El Jardinero (a Netflix mini-series)

A couple of weeks back, I was just scrolling on Netflix looking for something to watch. I'm busy with work, but I wanted a change of pace. I then stumbled upon this Spanish psychological thriller mini-series called El Jardinero or The Gardener in English.

I chose it because each episode is less than an hour long, and there were only six of them, so it wouldn't take much of my time. The genre is also up my alley, so I was also quite excited to check it out.

Let's talk about it. :)

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When Elmer (the main character) was young, he got into an accident which caused him some brain damage. Due to this incident, he became emotionless.

His mom, La China, who used to be an actress, trained him to act out his emotions. He's not able to feel anything, but at least, he knows the concept... is what she thought.

When Elmer got older, he and his mom, who originally had a plant or garden-related business, started their side business, which is contract killing. They wanted to start anew, back to their original residence, so they needed the money. At one point, they were hired to kill a teacher named Violeta, but Elmer ended up falling for her.

And that's how the story became more complicated. Below is the trailer of the said mini-series.

It was an OK-ish series for me. Nothing very special, to be honest... and there were scenes or parts of the story that were quite unnecessary. For instance, the detectives who were on his case had a lot of dates and cheating scenes. They're actually irrelevant in the actual story.

The main character became a psychopath due to a car accident, and was later cured due to falling in love. hahaha Sorry...

It's just. I don't know. I like psychology, and so I watch these kinds of films, alongside true crime documentaries... but the plot presented in this story is too whimsical. This is just my opinion, so don't come for me if you think differently.

Despite that, I was able to finish watching the whole mini-series. There were some interesting points, though. I like how the mother-and-son relationship is, from a psychological perspective.

It's not in any way good, but it's realistic. The mother is a master manipulator and a narcissist. (The actress was good at portraying this role.) And in fairness to the actor of the main character, he's good at being emotionless and portrayed his role quite well.

The love interest and their love story was meh~ hahaha Perhaps there was a hint of dependence or codependence, but it wasn't very clear. If they added more elements to this issue, it would have been better.

Anyway, it's just me over-analyzing things from a psychological perspective. In the end, it wasn't that bad. I won't entirely recommend it, nor watch it again, though.

How about you? Have you seen this mini-series yet? What do you think?

That's it for now. See you around!