The rain has gone and the sun is shining in Cali...except now it’s cold again (relatively speaking). I’ve been busy on my off days as well as my work days. I’ve been sleep deprived all during my days off, and it finally caught up to me. Hell, the other day I just crashed right after work to all the way until right before I had to leave for work. Despite all that, I did make some time to re-watch some Parks and Recreation and it’s still hilarious. But, today’s post isn’t about Parks and Rec; instead I resumed watching a show I haven’t posted on in awhile. I’m also almost done with a J-Drama and will post on the entire series (all 11 episodes of it, lol) once I finish.
What I Watched:
El Vato S1.E4&5 “¿Tienes Talento?” and “Cougars, Yeguas Y Video”What I Saw:
The comedic value of this show reminded me of why I liked it in the first place. In episode 4, Vato and his crew are still mentally recovering from their brief run-in with the narco corrido (drug runner) music label. Vato has been calling Chalino non-stop to make sure they are square after saving his life from a gun fight. Mariana got promoted to performing guitar at the Mexican Hooters-like restaurant she works at and gets a visit from her ex-fiance. Pollo is still working on the ranch while Vato and Brandon go on a singing contest show to try and get the chance to win a contract. The show is run by Wendy and her brother Lolo’s music label, but due to internal politics the contest is rigged for an equally talented woman singer to win and Vato gets left in second place with nothing.
I do like how Vato ended up being
betrayed by Wendy, who still promises to have his back despite being
part of the plan to rig the vote. She was trying to get the female
singer onto her side and use it as leverage, but we don’t learn
what for until the next episode. I know some people use TV to escape
from reality, but I enjoy shows that inject some truth into the
stories they tell. Show business is not only business; much like
everything else in life, it gets personal and people will mess up
with your plans even though you did things perfectly. Besides, living
in a society like ours the game is rigged for you to lose; in Vato’s
case it was just literal.
Vato gets another good moment
when Chalino
shows up at the contest. At first Vato thinks he is there to collect
his debt with force, but is instead rewarded with a gold plated
pistol as a sign of
gratitude. His debt has been cleared, all because he did the right
thing and saved someone’s life; even if it was the life of a drug
dealer. But
that moment gets
ruined a couple of minutes later when Vato finds out the vote was
rigged from the beginning. He points his shiny new gold plated pistol
at Lolo
when he finds out about the betrayal, which I thought
was a little out of character
(not to mention over
dramatic). It could be that
he was channeling his father who was more of a gangster narco
corrido singer, but I don’t
know. Like I said, he did the right thing and saved a life but was
quick to threaten to
take one. That arch overall
was trying to say that while
nice guys don’t always
finish last, in the real
world they don’t finish first either.A powerful scene in this episode was between Mariana and her ex-fiance. He surprised her with a visit when she let slip the name of the restaurant she was working at. The whole time he was trying to convince her to return, and she kept telling him that she needed to be in the US to accomplish her dreams of being a famous music composer. When he showed up and said she didn’t have to worry about anything anymore, I almost thought the show was going to go the cheesy route and he was going to find a way to stay. Nope! Instead he gives another push for her to return to Mexico, and she tells him that she loves him, but she loves music more. The only thing she wants to do now is try to make it as a composer. A really good scene not only because she is sacrificing everything to make her dream come true, but because she is also a woman who is self-empowered.
In episode 5, the focus shifts a little more towards Pollo and Brandon. El Vato is bummed he lost the contest and is told by the radio DJ El Chuy that since Lolo has blackballed him it will be almost impossible to get with any record label or radio station in town. El Chuy then suggests Vato go back to Mexico and make music videos to keep his name known until things cool off. Mariana gets an invitation from Vato’s rival, Marcos, at a spot that is known for scouts to frequent and look for composers. Mariana asks Vato to sing her song for her, and he promises to do it after filming a music video at the ranch Pollo works; without the owner’s permission. At the ranch, Pollo runs into a famous ranchero singer, Emiliano, who asks to help him to put down a horse he’s had even before he became famous. Pollo ends up losing his job because Vato got caught filming the video using other people’s cars and horses without permission. Vato also ended up missing the chance to sing for Mariana, who choked on stage and decided to get drunk and make out with Marcos instead. Meanwhile, Brandon meets up with the cougar he met at Lolo’s party.
