Stream It Or Skip It?
When you happen upon a show where every character in the cast has their lives intersect, are you intrigued or do you roll your eyes. We sometimes do the latter, because we know that the intersections will be forced into the narrative, making it disjointed and harder to follow. But sometimes, that form of storytelling is done in a way that makes sense, which is what we mostly saw from the Spanish drama Rage.
RAGE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Severn women are practicing yoga on the massive grounds of a large, modern house. The shamans leading the session talk about connection, but the women end up arguing.
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The Gist: The women –Marga (Carmen Machi), Nat (Candela Peña), Vera (Pilar Castro), Victoria (Cecilia Roth), Adela (Nathalie Poza), Tina (Claudia Salas) and Rosa (Ana Torrent) — are all connected to each other in some way. Some bonds, like Adela and Tina being mother and daughter, are stronger than others. But the shaman tells the women that if they are at this stage, “willing to listen to us, it’s because you’ve undoubtedly reached the stage of rage.”
Two years earlier, we see Tina setting out breakfast while Marga, a wealthy artist, does yoga with Vera. Roberto (Alberto San Juan), a film director, comes to the kitchen, kisses Tina and they say “I love you” to each other. They sit down to breakfast like a married couple, but then Tina goes back to being the maid when Marga comes in with her rifle, bragging about her shooting that morning. Marga and Roberto are the married couple, but Roberto has been cheating on her with Tina for a long time.
Tina, whom Marga forces to wear a housecoat she painted herself, tells Roberto that she’s pregnant. He seems to be overjoyed, and swears he is going to leave Marga after he gets things in order, but when he brings Tina to his OB/GYN friend, the real plan is revealed. Tina will act as a surrogate for the baby that Roberto and Marga have spent years wanting to have, and will live apart from her child after it is born; when Roberto “eventually” leaves Marga, he’ll bring the child to live with him and Tina.
Of course, Tina is angry and hurt by this plan, but not nearly as angry as Marga is when she figures out that Tina is already pregnant.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Rage, created by and directed by Félix Sabroso, has a bit of a Nine Perfect Strangers feel to it.
Our Take: The way Sabroso structures the eight episodes of Rage is to show the lives of the seven women intersecting, then go back to that intersection and examine one of the other lives. And although the marketing for the show is about the main five stars — Marchi, Peña, Castro, Roth and Poza — It’s really about all seven. That’s one of the more confusing aspects of the series.
The stories are presented in anthology-like form, but they definitely end with the featured character going over the edge. In Nat’s episode, for instance, she finds herself being edged out at the department store where she’s worked as a buyer of couture fashion for 30 years, and she and her co-worker Rosa take their anger out in a very destructive way. Vera is a media-friendly chef launching a new food line and is feeling the pressure. Adela is being kicked out of her apartment by Victoria. And Victoria, a star from the ’70s skin flick era, is trying to get back into show business.
Sometimes the connections feel natural and sometimes they feel forced. What we’re not sure about is whether Sabroso is satirizing privilege, people who strive too hard, or both. Not all of the women are as wealthy as Marga, but they all seem to be at least adjacent to privilege. But he could also be satirizing the undue pressure women are under to “have it all,” which is something we see in at least Vera’s case. Or maybe each episode is satirizing something different, and we just don’t have the mental bandwidth to try to figure out what that is.
Sex and Skin: None in the first two episodes.
Parting Shot: Over the credits, Marga and Roberto stare at a pig that’s been digging up their yard. Each episode ends on an extended wordless scene as the credits roll.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Ana Torrent as Rosa, who blows up at Nat after they’re both laid off, and that scene is fun to watch.
Most Pilot-y Line: Marga tells Vera that the man leading them in their yoga session was a kamikaze during World War II. “But he’s alive,” Vera says. “Sure, I don’t know,” Marga replies.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While the structure of Rage is sometimes dizzying, the performances by the show’s cast make it compelling to watch, as are the connections they all have with each other.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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