La otra mirada

This is basically a soap opera infused with hamfisted and predictable feminist messages. There are some interesting characters and storylines, but very little to make you think or keep you guessing. In fact, in order to make certain you are thinking exactly what the director wants you to think, the melodramatic soundtrack gives very clear signals. The show has all the pieces present to make possible an amazing series, but is content to lead the viewer around by the nose and use tried and true clichés. At over one hour per episode, there was plenty of time to go deep. As with any foreign series, you do learn things about the country of origin.

This series appears to be made for a specific local audience. It has little to offer in the way of global interest. It is a period drama from Spin that deals with changing social mores in that country during the 1920s. Attached to this main premise is a loosely fabricated mystery. The acting is below average, with actors delivering their lines as though reading from cue cards or a teleprompter. The heavy industrial strength makeup for the actors makes them all look both garish and ghoulish. That has a most disturbing and most distracting visual impact. It is, as others have pointed out, a soap opera filled with feminist messages about strong women and overtones of communism. It is really not worth the effort to go much beyond episode 1!

We are almost through the first season PBS Passport and are very impressed with the quality of storytelling, acting, directing, cinema etc. It surprised us to get such a good series from Spain because we are so used to British dramas. The issues dealt with are mature and complex, much like what women were dealing with here in the US in the 1970s, and within the last decade up to the present. A lot of the tension stems from ancient beliefs and practices set against modern ideas. And there is a fascinating mystery throughout that still keeps us wondering. Subtitles let us know what they are saying, but sometimes they talk so fast we can't keep up. Watch it anyway.

PBS productions used to be synonymous with quality. No longer. While I realize this was purchased from abroad, it's another cheap soap opera, replete with an overly saccharine sound track and a clunky plot with clumsy misdirection. Lately PBS has served up a menu of tired murder mysteries and an unhappy blend of period pieces centering around current cultural issues. I'm tired of this erroneous interpretation of the past, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. How about giving us quality TV again -- series such as Brideshead Revisited, the Foresyte Saga, and I Claudius were outstanding. If I want this kind of fare, I can always watch Netflix.

I enjoyed this series very much and love Spanish period pieces, however the ending was very disappointing. I would have loved to see another season to fix the storyline for most characters.