Name: Holy Family
Director: Manolo Caro
Released: 2022-10-14T12:30:00

Holy Family (2022) is a drama series about Gloria, a single mother who will go to lengths to make sure that her family is safe. However, she gradually begins to lose sight of what’s truly important. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

Gloria lives in a suburban neighbourhood in Madrid along with her infant son, Hugo and her au pair, Aitana. The truth is something different as her real name is Julia and she’s in hiding along with Hugo, Aitana, and her other son Abel.

Gloria served as a surrogate for her son, Santi and his wife Natalia and gives birth to Hugo. When Santi dies in an accident, Natalia is supposed to move with her father and Hugo, but Gloria ends up kidnapping Hugo and running away with her family instead.

Hugo’s grandfather hires two mercenaries, Caterina and German, to track Gloria down and get his grandson back. They find her in quick time but Gloria is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her children.

In her efforts to keep their secret, Gloria doesn’t realize that she’s pushing her children away and eventually it does come back to hurt her.

Gloria also has a few friends in the neighbourhood, Alicia and Blanca, who have their own issues to deal with.

Performances

Najwa Nimri is part of a cast that does a good job of holding up a series that doesn’t have much going for it. Najwa Nimri plays Gloria, the desperate mother who slowly loses her sanity and is driven by pure emotion.

Nimri carries the narrative with her performance and is ably supported by her colleagues. Carla Campra plays Gloria’s daughter, Aitana who is slowly getting fed up with her mother’s behaviour. She pushes back against her and pays the price for it.

Iván Pellicer takes on the role of Abel, Gloria’s son. He’s just alright in the role and only shines when he’s sharing the screen with his love interest, German.

Alex Garcia and Alba Flores are decent as German and Caterina. Garcia is conflicted over his job and his feelings for Abel, while Caterina is the unhinged wildcard who manages to do one good thing before her demise.

Positives

Holy family has a very haunting and simultaneously soothing background score attached to it. The quality of the sound is brilliant and has a calming effect on the audience.

The characters are well-written and are one of the saving graces of the series.

Negatives

The subplots of the series feel very inconsequential and detached from the main narrative. They haven’t been given enough heft and fall by the wayside in an already weak story.

The main plot itself has potential but the pacing of the series is very slow and doesn’t improve at any particular point. The final episode ends abruptly and in a confusing manner.

There are several moments that ignore the need for context or follow through. They mention how Abel almost got them caught in Barcelona, but that incident isn’t explained in any way. Few other issues in the final episode exist predominantly to build intrigue in the following season, presumably.

Verdict

Holy Family (2022) has a well-known cast that does a strong job with the material given to them but ultimately the series is let down by an amalgamation of issues which ensure that the series never picks off from the ground.