This could have… should have… been better. Directed by award-winning director Alex de la Iglesia and shot mostly in Madrid and Sevilla, with a very good cast, this slow-burn serial killer mystery series ran into trouble in the first episode. Well, it did for every Sevillano watching. The first major faux-pas was when the main characters emerge from the Santa Justa train station and there’s a tourist horse carriage parked outside. Like, wtf? Has never happened ever. Later on it shows a pre-Semana Santa costalero practice session, where 30 burly guys carry the “paso” frame (parihuela) through the streets late at night, loaded down with bricks and sandbags to replicate the weight of the sacred images that will be placed on top during the processions. Well they got that bit right, except they were accompanied by a band and a parade of nazarenos (penitents) in full gear, long tunics and pointy hats… another thing that has never happened ever. When the costaleros practice at best they have a boom box on top of the bare bones parihuela playing a few marches. These were the most glaring (and insulting) misrepresentations, but it did feel like de la Iglesia has a very narrow-minded opinion of Sevilla and sevillanos and decided to go with straight up caricatures.

This may have been saved by a gripping story but it actually started fizzling out early on. I finished the series just because I love watching Sevilla on film, and it wasn’t awful. Just a bit disappointing.