hundred Years of Solitude: How did Jose Arcadio Die? What Happened to Ursula’s Gold?
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