Vida, Season 3 (2020)

 

The third and final season of Vida continues to follow much the same pattern as the first and second; sisters Emma and Lynn struggle to save their family bar from a predatory developer, make sincere but frequently misguided efforts to rebuild their relationship with each other, and also try to untangle their often messy love-lives.  Aa always, each of these plotlines involves a considerable amount of drama, and the last involves a considerable amount of very raunchy sexual content.

None of this is intended as a criticism of the show, however.  The Vida writing team have a clear idea about the key elements of the show, and they keep things focused on them, but they are also smart enough to keep each element moving forward.  This provides thematic consistency, without the show becoming stale and repetitive.  And with only 22 episodes in total, it's not like they're stretching out these plotlines for some ridiculously long period of time.

This is a solid and satisfying conclusion to a strong show.  The cast remains excellent, as they have been throughout, and the writers clearly knew that this was the final season.  They smartly don't try to force things into place to neatly wrap up every single character's life in a tidy bow, but they do provide a clear resolution to the major conflicts that have anchored the program throughout its run.

Vida is a smart, bold, confronting TV show that celebrates many of the people and voices that mainstream shows tend to ignore or fetishize.  I would love to see more programs like it, and will definitely keep an eye out for more projects from showrunner Tanya Saracho.