‘Someone Has to Die’ Preview: Visually rich series with gay relationship in Francoist Spain may end with death
Netflix’s European content has increasingly gotten only better with time and a promising new show is all set to arrive. The three-part Spanish-language miniseries called ‘Alguien tiene que morir’ or ‘Someone Has to Die’ is set in Spain in the 1950s. The story begins when a young man called Gabino (Alejandro Speitzer), after being called by his parents, returns from Mexico to his home to meet his fiancée. But he doesn’t arrive back alone. He is accompanied by Lazaro (Isaac Hernández), a mysterious ballet dancer.
The trailer for the show, which is admittedly a gorgeous one, shows the sights and sounds of Spain in the 50s. But what it makes clear more than anything is that Gabino and Lazaro are not just friends. We see them together for fleeting moments that suggest a sexual and a romantic component to the relationship between the two men. We see Gabino watching Lazaro dance intently. We see the latter lying on the former’s lap. We also see the family’s discomfort with the two. “We have heard rumors,” someone says in the trailer, alluding to the fact that the two are probably gay.
This, of course, is not good news for the family especially for Gabino’s fiancée Cayetana (Ester Expósito). But there seem to be larger problems at stake here than just discomfort or heartbreak. This is after all set in Francoist Spain -- Francisco Franco ruled the nation and it was a period marked by authoritarianism and isolationism. Homosexuality was illegal under the dictatorship of Franco. Strict laws were heavily enforced and several gay men and women were arrested and imprisoned. In fact, gay, lesbian, and transgender folks were reportedly sent to special prisons called “galerías de invertidos” or “galleries of deviants”, where they were subjected to inhumane conditions.
At the same time, ‘Alguien tiene que morir’ or ‘Someone Has to Die’ is a family drama and hints at a macabre end to this relationship -- murder. So, the questions that beg to be answered here are: Who might get killed? Gabino or Lazaro, or perhaps both? And who would do the deed? Anyone can be a suspect. It can be Gabino’s conservative parents. It can be his heartbroken fiancée, or it can be her furious father.
If anything is to be expected of this miniseries, it is that it will be visually rich and richer still in terms of character arcs and the story. The show’s creator Manolo Caro is also the creator of the Mexican series ‘The House of Flowers’ or ‘La Casa de las Flores’, another show that depicts a dysfunctional upper-class family, and examines race, class, sexuality, and morality.
Another important thing to expect from Caro is the subversion of the telenovela approach towards storytelling. Caro both uses and satirizes this to a great and enjoyable effect as he deconstructs the lives of the rich and the conservative and the supposedly deviant.
So, all in all, in the form of a miniseries, we presently expect a critique of the Franco regime, a look at a dysfunctional family, the lens of conservatism and anti-gayness, and hopefully, a whodunnit.
‘Alguien tiene que morir’ or ‘Someone Has to Die’ will be released on Netflix on October 16.