3 Best Spanish TV Programmes Movies to Watch

TV nerds know that Orange is the New Black, as much as it’s hailed in the U.S. for being 'crazy’, doesn’t deserve that title. It’s only a mellow take on the women prison genre that was perfected outside the States. The Australian show Wentworth is one example and Vis a Vis (or Locked Up) is another. The show starts with an inmate being boiled alive.

Macarena Ferreiro is set up by her boss/lover and ends up in prison for tax crimes. First naive and used to luxury, she has to adapt to harsh prison conditions, and harsher inmates. On the outside, her parents try to secure a large sum to pay her bail.

Genre: Thriller

Actor: Abril Zamora, Adriana Paz, Alba Flores, Alberto Velasco, Alma Itzel, Almagro San Miguel, Ana María Picchio, Ana Marzoa, Berta Vazquez, Carlos Hipolito, Claudia Riera, Cristina Marcos, Cristina Plazas, Daniel Ortiz, David Ostrosky, Harlys Becerra, Huichi Chiu, Inma Cuesta, Inma Cuevas, Isabel Naveira, Itziar Castro, Javier Lara, Jesus Castejon, Laura Baena, Laura Baena Torres, Lisi Linder, Lucas Ferraro, Luis Callejo, Maggie Civantos, María Isabel Díaz Lago, Maria Isabel Diaz, Maria Salgueiro, Marta Aledo, Najwa Nimri, Ramiro Blas, Roberto Enríquez, Ruth Díaz, Verónika Moral

Rating: TV-MA

Red Queen is well-shot, well-produced, and extremely well-cast, so it’s hard to pinpoint why it feels mediocre at first. But once you get past the sheen of its budget and the warm glow cast by its two likable leads, the titular red queen Antonia (Vicky Luengo) and her sidekick Jon (Hovik Keuchkerian), it becomes apparent how hollow the foundations are. Antonia is hailed as a singular genius who, much like Sherlock and his many copycats, needs only to scan a room to know the depths of a person. She also enters a version of Sherlock’s “mind palace,” an accurate and artful reenactment of the crime. But the answers she arrives at, though correct, feel simplistic and pedestrian. They’re hardly cerebral, nor do they require special knowledge: it all just sounds like something a good detective should know. Jon is a more realistic rendering of a cop, but it is strange how he is defined only by his weight and sexuality. At least in the first few episodes, these traits are merely used as the punchline to their jokes. The trimmings are not too impressive either; the secret organization they’re part of, the serial killer’s motives, and Antonia’s traumatic past are intriguing, but all too familiar in this saturated genre.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Mystery

Actor: Àlex Brendemühl, Andrea Trepat, Celia Freijeiro, Eduardo Noriega, Emma Suárez, Fernando Guallar, Hovik Keuchkerian, Nacho Fresneda, Pere Brasó, Urko Olazábal, Victoria Luengo