Thursday’s Widows (Las viudas de los jueves) is a Mexican thriller drama which is based on the novel Thursday Night Widows by Argentinian author Claudia Piñeiro. The show is directed by Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz and produced by Woo Films. There are 6 episodes with a runtime of about 45-50 minutes. The novel was adapted in 2009 as Argentinian-Spanish film The Widows of Thursdays.
The ensemble cast of the series includes Omar Chaparro as Tano Scaglia, Cassandra Ciangherotti as Mavi Guevara, Irene Azuela as Teresa Scaglia, Juan Pablo Medina as Ronnie Guevara, Zuria Vega as Mariana Andrade, Alfonso Bassave as Gustavo Maldonado, Pablo Cruz Guerrero as Martín de la Luna III, Sofía Sisniega as Carla Maldonado, Mayra Hermosillo as Lala de la Luna, Gerardo Trejoluna as Ernesto Andrade, Claudette Maillé and others.
Thursday’s Widows Review
December 26, the day when the privileged community of Los Altos de las Cascadas realised, that all that glitters is not always gold. The series starts off with a glimpse of the hooking point of the story when Juandi and Ramona are secretly filming the snobbish neighbours of their community and accidentally record the crime scene of three men killing themselves in a pool by electrocution.
This day is the leading factor for the narrator, Mavi to take us through the lives of five families — the Andrades, the Guevaras, the Scaglias, the de la Lunas, and the Maldonados spilling all the secrets they keep well-hidden, or so they thought. Each episode is dedicated to one family as we through the same events but from different perspectives each time. In the centre of it all is Tano Scaglia, whose role is of a catalyst that brought the tragedy to the community.
The mystery thriller explores the social hierarchy of the early 2000s in Mexico. Set in the gated community of the riches, it shows how the residents of Altos de las Cascadas have created an ecosystem of their own and don’t even need to get out of their fenced perimeter for anything. The homeowners are obnoxious show-offs who are always trying to portray themselves as better than their neighbours and treat their house staff as mere commodities.
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If they already have everything they need then why would they want to kill themselves? By looking at each of the families, we realise that these rich people might not have as much as they like to show off. They have enough to live a comfortable life yet greed has taken over them all. They want to show themselves better off than anyone else while in reality, they are staggering to even keep their family afloat. The second issue common to all was marital problems – losing the spark in their relationship or having different expectations from their marriage.
The title of the show comes from the community ritual where the women get together to discuss community issues, gossip and drink to their heart’s content, every Thursday. That’s the only day they are completely away from their husbands and thus people started calling them Thursday’s widows. If you are a part of Thursday’s meeting then you are definitely an insider of the community but no guarantees that they won’t backbite.
By the second episode, it’s quite clear why Tano, Gustavo and Martin could have harmed themselves and thus watching the family episodes with similar issues just feel stretched. Either the creators could have shown the Scaglia family in two episodes – one at the start (without spilling the main reason for the killing) and then ending with them as well. Also, the way Mavi was the narrator and told us their secrets – created anticipation that she would come with bigger guns in the end but nothing really happens. It’s like the fireworks drowned with the floating men.
Although it’s a good thriller with a social commentary, it seems better suited for a feature film than a 6-part series. The key issues of each character are quite similar, which could have been shown in parallel and would have sufficed and not stretched it for 5 episodes. Since the climax is already known, it doesn’t leave many surprises by the end and the aftermath is just disappointing.
One thing that did surprise me at times was the frontal nudity at random times from male characters like the time when Teresa’s gardner catches her masturbating or even when Martin is ready to go into the pool of death. Overall, it’s a subpar thriller with a predictable story.
Rating: 2/5
Thursday’s Widows is available for streaming on Netflix.
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