I don’t know if I’ll get tired of talking about this show when there’s no one here to talk about it with me but I don’t care LOL.
I loved the episode. IDK exactly what when one with the Netflix deal (I haven’t paid much attention to bts stuff), but even if I’m sad that now it’s not on the platform and I can’t nudge people into watch it xD, in some ways the past season felt too “americanized” and I’m very glad that’s not the case here lol.
One thing I love about this show is how much it manages to make me feel about one-episode characters. I completely fell in love with Ángel here. Completely. He was so, so brave. Sure, we know Pacino is not an homophobic jerk (I’ll never be over him comforting the Napoleonic soldier that hit on him lol), but he couldn’t know how his childhood friend would react and the whole scene was so moving. And I knew he was going to have AIDS --queer, in the ‘80s, we knew he couldn’t end up playing Banderas’ part in Laberinto. It wasn’t hard putting two and two together, and neither it was for Pacino when he saw his symptoms. And his final concert... my heart.
(also, this is one of those times when you see how different a storyline can hit depending on the cast. This one wouldn’t have gone as well with me if we didn’t have a lesbian main character, a complex and interesting character, from the very beginning of the show, for example).
There wasn’t as much focus on Lola (not complaining given that she was the MVP in the last one), but I love to see my ‘40s gal effortlessly using computers :DD. And getting drunk and trying to get a part in Almodóvar’s movie LOL.
I am LIVING for Alonso’s plot this episode. Poor guy just wants to be a soccer dad lmao. And if he has to work for the Ministry he wants them to organize a daycare center for the employees’ kids! And hire retired employees if they want to so they get more than their pension! These are the types of plot I never get in my favourite USA shows, dammit xD (I’m sure they’re in the slice-of-day stuff, but I don’t want that. I want time travel shenanigans AND a XVI century soldier fighting for family conciliation). And as always, I love seeing him and Irene team up (lol at them acing the weapons question. And at Alonse being all ~moved by the king’s love story and Irene being like “we’re his prisoners?? wtf are you talking about” xDD).
Velázquez is, as always, one of the highlights. I love his shenanigans and his priorities lol. “All of history could be unravelled”, “and I wouldn’t get to paint my most famous portrait!!”. “Show them the sketch so they can identify the woman”, “but it’s not finished!! It’s SUBPAR!!”. “Not even Felipe IV gets to talk to me like that!”. I luff him xD. I hope he gets to go on more missions this season.
I love how invested Salvador was in making sure Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas meet LMFAO (and that we got to see their “love at first sight” moment lol). And when he grumbled about how Laberinto de pasiones wouldn’t get greenlighted today xD. He’s such a nerd.
I spy we’re getting more of Angustias’ backstory, given her ~angst while watching Alonso’s daughter (who omg is TERRIBLE. I lost it when Velázquez kept pressing the elevator’s button to escape from the screaming crier toddler xDD).
Another thing I love about this show is how, yes, the Ministry’s mission is preserving history intact. And they do it with the big stuff because we don’t know how it’ll unravel (one possibility being “Felipe II finds out the secret and decides he’ll use time travel to defeat the English and rule the entire world ACROSS time” xD). But with ordinary people’s lives we see them break the rules and I just love it? I love that Salvador went out of his way to save Lola and recruited her twice. That they helped Irene escape her husband in the ‘60s and now she’s helping Carolina do the same. And ofc Pacino’s amazing introduction, when he said “fuck your rules, I’m going to trick you and kill this abusive shithead so that his son doesn’t end up a time travel serial killer AND I’ll prevent countless women’s deaths and my father’s suicide in the process” xDD. IDK. I just love it, and I love that a lot of characters show hypocrisy and double standars while doing because... it feels real, idk.
I’m always here for more Lorca (and Julián/Lorca LOL) content so I’m looking forward to the next episode, thought I don’t think I’ll watch it today. Will Julián tell him how to prevent his death?? I would love if we got Lorca as a recurrent character, okay. Salvador couldn’t protest too much because technically speaking his body is lost and the show could ~handwave things. I would buy that this version of Lorca might not listen as to preserve history, but I want him to be saved. TV can be self-indulgent and I want to see one of my favourite poets avoid an awful execution, what can I say.
Typing all of these, especially after having watched more Legends of Tomorrow episodes, makes it very obvious how much braver this time travelling show is when it comes to show actual historical figures, making them part of the plot, etc. LOL. And a lot more creative: doors taking you to specific years, where days advance naturally too (except for recurrent door TM), some of which are in undisclosed locations, etc. etc. >>>>> time ships. By far. It takes more risks and it’s so different from the majority of shows I’ve seen and I love it for it ngl.
I’m too young to feel nostalgia for “1, 2, 3, responda otra vez!” (probably Spain’s most famous game show, jsyk). The revival season was when I was a kid, sure, and you knew the theme song, yeah, but still. Yet this show does it xDD.
