alfi
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Posts: 171
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Post by alfi on May 1, 2017 14:20:22 GMT -5
Not on the same level of Velvet or Gran Hotel. It has good production values (for a spanish show) and it's watchable, but the plot comes up short, it feels too rushed and the characters too over the top, especially the bisexual feminist activist daughter of an army officer who happens to be "el halcón". Some of them don't make any sense sometimes, like the rich owner who despises his son lecturing him in the most awkward moments, or her wife who despises Alba because she is a commoner yet her daughter is married to a commoner herself, or the worker who after getting the information that a coup is coming doesn't tell her boss because he is too busy and tell her off, jeez, that was ridiculous.
The main couple Francisco and Alba is meh, for a start, both characters are not very likeable, and because the pace of the show is so fast they didn't take the time to set the couple better. I mean, so they are a couple of poor teenagers who arrive to Madrid with nothing but their suitcases, and in the second scene after barely 10 secs together you separate them by the most ridiculous plot device ever, more akin to a comedy show than to a drama? I don't know, take your time with them, make them struggle trying to survive in Madrid, show them in love, and then make her steal something to eat for both and she gets caught by police for example, but not something so ridiculous like mistaking your stolen suitcase.
The abusive husband and his angelical wife don't make sense at all. A man who is capable of beating his wife in that way has very serious mental problems yet they painted him as a cheating jerk who can't keep his little thing inside his pants and is upset because he got caught in his attempt to get rid of his wife at the workplace to keep cheating? i mean that was something that never really bothered him before?. Someone capable of doing something like that doesn't fall from the sky, his character is all over the place.
The bisexual feminist girls and the open-mind engineer, well, it looks like something from a fan fiction.
Marga and Pablo are the more likeable characters beside Carlos, but because they are the only comic relief in the show they look too often out of place, so they stick out in a bad way.
I really wonder what happened with the show, because it's not that difficult to make the characters more likeable or realistic and believable, maybe was Netflix doing? Disappointing, i expected a lot more.
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Post by tropikaldawl on May 5, 2017 20:08:00 GMT -5
I had high hopes at the beginning but I agree that it falls a bit short later on. I would have liked them to stay really true to the period and have music from the 1920s. The initial setting and explanation of women's struggle and life in the 20s was interesting but it became a background story quickly. There was also a lot of gratuitous nudity and sex and 'seduction' in the portrayal of the characters but it was unnecessary. All that said I have no idea where this show will go. What do the characters want and what are we supposed to want of them. Should Alba be with Carlos or Francisco? I don't know. I wish alba had a moment at least where she let go and was honest with herself.
I also don't see chemistry between Francisco and Elisa I don't know why he married her. I wish they had revealed that more.
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Post by jodgrl on May 23, 2017 18:26:25 GMT -5
I just started watching Cable Girls, it's a good cast. I even saw familiar faces in the episode one.
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Post by jodgrl on May 23, 2017 18:26:44 GMT -5
I just started watching Cable Girls, it's a good cast. I even saw familiar faces in the episode one.
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Post by northboundtrain on Jun 10, 2017 21:42:04 GMT -5
I had been trying to wait to watch the entire season before I posted my thoughts here, but I'm still only three episodes in even though I started it weeks ago. I just haven't been motivated to continue yet. I will, eventually, because I want to finish out the first season and see if I get more excited for S2 and, apparently, S3, since it has just been renewed for S3 as well.
As of now, no, it's not grabbing me like GH and Velvet. There are some individual scenes I like, and I can appreciate the show's message about what it takes for women to fight for the lives they want.
But other than that...
I feel like Netflix said to Bambu, "Give us Velvet, but edgier" and Bambu basically delivered that (a show that explores the lives of women who are employees at a business run by a wealthy and powerful family -- the upstairs/downstairs dynamic also seen in Gran Hotel) but with some serious differences and, in some cases, flaws. Again, we have the star-crossed childhood sweethearts, but as alfi said, it was rushed. In the first episode of Velvet, a good chunk of time was devoted to little Ana arriving at Velvet, meeting Emilio, seeing the workroom for the first time (igniting her first passion), meeting Alberto (igniting her second), working at Velvet as a teen, expressing her desire to go to Paris, planning to leave with Alberto, and being thwarted by the adults.
