Triptych or Tríada is the latest Mexican thriller mystery series, released on Netflix on 22nd February 2023. The series is directed by Leonardo D’Antoni & Alba Gil, and the teleplay is written by Leticia López Margalli. The story is brought to the screen by cinematographers Alejandro Chávez and Josué Eber Morales.
The cast of the series includes Maite Perroni in the titular role, along with David Chocarro, Flavio Medina, Nuria Bages, Ofelia Medina, Ana Layevska, Claudia Lobo, Aldo Gallardo and Daniella Valdez. It is actually based on a true story and has 8 episodes in total with a runtime of about 42-48 minutes.
Netflix’s synopsis of the series reads:
After learning she was separated at birth from her two identical sisters, Rebecca embarks on a perilous journey to uncover the truth about her origins.
-Triptych Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
In the series, the life of a forensic investigator takes a sharp turn when she discovers a murdered woman who is exactly like her. When the truth has many angles, nothing is what it seems, and to discover it, she will have to know the three sides of it. It follows Rebecca, who realizes that one of the victims of the crime she was assigned, looks identical to her. Later, trying to find the truth of why they look the same and the reason for her death, she will discover that there is another woman with the same appearance as hers.
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The series starts off with some violent action as a woman named Aleida Trujano is seen searching for someone and shooting away anyone who comes in her way. Somehow she finds her target – Dr Julia Batiz and takes her to the roof, to essentially kill her. But the police ends up shooting her and before we could know what was her deal, she is presumed dead.
Strangely, when the forensics team arrive at the scene, one of the investigators – Rebecca looks just like Aleida and gets freaked out by what she sees. This is the trivial moment which sets in motion everything that happens further. Obviously curious about the woman and why she looks identical to having the same birthday, Rebecca can not let go without knowing more about it.
At the start, we saw Julia Batiz talking about ideas as something that grows from a single thought to something much bigger that can even take over your mind and life. And some ideas are like viruses which can turn a person into a monster. In hindsight, this is the basic philosophy of the series as the lead characters will be going through this exact transformation, but it depends on whether they find answers or turn into monsters.
As the story progresses Rebecca finds out that it’s not just her and Aleida but there’s another identical individual, named Tamara. All three of them have nothing in common from their adoptive parents to social status or jobs. But when they share some intricate details about their lives, they realise all have had similar experiences and there’s more than meets the eye.
The creators already tell the viewers that it’s based on the true story of triplet brothers who were adopted by three different families, as an experiment. The characters also refer to the same news story while trying to find answers about themselves. However, the series sets itself apart by going a step further from science to unknown mystical territories.
Talking about the story, although the plot says they are identical sisters, the way things were unfolding, with the character getting visions of her other sisters and feeling the same thing as her, even feeling drunk when she hadn’t even drunk anything – it makes you question if they are clones or something magical that connects them.
Unfortunately, it turns out to be absolutely ridiculous plot element, since Tamara is always smoking weed, then why doesn’t Rebecca feel high as well? Why do only one time Rebecca drinks and Tamara goes totally tipsy? Throughout the eight episodes, the creators take us around in circles of false information that when the truth is finally revealed, it’s hard to distinguish.
Final Thoughts: Triptych
It is an interesting plot with lots of potential to make something that could freak everyone out about the world we live in and the possibility of it being real. But the creators added so many complicated things to the equation that it takes away the focus from the actual grim story. Also, they didn’t even justify the things introduced in the story and they remain as loopholes with no answer.
In terms of characters, even though all three roles were played by the same actress, the character of Rebecca felt a bit over the top. I didn’t understand her motivation behind being so emotional to see Aleida in the first meeting and feeling so attached to her ‘sister’ after seeing her for just one minute.
They should have played it a bit subtle and instead of Rebecca going obsessive, things should have been played in front of her – urging her to dig deep. Here she just decides that Aleida is her sister and pursues her, even though she is technically a criminal who shot a bunch of people in the start. The show just goes over the initial setting they set, like it never happened, whereas it could have been the leading factor for everything to unfold.
Triptych is currently streaming on Netflix.
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