"Holy Family": Finally, a Netflix TV Series Gets an "A"

 

Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), on Netflix, has an icon of two men about to kiss.  I wonder if some algorithm creates these icons just for my demographic. 

Scene 1: A woman giving birth in Melilla, Spain, November 1997  -- caesarian, with blood.  A young man and woman come in to see the baby, and turn into a stained glass window of "The Holy Family"

Scene 2: Madrid, November 1999.  A woman lecturing on the Venus of Willendorf, a 20,000 year old figure of a pregnant woman: "It wasn't a fertility symbol, it was a mother.  Mothers are our protectors.  They have an everlasting bond with their children."  She continues to lecture on the power of mothers' love, while we see several mothers  driving, walking with a baby carriage, unloading a truck, and so on. Finally she calls out Aitana for wearing headphones.  Aitana explains that the lecture is completely irrelevant to the class -- in filmmaking!  

The professor continues with her rant: "How many of you want to be mothers?"  Every girl raises her hand -- except Altana.  

Scene 3: In the park, three mothers (black-hair, blond hair, Afro-Spanish) are discussing the first birthday party of Blondie's kid.  Wait -- he was born in November 1997.  He would be two years old, not one.  Aitana arrives; time to go.  She complains about their lack of a social life, but Blondie points out that her brother had a great social life back in Barcelona --- and you know what happened to him!

Uh-oh, I think the baby is Aitana's.  Blondie is just pretending to be the mother.

Scene 4: Blondie is in her studio, working on a stained glass window, when the phone rings.  She brings a tray of food to a secret room and gives it to a young man -- Abel.  Why can't we see his face?   He wants to know why she locked the door.  "Because you can't go out in the daytime.  Night is much safer."  Why?  Is he a vampire?  Is he the baby's father, and Blondie is hiding the evidence of incest?

Scene 5:  Black-haired woman -- Blanca -- introduces herself and her not-all-there preteen son Lorenzo to the new neighbor, Catarina -- also a mother, with a 4-month old baby -- and her hunky husband Germán (Alex Garcia, top photo). She invites them for coffee and offers to introduce them to her friends.  Social networks form very quickly in Spain.

Scene 6:  The baby is crying.  Aitana and Blondie argue over whether to call him Nico or Hugo.  "In this house, he's Hugo!" Blondie exclaims. Then Aitana criticizes her for throwing him a party.  "Blanca insisted.  I had to say yes to avoid looking suspicious." The mystery thickens.  "By the way, it's night, so you can let Abel out."

Scene 7: Hunky  Germán, jogging at night, collides with the skateboarding Abel, knocking him over.  He helps him up.  They gaze at each other -- love at first sight?  But then Abel gets back on his skateboard and leaves without speaking.

At home, Germán goes through a filing cabinet and retrieves a packet of photos -- of Abel, only younger, with long hair!  So the family is hiding, and German's been looking for them?  

Scene 8: Blondie flashing back to being trapped inside a burning car. Cut to Aitana in a class on Soviet cinema. Suddenly she rushes out, goes to the auditorium, and obsessively plays the piano.  A piano prodigy in her old life, but not allowed now? A young man (maybe Alvaro Rico?) watches.  She's so good, why isn't she studying music?  She rushes away without answering.   

Scene 9:  At lunch, the three mothers discuss the birthday party.  Now Blondie has to hold it at her house!  The new neighbor, Catarina, joins them, and insults Blondie by thinking that she is the baby's grandmother.  "No, I'm his mother."  Then Aitana, introduced as the au pair.  I thought she was Blondie's daughter.  Maybe they are lying?

Scene 10:  Blondie and Aitana going through newspapers, looking for something, and discussing how the new neighbor is going to be trouble: "I don't trust her."

Scene 11: The Afro-Spanish woman, Alicia, and her husband, Pedro, worried because his letter hasn't arrived yet.  She said something earlier about her husband getting new job, so they're moving? Maybe he hasn't gotten the offer yet?

Meanwhile, Aitana returns to the auditorium, where the young man from Scene 8 -- Marcos --  is playing the piano.   He invites her to a party on Saturday, but she has the baby's birthday party that day.  "Oh, did I say Saturday?  I meant Friday."  Sneaky!

Scene 12: Abel (Ivan Pellicer?) asleep in his room/cell.  Aitana comes in to play on his computer.  He calls her "Sis."  Whew -- he's not the baby's father.  Or maybe he is. 

"Mom won't let me out during the day.  She's still mad about what happened in Barcelona."  Did he kill somebody?  Then Aitana tells him about a film they saw in class, where people at a dinner party are trapped by some unseen force and can't leave. 

Cut to the birthday party: four moms, two babies (Blondie's and Catarina's), the not-all-there Lorenzo, Aitana, and two husbands (German and Pedro) 

Lorenzo chases a soccer ball into the basement, and ends up at the doorway of Abel's room/cell.  He can hear someone inside, and yells "Who's in there?"  Abel doesn't answer, of course.

Scene 13: Flashback to Melilla, Spain, June, 1999. A woman drops her baby off with the au pair, who takes it strolling.  Suddenly a pickpocket grabs her purse, and she yells at him, taking her eyes off the baby for an instant -- and it's gone.  Hey, I think the pickpocket was in on the baby-kidnapping scam.

Wait -- the "present" is November 1999.  Blondie has a kidnapped baby!  German and his wife must be detectives trying to track him down!

Scene 14:  German jogging at night while Abel skateboards. They chat.  German flirts; Abel is reticent.  Is German trying to get intel, or is he really interested? 

Scene 15:  Back home, Caterina tells German that they're going to need to keep the baby for a few more weeks.  Detectives!  I knew it!   She tries to kiss him, but he moves away -- "No need anymore.  We're done. We've found them all."  He pastes a new name to a board: Gloria (Blondie), Julia, Mariana (Aitana).  Wait -- is Julia Abel?

Meanwhile, the family, Blondie, Aitana, and Abel, sits down to dinner.

Beefcake: None.  

Other Sights: A lot of exteriors of Madrid.

Gay Characters: Definitely German: he refuses to kiss his "wife," and seems more interested in Abel than his detective work would warrant.  Probably Abel, unless he's Julia in boy disguise. 

Mysteries: Blondie and her crew obviously stole the baby, but why does that require Aitana to not play the piano?  Why is Abel locked up?  What happened in Barcelona? If Abel isn't Julia, then who is she?

My Grade: A.