When ‘The House of Flowers’ came out, we were all delighted with the De La Mora family, “Julieta’s good luck” became an essential everyday phrase, and Netflix said “to my arms!” to Manolo Caro. What came after, however, was not so good: the following seasons of ‘The House of Flowers’ moved considerably away from the level of the first, ‘Someone Has to Die’ had a rather lukewarm reception, and the reception of ‘ Once upon a time… but no longer’ better not to talk. ‘Sagrada Familia’ arrived last year without many expectations, and with all the appearance of having a single season, but Caro saved the furniture both in those episodes and in the second season that premiered this fall on Netflix.
The series begins when, at the end of the 90s, a mysterious family moves to a high-income neighborhood in Madrid, with new names and (the intention of starting) a new life, without knowing that the ghosts of the past are following them. track. From there a thriller is built with a multitude of twists, love subplots and certain doses of Ryan Murphy (to the point that Macarena Gómez’s character and her son seem to be in another series, as if a season of ‘American Horror Story’. ‘ was doing a crossover with ‘Sagrada Familia’).
One of the successes of fiction is its cast, led by Najwa Nimri. Manolo Caro’s look at Najwa feels like a look at something that fascinates you, and between the two they seem to have understood each other perfectly. Najwa knows very well how to hold something excessive and, even when the series goes off the rails, she takes care of grabbing you by the balls so you don’t notice. But Alba Flores (new meeting between the two), Miguel Ángel Solá, Álex García and the teenage quartet formed by Carla Campra, Iván Pellicer, Álvaro Rico and Pol Hermoso (one of the additions of the second season along with Abril Zamora and Daniel Grao).
Precisely the brothers and their partners are the protagonists of one of the best scenes of the series, and of Caro’s career in general, a very successful sexual sequence to the rhythm of ‘Voyage, voyage’ by Desireless that knows how to convey desire and is not It remains in some models pretending to fuck with expensive music in the background – unlike 99% of sexual scenes on Netflix. I suppose the director is aware of that, because in the second season he winks at it, adding a role change that is still quite taboo in fiction (in reality we know it is not) with respect to straight couples.
In addition to the great song by Desireless, Laura Marling, Gloria Trevi and Mecano also play in the series (there is more than one reference to the Madrid band, in fact). All this together with the original soundtrack composed by Lucas Vidal, which is accentuated in a second season with even more script twists, and their corresponding blasts from the past) that, apparently, lead to a closed ending. It is not the series of the year, but if you are looking for a series that hooks you, ‘Sagrada Familia’ does it a lot, assuming a recovery for Manolo Caro which we hope will mean better series in the future.
