L'espionne de Tanger

This is one of the best TV series I've ever seen. I watched this through Netflix streaming and got so hooked, I'd stay up late to see what was happening next. The main character is smart, courageous, resilient & gorgeous. She's a seamstress who creates stunning haute couture dresses along the lines of Grace Kelly and Kate Middleton. Her clients are some of the richest & most powerful of European society, so it makes it fun. The film is set in the late 30s & early 40s, so there are gloves, hats, coordinated bags & heels ... pure class & style all the way. But that's just the flash. The story itself starts out slowly, but develops, along with the characters, from a poor dressmaker's shop into intriguing emotionally charged war time espionage excitement, showcasing classic cars & incredible Moroccan & Spanish architecture & decor. The film is in Spanish, so if you don't speak it, you have to read the subtitles. The Spaniards speak very quickly, so I had to pause occasionally to read the full text. A fun fact: Because the main character, "Sira", is a dressmaker and the show was such a hit, sewing machine sales in Spain rose 197%! I'm going to pull out my own fabric stash & patterns & hit my machine. Only wish we still dressed that classy & could kick the Kardashians to the curb. What a refreshing turn that would be.

We love this series (Spanish with English subtitles), superb acting and great location shots. The first few episodes are a little slow paced, but set in Spain during WWII. This is a gem, we are definitely hooked. A dressmaker rescues her mother from Madrid during the General Franco rise to power and relocates to Morocco. She develops a clientèle in her dress shop among the German officers and gains a valuable foothold in social circles associated with the women. While the allies battle for influence in Spain, they recruit her to do undercover work in an effort to keep the Nationalists from joining Hitler. She translates messages through Morse code in the way she stitches clothing, a rather clandestine plot ensues with a number of interesting twists. The series is ideal for learning a bit of history through fictional characters and the costumes and era social life are really quite captivating.

My wife and I really enjoyed this series. The plot is engaging, and the acting is above average. Adriana Ugarte, who plays Sira/Arish, is particularly fun to watch. More than anything I enjoyed the look of the show -- the architecture (in Tangier and Tetouan Morrocco, Madrid, and Lisbon), the cars, and the clothes. I saw somewhere that the women in this show (the dressmaker and her clients) wore well over 1000 different outfits, each more elegant, in a 1940 sort of way, than the last. This isn't what I usually watch TV for, but the look of the show is over the top and it makes the whole series more fun to watch. Also, with the first half of the show set in the Tetouan, in the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, during the Spanish Civil War, I had to brush up on some interesting history. I had imagined that Morocco was all under French control before the country resumed full independence in the 1950s, but a strip of northern Morocco was under Spanish administrative control from 1912 on. And of course Franco had started his rebellion against the Republic, and thus the civil war, by invading Spain from Morocco..

Adriana Ugarte and the rest of the excellently selected cast grabs you from the first moment and holds on to your heartstrings till the very end. I commend the creators for giving us a story that keeps the viewer entranced without having to show explicit sex scenes or Uber realistic murders. Each episode ends in a cliff hanger that will leave you wanting more. My wife and I felt sad when it ended, but it was just the right amount of episodes to leave a lasting impression. Excellent show. Good on Netflix for bringing it to us.

I was always into spy films and shows since I was a kid and this was by far the most emotional I've ever been watching one. One could really relate to the protagonist, Sira Quiroga. The plot was intense and hadn't moved too quickly, n'or too slow, however the episodes always ended at a cliffhanger which made the audience crave the next one hence how I finished the drama in 3 days. Overall, it's one of those shows, that impact your life in a way that you begin to see things differently. I think I cried during at least 3 episodes, as everything really connected with me. I, for one, also began respecting the motherly figure even more than I had before watching this show. This is a definite 10/10.