All we got with Alba/Francisco, at least in the pilot, was some dialogue on the train and then that contrived bit that separated them.
Now, I don't want to rag on Alba/Francisco too much, because there are some moments where I like them and feel some chemistry. And I'm not on board with Carlos/Alba either, though that may change if I get further into it. But it's been three episodes now and it's a problem that I don't find myself caring deeply about any of them. Whereas with Velvet, I was incredibly moved watching Ana and Alberto in the aftermath of the car accident, and especially the powerful moment where he carried her from the funeral. I think that's one of the most iconic moments in the series. That's the stuff root-worthy couples are made of.
Another element of Cable Girls that seems drawn from Velvet (or Netflix's desire to have a new Velvet) is the focus on these four women -- Marga is the new Rita (big-hearted and given to impulsive, awkward behavior; a lack of sophistication), Carlota is the new Clara (sophisticated and eager to go after what she wants), Angeles is the new Luisa (sweet and gentle and abused by an older man who wants to use her for his purposes), and while Ana and Alba may not seem to have many similarities, they're both "wrong side of the tracks" young women dealing with having had their hearts broken at an early age, now trying to move on with their lives. But the friendship itself feels contrived -- wasn't it in the very first episode that we got the "las chicas del cable" label, whereas with Velvet we didn't get a proper scene of the four bonding until toward the very end of S1, up on the roof. Clara's line in Velvet felt organic; Carlota's (was it Carlota who said it? I can't even remember) similar line feels forced.
Also, right now, the only friendship amongst the four that I actually find interesting, that I actually believe in, is Marga/Carlota (of course -- the Rita/Clara sisterhood reborn).
Now, again, this could change. I certainly remember that I was really high on some of Velvet's story choices that didn't end up working out...and, alternatively, I didn't really love certain things on Velvet and GH that I ended up loving in the end (Patricia/Jonas is a prime example).
Also, tropikaldawl, I agree with you that the music is grating, and, again feels like Netflix said, "Make it edgier!" I was really looking forward to some 1920s tunes, or at least music inspired by the sound of the '20s.
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Post by virginia on Aug 7, 2017 6:46:31 GMT -5
Just a couple thoughts...not really well formed, but here goes.
Netflix is in serious debt, in part due to expensive original shows that weren't getting huge viewer numbers (how much did they spend on just one episode Sense8?). I wonder if the budget for this show is more modest and they are counting on the Spanish-speaking market to help them out? Also, I wonder if they know that people follow these actors and thought getting Julia, Ivan, and Marcos together again would translate into a hit no matter what the material?
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alfi
Full Member
Posts: 171
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Post by alfi on Aug 8, 2017 6:07:35 GMT -5
Cable Girls is the first series made for Netflix in exclusivity with a Netflix format so that factor also matters. As northbound said it looks like a Velvet clone, just not as good, so they probably were banking more on that fact, the success of that Velvet format, than Yon Gonzalez and Blanca Suarez star status outside of Spain. I would say Yon, because Grand Hotel success, may have been imposed by Netflix as a requisite for funding the series though.
Tropikal, North, the music yep, i forgot comment about that. One of the main indicators for me that a series is really good is the music chosen, for me it denotes that creators really love making the show, and in the cable girls case is was a big let down. Maybe they cut down the budget in the music? but for Netflix a spanish tv series production may not look that expensive, although Velvet episodes were about half a million euros each one ($590000).
And yep, virginia, i have no idea how someone in Netflix could green lighted Sense8 with such a huge cost per episode for a very niche market with the Wachowski sisters awful results in almost everything they are done since the first Matrix film, and Marco Polo was also a big lost as well, so maybe they are more careful with the budgets of their originals now.
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