Welcome To The Family, a new Netflix sitcom from Mexico, isn’t as full of slapsticky humor as you might expect, given the premise. But the first episode of the series didn’t exactly reveal itself to be a character-driven comedy either. It’s got some of both, and we’re not quite sure which lane it’s going to choose going forward. Read on for more…
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of Mexico City. Then, at a nursing home, we see Cristina Ruiz (Marimar Vega), a nurse there, talk about how she’s managed to do well even after the father of her three kids suddenly left her in the lurch.
The Gist: Cristina lives with her kids — oldest son Jorge (Ricardo Selmen), middle son Toto (Santiago Colores) and youngest daughter Jana (Alondra García) — and her brother-in-law Moi (Martín Altomaro), who stuck around to be a father figure after his brother left Cristina. Moi is “a bit useless, a pacifist and a pothead. He’s the glue that keeps our family together.”
She’s proud that she’s about to pay off the final mortgage payment on their condo, and as she and her family celebrates, a bunch of mafia thugs bust in and tell them to get out. The condo was used as collateral by her wealthy, estranged father Raul (Arturo Beristain) to pay his debts.
Incensed she might lose everything she worked for, she loads everyone in Moi’s VW Bus and drives to her father’s house, somewhere she hasn’t been to in a couple of decades, since she moved in with her kids’ father when she was 20. There, Cristina meets Luciana (Erika Buenfil), Raul’s showy current wife; Luciana only knows Cristina as “the junkie.” Raul comes home, promising nosy neighbor Olga (Ana Layevska) that they’ll meet and talk about him cutting back a tree that overhangs her yard.
When Cristina confronts her father about the condo, he insults her and eventually her kids, as they charge into the house. Right then, Raul has a heart attack and dies.
Not at all sentimental, Cristina sets out to find the will. Once Cristina sees that 100% of her father’s estate is being left to her brother, she comes up with a plan: Hide Raul’s body and modify the will so she and Luciana can keep and live in the house. In the meantime, Luciana’s daughter Inés (Carla Adell) locks her hysterical and doubtful mother in her bedroom. Cristina now needs to convince her stepmother that Raul cut her out of his will so she can buy into her plan.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Weekend At Bernie’s mixed with Arrested Development but not as funny as either.
Our Take: Welcome To The Family is less slapsticky than our description above makes it sounds, but there is plenty of physical humor in it that made us roll our eyes. Much of the first episode consists of everyone in the house arguing over how to wrap Raul’s body in a rug, and Inés and Toto propping Raul’s body up like a puppet when the paramedics Luciana called arrive. Moi, encouraged by Jana, electrocutes himself to distract the paramedics, and he lies on the floor with his hair sticking out everywhere like he’s in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
The entire first season is basically about Cristina and Luciana becoming unlikely allies in order to keep people from finding out that a) Raul is dead, and b) he left his entire estate to his “dickhead” son, as Luciana calls him. Olga is a factor here, as she’s a classic nosy-neighbor sitcom stereotype, and we’re sure a few other people will show up to the house, curious as to where Raul is.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Olga uses huge binoculars to look into Raul’s house from her house next door; she sees that his Mercedes is still in the driveway, despite the fact that Luciana told her he stepped out.
Sleeper Star: Ricardo Selmen, who plays Jorge, has a funny scene where he helps Luciana get down off the balcony of Inés’ room after Luciana manages to climb onto a ledge.
Most Pilot-y Line: “These baboons are my grandchildren?” Raul asks Cristina when Moi brings in her kids. Wow, that’s mean; that’s the kind of mean you write into a character when he’s only seconds away from dropping dead.
Our Call: SKIP IT. What we wonder is if there will be any character-driven stories and humor in Welcome To The Family or will the season be eight episodes of Cristina, Luciana and their families trying to hide Raul and keep anyone from finding out about him until they get the will changed. If it’s only the latter, the premise will get tiresome really quickly.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Welcome To The Family’ On Netflix, Where A Woman And Her Father’s New Wife Conspire To Take His House After He Dies appeared first on Decider.