Again, the overall theme of following your dream is ever present in the show. But this time there were a couple of twists. Vato runs into an actress named Abigail, who is also working as an assistant for the famous ranchero singer and convinces her to be in the music video. They share a moment when talking about the struggle, and how even though they have day jobs, what they do matters because they have to do whatever it takes to help accomplish their dreams. Abigail also talked about how she used to go to casting calls all the time, but all the Latina roles were for a maid or undocumented immigrant. Her respect for herself and Latinx culture prevents her from taking those stereotypical roles. I really liked how the show brought up that issue, because as you know I like to celebrate the times when Latinx people are not placed in those stereotypes. We are more than just laborers, we are also intellectuals and artists!
The flip-side comes from the receptionist Pollo met and is crushing on, Estela, who at first wanted to be a singer. Mariana runs into her at the event to scout for composers. She says she is no longer a singer because she has resigned that she will never become one, especially now that she has a kid to look after. A day job stops becoming one the day you stop prioritizing your dreams. For Estela, making sure her child is provided for is her new priority. It’s great to chase your dreams, but you have to balance life with it as well (like I talked about with my post on Atlanta). You can choose to go all out and focus on the dream only, but that sacrifices family, and it is up to the person to decide which is more important. For Mariana it was the dream of being a composer, for Estela it was her child. Both are respectable decisions.
Mariana has another good moment with Vato’s aunt, who brings up the fact that Mariana never writes songs from a woman’s perspective. She mentions she always liked one famous artist who sang unapologetically about how its really like to be a Latina, and urges Mariana to consider doing the same. Mariana is hesitant because talking about issues like that is harder, probably because it hits closer to home and is more real. It feels easier to create something that is detached from what your life is like, but usually art comes off as more impactful the more it impacts the artist. And let me tell you, writing from your own emotions and experiences is way scarier than writing about something you don’t really know. The message sinks in when Mariana runs into the Estela, and asks if she would be willing to sing if Mariana writes songs from a woman’s perspective.
Brandon’s outing with the cougar lady makes him question what he is doing with his life. He gets scolded by the cougar for looking at a pair of tennis shoes and she hands him a nice pair of loafers telling him it’s for his own good. He sees a reflection of himself in a boy who is also being scolded by his mother to where more grown up looking shoes. He gets depressed that he is spending time with someone who is almost old enough to be his mom. The cougar gets disappointed at the sudden mood change and ditches him. Then he sees another reflection, but this time it is a homeless man digging in the trash looking for recyclables to turn in for cash. He then runs over to the cougar and plants a passionate kiss. In life, despite how bad you may think certain things are, there are plenty out there who have it worse. With no job, and no real skill besides being a ladies man (he got info for Vato when hooking up with a grip, as well as free coffee), Brandon started to feel down. But once he saw what his life could be like instead of what it currently was, he realized it wasn’t so bad.
This episode’s most powerful moment came with Pollo’s arch. Emiliano taught Pollo a few things about how to care for horses, and opens up a little about his life. He tells Pollo that his horse is actually very sick, and he wants to put the horse down the same way he used to when he was back at the ranch in Mexico. He talked about trust and friendship, saying he doesn’t know who is really a friend anymore or who wants to just hit him up for favors now that he is famous. His horse is the only one that reminds him of his simpler life from before, and he cannot bring himself to put it down. Pollo ends up doing it, and decides not to take the opportunity to ask Emiliano to listen to Vato’s demo. The scene was powerful because Pollo wanted to treat the famous singer like a human being, and show him that not everyone who is nice to him is looking for connections. It was a difficult choice, but a very honorable one. That moment did a really good job of showing Pollo’s character.
In conclusion.
I
know I ranted a little bit a couple of posts ago about wanting to
find a decent show that featured Latinx characters, and I have to
admit I half forgot about
this show. This
show highlights a lot of Latin American culture without being
stereotypical, or overly dramatic like in telenovelas (which this hilarious clip of using Spanglish shows). Latinx are
portrayed as business people, artists, drug dealers, office workers,
and yes, even laborers. But the important thing is there is a wider
representation of Latinx. The only part that bothers me is a lot of
the main characters have a lighter skin tone, and the background
characters are darker skinned tone. This is true for many
telenovelas, and those
even go so far to cast the villains with darker skin tones.
Overall,
I really do enjoy the show. What do you guys think of Mariana’s
and Pollo’s decisions? Did they choose correctly, or will they
regret it? What would you choose? Let me know in the comments!
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