Five years ago, Netflix started producing Spanish-language, original programming. It started with
Club de Cuervos (2015). That series was successful, so more and more Spanish-language shows and films started to pop up. That same year,
Narcos (2015) became the most buzz-worthy show in that vein. Over the past half-decade, a couple of other Spanish-language shows on Netflix have broken into the mainstream and have become buzzed like
Elite (2018) and
Toy Boy (2019). Over these five years, Netflix has also been recruiting talent from that part of the world. One of whom has been Manolo Caro, a Mexican filmmaker who had several films do well in the box office, so he was chosen to have a multi-year deal with Netflix to develop content. This is his second project. His first was
The House of Flowers (La Case de los Flores) (2018), a veritable soap opera or telenovela. This series is less campy, more serious and actually leans more toward being a thriller.
Alejandro Speitzer (Dark Desire and The Club) stars as Gabino Falcón, a young man in the 1950's who is from Spain, but for the past decade he had been living in Mexico. He seems to have been there studying. He also seems to have graduated, but, before he enters the workforce, he made plans to do some traveling around Europe, particularly to Paris, France. He returns home to his family's wealthy estate first. Yet, his family is surprised that he's brought a friend from Mexico. His family is suspicious of this friend, as a struggle begins of what path Gabino's future will take. Gabino wants to explore more artistic endeavors, as well as travel the world, but his father wants him to settle down, get married and have a more traditional life.
Cecilia Suárez (
The House of Flowers) also stars as Mina Falcón, the mother to Gabino. She lives in the lap of luxury. Her husband is a very wealthy man who seems to have inherited a lot of wealth from his mother on whose estate and in whose mansion they live. However, her husband seems to have a lot of lucrative business dealings that affords him a lot of wealth on top of that. One of those business dealings includes a prison that her husband runs or operates. Mina, however, is not happy. She's not happy in her marriage. It's revealed that her husband is abusive. He'll hit her and then force himself on her against her will. Her mother-in-law is also a nightmare, as she's domineering and subtly insulting to Mina at various points.
One of the themes of this series is the repression and repressive culture of Spain in this time period. A reference is made to Franco. That reference is for Francisco Franco, the man who ruled Spain during World War II until the 1970's. Franco was considered a dictator who engaged in political repression and did so at times brutally. He enforced a very Conservative and traditional society that rejected liberal ideas. Some of those liberal ideas include sexual freedom and gender equality, ideas that are expressed through Gabino and Mina, particularly Gabino who is revealed to be gay.
Carlos Cuevas (
Merlí) co-stars as Alonso Aldama, the son of another wealthy man who owns a shoe factory. Alonso knows that Gabino is gay, probably due to the fact that Alonso is closeted. Alonso tries to get Gabino to leave Spain. Alonso says Gabino has to suppress his homosexuality. Alonso knows the consequences for being openly gay. Alonso struggles himself and even is pushed to the breaking point, namely committing acts of violence. Yet, Alonso isn't the only one pushed to acts of violence.
If one is interested in seeing those acts of violence, you can watch all the way to the end, which is only three episodes. I pretty much got everything this series was trying to convey in the first episode. It's an interesting look at the homophobia and misogyny of the time.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 3 eps.
Available on Netflix.
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