Confesiones de una 'mula' en Ibiza

Pure and simple, this is a redemption story. If you didn't do anything STUPID when you were young perhaps you haven't really been living. This lady screwed up big time, realized it, paid the price and has successfully turned her life around. She worked very hard to do these things, including learning a new language and advocating for herself in a difficult situation to gain an early release from prison and then turned around to help others. When I was 17 I rolled my car in a blackout. I haven't had a drink for over 32 years and in the meantime developed medical devices that saved and/or improved the lives of millions of people (literally). I wonder how many of these people believe that everyone deserves a second chance.

The story of Michaella McCollum made a lot of tabloid headlines in its day: the tale of a British teenager arrested in Peru for smuggling drugs. In this documentary, she tells us what happened. The presentation is bright and breezy but there's a little less to learn than we might have expected: she was young, she was bullied into a stupid mission, she was arrested, imprisoned, but survived; but we don't learn much we might not have already suspected. A "drug cartel laywer", every inch the cartoon villian, is interviewed to tell us how awful the cartels are; but Michaella was just a fool who didn't know much (indeed, she claims to not have even known she was being sent to Peru until she got on the plane). There's still some interest to the story, but the absence of deeper context is frustrating.

I will have to play that card. I am sorry. Upon learning that the narrator is the actual lucky perpetrator, it was extremely difficult not to wonder whether a person of color would have had the same luck in that same position. I guess not, considering that millions of them serve much longer prison sentences than Michaella, just for having been caught messing around with 'the wrong cigarette". How clearly privileged we are. When it comes to us it all boils down to 'we all have made dumb decisions, haven't we? Cut us some slack, will you?' When it comes to them, well, not quite the same measuring." That aside, the story was quite entertaining.

A great look behind the story of the Peru 2. I do wish there was a bit more focus on the actual time spent in jail because she seems to be the reason the prison life improved but it's brushed over. We also don't get to hear from Mellisa, which would have added a bit more to the documentary. People saying she's bad or deserves what she gets, as far as I can see, she was young, lured by money and basically a bit stupid. She's living her life now, she's paid her price so let's move on with it.

Good on this woman for owning up to the whole mess and serving her time. Who didn't screw up at 20 or under? Most of us not so dramatically thankfully.

I was surprised it took her a year to figure out that learning Spanish might have been a good thing to do, and I would have been super impressed if she did her court hearing in Spanish.

I can understand the backlash when she returned home to Ireland and the makeover didn't help. For the series, I found the veneers and injected lips just too distracting.

Interesting light viewing, easy binge watching, and an insight into prisons in developing countries.