If you have access to HBO, you really ought to check this show out. It’s a half hour (mostly) Spanish language comedy about a group of four friends who are into horror and end up hiring out to, say, fake an exorcism at an orphanage so the head priest can get one over on the new hot priest everyone’s gravitating towards. Or fake a sea monster to drive tourism to a beach town. It’s sublimely silly and has all sorts of lovely touches.
If you don’t believe me, here’s the AV Club’s pre-air review that originally got my interest.
I watched the first episode and thought it was a bit rushed and the central premise didn’t quite gel… but there were some wonderful, offbeat jokes in the margins of the story that were hilarious. Like how Armisen’s lifelong calling has been to park cars or the flaky character who showed up for the exorcism while being paid to break in new shoes.
I watched the first season a year or so ago, and since I’m back on HBOMax in my cycle of streaming services, checked out season 2. They’re still dropping episodes once a week so it’s not done yet, seen 4 as of this post. Very much the same style, what I think of as absurdist realism. Take some absurd premise and/or characters, then drop it into reality and play it out. Has a lot in common with What We Do In The Shadows. I enjoy the weirdness, although I will say that I could do with less of the Andres (Julio Torres) and Uncle Tito (Fred Armisen) characters and more Ursula (Cassandra Ciangherotti) and Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco). No need to change Tati (Ana Fabrega), she’s perfect.
I love Andres myself (though the part where he is a terrible person has come out way more this season). Uncle Tito I like but his daughter I could do without. Fortunately she hasn’t been a huge focus. And yeah, Tati slays me every time.
We’re keeping up with this as well. Tati’s book career has been fun to watch. This reminds me of ‘The Mighty Boosh’ in a lot of ways, which is refreshing.
