“De Brutas, Nada” First 3 Episodes Review – An Enjoyable Character-Driven Relationship Comedy

If you’re looking for a queer-inclusive Spanish comedy series focusing on relationships, then you should consider checking out De Brutas, Nada.

I was provided with screeners of the first three episodes of De Brutas, Nada for review. The opinions I have shared are my own. 

Warning: This review of De Brutas, Nada contains minor spoilers.

As someone who consumes a lot of fictional content featuring mysteries, murders, action, fantasy, etc., I appreciate finding fictional shows that are all about having a good time and also making you think. De Brutas, Nada is a character-driven show rather than a plot-driven one. And you know what? It works perfectly, because the entire cast of characters has a lot to offer as the overall narrative explores different types of relationships and the drama that accompanies them.

The premise of De Brutas, Nada involves a young woman, Cristina (Tessa Ía), finding out her fiance cheated on her quite close to their wedding day. After pushing her ex-fiance out of her life (good for her!), she’s left with an apartment lease she can’t pay for alone (uh-oh!). So, she decides to find a roommate who ends up being a young man pretending to be gay because he’s desperate for a place to live and Cristina doesn’t want anything to do with straight men for a while.

I know, I know. The premise does feel a bit cringy on paper. And the last thing I want to do is waste time watching a so-called comedy series that goes all-in on queer stereotypes by having a straight man pretend he’s gay.

Thankfully, the writing team behind De Brutas, Nada steered clear of harmful stereotypes in the first three episodes I watched. Heck! In a sense, I could even understand why Alejandro (Christian Vazquez) decided to act gay. Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

The good thing is that this show doesn’t brush away Alejandro’s lie. The three episodes showed him trying to address his guilt over lying to Cristina.

Also, he’s not a creep. He doesn’t use pretending to be gay to get closer to Cristina and take advantage of her openness for some strange sexual gratification. Also, as the story progressed, I don’t think Alejandro’s even deliberately trying to act gay in front of her. He’s just being who he is.

I appreciated the writing team going down such a route. It would have been very messy if Alejandro decided to continuously play a stereotypical flamboyant gay man whenever he’s in front of Cristina.

Will the two be able to maintain their friendship if and when Alejandro finally comes clean? I don’t know.

Talking about gay men, one of Cristina’s best friends is an openly gay man named Rodrigo (José Pablo Minor). As far as queer representation in media is concerned, I think he’s written quite well. At first, I thought this show was going to have him pop up whenever Cristina needed support. However, Rodrigo ended up having his own arc involving dating (if you can call it that) an older guy who isn’t into monogamy.

From what I could tell, Rodrigo’s not necessarily rich and he hopes to one day have enough money to be able to travel around the world. So, hooking up with rich older dudes made sense for him. But he needs to learn that such relationships are closer to business transactions and not real love. Fingers crossed Rodrigo decides to go for someone who loves him for who he is and he also grows out of his desire for a rich boyfriend.

Now that I’ve mentioned monogamy, don’t think that De Brutas, Nada is against being non-monogamous. Cristina’s other friend, Hannah (Carolina Ramirez), is all about that life. She hooks up with who she wants to when she wants to.

Other than Cristina’s best friends, we have her older sister, Graciela (Diana Bovio). She has a husband and two kids. Graciela’s arc involves trying to rekindle the spark in her married life. Also, I really enjoyed her dynamic with Cristina. I appreciated De Brutas, Nada featuring the love shared between two sisters. Oftentimes shows only focus on a person’s relationships with their friends and forget they have siblings to turn to for support or that siblings can even be friends with each other as adults.

Graciela’s husband, Guillermo (Julián Román), also has a story arc and so does Alejandro’s boss, Esther (Marimar Vega). I think Alejandro’s friend Miguel (Oswaldo Zárate) will be learning something about relationships, too.

If that seems like a lot of characters for you to follow, well, that’s because that is a lot. But kudos to the writing team for giving everyone an adequate amount of time to shine. I think a show about relationships needed a large cast so different aspects could be explored. And with how the cast performs, you (like me) will feel invested in everyone’s life.

As for the comedy of it all, I don’t think it went too over the top. There was a groundedness to certain comedic elements which made sense for the tone of this show. Also, the writers used certain situations to highlight some serious topics such as divorce (including how kids might feel about the situation), the pain of heartbreak, why humans lie, toxic relationships, the importance of loving yourself, having a healthy support system, and a lot more.

De Brutas, Nada premiered on September 24, 2020, on Pantaya, the Spanish language premium streaming service from Lionsgate. The series will be available to binge in full on October 8, 2020.

The screenplay is by Rosa Clemente, Raúl Prieto, Connie Acosta, Andrea Ortega, Héctor Orbegoso and María Alejandra Escobar.

The official synopsis reads:

De Brutas, Nada – is a premium series based in contemporary Mexico City about a group of six sophisticated close friends that navigate through every life experience imaginable together: love, lies, heartbreak, marriage, divorce, kids, career, job loss, fights, break-ups, and unbreakable friendships. This modern-day series features a refreshing cast that will make you both laugh, cry, and relate.

As far as my opinion goes, you should consider checking out De Brutas, Nada.

Feel free to leave us your thoughts if you’re already watching it.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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