Muted (El Silencio): Created by Aitor Gabilondo and directed by Gabe Ibáñez, it is the latest Spanish psychological thriller mini-series released on Netflix. With 6 episodes in total and a runtime of about 45-48 minutes, it follows the story of Sergio Ciscar, who was convicted of killing his parents and has now been released after 6 years.
The cast of the series includes Arón Piper as Sergio Ciscar, Almudena Amor as Ana Dussuel, Cristina Kovani as Marta, Manu Ríos as Eneko, Aitor Luna as Cabrera, Ramiro Blas as Natanael, Aria Bedmar as Greta, Mikel Losada as Mikel and others.
Muted Plot: Sergio Ciscar is released from prison 6 years after having killed his parents when he was still underage. During that time, Sergio hasn’t said a word nor has collaborated with the justice system, so the motivations for the crime and the intentions he has by now are a mystery. Ana Dussel, a young psychiatrist, and her team are in charge of determining his potential danger to society by secretly watching him day and night as if he were an animal.
The first thing that doesn’t make any sense is why Sergio is a person of such intrigue that a psychiatrist is able to keep an eye on him like a lab rat. If he had done erratic things in the past 6 years in prison then maybe this study would have been valid, to make sure more people are not harmed. The only reason they have given is that Sergio didn’t speak a word throughout his time and would speak only if he wanted & to select people. Looks like they are afraid of an introverted person, ah typical.
What they couldn’t accomplish in 6 years through therapy or maybe other methods, they want to get to the bottom of it when he is at the end of his punishment. The question remains why? Even if the investigation reveals how his parents die & he is the sole culprit of it, it changes nothing since he has served his time. If he is innocent, that also doesn’t change a thing and if he was desperate enough to clear his name, he would have done that, especially being underage he could have gotten away with it.
In the start, the character of Marta seemed like a good choice to show why people get attracted to criminals, to the point of obsession. It would be such a good way to make a commentary and show the consequences of such a fatal interest. But it just becomes some teenage drama with a love triangle and stupidity. What baffles the most is how the head of all the operations, Ana is so obsessed with him to the point of insanity.
One would think that they will get the answers to everything, like why Ana is so focused on Sergio and what’s her ulterior motive. But the creators will present you with dumb reasoning that makes no sense, other than perversion and mental issues. The creators have tried to portray how humans tend to only see the things that they believe in – like Ana wants to prove Sergio’s innocence so, even his irrational actions are understandable to her; whereas Officer Cabrera thinks of him as nothing more than a criminal & is ready to take him behind the bars for any small mistake.
I have often seen the character of an evangelist priest in these crime thrillers, where they are usually bad people. But in this series especially, I don’t see any real significance of the character of Priest Nataniel. He could have been easily exchanged by a corrupt counsellor or correctional officer who works with convicts & even takes advantage of their vulnerable position.
Muted Review: Final Thoughts
Muted feels like someone just picked up a news story and tried to create a fictional world around it. But the problem is that it is inconsistent, doesn’t tie up the loose ends and most importantly – it doesn’t answer why is this news story/ character even worth making a 6 episode story on.
Rating: 1.5/5
Muted is available to watch on Netflix.
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Also Read: Muted Ending Explained: Did Sergio kill his parents? Does he meet Noa?
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