The Spanish action series Wrong Side Of The Tracks has become a big success for Netflix because it packs its 75-minute episodes full of twists, fights, action and cheeky pop culture references that are about as old as the main character, former military officer Tirso Abnantos. The final season has just dropped on the streamer, and it’s as packed with all of those features as it ever was.
Opening Shot: A shot of an empty bed early in the morning. At the desk in the bedroom, Tirso Abantos (Jose Coronado) is looking at newspaper clippings.
The Gist: It’s been six months since Tirso’s granddaughter Irene (Nona Sobo) was killed, and he’s still trying to get info on the former police commissioner that killed her and disappeared. He is also so distraught, he has rarely left his apartment and talks to Irene as if she’s still with him.
Gladys (Laura Ramos), who is watching the infant son of Irene and Nelson (Felipe Londoño) and also now owns the bar Pepe (Manuel Tallafé) her before moving to Cádiz, also has made a birthday cake for Tirso’s son Santi (Miguel Angel Jiménez). Since his divorce, Santi lives with Tirso and runs the family hardware store. Gladys also tries to take care of Tirso, whom she’s been dating, but his retreat has become increasingly frustrating for her.
In the meantime, a hungover Inspector Ezequiel Fandiño (Luis Zahera) is awakened by a call from Amanda Marcos (Itziar Atienza), who is now the commissioner of the Entrevías police district. He needs to look into someone throwing a rock through a car window. He snarkily arrests the guy, Rene Hernandez (Juan Pablo Shuk), but he turns out to be an advisor that vandalized his own car to see what the response time will be. Rene tells Amanda that he’s been hired by the investors who want to bring online shopping warehouses to Entrevías, but are concerned about the neighborhood’s poor crime reputation.
Tirso, going to Gladys’ bar for Tirso’s birthday, notices that the hardware store is closed. He goes in and notices that not only has it been closed for some time, but most of the inventory has been cleaned out. He hasn’t seen Tirso in a couple of days, and he ends up finding out that he cleaned the store’s account out.
Amanda assigns a cadet to train with Ezequiel, much to his consternation; the rookie, Camila Fernandez (Catalina Sopelana), turns out that she’s pretty tough and knows that he’ll abandon her the first chance he gets. They go to a warehouse where a small fire was reported, and Ezequiel is shocked when he finds a charred body with a bullet in his head. Camila wants to report it, but Ezequiel wants to wait a bit, to see if he can flesh out who might have been responsible. The first person he finds is Nata (María de Nati), who still leads the gang Nelson left after becoming a father.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Wrong Side Of The Tracks (original title: Entrevías) has become a cross between Gran Torino — due to the “angry old man” vibe — and The Chi, for its “violent neighborhood trying to rise above” vibe.
Our Take: In the final season of Wrong Side Of The Tracks, creator David Bermejo is basically throwing everything on the table. Irene, who had been the center of Tirso’s life for the first three seasons, is now gone and live in Entrevías is changing. How it’s changing is affecting everyone in Tirso’s orbit, and while Tirso is still at the show’s center, it’s definitely become more of an ensemble show than it was when it started.
We particularly enjoyed Ezequiel, whose ethics have been questionable at times, getting comeuppance from Camile, a rookie who seems to be a whole lot more savvy than a typical cadet, and doesn’t seem to be intimidated by Ezequiel. She likely sees him as a boozehound who has embedded himself with the neighborhoods gangs for too long to be effective. But she proves to him later in the episode that she’s got some investigative chops, and the two of them may make for an effective, and at times funny, partnership.
As for Tirso himself, as we said a couple of paragraphs ago, he’s still the center of the show. But by this time, we know that his anger has been tempered by his underlying love for Irene, his son Santi and daughter Jimena (María Molins) and for Gladys. But Irene’s death has really thrown him — and we find out that Irene’s mother, Jimena, isn’t doing much better.
By the end of the episode, he’s come to some realizations about relating to the people who are still around, and some of the machinations to get his people in place for the rest of the season are somewhat hacky. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if Tirso can ever find some peace in Entrevías, or if that peace means being constantly vigilant.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: After killing another gang member and setting him on fire, the killer takes his mask off. It’s someone who’s familiar.
Sleeper Star: We haven’t mentioned Manolo Caro, who plays Sanchís, who served in the military under Tirso and still calls him “Captain.” He’s still around, but we’re not sure what kind of role he’ll play this season.
Most Pilot-y Line: “You’re the boss, you’re the commissioner, and Rene the mole is here to bust your tits,” Ezequiel says to Amanda. We know you guys have worked together for a long time, but she’s your boss, dude!
Our Call: STREAM IT. The final season of Wrong Side Of The Tracks continues to be unapologetically what it is; an action series about an “up and coming” Madrid neighborhood that’s full of violent moments, funny moments, and the sense of family that living in a place like Entrevías gives its residents.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
