There are times when you can tell that two people starring in a show together have a personal relationship outside of work. Often, it pops up when two members of a couple act in the same scene together. But the same thing can happen between close friends, too. A new Hulu series from Mexico stars close friends Gael GarcÃa Bernal and Diego Luna, and you can see that friendship in all of their scenes together.
Opening Shot: A man walks through the bowels of a Las Vegas casino looking for the kitchen.
The Gist: The young man is looking for a particular soda for veteran boxer and former welterweight champ Esteban âLa Máquinaâ Osuna (Gael GarcÃa Bernal), whose superstition is to have that particular drink right before every match. His manager, Andy Lujan (Diego Luna), tries to fob off what the kid got as the right brand, but Esteban sees it’s the wrong cap. In walks Esteban’s ex-wife Irasema (Eiza González), who has the right one.
Esteban gets introduced, and almost immediately, we cut to a scene of Esteban in a neck brace in an ambulance, groggily asking Andy, “Did we win?”
Andy is determined to get his friend back in the ring, despite the former champ starting to feel that it’s the end of the line. One thing that Esteban doesn’t tell anyone about, though, is the voice (Héctor Dávila) that he’s constantly hearing in his head, with accompanying visions that only he can see.
After he recovers from the fight, he gets a physical, and his doctor tells him that he has some concerns about what he sees on the boxer’s brain MRIs. But Esteban reassures the doctor that he’s not suffering any cognitive issues, which is a complete and total lie. The doctor wants the now-sober Esteban to go to a support group, but Esteban refuses, given that every time he tries one, all people want to do is take selfies with him.
Andy gets the rematch that he was looking for, after stalking the other boxer’s manager and hinting at some info he has on the boxer that the manager definitely doesn’t want in public. One caveat: Esteban only has 12 weeks to train for it.
From there, we see Esteban meeting a young woman named Zamira (Dariam Coco) that’s refreshingly ignorant of his boxing career, and we see him struggling to make weight while training. Andy sends his intern/brother-in-law to bribe the commission’s official to fix the weigh in, but somehow Esteban makes weight without any money being exchanged. This is when Andy finds out that there might be an organization making moves that’s way more dangerous than anything his friend might face in the ring.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Heels, except it’s boxing instead of wrestling.
Our Take: Created by Fernanda Coppel and Marco Ramirez, La Máquina isn’t trying to go too deep. Despite some of the existential issues that Esteban faces as he gets ready for his final fight against the WBC champion (did we mention that he somehow wins the rematch?), in essence, the show is a buddy story.
Andy and Esteban have been friends forever, and at this stage, they’re very different people. Andy is about appearances, including his own. The only person he knows that’s more Botoxed than he is is his mother Josefina (LucÃa Méndez), with whom he seems to have an unnaturally close relationship. Esteban seems to be more of an independent sort, though he knows he completely screwed things up with Irasema, who loves him but can no longer be married to him.
There’s definitely going to be more at play than just Esteban’s quest to win his last match. The organization that seems to be manipulating things behind the scenes really wants Esteban to lose, with dire circumstances for Andy and Esteban if he doesn’t.
The boxing scenes that dominate the latter half of the first episode were well done, though there are times we still don’t buy 45-year-old Bernal as a guy who is still able to stay with boxers that are ten or more years younger than he is. Then again, as we find out, all it takes is one shot, whether it’s a lucky one or not, to beat that younger oppinent.
But we’re actually more interested in exploring Andy and Esteban’s friendship. Given the fact that Bernal and Luna are close friends in real life, there is certainly a chemistry between the two of them that gives their scenes together a little extra. The more we see of them together, negotiating the ups and downs of their friendship and business relationship, the better.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Andy sees a message from the mysterious organization that may have helped Esteban win his rematch, and the message pretty directly tells him what will happen if Esteban doesn’t lose his next match.
Sleeper Star: Eiza González shines as Irasema, a stabilizing force in Esteban’s life, whether they’re married or not.
Most Pilot-y Line: For some reason, after Esteban’s win, they celebrate by singing and dancing at a bar, like an extended karaoke session. What would they have done if he lost?
Our Call: STREAM IT. The chemistry between Bernal and Luna is at the heart of La Máquina, and we hope that the show’s producers lean on that for the rest of the season.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesnât kid himself: heâs a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
