We Were Kings Review: Forgettable Drama Series Has Bursts of Entertainment

In this drama series, three childhood friends face one of the biggest obstacles of their lives when forbidden desires result in dirty spats and turn these friends into enemies. Facing a dilemma like no other, will Javo, Mike and Santos find a way to overcome their differences and rekindle their friendship?

The series has 6 episodes, each with a runtime of around 30 minutes.

We Were Kings Review

In the first episode of Netflix’s new Spanish series, we are subjected to one best friend having intimate relationships with their other friend’s mother. If that’s not bad enough, said friend, Carlos, catches Javo and Malena in the act during a neighbourhood celebration, leaving him traumatised and angry, resulting in a spat between the two men which ends in tragedy. The first episode sets the tone for the series – this is a light and forgettable watch surrounding families in the barrio in Mexico and must be taken as such. For what that is worth, it does the job right and delivers on the entertainment.

Everything in this series is fast-moving; the conflicts move at a pace that will give you whiplash and we jump from one silly issue to another. For example, there is a point where a very pregnant Heidi’s water breaks and she goes into labour and gives birth within 5 minutes. It took her three pushes on a bridge to deliver her baby, a miracle that I don’t think most people come across every day. The series is something similar – every conflict is resolved in a matter of minutes and we quickly jump to the next problem which is also solved in a matter of minutes.

In the end, what this results in is we get a half-baked show whose characters nor stories stick. None of these characters have anything going for them. We don’t know who these people are beyond the surface-level story that we get and the series isn’t interested in giving us anything more. Even the story isn’t thrilling enough to keep us invested because it doesn’t let any of these situations get the space that they need. The audience cannot mull over the revelations, twists or developments, making this an extremely surface-level exploration of Javier’s desperation to keep things under wraps while getting out of his poverty-stricken life.

The difference between Javo and Mike and the moral dilemma between their very different workplaces is something that could’ve been explored more, along with the dilemma of both the brothers vying for Malena’s attention. The age-difference romance isn’t a big deal at this point because all the streaming platforms have bombarded us with a ton of similar content in the past year. However, I think a little bit more exploration into these complicated feelings would’ve made more sense instead of declaring something and then just running away from it as soon as possible.

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That being said, Joshua Okamoto and Ingrid Aguila have sizzling chemistry that comes out every time that they are around each other. In spite of the age gap, there’s something about their relationship that leaves an impression on you and makes you root for them. However, the same can’t be said about the rest of the plot. Although the actors do a fantastic job and carry the series on their backs, the storyline is cliched and rushed, leaving very little to be explored. The saving grace, I will say, is the short runtime that doesn’t drag this half-baked storyline out more than needed and leaves us somewhat entertained.

Final Thoughts

The convenient and cliched storyline is a chore to watch and insane from start to end. The storyline goes all over the place and is hella entertaining if you don’t go too deep into the characters or the story. However, if you peek behind the curtain, it’s apparent that there’s nothing of substance here and it’s just another series which doesn’t know how to flesh itself out. Thankfully, the short runtime helps.

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