Epitafios

Quite by accident, I stumbled upon the first episode of a great miniseries.

Everybody smokes and nobody calls for backup. That is an apt description of Epitafios, a 13-part miniseries that showed on HBO Signature.

But it is so much more. It has to be because it is in Spanish with English subtitles. That may turn you off and, if it does, you are missing one of the best crime dramas ever. In fact, the story is so compelling that you don't even notice the fact that it is subtitled. The acting, the music, the story will grab you like no other crime drama.

I like Tom Shales of the Post's description: Epitafios" is as gripping as its murders are ghastly, a spiraling reverberant circle of horrors that keeps widening as the bodies pile up (more than two dozen killings by the time the series ends) and the killer's motives become clear, if perverse. The film breaks rules in somewhat the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho": Hardly anyone in the cast seems safe from extinction and could become the killer's next conquest at any moment. No one is safe. One of the main characters bought it the first episode - when have you ever seen that happen?

This is a series that I lost sleep to see.

After five years, Julio Chávez and Cecilia Roth return in Season 2. I will have the same anticipation for each episode as I do for True blood.

I stumbled on Epitafios while browsing through my On Demand service, looking for an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Am I glad I took a chance with this intricate, twisty series. Sometimes it goes a bit too far--our serial killer has escaped one too many times to be entirely believable--but I love the characters and their interactions and the fact that no one is safe. The show shouldn't be buried on HBO-Latino. This is a show that deserves to run alongside Rome and Deadwood and other higher-profile, regular HBO series. If you haven't watched this and think that a Spanish-language series with subtitles isn't your thing, just give the first episode or two a try. I bet you'll be hooked.

I have to say that I am loving the series in terms of subject matter and the idea.....but I am disappointed that (probably to become an HBO production) they made the actors change their Argentinean accent to a generic accent thinking that people from other nationalities would understand and identify with the series better. I think that that was such a bad idea not only because the actors seem forced when trying to talk like the regular "Jose Perez," but also because it seems ridiculous to me that a series that clearly takes place in Buenos Aires pretends that people from there speak with another type of accent that they don't. That makes the series unreal. I find it unfortunate that HBO which is a Hollywood-independent, great production company wants to "Hollywicize" itself and make people think that all Latins talk alike, think alike, act alike and have the same accents!!!! Argentienans have made such great productions, movies, series, etc...they should not change their accents/ways just to please a bunch of Americans that don't understand the culture.

Not the most intelligent crime show I've seen, but entertaining enough to hold my attention. Could easily trimmed down to 6, maybe 8, episodes. Murder after murder of characters that contributed nothing to the plot, they existed to be killed. I watched the series on HBO on my AppleTV -- I used the 10-second skip ahead function quite a bit.

At times the writers have the characters do some pretty idiotic stuff. For example, a police detective calling someone at the airport to tell them their life is in danger, but doesn't ask where in the airport he is is and tell him to stay put. It continues with the potential victim leaving the safety of the customer service desk and runs randomly through the airport to eventually hide in a restroom. In another scene the female lead gets a Skype call from the killer who gives her a message to give to the detective — she calls him on his cellphone and asks him to come over so she can tell him what the murderer said… ummm, something urgent related to an ongoing mass murder investigation and you can't just tell him over the phone, the one you're already talking to him on? I found myself saying and thinking the phrase "what idiots" many times throughout the series.

Still, there's enough of a plot to watch it through to the end. I do like how they identify the killer around the 4th episode, instead of waiting until the end and just pick a character — more enjoyable when the viewer knows and watches those investigating figure it out.

They talk fast, the subtitles flash by — around episode 3 my brain seemed to adapt and there was a lot less skipping back to read what I missed.

Season 1 didn't exactly motivate me to dive into season 2 — maybe someday when there's nothing else to watch I'll take a look. I'd like to see a version of this story re-done by the people behind the series "24" :-)

I got hooked on Epitafios from the get-go. English is my first language but I also speak, read and write Spanish (my parents were portenos from Buenos Aires). I read another comment complaining that although the series was filmed in Buenos Aires, the actors do not speak in the Argentine dialect. I noticed that right away, and I was a little disappointed because I enjoy hearing Argentinians speaking Spanish...the way my parents and other family members spoke. But I understand why...this series no doubt was aired throughout South America and the story line really has nothing to do with Buenos Aires or Argentina...it could be set anywhere. But I have enjoyed seeing location shots of the city (like Recoleta)...I was just in Buenos Aires this past October.

Epitafios is over the top to be sure, and melodramatic, just as are all the Spanish novelas. But there is just something fascinating about the series and I only wish that it would last longer that 13 episodes. I love the Sopranos (I was born in NYC and raised in NJ) but I think Epitafios is just as good. I can only hope that the producers of Epitafios will bring us more good stuff in the future.

NinaDulce Clearwater FL