I always give foreign language programming time to establish the linguistic rhythm and account for the translation style. When it's a language with which I have some familiarity, Spanish in this case, falling into its groove and noticing regional dialects happens sooner than later. I was a little distracted in the first episodes when the lead character Jon, played by Miguel Ángel Muñoz, and his French girlfriend (Godeliv Van den Brandt) slipped between French and Spanish mid conversations (akin to "Spanglish" here in the U.S.) with a few unnecessary sentences in English thrown in. The remainder of the series was in local, regionalized Spanish.
The overall story and ending were not bad, although by episode 7 or so, "whodunnit" was becoming apparent. I am not sure how it was originally aired, but in stream/binge format I found this show belabored and taxing. In short, writers overwrote. Actors over acted. Perhaps some of that onus belongs in the series' direction. And every other conversation was some form of superfluous verbal conflict. The over the top barking among family members and their feuding rivals just overpowered the series' nicer qualities. Note to filmmakers, constant arguing, and toggled extreme emotions is not "deep." It's just amateur drama. Moreover, the episodes were not truncated into 45-55 minutes; they were over an hour each, not including previous and coming attractions. These all could have been cut to tolerable time frames.
Muñoz played the alpha male lead who dominated the first couple of episodes with two speeds, ANGRY and REALLY, REALLY ANGRY! The third episode opened up the storyline with more contributions from remaining characters, most of whom were more nuanced, but the scripting forced perpetual, unnecessary bickering even during inane or banal topics of conversation. A couple of times I blurted out in belly laugh, one time in particular sticks in mind, when Javier (Eduardo Rosa) stormed, turned, then pounded on a table (one of the latter episodes). In fairness, Rosa had better moments throughout the series-perhaps I was just getting tired.
So, for the good: lovely cinematography that explored and exploited the natural rolling landscapes of Basque Countryside and its seascape cliffs. Again, the story had promise; it was just over scripted. Some worthy acting threaded and peppered each episode. And, it took me out of my COVID head space most of this weekend.
The overall story and ending were not bad, although by episode 7 or so, "whodunnit" was becoming apparent. I am not sure how it was originally aired, but in stream/binge format I found this show belabored and taxing. In short, writers overwrote. Actors over acted. Perhaps some of that onus belongs in the series' direction. And every other conversation was some form of superfluous verbal conflict. The over the top barking among family members and their feuding rivals just overpowered the series' nicer qualities. Note to filmmakers, constant arguing, and toggled extreme emotions is not "deep." It's just amateur drama. Moreover, the episodes were not truncated into 45-55 minutes; they were over an hour each, not including previous and coming attractions. These all could have been cut to tolerable time frames.
Muñoz played the alpha male lead who dominated the first couple of episodes with two speeds, ANGRY and REALLY, REALLY ANGRY! The third episode opened up the storyline with more contributions from remaining characters, most of whom were more nuanced, but the scripting forced perpetual, unnecessary bickering even during inane or banal topics of conversation. A couple of times I blurted out in belly laugh, one time in particular sticks in mind, when Javier (Eduardo Rosa) stormed, turned, then pounded on a table (one of the latter episodes). In fairness, Rosa had better moments throughout the series-perhaps I was just getting tired.
So, for the good: lovely cinematography that explored and exploited the natural rolling landscapes of Basque Countryside and its seascape cliffs. Again, the story had promise; it was just over scripted. Some worthy acting threaded and peppered each episode. And, it took me out of my COVID head space most of this weekend.