Netflix’s The Time It Takes (2021) Review: 10 Minute Romance

The Time It Takes, or El tiempo que te doy, is a drama-romance TV series created by Inés Pintor, Pablo Santidrián, and Pablo Fernández, and stars Nadia de Santiago, Álvaro Cervantes, and David Castillo, alongside other cast members. The series has 10 episodes, each around 13 minutes long.

Netflix describes the series as:

Lina and Nico break up after many years together, and Lina struggles to find a new life and to think about him a little less each day.

– The Time It Takes review does not contain spoilers –

With episodes around 13 minutes long, The Time It Takes doesn’t take up much time, shockingly. The series is short enough and focuses on romantic relationships – thus, it is an easy watch. Let me elaborate. The series starts off with a breakup and then moves to when Lina and Nico started dating.

The Time It Takes is a slow-paced series, one that delves into relationships and their different facets. But remember, it doesn’t delve too deep since it’s only 13 minutes. For those who like short episodes (ah, Quibi) that aren’t too up-close and personal, then this might just be the perfect show to binge without getting too attached. Let’s face it, with a runtime this short, it’s difficult to get attached to anything.

Moreover, for those who don’t like mushy romance and drama, this is gonna be too much. The Time It Takes is just that – lots of romance, drama and heartbreak. There are lots of moments that are relatable, that you will feel extremely close to, sort of a personal attack. Then there are moments of extreme melodrama which will annoy you. At other times, it’s as sweet as sugar and will make your heart flutter. It’s actually a mix of all of them and before you know it, you’re racing on to the next episode.

The Time It Takes is actually made pretty intelligently. We go from one minute spent in the past and 10 minutes in the future and work our way to 10 minutes in the past and 1 minute in the future. In between that time, we know all the important moments in Lina and Nico’s lives together. Breakups are always hard, but watching it crumble right before you watch it getting built from the ground up can get difficult.

I liked how easy-breezy the series is. It’s not complicated and is surprisingly relatable. The stories don’t have too many complications and talk about everyday things and moments between the couple that give their relationship so much context. To be honest, I like that the series decided to go for such short formats. We don’t have to sit through hours of footage of them doing this and that. It’s quick and effective and extremely bringeable.

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The thing is, The Time It Takes is about Lina and how she gets over Nico. It’s a story of getting over an ex and getting acquainted with oneself and getting ok. We don’t really see Nico’s perspective during these moments, yet, for those of us who have gone through something traumatic (because let’s face it, breakups are traumatic) this might bring back some good and bad memories. Maybe you’ll find yourself smiling to yourself remembering the good times or feeling a little sad for the time lost. Either way, it touches you.

The leads, Nadia de Santiago and Álvaro Cervantes have really good chemistry and look great together. In their moments of love and hate, the vibe off of each other swimmingly and makes the series even more bingeable.

Summing up: The Time It Takes

The Time It Takes is an amazingly easy watch that is short and sweet enough to enjoy in one go. However, for those who don’t like a good-old romantic drama with all of its annoying bits, this might just give you a sugar rush. It’s also very slow sometimes, so that’s another thing!

The Time It Takes is streaming on Netflix.

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