'Sky Rojo': The new Netflix series is a daring action prank with a very serious undertone

Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, creator and one of the scriptwriters of 'La casa de papel', offer us in this new Netflix series the rather risky approach of 'Sky Rojo', which they manage to carry with good sense.

That the Navarrese Álex Pina (b. 1967) earned the right to have us pay attention to his next television projects after giving us La casa de papel (since 2017) does not seem very debatable. Before that series, maybe Vis a vis (2015-2019) deserved a good look. The above, not much. It is what has to finally adapt to the new times of cinematographic perspective on the small screen. And then he has left the pavilion at an interesting height with The Pier (2019-2020) and, somewhat lower, with White Lines (2020). Now it brings us Sky Rojo (since 2021), a new Netflix series, again with the complicity of the sorianaEsther Martínez Lobato (b.1976).

This is the ninth collaboration in her fruitful professional relationship, established from Paco's Men (since 2005) and which includes, for example, the other four television fictions mentioned, in which she, if not listed as a co-creator, yes has signed a number of scripts. But there is no doubt that this brand-new proposal constitutes the riskiest thing that they have dared to carry out to date, and not only because of the issue it addresses and the current times.

A fusion of opposites

Because Sky Rojo plunges without ambiguity or self-censorship into the world of brothels and the trafficking of women from a completely unexpected gender and tone. This theme, which would make for an appropriate social drama much to the liking of Fernando León de Aranoa and his moving Princesas (2005), is revealed by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato as a serial action road movie, in which there is no lack of a sense of black humor and very bad slobber that these two creators had not shown in any other series. That is to say, they play at the fusion of opposites: the dramatic in the entertainment package.

And that is one of the clearest reasons for the great audacity involved in an approach like that of the Netflix series. But we must not rush into the error of those who claim to have seen ghosts where there are none and never were, either in intention or indeed. We are all with the three protagonists prostitutes who want to free themselves from the miscreants who sexually exploit, Coral, Wendy and Gina, ingrown by a great Veronica Sanchez ( The Pier ), Lali Esposito ( Accused ) and Yany Prado ( The Double Life of Estela Carrillo ); and such a thing happens because the script pushes us towards their side.

Those who do not understand anything about 'Red Sky'

Thus, the position taking of the spectators is inexorable, and we really want this trio to distribute tow among their opponents. And that there is charisma in an eloquent villain like the criminal Romeo, and chiaroscuro in his unbalanced personality as well as that of his favorite henchmen, Moisés and Christian, only serves the purpose of building complex characters, attractive as fictional entities and without a pint of papier-mâché. To whose credibility some flawless Asier Etxeandia (Pain and Glory), Miguel Ángel Silvestre ( 30 coins ) and Enric Auquer ( The Invisible Line ), of course, help a lot.

But it is very regrettable to what the obtuse, inadequately activist analysis of audiovisual works has reached to have to explain who are the bad guys and who are the good ones in Sky Rojo. That the exposition of the humiliations and slavery of these women in the first person and with a recurring voice- over is not enough to make it clear. And the last straw is that we must point out to those who do not understand anything at all that what the antagonists say about prostitution and trafficking they say from their moral misery. A moral misery of which Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato are very aware.

The risk of excess in the Netflix series

And, as if the above were not enough, there are trajectories here that hide the complete pack of abuse, as well as certain moments in which a speech is included about whose fault is this female suffering . So to suggest that Red Sky will be enchanted by those who wish to fulfill fantasies of violence against women is ridiculous and delusional to the extent that one can suppress laughter. And, anyway, has anyone gotten the hang of La casa de papel defending real-life robbers? What is the point of evaluating a series as if it were a thesis work without being one?

However, Sky Rojo is not distinguished as risky only due to its essential decisions and the expected reaction of those who misinterpret it and do not admit such a show for ideological reasons. Nor do you click on the planning or the rhythm for a frenetic montage with insistent flashbacks, parallel scenes and split screen. In the excess of his Latin pulp, his occasional astracanada, his emotional entanglements and the difficult motivations of his protagonists, he runs the risk of falling down the ravine of implausibility. But somehow, she manages to stay on her feet and escape the trance gracefully.