In the first season of the Spanish thriller Gangs Of Galicia on Netflix, a lawyer in Madrid finds out that her father was in witness protection after he is murdered, and upends her life to move to a town in Galicia to find out more. There she gets involved with the son of a notorious crime boss. Now, the action picks up four years after that season’s events.
Opening Shot: In Dublin, Ana Gonzalez Soriano (Clara Lago) walks out of a row home, about to go to work. Her mother is taking Ana’s daughter to her first day of school.
The Gist: Ana has been living in Dublin to try to start fresh after finding about more about her late father’s connection to the criminal Padín family in Cambados, a town in the Galicia region of Spain. Due to what was found out, Daniel Padín (Tamar Novas), son of the family patriarch (Miguel de Lira), was sent to prison. The senior Padín is convinced that Ana turned Daniel in, but Daniel is sure she didn’t. He may be blinded by his feelings for her, though.
Daniel is being released after four years inside, but still awaits trial. He tells his buddy Nilo (Xosé Touriñán) that he no longer wants to work for his father, who never even visited him while he was in prison. For his part, though, the senior Padín isn’t all that worried; Daniel will always be in the fold and doesn’t really have any say in the matter.
Back in Dublin, Ana realizes that she’s been discovered by Padín when she spies two of his men following her. She hides out with her mother and daughter, but she realizes she has no choice but to not only go back to Spain, but to reach out to Macario (Ricardo Leguizamo), a drug kingpin that has ties to the Padíns.
El Curilla (Luis Zahera), who leads another semi-legal enterprise in town, senses weakness within the ranks of the Padíns, and tries to recruit Toño (Chechu Salgado), one of Padín’s men, for a job. Eventually, though, he ends up meeting with Macario and proposes a deal, which in turn prompts Macario to bring in Ana; he wants her to replicate his Ecuadorian cocaine operation in Galacia.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Gangs Of Galicia (original title: Clanes), created by Jorge Guerricaechevarría (30 Coins), is a Spanish Narcos, with last season’s personal angle less prominent this time around.
Our Take: Just like with the first season, Gangs Of Galicia suffers a bit from too many characters and stories, especially because the meat of the story is between Ana and Daniel. Their unlikely relationship in the first season is what drove the story, with the rest of the criminal shenanigans being less compelling
The second season feels like it’s going to also be a bit more absurd than the first, with Ana being tasked with setting up an cocaine-production operation that she is woefully unqualified to handle. When she offered her services to Macario, she told him she could launder money efficiently. But setting up an entire production line that’s supposed to generate six and a half tons (!) of blow per month. Listen, Ana is desperate, but she’s not a miracle worker.
Of course, she’s going to be sent back to Cambados and into Daniel’s universe, despite the fact that she doesn’t want any part of being there. She’ll also be back in the orbit of Berta Figeraedo (María Pujalte) and Laura Silva (Melania Cruz), who were a part of Ana’s father’s double life. Laura, still mourning the death of her daughter, finds out from her mother Berta that Ana is her half-sister, which sends her reeling and likely looking for answers.
So Ana will have a lot to deal with when she gets back to Galicia, not to mention being in the middle of a brewing war between Padín and El Curilla. We’re not sure Guerricaechevarría and his writers are going to be able to keep all of these plot balls in the air, given what we’ve seen to this point.
Performance Worth Watching: Clara Lago is tough and vulnerable as Ana, but we’re also fascinated with the fact that she bears a more than passing resemblance to Tina Fey.
Sex And Skin: None in the first episode, but there will be some as the season goes along.
Parting Shot: Macario tells Ana that she’ll be starting the coke operation back in Galicia, and she stands in disbelief on the Madrid sidewalk where she took his call.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Luis Zahera as El Curilla, mainly because he is able to make bingo into something menacing in his scene with Macario.
Most Pilot-y Line: The needle drops on this episode are a bit strange, especially at the end, when the credits roll over the intro to “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project, aka the Chicago Bulls’ introduction music.
Our Call: STREAM IT. If the second season of Gangs Of Galicia can concentrate on Ana and Daniel, the season should work just fine. But if it concentrates more on the criminal families and Ana’s newfound family, it might be a much messier season.
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.
