Sky Rojo

Alejandro Amenabar pulled me into Spanish cinema with his amazing storytelling and writing, which his equally awesome senior Pedro Almodovar couldn't do for me due to genre choice. So, the premise of a Spanish show about kick-ass whores being hunted by incredibly handsome pimps, wrapped in a sexy (more like porn, actually) atmosphere, really excites me.

And to my delight, the first season delivers! There are a few loose knittings that could be tighten, like how fast the guy recovers and how on Earth a skinny anxiety ridden junkie could run without stopping for what seems like 8 hours or so. Still, all around performance is good, writing is good (lots of heart and thought provoking messages are not shoved down our throat,) storytelling is good, those earn this show a 7 for me, with the beautiful faces all over the show (it's a bit hard to find ugly faces here) and the porn visual wrapping push it even further to a solid 8! I couldn't wait to watch the second season!

And here's where everything goes downhill. I hate story stretching. I hate template tracing. I know it's an industry, but it's not manufacturing industry, it's art industry, so creativity is an obligation here, not template.

Sadly, that's what they're going for. The three guys should have easily been corpses by the first episode and the girls move on to new story arcs and new exciting adventure. I mean, literally, the chances are solidly set up by the end of the first season. But instead, they use the successful template and make the second season an exact copy of the first. One girl is badly wounded, one is still an idiotic junkie, and they are hunted by the same three guys.

So, yeah, thank you for the excellent first season, but no, thanks.

If you are looking for another Alberto (Miguel Angel Silvestre) and Raul (Asier Etxeandia) best stop here because Velvet it ain't! Their characters couldn't be more different, Romeo - Asier Etxeandia is the nasty club owner and Moises - Miguel Angel Silvestre is one of his henchmen. It's a club with prostitutes and Romeo justifies it as necessary for the economy, they make him a lot of money and work to clear their debts, but they never clear their debts. The opportunity arises and 3 of the girls escape, no spoilers as to why. The henchmen go after them. Their back stories are revealed as to why they all end up at the club. It's a great little story of girls getting their inner strength to fight back, short episodes and definitely lined up for another series. I enjoyed it.

However, started series two and just finished episode 2 and not going any further, I won't change my star rating as I gave it for series one. Stars for 2 would be 2 or 3. I couldn't get into it, made no sense, no story line and clearly the writers didn't have a story in mind either. Life is too short to persevere.

This a is a real gem. It is over the top at times but is great fun. At its core it has real heart and you can't help but root for the three leading ladies even when they revealing all their flaws. There is also a genuine and realistic portrayal of the sex trafficking industry. Some might find the portrayals of violence too explicit, it is extremely graphic, visceral and not for the squeamish.

You can view the three seasons as a three act play and I would recommend you watch all three in quick succession. Fine performances from all involved with a tremendous soundtrack on top, there is much to like.

I watched all 3 seasons of Sky Rojo (24 episodes at a half-hour each give or take a minute) in a week, which is quick for me. The story of 3 prostitutes in a Tenerife brothel who go on the run after stealing their pimp boss's money zips by, each episode ending on a mini-cliffhanger which makes it almost impossible not to want to immediately watch the next one. Veronica Sanchez, Lali Esposito and Yany Prado are crazy good as the 3 hookers on the lam, and Asier Etxeandia plays the wonderfully irredeemable brothel boss Romeo. A word of warning - some scenes are particularly violent, gory even, so watcher beware. That said, a definite a thrill-a-minute watch.

Good show. And sends a great message about hookers and strippers. Hats off to the real strippers. Good action and screenplay. One time watch series. Lets see what gonna be new in season 2. And theres lot of sex scenes so dont watch it with family.