2023 Show
Alejandro Hernández & Mariano Barroso · Spain · Spanish
A handsome production with ultimately unconvincing drama connecting its crime elements
The idea of a fitness instructor suddenly discovering the thrill of selling military armaments is promising in its absurdity, so it’s unfortunate that Los Farad doesn’t maintain this offbeat sense of humor for too long. It moves relatively quickly into tense criminal activity, but the series isn’t able to really capture the magnetic pull that this world of luxury has on protagonist Oskar. Without enough table-setting, the crime family he finds himself becoming a part of can’t help but seem ordinary, and the last-minute solutions he finds weaken the urgency of the situations he’s in, as cinematic as they appear on screen.
The day Oskar, a typical local boy, crosses paths with the mysterious and wealthy Farad family, his life changes forever. Oskar enters a winner-take-all game, the world of international arms trafficking. In Marbella where the Farads live, luxury, adrenaline and intense emotions await him... But also a backside of violence and cynicism that tests his will.
A young aerobics instructor finds himself becoming involved in the dangerous dealings of a wealthy family of arms dealers.
Still, the relationship between Oskar (Miguel Herrán) and Sara (Susana Abaitua), the woman he falls in love with who offers him this arms-dealing job, remains intriguing because it's difficult to place how much of it is actual romance and how much of it is more like a business arrangement. There's definitely still chemistry between the two actors, but there's a sense that either character is capable of screwing the other over if things get too dire out in the wild. In the first two episodes watched for this review, it's the unpredictable dynamic between the two that carries everything else on its shoulders.
Answers the age-old riddle of what aerobics class and arms dealing has in common... they both have their guns out.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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