After the sudden death of their mother Vidalia (“Vida” for short), estranged sisters Emma and Lyn return to their old neighbourhood of Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. They need to settle up their mother's tangled estate, in particular determining the fate the bar she owned, which has become a prime target for developers looking to gentrify (that is, make more white) the primarily Latinx location.
For the career-focused, Type A Emma, this is all an unwelcome distraction from the life she's forged away from the family she feels cast her out. For free-spirited but directionless Lyn, it is an opportunity to reignite old romances and maybe sort out her life a bit (though probably, just make new mistakes to compound the old).
Neither woman expects to remain in the old neighbourhood for very long. They expect to just come in, wind up the estate and leave. But there's a lot they don't know about their own family and about the place they left behind. Perhaps even some things worth staying for.
Vida is a series about the experience of Latinx people in the United States, especially Latinx women, and Latinx people of the LGBTQ community. To ensure authenticity, series creator Tanya Saracho deliberately assembled a writing team with personal experience of these lives. All the writers are Latinx; only one is a cisgender male; over half identify as queer. I certainly lack the knowledge to say whether she has succeeded, but the show has won praise from numerous people who are far more qualified to judge than I am, so it seems likely she did.
Neither woman expects to remain in the old neighbourhood for very long. They expect to just come in, wind up the estate and leave. But there's a lot they don't know about their own family and about the place they left behind. Perhaps even some things worth staying for.
Vida is a series about the experience of Latinx people in the United States, especially Latinx women, and Latinx people of the LGBTQ community. To ensure authenticity, series creator Tanya Saracho deliberately assembled a writing team with personal experience of these lives. All the writers are Latinx; only one is a cisgender male; over half identify as queer. I certainly lack the knowledge to say whether she has succeeded, but the show has won praise from numerous people who are far more qualified to judge than I am, so it seems likely she did.
This is also a show about relationships; this includes romantic ones, of course, but also familial ones (sister to sister, daughter to mother, and so on) and platonic friendships. All of these relationships are sometimes messy and challenging, but they are also capable of being rewarding and constructive. It's nice to see a show tackle the complexities of interpersonal relationships with such openness.
That openness definitely extends to sexual relationships. Vida features a considerable amount of nudity and a number of high impact sex scenes, and for that reason may not be to all tastes. These scenes do have a clear story purpose, however, rather than existing for mere titillation. They show how sexual intimacy can often be emotionally and physically messy, and they frequently show some aspect of the participants' personalities. The first time we see Emma have sex, for instance, she tells us a great deal about herself even though she never says a word.
Vida explores what its characters (think they) want and how that compares to what they actually need to be fulfilled. How the characters process and address the gap between what they have (they they) want and what they actually need is a key part of the narrative and of the characters' development. It's all smartly executed. The writers have delivered writing that is compelling and interesting, and we ploughed through the six episodes of this season in only a couple of nights.
Vida explores what its characters (think they) want and how that compares to what they actually need to be fulfilled. How the characters process and address the gap between what they have (they they) want and what they actually need is a key part of the narrative and of the characters' development. It's all smartly executed. The writers have delivered writing that is compelling and interesting, and we ploughed through the six episodes of this season in only a couple of nights.
As good as the writing is, I can't complete this review without also praising the cast, who deliver strong performances. All of the central roles require a lot of vulnerability and demand a lot of the actors, and every one of them fully fulfils the brief.
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