Its no surprise that most of these 9-10/10 reviews of this show were posted several years ago. The show starts off pretty strong with an intriguing plot, interesting and well-developed characters, and great acting (especially from Najwa Nimri). One thing this show does particularly well is writing its villains. Despite the fact the these villains are terrible humans, they are captivating and provide for some very dark conflict. There is a lot more good things I could say about this show, but since most reviewers on here focus on the positive aspects of Vis a Vis, I thought I would add some criticism.
First off, the show isn't really realistic and you definitely have to suspend your disbelief to accept many of the events that happen as plausible. For instance, inmates get away with wayyyyy too much shenanigans without any guard intervention/repercussions. Inmates are shown easily getting away with assault, gang beating, sexual violence, sexual slavery out in the OPEN (Anabel literally holds an auction to SELL another inmate in the bathroom like its Wolf of Wall Street or something). This particular criticism of inmates getting to strut around like they own the place is unfortunately not exclusive to Season 3/4 either, despite those seasons being worse than the first two.
The main issue with the latter half of the show is the writing. Many characters quite literally disappear once season 2 ends and the prisoners are transferred, and while I understand that the actors have other commitments, the creators did not even try writing the characters off well at all. Miranda disappears along with her developing plot with Sandoval, Valbuena is gone and his previous actions are not addressed. Bambi and Roman don't return either, despite their tight knit with the main character of the show, Macarena. Oh yeah...the "main" character of the show also has about 30 minutes screen time in seasons 3/4 after she falls into a coma and is referenced MAYBE once until she returns, where all her close peers (who seemingly forgot she existed for the past 2 seasons) welcome her back and pretend they missed her. Fabio and his relationship with Macarena is also absent after season 2 as well. All of these abandoned plotlines and characters seriously hindered on my engagement with the show.
Another problem with the writing is that the characters lose their 'character' and become inconsistent as the show progresses. One episode Macarena will be some bad*ss who doesn't follow the rules anymore and will do what it takes to escape, the next episode she doesn't want to escape anymore/sabotages her own escape/etc and goes back to being goodie two-shoes. Curly is constantly changing love interests season 3 onward and it becomes tiring.
The finale of the show felt extremely rushed with how sloppily they conclude the characters' fates. Firstly, did any of the inmates receive punishment for the riot + murder of Sandoval + murder of Sole?? Yes, Sandoval deserved to die and Sole wanted to die and that MORALLY justifies their deaths in the context of the show, but the inmates would still be LEGALLY held responsible for these crimes and receive MASSIVE punishments. Well, don't think about all that logic, lets focus on where the characters are 12 years later! Macarena and Zulema are out of prison (somehow....) and are committing robberies - sounds about right. Curly is still in prison because "she just can't handle freedom XD", uh okay that's a satisfying conclusion for an otherwise bright/hopeful character. None of the characters look 12 years older whatsoever in the 'future' scenes, like they didn't even try in the makeup department. The show makes a mad dash to the finish line and explains nothing in its path.
Despite this overly critical review, I still enjoyed this show, but I wanted to add some criticism on a forum where it receives overwhelming praise. I also decided to check out the spinoff(?) series, The Oasis, and from what I saw in a couple episodes, the show appears to be slamming a nail into its own coffin at this point. Lets just say I gave up at the part where a character started literally barking during what was supposed to be an emotional scene. So yeah, this review is not counting The Oasis season, because then my rating would certainly be lower.
Vis a vis: 7/10 (Season 1-4)
First off, the show isn't really realistic and you definitely have to suspend your disbelief to accept many of the events that happen as plausible. For instance, inmates get away with wayyyyy too much shenanigans without any guard intervention/repercussions. Inmates are shown easily getting away with assault, gang beating, sexual violence, sexual slavery out in the OPEN (Anabel literally holds an auction to SELL another inmate in the bathroom like its Wolf of Wall Street or something). This particular criticism of inmates getting to strut around like they own the place is unfortunately not exclusive to Season 3/4 either, despite those seasons being worse than the first two.
The main issue with the latter half of the show is the writing. Many characters quite literally disappear once season 2 ends and the prisoners are transferred, and while I understand that the actors have other commitments, the creators did not even try writing the characters off well at all. Miranda disappears along with her developing plot with Sandoval, Valbuena is gone and his previous actions are not addressed. Bambi and Roman don't return either, despite their tight knit with the main character of the show, Macarena. Oh yeah...the "main" character of the show also has about 30 minutes screen time in seasons 3/4 after she falls into a coma and is referenced MAYBE once until she returns, where all her close peers (who seemingly forgot she existed for the past 2 seasons) welcome her back and pretend they missed her. Fabio and his relationship with Macarena is also absent after season 2 as well. All of these abandoned plotlines and characters seriously hindered on my engagement with the show.
Another problem with the writing is that the characters lose their 'character' and become inconsistent as the show progresses. One episode Macarena will be some bad*ss who doesn't follow the rules anymore and will do what it takes to escape, the next episode she doesn't want to escape anymore/sabotages her own escape/etc and goes back to being goodie two-shoes. Curly is constantly changing love interests season 3 onward and it becomes tiring.
The finale of the show felt extremely rushed with how sloppily they conclude the characters' fates. Firstly, did any of the inmates receive punishment for the riot + murder of Sandoval + murder of Sole?? Yes, Sandoval deserved to die and Sole wanted to die and that MORALLY justifies their deaths in the context of the show, but the inmates would still be LEGALLY held responsible for these crimes and receive MASSIVE punishments. Well, don't think about all that logic, lets focus on where the characters are 12 years later! Macarena and Zulema are out of prison (somehow....) and are committing robberies - sounds about right. Curly is still in prison because "she just can't handle freedom XD", uh okay that's a satisfying conclusion for an otherwise bright/hopeful character. None of the characters look 12 years older whatsoever in the 'future' scenes, like they didn't even try in the makeup department. The show makes a mad dash to the finish line and explains nothing in its path.
Despite this overly critical review, I still enjoyed this show, but I wanted to add some criticism on a forum where it receives overwhelming praise. I also decided to check out the spinoff(?) series, The Oasis, and from what I saw in a couple episodes, the show appears to be slamming a nail into its own coffin at this point. Lets just say I gave up at the part where a character started literally barking during what was supposed to be an emotional scene. So yeah, this review is not counting The Oasis season, because then my rating would certainly be lower.
Vis a vis: 7/10 (Season 1-4)