This is a love story on different levels and complexities, all done very well. The central focus is on, however, an on-again-off-again-on-again unlikely gay relationship.

Alex (Carlos Cuevas), a very handsome bartender at a local gay bar, misdials and accidentally leaves an irate message intended for his boyfriend on another person’s phone. That person is Bruno (Miki Esparbe). After some reflection, Bruno decides to contact Alex to let him know of his mistake and, while talking, the two seemingly hit it off. So, they agree to meet. Bruno comes to the bar where Alex works. Initially, Alex is far from smitten with him as Bruno is older, not attractive to him, and not his type. But as they get to know each other, they both began to see things in one another, things that are unexpectedly connecting and touching. They have common interests though their personalities clash with each other significantly.

Although loving and lusting for each other, they also repel one another. They both have a different sense of worth and both are convinced of the fact that he is not good enough for the other. But that only seems to increase the amount of interest, lust, and love they have for each other. The story waffles and waves between these two sometimes in amusing ways but always in a forward direction. You just sense these two will end up together.

To forget each other and to stay away from each other, they both get a ‘boyfriend’. Ironically both boyfriends are the ‘perfect’ definition of what they idealized a boyfriend should be. Still, both are not satisfied enough in giving and getting what the other provides. The more they stay away from each other, the more intense the fantasy, lust, and desire becomes until it becomes inescapable. Their journey to that inevitability is a joy to watch and fun to see. They made the romance feel alive and worthy of pursuing.

However, three other parallel love stories show a different representation of ‘love’. One is with a Lesbian couple that seemingly appears to be content outwardly but inwardly, perhaps not. While they unquestionably love each other, one is not happy in, and consequently, with the relationship. The craving to find her sense of happiness negates her from having a complete commitment to her partner of 7 years. Without that, they cannot maintain a relationship.

On the opposite end of that same continuum is Bruno’s brother who thinks he needs to find himself. And as his wife so aptly states, as he journeys to find himself, along the way he may lose others. After some stark realities hit him, he becomes cognizant of how intrinsic a statement is with all its emptiness. Although their relationship becomes rocky, it now solidifies into a whole new realm of commitment as he realized and subsequently internalizes what he was missing.

And the last couple, and perhaps the most poignant, is one between the owner of the bar Javier (Pepon Nieto), who manifests himself as a drag queen for the entertainment of his customers. He also gets someone to love in his life which is completely unexpected. The backstory of the man who begins to fall in love with him is tied to Alex’s father. He was a friend of his father before he married his mother. His story is a profoundly sad one and one that no doubt has been repeated countless times with other men in the same situation. It is indeed a worthy story in and of itself.

The portrayals of all these characters are exceptionally well done. Miki Esparbe as Bruno brought just enough angst to make his character feel vulnerable. While Carlos Cuevas as Alex brought a whole new level of feeling torn between his intellectual self with his emotional one. (However, I felt his role as Pol in “Merle” was a more intense and empowering role, as both roles were quite similar). They all brought such richness to each of the characters and a depthless to them that made it feel that they were so real. Yet there is one that took it to a deeper level than I expected. For me, it was Carles Sanjaime as Ramiro. His characterization of this individual was shown so convincingly in his face with his look of regret plastered all over his expression. He looked like a man with a deep dark secret that he was carrying around, wanting to unburden it after so many years. Living in isolation, he learned to bury it until he could no longer stand it and was just looking for some closure, perhaps forgiveness, and maybe a chance to live life again. His story helps make Bruno and Alex’s story so much more moving as his story is the sad ending as a result of walking away from his love.

This is a smartly written screenplay capturing the human emotions of falling in love with an individual who you cogently believe is the opposite of what you want and therefore convincingly use every excuse in the book to make the relationship falter. Yet it does not. Simply because the love seems too deep and on a more visceral level that you cannot so easily dismiss. It makes no sense, yet it does. It is also tangentially a story of having love, but it is not enough to sustain a relationship. It is also a story of having love, but not seeing it, and when you realize how close you were to losing it, it manifests a spark in you to never lose it. The love becomes a greater bond. And finally, you have love, even though a bit late in life, that may not be as ‘magical’ as shown in fantasy movies but the kind of love that allows two lonely people past their prime of being young and viral, to connect and bond in perhaps the truest sense of the word love.

This is an enjoyable, entertaining series that presents love not in a singular fashion but as an all-encompassing notion, giving us a refreshing look at how we can see love. I admired this series for its way of making love, in its different forms, so wide-ranging and whole.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Streaming on- Netflix

Edited by- Dee