My Review of Someone Has To Die: "Release The Prey" / "Soltar la presa"

 

Written by Manolo Caro & Monika Revilla & Fernando Pére

Directed by Manolo Caro

Gabino (to Gregorio): "I'm not going to marry Cayetena. I'll never be the man you want me to be."

My original plan was to watch all three episodes of this Spanish Netflix miniseries and do a series overview but I found myself getting so engrossed with this first episode, so I've changed tack and now I'll review the miniseries individually.

Anyways, the main premise of this miniseries focuses around a young man named Gabino Falcón (Alejandro Speitzer) who left the family home a decade ago but has returned from Mexico to Spain in the midst of many changes, those including his conservative father, the rather unsympathetic Gregorio (Ernesto Alterio) who seems a little too eager into moulding his son into a version of himself.

It's quickly established during the first episode that not only does Gabino have no desire to marry the rather free spirited Cayetana Aldama (Ester Expósito) but he's secretly gay, in love with his Mexican dancer friend,  Lázaro (Isaac Hernández) and has a rather volatile past with Cayetana's clearly closeted brother, Alonso (Carlos Cuevas) to boot. 

Now that's a lot to go on and this series, while clearly heavily focused on Gabino's own struggles to be himself isn't leaving other characters to one side either. Aside from Gabino who is a sympathetic and likeable protagonist, two other Falcón family members that stood out were his mother, Mina (Cecilia Suárez) and grandmother, Amparo (Carmen Maura), both of whom in scenes together give off a very classic soap opera level of rivalry that I seriously want to see more of.

Amparo seems to be quite a devious troublemaker in the making, spoiling Gabino with expensive suits while at the same time, enabling Gregorio's domineering control over his family and taking pleasure in undermining Mina at certain points during the episode.

Then there's Mina herself. I like that she seemed to spot the connection between her son and his new friend and I loved the scene where she talked about her own Mexican heritage as well. Her scenes with Gregorio were the most uncomfortable moments here and I'm really hoping by the end of this miniseries, both herself and Gabino are able to escape from both Gregorio and Amparo.

- I noticed there was a lot of imagery with birds (pigeons specifically) in this series, even down to some of the promotional shots.

- Cayetana and Alonso's father seems less controlling than Gregorio. He's also in some kind of debt/arrangement with Greogorio as well.

- There was a subplot here with Mina trying to help the maid Rosario (Mariola Fuentes) free the latter's husband from prison, with Amparo now set to scupper things.

- Chronology: This miniseries takes place in 1950s Spain.

Having no familiarity with director/creator Manolo Caro, this first episode was a pleasure surprise. Some genuinely top notch acting, gorgeous cinematography, a good insight into what makes each of the main characters, I'm definitely intrigued to see how the remaining two episodes of this miniseries play out.

Rating: 8 out of 10