Y tu Luna también: Maya and the Three: Episode 9 – “The Sun and the Moon” (2021)

*It’s the finale, people. I’ll avoid major spoilers, but there will be a few details that get mentioned.*

In a word, stunning. For a miniseries that, apart from the gorgeous design, I found to be good but unremarkable in the first episode, it does so much over the course of the story and brings everything home just beautifully. Let me put it this way: going through the episodes in preparation for Y tu Luna también was my third watch of Maya and the Three in less than a year. Masterful.

Although Maya tries to send her friends away for their own good, attempting to save them as the kingdom of Teca faces Lord Mictlan alone, they’ve instead rallied all four kingdoms to take on the gods together. The battle calls for contributions from everyone, but as the Little Eagle and the daughter of death, in the end, it has to come down to Maya.

Since this episode is almost entirely dedicated to this final battle, it could’ve been a Battle of the Five Armies-style slog fest (though less interminable.) And to be sure, it is a supersized episode compared to most in the series. But the finale works on pretty much every level. The action is cool and varied, leaning on the different abilities of all our heroes and their kingdoms, and everyone gets their moments—in the fight and on a personal level. After their tragic, lonely backstories, it’s so heartening to see characters like Rico and Chimi finally be embraced by their communities for who they are. Even more minor characters get a nice chance to shine, like the Widow Queen of the Jungle Lands facing off against the goddess of illusions and the barbarian king and princess of the Golden Mountains appreciating one another’s talents.

Maya remains at the center of the story, and the climax is all hers, but it’s her very character growth that makes space for everyone else to get their moment. Whereas in the pilot, she was out to prove herself in the fighting pits, she’s now grown into a true leader, delegating to the strengths of those around her and leading with love. The way she, her friends, and their kingdoms pull together is in sharp contrast to Lord Mictlan, who will do anything to stay ahead. He has lackeys and warriors, but not allies, because he ultimately doesn’t care about any of them. While Maya, Lady Micte, or Rico will pull back in order to save someone in trouble, everyone is expendable to Lord Mictlan.

And the final scenes. Oh god, the last ten minutes are simply exquisite. It gets me in every single feel. I won’t spoil anything, because it deserves to be seen. I’ll just tip my hat to Jorge R. Gutiérrez, along with Zoe Saldana and the rest of the voice cast for their wonderful work.

As for Zatz, he’s an absolute champ in this last episode. Considering that his first scene in the series is interrupting Maya’s quinceañera to announce that he’s taking her to Lord Mictlan, he’s a true hero here, brave and fierce. A real partner for Maya as well, worrying about her safety but trusting that she can handle herself.

Diego Luna gets run the gamut of emotions, which is really satisfying to watch. He gets humor—I love his deadpan delivery of, “The barbarian princess tried to bite me”—romance, heroics, and drama. There are moments of despair and moments of triumph, and of course, one more, “Be well, Princess Maya. I’ll see you soon.” It’s a great final outing for a strong character.

And that’s the excellent Maya and the Three! Last thoughts:

Recommend?

In General – 100%, yes. This is so good, so beautiful, so funny, so sophisticated. I need everyone with even the slightest inclination toward animation to watch this miniseries.

Diego Luna – For sure. I love Zatz, and Luna does a fantastic job in the role.

Warnings

Violence, scary moments for kids, some gross-out humor, mild sensuality (including references to cheating,) thematic elements, and characters with disabilities voiced by able-bodied actors.

Y tu Luna también: Maya and the Three: Episode 8 – “The Bat and the Owl” (2021)

*A few spoilers.*

This one doesn’t quite bring Big Penultimate Episode Energy, but it’s still pretty darn good. Rather than being the episode to ramp up the drama higher than ever, it’s more like the calm between storms—our heroes got knocked around hard in the last episode, and now is the moment for them to gather themselves and consider the final battle to come.

After getting rescued from Lord Mictlan by an unexpected source in the last episode, Maya and her friends are scrambling to catch their breaths. Maya blames herself for their losses, and she’s at her lowest point. With doubts creeping in, she doesn’t know if she can bear to put her friends in danger again. But Lord Mictlan is coming for her one way or another, so she has to decide what she’s going to do.

