Let's just say I did not expect much but wow - this was bad!
I never write reviews but damn this was so bad I just need to vent.
What disappointed me the most was that besides being a lazy way to explain all the character's homophobia the setting of the series in Francoist Spain had almost no impact on the story. This seems especially grotesque since the setting would have allowed for so much interesting themes to be discussed, especially since catholicism played such a big part in Francoism. Admittedly we get two instances of Francoism and its attitudes towards queer people being shown (the courtyard scene with the priest and the two women & the torture scenes) but they have little impact on the "story". If these two scenes (and the one about Rosario being a communist) were not in this series, you could have set it in this day and age in some conservative town and the plot could have stayed exactly the same.
This is just where the problems start though. The characters in this series are clichés and their motivations confusing and nonsensical. The father is written almost comically evil which makes sense with him being a fascist. However it was not necessary to include a scene in which he rapes his wife, just to show how evil he is, especially since the scene has no impact on the story. It's just lazy and exploitative writing. Another annoying trope this series used was the closeted homophobe which the show somehow managed to combine with another trope that is as old as the Hay's code: killing of a queer character after they accept their sexuality and we could potentially get a future plot with those characters. More lazy writing.
The story does not really have anything to say. Our main plot focuses on Gabino and Lazaro. There are several confusing elements just to the set up of this series. One of them is that I find it rather hard to believe that a gay man decided to travel to a literal fascist country especially since it seems that at that point in the story he still thought that Lazaro could be a potential love interest. Second is that for some reason Gabino was under the assumption that Lazaro was queer as well which turns out to be wrong (which is probably the only part where I was actually surprised). However if you think about it it makes literally no sense, they knew each other for two years, they spent a lot of time together, Lazaro has had ex girlfriends so I just find it hard to believe that this misunderstanding could have happened. Anyway after Lazaro turns down Cayetana she for some reason starts spreading the rumour that she saw Lazaro and Gabino make out. It's not very clear what her motivations are - either she was just evil and playing him the whole time or she was hurt by being turned down and then got her revenge through this and then teasing Lazaro after she has him caught. Both options do not make a lot of sense and are not portrayed in a believeable way. This leads to Gabino being sent to a torture camp while Lazaro continues his affair with Gabino's mom (yeah idk either why this is happening). In the torture camp we get the only really interesting scene - Gabino's talk with the other inmate in which he is made aware of his class privilige. Anyway through a very very stupid plan Gabino is freed and gets to have a very weird talk with Alonso, the closeted homophobe, in which he tells him about his first time with another man. Alonso cries because of the beautiful story and then tries to kill himself. This is played as very dramatic but goddamn I could not stop laughing at the absurdity of what was happening on screen. In the end the father finds out about the affair of Lazaro and Mina which leads to the best part of the whole series: Sniper Grandma! There is a shootout in the woods with Alonso, the father, Gabino, the Grandma and Lazaro and Mina. The whole scene comes out of nowhere and is absolutely ridiculous, easily the most entertaining part of the series. Was it good, necessary or somehow properly set up in the series? No, but still a lot of fun. Throughout the series we also get a few sub plots involving Rosario and her husband, the Grandma and her dead husband which are completely unnecessary and very sloppily set up and have barely to do anything with the main story.
I would like to say that most problems come from this series only being three episodes long but I don't think it would have gotten better if they had more time. It's just not very good and has nothing interesting to say.
What disappointed me the most was that besides being a lazy way to explain all the character's homophobia the setting of the series in Francoist Spain had almost no impact on the story. This seems especially grotesque since the setting would have allowed for so much interesting themes to be discussed, especially since catholicism played such a big part in Francoism. Admittedly we get two instances of Francoism and its attitudes towards queer people being shown (the courtyard scene with the priest and the two women & the torture scenes) but they have little impact on the "story". If these two scenes (and the one about Rosario being a communist) were not in this series, you could have set it in this day and age in some conservative town and the plot could have stayed exactly the same.
This is just where the problems start though. The characters in this series are clichés and their motivations confusing and nonsensical. The father is written almost comically evil which makes sense with him being a fascist. However it was not necessary to include a scene in which he rapes his wife, just to show how evil he is, especially since the scene has no impact on the story. It's just lazy and exploitative writing. Another annoying trope this series used was the closeted homophobe which the show somehow managed to combine with another trope that is as old as the Hay's code: killing of a queer character after they accept their sexuality and we could potentially get a future plot with those characters. More lazy writing.
The story does not really have anything to say. Our main plot focuses on Gabino and Lazaro. There are several confusing elements just to the set up of this series. One of them is that I find it rather hard to believe that a gay man decided to travel to a literal fascist country especially since it seems that at that point in the story he still thought that Lazaro could be a potential love interest. Second is that for some reason Gabino was under the assumption that Lazaro was queer as well which turns out to be wrong (which is probably the only part where I was actually surprised). However if you think about it it makes literally no sense, they knew each other for two years, they spent a lot of time together, Lazaro has had ex girlfriends so I just find it hard to believe that this misunderstanding could have happened. Anyway after Lazaro turns down Cayetana she for some reason starts spreading the rumour that she saw Lazaro and Gabino make out. It's not very clear what her motivations are - either she was just evil and playing him the whole time or she was hurt by being turned down and then got her revenge through this and then teasing Lazaro after she has him caught. Both options do not make a lot of sense and are not portrayed in a believeable way. This leads to Gabino being sent to a torture camp while Lazaro continues his affair with Gabino's mom (yeah idk either why this is happening). In the torture camp we get the only really interesting scene - Gabino's talk with the other inmate in which he is made aware of his class privilige. Anyway through a very very stupid plan Gabino is freed and gets to have a very weird talk with Alonso, the closeted homophobe, in which he tells him about his first time with another man. Alonso cries because of the beautiful story and then tries to kill himself. This is played as very dramatic but goddamn I could not stop laughing at the absurdity of what was happening on screen. In the end the father finds out about the affair of Lazaro and Mina which leads to the best part of the whole series: Sniper Grandma! There is a shootout in the woods with Alonso, the father, Gabino, the Grandma and Lazaro and Mina. The whole scene comes out of nowhere and is absolutely ridiculous, easily the most entertaining part of the series. Was it good, necessary or somehow properly set up in the series? No, but still a lot of fun. Throughout the series we also get a few sub plots involving Rosario and her husband, the Grandma and her dead husband which are completely unnecessary and very sloppily set up and have barely to do anything with the main story.
I would like to say that most problems come from this series only being three episodes long but I don't think it would have gotten better if they had more time. It's just not very good and has nothing interesting to say.