La embajada

A most enjoyable series. The plot is fascinating and, as a Spanish foreign language student that I am, a chance to listen to Castellano mama tongue. I couldn't escape noticing that all protagonists - be it the good or bad guys, embassy personnel and mere expatriates, drink red wine whenever the occasion arises. What escapes me is that, with all the bribe money they accumulate, how come all of them drink all the time only a 4.50 euro Crianza "Monasterio de las Viñas"??

Typical of French and Spanish productions, this series is filled with sexual overtones. Within the first 20 minutes of the first episode, there is a exhibition of "soft-porn" between an older woman and a younger man. This is followed by everyone in the embassy being intimately involved with one another. This does not help to bolster a very thin story that is already without much substance. It's something to fill a streaming queue when you are very short of things to watch.

The writing, production design and overall content of this series is very good. The international setting of Thailand adds to the mystery and surprise element. The plot is well-paced and the corruption denounced is actual and appropriate: corruption is alive and kicking in most countries in the world. The acting is good, modulated in general, since the series doesn't try to show screaming, shouting-out-loud characters. On the contrary, the conniving, silences, pauses, and sexuality of the characters add to the lies and corruption. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of an interesting and well-written dialogue is TOTALLY DESTROYED by the HORRENDOUS DICTION (in Spanish, of course) of actors Úrsula Corberó (who plays daughter Esther) and Maxi Iglesias (who plays the brother of Eduardo, the villain in the series): It's not their accent, it's the way they deliver their lines, absolutely NOT trained as actors. It's amazing how these two individuals are hired as actors. The rest of the actors do a fine, professional job.

The writers (among which there are the creators of the recent and underwhelming "Bajo sospecha") bring us to Thailand where the newly appointed Spanish ambassador struggles to deal with the widespread corruption.

Up to the third episode the series appears solid and entertaining: the setting is original, the photography elegant and colorful, the plot fresh and realistic enough to let you accept few unlikely twists and characters. Furthermore the perspective on the balance between politics, business and social environment is quite original (for this kind of medium at least) and - as a consequence - well deserving a big plus. There are plenty of tragic moments where the protagonists need to act, have choices, but none of the outcomes is rightful, safe or pleasing.

The writers for sure have taken inspiration from the best series around (the prosecutors audition flashback form will easily remind you of something recent) and have done a lot of research and brainstorming to produce something as vivid.

The 2 "House of Cards" showed us how dirty actual politics in the most advanced countries can be. But as far as my knowledge goes none dared to show us (like the "evil" Eduardo does here) how that perspective is limited: it's not just politics, or information, or power or getting richer. Society isn't an assembly of isolated systems, everything is tightly connected: anywhere you live and act - country, company, community, public service, family - you need to play a game whose unwritten rules are far from being for "the good". And while you can't be "good" if you accept to play by the rules of these games, either you play or you "lose".

Did the writers wanted to hint that the world's problems aren't a matter of being honest and enforcing laws? Did they wanted to show us that since the dawn of societies these solutions haven't been working and never will as long as the game itself doesn't get changed? While I'm not certain about this - given the artistic resumes of some of them - I'm happy to see these topics presented without naive compromises to the mainstream.

Hopefully in the next episodes the authors will not fall in the "rinse and repeat" trap of 10 wow thrills per episode and will focus on character development and few core (believable) plot points. Actors do well on average.

As Embassy setting might not be for everyone, but as long as you don't mind it, this series is incredible. I'm a native English speaker and typically enjoy HBO and Showtime dramas - and I enjoyed this series even more than most of those.