This is another show I picked up this past year. While a little rocky in execution for me, I like what it’s setting out to do, and I think it has a lot of potential.
The Morales family has run Mama Fina’s, the local taco shop, for years. As hipsters encroach on their rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood, the rent on the property is rising beyond their means, and Pop, the Morales patriarch, doesn’t know how much longer they’ll be able to swim against the tide. His grandchildren Erik, Chris, and Ana do what they can to keep Mama Fina’s afloat, each contributing different perspectives and skills while also keeping an eye on their own dreams.
I’ll be honest: the whole setup, with Chris rolling temporarily into town as the supposed out-of-touch bougie cousin who winds up clashing with his local cousins as he tries to save the shop with his “new ideas,” brings some real Queen Sugar vibes. So much so that I spent a lot of the pilot waiting for Pop to die unexpectedly (luckily that doesn’t happen – Pop stays in the mix.) But there’s a lot of similar resonance here. The longtime family business/legacy (the recipes were all created by Pop’s late wife, who the restaurant is also named for) is in dire financial straits, and there’s a confict of ideas over how much to stick to the old ways versus embracing “innovation,” which coincides troublingly closely with “making changes that are more palatable for white people.” Aspiring chef Chris comes in thinking he knows way more than finally-growing-up Erik and fanciful artist Ana, and to be sure, his attitude leaves a lot to be desired and the focus-group-approved slant to many of his ideas don’t always fly. However, there’s also something to be said for the way he’s judged and dismissed as not being a “real” Mexican because he’s not from the neighborhood.
There are plenty of interesting themes at work here. Ana is thrilled to meet a hipster visionary who’s eager to finance her art, but she runs into issues when her more conservative neighbors recoil at the queer-positive mural she paints for him. Erik, who’s still hung up on his baby mama, is out to prove to her (and everyone else who doubts his potential) that he can make good, and while he has a number of creative ideas that can contribute positively to the neighborhood, he lacks the polish that says “this is a man who’s got it together.” Pop struggles to find the balance between honoring tradition and learning to adapt, and the whole neighborhood weighs the benefit of the spending power of white hipsters with the risk they pose of pricing the locals out of their homes and businesses.
I’m not familiar with much of the cast (although Wilmer Valderrama and America Ferrera make brief guest-starring appearances,) the actors do a nice job playing off of each other, sparking strong comedic and familial chemistry together. Particular shoutouts to Joseph Julian Soria as Erik, Carlos Santos as Chris, and young Bianca Melgar as Ana’s younger sister Nayeli.
The humor can be a little overly-broad in places, and the message moments are sometimes underlined too hard. Still, this is an enjoyable sitcom with a good heart and quite a bit going for it. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes in season 2.
Warnings
Language, sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, scenes of violence, and strong thematic elements.
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