Created by and Starring: Nadia de Santiago
Streaming on Netflix.
It's a new format, with ten 11-minute episodes. And the structure of the episodes is also very interesting - whereas the first episode is 10 minutes in the past, 1 minute in the present, and the second is 9 minutes in the past, 2 minutes in the present and so on. It's a beautifully narrative structure to explore the relationship in the past and eventually lead it up to the present. The show explores one relationship, but in a way explores modern relationships in general. And it is brutally disturbing for the way it explores everything bad that can happen within the context of a relationship ranging from feeling distant, to feeling rejected to being cheated on. And my heart was heavy to see that she'd still want to make it work. The duality of modern relationships being very futile vs someone trying with their everything to make something work throws us into an inexplicable dilemma. The show kept me wondering how to feel about everything. The icing on the cake is how it goes to the space where they also explore how childhood trauma can spill over into our adult relationships.
The show is brutally honest and heartbreaking. Mostly because of the narrative structure. We know that they're apart and after that every happy moment in the past feels tragic because we know what it eventually lead to. Everything seems futile. But you also keep wondering if you could get yourself to cherish it till it lasts. The happy moments in the flashbacks are crazy romantic - there's a lot of passionate sex, there are so many cute and tender moments which we enjoy till we actually understand her plight in the present. After that cute moments aren't cute anymore. They're brutal. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Nadia De Santiago, the lead actress was also the creator of the show. She's the hero of the show, she depicted pain and heartbreak beautifully. In the present, just her blank face showed that she was in so much pain. I was just so mad about the ending. After everything... after everything... couldn't she have walked away? I was begging for her to walk away. But they end it before that. I'm still hoping that she did, but guess we'll never know.
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