*A few spoilers for episode 1.*
Watching this show again is really reminding me how much I like it. Episode 2 follows directly from episode 1, going deeper into the traits the characters have already demonstrated while at the same time revealing new sides to them.
At the engagement party for Julia’s brother, Ruy said he wasn’t going to drink, but he promptly went back on that. This left Julia to drive them home, and when they were pulled over at a checkpoint, she was slightly over the legal limit. Ruy flails in his attempts to bail her out and ultimately goes home and passes out, leaving Julia in the drunk tank overnight. For her, it’s very much the last straw, but it’s Andrea’s birthday, so she tries to hold everything together for appearances.
In the pilot, Ruy handily showed that he can be self-absorbed and unreliable, and here, he just digs himself in even deeper. He needs to get cash for the bail and tries to borrow the money off his friend Raisa. When she points out he already owes her money, he exclaims, “Yes, I know! You can have Andrea as collateral.” To which Raisa wearily replies, “I’m babysitting her again?” My dude, you are not good at this.
Compared to Ruy, Julia seems to have it all together, even though that’s not really the case. She puts on a pretty good show for Andrea and the kids at her party, but she responds to Ruy letting her down by freezing him out. Their situation is clearly a rocky one—both have already admitted that their marriage is over but have decided to keep pretending they’re together for Andrea’s sake—and refusing to communicate doesn’t make that easier. (Side note: Ruy is so much worse than Julia in this episode. By no means are their actions equivalent here! But the situation is more complex than “Ruy the unreliable jerk and Julia the put-upon saint,” which I appreciate.)
Andrea is such a delightful portrayal of a little kid. She feels genuine in a way that a lot of child characters don’t. I love her random obsession with chickens, excitedly telling Ruy, “Did you know that there are 33 types of chicken calls?” and demonstrating them all through the apartment, oblivious to her dad’s hangover. And as Julia and Ruy are getting things ready for the party, she solemnly tells her piñata, “You’ll get hit a lot today, but somebody’s got to be the piñata.”
A fourth character on the show proves in this episode that she’s going to have a bigger presence in the narrative. Idalia works for the family, but at the start of the episode, she has the day off. This allows us to get a glimpse of her own life and her perspective on it, which is wonderfully welcome and adds a lot to the show.
The direction in episode 1 draws a little more attention to itself, but here, Diego Luna’s work is so effective and unobtrusive that it’s almost difficult to talk about. Despite some of the wild things that happen in the story, the show feels grounded and natural, which I’m sure is thanks in part to Luna’s direction.
Also? The music is on point. The needle drops are terrific and always accentuate the scene. This episode closes with a strong use of a cover of “Hurt” (not the Johnny Cash version, a different one.) Whether it’s used to contribute to a festive atmosphere, provide a bit of incongruous humor, or heighten the emotions onscreen, the music always takes things up a notch.
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