"One good friend is worth a thousand lovers"
As a critic, few things are more enjoyable than being pleasantly surprised. You begin watching a show that you really don't know much about, so to a great extent you don't have expectations - you are waiting to see where the journey takes you. And if you're lucky, at the end of the season you find yourself mulling over what you've watched, reconsidering the reactions about it you had along the way. You realize this is a show that engaged you emotionally in surprising ways and even when you thought you correctly anticipated what was to come, the story was delivered in a way that didn't feel predictable.
Netflix's original series The Secret Of The River is a bit difficult to describe without giving away some of what makes it worth watching. It's about a big secret (which is revealed in the show's opening scenes), but it's also about the secrets large and small that we all keep from each other and very often ourselves. It's about the power of friendship against all odds and the realization that sometimes the smallest gestures can change someone's life.
As the show begins, a young boy named Manuel (Frida Sofía Cruz Salinas) arrives in a small town in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to live with his grandmother Rafaela (Mercedes Hernández). We later learn that his mother told him she was going to work in the United States and sent Manuel back to her hometown until she could return. But as we discover later, that is not the case.
He soon meets Erik (Mauro Guzmán), a boy about the same age whose mother is a longtime friend of the family. Everyone encourages the two boys to spend time together, but they are an uneasy fit. Erik is a sports-playing tough kid, while Manuel is a soft-spoken boy who quickly becomes the brunt of gay jokes from other children in the town and abuse from Erik's father Jacinto (Jorge A. Jimenez).
But somehow, the two boys become close in a way that only the young manage to accomplish. For all of Erik's bluster, Manuel is the one who pushes the envelope, encouraging Erik to help him save some iguanas from hunters or steal two bikes. At one point, Manuel tells Erik he feels different from everyone else. "You don't like titties?" asks Erik. "You don't like me, do you?" Manuel laughs and says "No." He just feels like something is wrong with him. And that scene foreshadows a lot of what plays out over the eight-episode season.
Someone dies at the river and an investigation takes place as the town deals with all of its other competing problems. One of them is the tension between some of the residents and a group who call themselves "Muxes." In Zapotec culture, it's a term for men who act and dress like women. It's a term that goes back hundreds of years, and in that culture, Muxes are considered by many to be a third gender - not man or woman.
Manuel becomes friends with a Muxe named Solange, and he's drawn to their willingness to embrace who they are. But Manuel's life becomes increasingly complicated and an unexpected event rips him away from his town and his grandmother.
The show picks up twenty years later, with Manuel now living in the United States. He has apparently undergone gender affirmation surgery and has taken the name Sicarú. She decides to return to town after learning of the death of Solange and her decision is the first domino in a procession of unexpected reactions and events. What does it mean to be a friend no matter what? How strong are the bonds of family and is it possible to rise above the person you were when you were younger?
Series creator and writer Alberto Barrera worked on several long-running Venezuelan telenovelas and The Secret Of The River certainly reflects that background. The story is often complex and winding in a fashion that gives a nod to that genre of television. But it is also much more nuanced and emotionally challenging in the way it deals with representation, prejudice, and the friendship between men.
The Secret Of The River is one of the better original streaming dramas I've watched this year. It's not flashy, there aren't a lot of special effects or fun-but-vapid car chases. It's a show about complex people doing the best they can and trying to hopefully end up a bit better than where they started.
The Secret Of The River premieres Wednesday, October 9th, 2024 on Netflix.