El jardinero

"The Gardener", one of Netflix new series of only 6 episodes, than heavens, is about a manipulative mother who dotes on her emotionally devoid son, who through her manipulative nature, coaxes her son to become a serial killer. An accident caused Elmer to have a brain tumor which makes him emotionless. This translates to the audience who is emotionless watching this poorly dubbed, poorly acted Spanish and ridiculously plotted series of characters who we don't care about, but are at least good looking." Sincere it is only 6 episodes I decided to watch the whole thing. If it was 10 or 12 episodes, I would have bolted after episode 3. Not the worse series on Netflix, but certainly not one of their best!

This serie is regular. I watched it and enjoyed it but I won't remind it.

The acting is good. The serie was made to surprise you with things that are almost absurd. Starting with the fact that the main character has no feelings (Whats?) and a lot of other things wanting to put a mask of strangeness to a normal crime-love story.

The fliming is good, a little bit colorfull but fine.

BUt to resume, this serie doesn't add nothing new to series. It is similar to other spanish crime-series in which they tend to be very good. I enjoyed it but I don't belive in a lot of things that figure in the serie.

So here we are, sitting down to watch El Jardinero, expecting some emotional grit, mystery, maybe even a slow burn character arc. But instead, we get a narrated backstory from his mother, telling us that our main guy fell on his head and just stopped feeling things. That's it. That's the entire emotional foundation of this walking plot device.

And just as we're trying to get invested in his emotionless stare and existential gardening, bam, 28 minutes in .. redhead appears. Suddenly, Boom. Puberty hits like a freight train. And just like that, years of psychological detachment are cured with a some awkward small talk. His brain reboots, Windows XP style, and suddenly he's Mr. Charisma with feelings and opinions.

Honestly, if you're into emotional arcs that collapse faster than a house of cards in a hurricane, this is your show. Watching this was like ordering a steak and getting a soggy salad with a side of "we gave up halfway through.

3/10 - and that's me being generous because the opening music slapped.

This is an interesting story and the acting is solid. However, all of the characters are so selfish that I did not enjoy it very much. I almost wish they would all be murdered as it would be very satisfying from a karmic perspective.

The actress who played the mother of the garden, as well as the actress who played another mother in the story were brilliant.

I kept wanting to attach to one of the characters as my protagonist, but one by one they failed the personality test. It goes back to each one, not seeing any goals beyond their own. Disappointing when it could've been so good. I learned the trigger was a good fertilizer.

The aesthetics of the film are in another world, the gardens and setting up, truly delightful. Ending was mindblowing too. I loved the casting of the male and female lead, and the story gradually evolves into something better. One of the best part of the film is the dog ofc. It's like, the lovers try to pull apart from each other, but fate brings them closer together, in the most unexpected ways. Could the episodes have been short? Maybe. The main thing that attracts you to the story, is how the male character, slowly grows out of the shell that his mother had put him into, all because of something that happened, which she never expected. The plot twists are so good.