That summary is very Maya-centric, but that doesn’t mean the other characters don’t get in on the action. We learn a lot more about Lady Micte, which deals a lot with Maya’s past but also gives us further insights into Lady Micte herself There’s also some lovely friendship stuff between the gang—Chimi’s ferocious protectiveness really gets me—and we get a pretty awesome tag-teamed speech rousing the troops for war.

And despite the well-earned heaviness going on here, there’s still some humor as well, especially back in Teca. We get this fun modern-family dynamic going on, where the king and queen have the goddess of death over for dinner and Maya gets a glimpse of what having two mothers is like. The jokes are welcome, because there’s a lot of pain here, regret and doubt and mourning. Luckily, this miniseries is about nothing if not the fact that people are stronger together, and Maya’s friends do their best to encourage their not-quite-fearless leader to lean on them.

Really nice scenes for Zatz in this episode. In addition to getting the opening flashback, there’s a beautiful scene between him and Maya. Both suffered harsh losses in the last episode, and both comfort each other here—as warriors, friends, and maybe more, relating to each other about grief and saying goodbye. For his part, Zatz is still sad but less raw than Maya, and Diego Luna brings a nice sensitivity to these moments of Zatz quietly coming toward peace and trying to help Maya find it as well.

He also gets in on the rousing battle speech, and there’s a delightfully cute bit between him and Maya near the end of the episode. As a general rule, I’m always prepared for a show/film to give me more Luna, but Maya and the Three has done a nice job of optimizing Zatz’s screentime—he’s not always on screen a lot, but the scenes he has are consistently strong.

Y tu Luna también: Maya and the Three: Episode 7 – “The Divine Gate” (2021)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

I didn’t review episode 6, which doesn’t have Diego Luna in it, but I still recommend watching it, especially for its terrific fight sequence. But moving along, episode 7 comes at you hard. It brings emotion, action, and comedy, all served up with fantastic animation and strong character work.

Maya and the Three are finally prepared for the great task the prophecy has called them to: passing through the Divine Gate to do battle with the gods. Despite worries and nerves, all the warriors have faith in each other and their own skills, and Maya is champing at the bit to take on Lord Mictlan. But the god of war is like nothing they’ve ever faced before.

Even before we get to the big fight, this episode has all kinds of goodness going for it. Just getting the Divine Gate to open for a group of still-corporeal mortals is a tall order. I love the various ways the gang tries to open the gate, from Picchu pummeling it with a “puma punch” to Rico trying to bribe it open, and the true key to opening the gate is wonderfully done.

This is also as good a time as any to mention Ah Puch, a forest spirit voiced by the incomparable Rita Moreno. Ah Puch provides guidance to Maya throughout the miniseries, but her kookiness and architectural feat of a hairstyle keep her from feeling too much like a wise/spiritual plot device. After popping in and out of the story a lot to check in on Maya, I like seeing her meet the others here, approaching each of them on their level.

Onto the main event. When the heroes face off against the Big Bad in episode 7 of a 9-episode miniseries, you know things aren’t going to go awesome. The crew takes a hard hit in this one, and the stakes are very real. As Lord Mictlan wages war against Maya and her friends in the way that only he can, it’s interesting to see some of the interplay between the gods. Lord Mictlan has always been one to rule through fear and intimidation, and in private, plenty of the gods aren’t as loyal as they profess to be, instead looking out for themselves above all else. As such, I like watching their reaction to seeing this demigod and her human friends taking on the big boss.

Some nice Zatz material in this one. When our heroes get to the underworld, it’s time for Zatz to decide once and for all who he’s fighting for, and that leads to some strong interactions. (He’s so goth and so chivalrous, I love it.) The battle has very personal stakes for him too, and Diego Luna imbues his lines with so much feeling.

On another note, a very young Zatz makes a cameo in the opening flashback, which deals with the circumstances of Maya’s birth. As Lord Mictlan rages to Lady Micte about why she brought this demigod into the world, it’s affecting to see little Zatz hiding behind his dad. He already has his eyepatch, so you know this kid’s been through it.