Vida: Why Critics Adore This Little Mexican-American Drama About Sisterhood

We love discovering new TV shows especially when they have a different and fresh concept to present. Thanks to our friends at Showmax our focus today is just that, coming in the form of Vida. The central idea behind it is built around the below which we reckon is a clever way of putting it:

Take your average, mainstream white-hetero-male-dominated TV show, turn 180 degrees, and just keep going. Eventually, you’ll hit Vida, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be home.

The left-of-centre drama series, now first on Showmax, follows two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles, who couldn’t be more different, or distanced, from each other. Circumstances force them to return to their old neighbourhood of Boyle Heights, where they are confronted by the past and the discovery that their deceased mother Vidalia (aka Vida) was in a lesbian marriage.

Given the choice, neither the sisters, nor Vida’s wife, Eddy, would have anything to do with one another. But they are bound together by the keenly felt absence of the woman who shaped their lives (for better or worse) and by the beleaguered bar and apartment building they’ve inherited in a three-way split.

Clearly a popular choice already, Vida is officially on its second season, with a third to come later this year. Its been said to have captivated critics all round while earning itself a rare 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The Guardian says:

“There’s nothing else in the TV landscape quite like this hypersexual, celebratory show – in its embrace of Hispanic soapiness in a millennial English-speaking story, and in its dedication to female fantasy.”

The series also made The Atlantic’s list of The 15 Best TV Shows of 2019, where Sophie Gilbert said, “Vida is a delight to watch, a funny, pensive show about the idea of home, and why holding on to it is so hard.”

It doesn’t end there because to top it off, Vida is also at #4 on Time Magazine’s list of the 10 Best TV Shows of 2019, where Judy Berman calls it “one of TV’s smartest and sexiest shows”.

Another of the many reasons Vida is getting so much attention is a creative team that’s smashed every boundary in US television production. Created by Mexican-American playwright and TV writer-producer Tanya Saracho (Girls, Devious Maids), Vida boasts the first-ever all-Latinx (and almost all-female) writers’ room on TV, with an all-female line-up of directors.

Vida is a story about what matters most. As Vulture puts it: “While Vida is a series that embraces people who have been pushed to the fringes by a white-hetero-dominant culture, it’s also very much about family, and how being part of one means inheriting secrets, memories, debts, bitterness, and belongings that may take years to unpack.”

Vida “reverberates with the aches and joys and conflicts of everyday life,” says The Atlantic, calling the hit show “elaborate, distinct, and beautiful.”

One thing is for sure we’ll definitely be adding this one to our watch list, the only question is will you? The first seasons are available for your viewing pleasure here.

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Posted By

Thabiso Moloi

Thabiso has had exposure to a fair bit of different things over the years and as a result he has grown a keen liking to most things under the sun including sports, gadgets, movies etc. He's therefore someone you can't put into a box, he prefers it that way and believes in the notion of life is too short to be predictable. You can find him on Twitter: @Thabz_14