My Review of Someone Has To Die: "Pull the Trigger" / "Apretar el gatillo"

 

Written by Manolo Caro & Monika Revilla & Fernando Pérez

Directed by Manolo Caro

Amparo: "Does it ring any bells? You came back to Spain only for this. Fate sure is capricious, isn't it?"

Gabino: "Don't come any closer or I'll shoot."

The show might have been titled Someone Has To Die but for this final episode, clearly Manolo Caro thought he might as well kill off half the cast and only one of these deaths saddened me. One other I had mixed feelings about and the remaining two were definitely deserved. 

The death I'm of course sad about was Lázaro. I was hoping that he might have made it out of this miniseries alive and while I wasn't exactly rooting for him and Mina as a pairing, it did royally suck that Amparo managed to kill him. Lázaro really had the worst time between captured, having his life threatened and of course, Cayetana taking a sadistic pleasure in orchestrating his downfall. Cayetana really did take spite to the next level here.

The death I was mixed on was Alonso of course. After actively hating the guy's guts in the previous two episodes, this finale decided to take a different turn with Alonso's guilt somewhat getting the better of him here. For a man who was only too happy to have both Gabino and Lázaro kidnapped and beaten up in the last episode, his turnaround seemed a bit too sudden for my liking here. This is where arguably an extra episode might have benefitted this particular character turn.

Alonso did give Gabino a gun to use and he did us all a solid when he shot Gregario in the head. However the one really good thing in this miniseries didn't save him from being killed by Amparo moments later. I think Carlos Cuevas did a great job bringing a rather hateful character to life and giving him some understandable turmoil. The scene in the car with Gabino where he finally seemed to make some way into accepting himself was particularly done well. 

As for Gregorio, he too seemed to suffer from some inner turmoil here. I mean he had no problem with capturing and torturing his son but relented before it got to the extremes that he took pleasure in with the other gay guy from the last episode. He also seemed genuinely devastated when he learned of his mother's own murderous ways but had no problem trying to get Gabino to kill Mina and Lázaro before Alonso took him out. Needless to say, Gregorio had it coming.

As did of course Amparo. Don't get me wrong - as a character she was a bloody fantastic villain. A true nasty piece of work, manipulative to the core and her hold on her family certainly caused a lot of problems. I'm glad that Gabino was the one to take her out and I'm also glad that both Gabino and Mina at least survived this series, even if we're unlikely to find out what happens next with them.

- Rosario's husband died. I wish we had gotten to know her family a bit more in the series but with only three episodes, I guess her story had to be short changed.

- I'm genuinely surprised that Carlos survived the previous episode. I did like the brief scenes he shared with Gabino here.

- The last shot I used as a screencap for this was particularly arty. There was also some of Gabino and Gregorio being tortured together and a rather gory one of Amparo and a beating heart.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. 

Well, this was an interesting miniseries. I've seen some people express disappointment with this final episode but personally I really liked it. Much as I would've loved a Gabino/Lázaro pairing, I felt this was a good enough ending with most of the baddies taken out (Cayetana remained unpunished) and two of the strongest characters thankfully surviving the events. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Someone Has To Die: "Take Aim" / "Tomar puntería"

 

Written by Manolo Caro & Monika Revilla & Fernando Pérez

Directed by Manolo Caro

Lázaro: "You did nothing wrong."

Gabino: "Yes I did. I love you and that's the problem."

Lázaro: "And I love you too. So what."

Gabino: "Not in the same way."

Lázaro: "But I still love you and that can never be a problem. You got that?"

Wow, this was not an easy episode to sit through. Not easy in the slightest. Things were set up that if Gabino was outed, things would get bad pretty quickly and this episode did not shy away from that at all as various people reacted badly to Gabino being gay.

First of all, there Cayetana taking the woman scorned angle to toxic levels. She was angry about Gabino leaving her at the side of the road from the previous episode but her anger stemmed more from Lázaro not wanting to be with her, which resulted in her causing the most damage throughout the entire episode. 

Then there's Alonso. Now there is a guy so horribly in denial about his sexuality that he took an overzealous pleasure in kidnapping and torturing both Gabino and Lázaro with his asshole friends while almost succumbing to some late night cruising after his brutal attack on his former friend. I find myself more angered than sympathetic towards Alonso and I'm taking the time period here into context as well.

As for Amparo and Gregorio, well they were never going to be the most open minded about Gabino being gay and this episode proved it as Amparo enabled Gregorio's homophobia while the latter attempted to scare Gabino straight with a horrifying sequence involving another gay man being tortured during this episode.

With these four characters being against Gabino, at least we had two characters firmly on his side. Lázaro might not be gay himself but I loved his unconditional support for Gabino, hence the bits of dialogue that I quoted to open up this review. It's a shame this miniseries didn't give us those two as an actual couple but we could all do with a friend like Lázaro from time to time,

Saying that, Lázaro's lust for Mina was definitely awkward to watch in parts as he made his attraction towards her known here. Mina herself also seemed rather attracted to him and seemed to try to fight while also initially trying to get Gabino to apologise to Cayetana before enabling Gabino and Lázaro to flee for Paris by the end of this episode. 

- Amparo seemed to scupper Rosario's plans to help her husband and for a brief moment, Mina did have an upper hand with her mother in law but lost it during the last scene. 

- Some of the dream sequence type moments are beautifully shot but feel a little jarring. One example being Cayetana's creepy sing song moment while brushing her hair.

- It seems that Amparo was also responsible for killing her husband and that Gabino was somewhat aware of this.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. 

Despite being uncomfortable during various scenes, this was an absolutely absorbing episode. Some genuinely stellar performances from all the main actors, more beautifully shot and lit sequences and a great use of score music as well. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

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