Gentefied Season 1 Review: Eating Raza Pride for Dinner

As the iron doors of the ICE van close and we lose sight of Casimiro, one fact becomes crystal clear: Gentefied needs a second season. 

Not just so we can save Pop. Not just so we know if Chris is going to fancy culinary school, if Mama Fina’s has a future, or if Erik, Lidia & Baby Delfina are going to Stanford.

The Mexican-American family dramedy needs another season so it can realize the astounding potential that the first season delivers.

Season 1 is an appetizer, but now we need the entree. 

Gentefied makes a valiant attempt to develop an intimacy with the audience, to get too close for comfort, but there are a couple of elements that keep us at arm’s length. 

And that intimacy is essential. The stories of La Raza (the mixed group of people of Mexican and Indigenous descent who live in towns along the US/Mexico border) have been so marginalized on TV that we need to be intimately drawn in and embraced. 

Occasionally, that intimacy is reached, but more often than not, the character brush strokes are far too broad to paint a unique portrait. 

The Boyle Heights neighborhood is portrayed with specificity. Although the gentrification theme is applicable to most major cities in the United States, this story in distinct. 

From Erik’s Raiders-style Boyle Heights hat to the Riverside-bashing, to the garment industry oppression, we feel close to this place as if it were a living breathing character. Oh, and of course, there is the hilarious moment when San Fransisco’s tacos are put on blast. 

PANCHO: Have you tried the barbacoa tacos up there? They are barba-caca! 

Caca means poop and this line makes me laugh out loud. 

The overflow of Mexican-American cultural truths that are spilled all over the screen is just incredible.

One of my favorites is how the children speak in English to the parents who speak in Spanish. They all understand each other, but they default to their comfort zone language. The accuracy!

There is also wonderful content about the gentrification of Los Angeles neighborhoods that is flat-out hilarious and one hundred percent true.

ERIK: That is exactly what Yessika’s protest does. It’ll scare away our little hipster foodies by tapping into their greatest fear.

CHRIS: Brown lesbians?

ERIK: White guilt.

The cultural details are lively and fun far more often than they are harrowing or sad. The mariachi player who wants to cover Cardi B gets legit screen time and Captain Latinoamerica is allowed to do his thing. 

In this way, Gentefied introduces Mexican-American culture to a wide audience that likely has seen a very narrow and criminalized version of the community. 

The vehicle for these lessons is the characters, especially Chris, Ana, Erik, and Casimiro. 

I fall in love with each and every one of the characters on Gentefied (except for Yessika, who can take a hike). 

But, there is something missing.

It feels like the characters each represent one group of Mexican-American Angelinos. The next step is missing. The characters don’t have a specificity to them that would allow them to be more nuanced than a type.

For example, in an opening scene, Ana is eating hot Cheetos with chopsticks. Brilliant. This is a quirky and fun detail to the story. 

But, it doesn’t connect to who Ana is as a character.

Her relationship with food is actually presented several times on the series. She brings tacos in a heart box to her girlfriend to ask for forgiveness, she is known for packing a ginormous to-go box from Mama Fina’s, and there is the Cheeto detail.

Each of those things is aimed at exposing Mexican-American culture, but not at exposing Ana as an individual. 

Don’t get me wrong. I adore this woman. 

But she remains an abstraction with even less detail than the beautiful scenes she paints for her gallery show. 

Another case in point, she is an artist but I could not tell you what her specific point of view is. I know she cares about brown love and her family, but that is not a point of view.  I’m eager for the opportunity to go deeper and get to know her and her unique characteristics. 

The supporting characters actually get more room to be unique and individualized, perhaps because they don’t have the narrative pressure that the leads do.

Lidia, in particular, is a stunning and evocative character.

Annie Gonzalez who plays the pregnant scholar manages to imbibe her character with a vast emotional depth and a grounded charisma. Gonzalez takes a somewhat superficial character and makes her someone that you know and care about. 

The scene between her and Erik where Erik tells her that she has to go to Stanford is weep-inducing. Lidia’s facial expressions make the moment intimate and moving.

It is in this pairing that Erik too becomes more than the story he’s meant to represent; he becomes a layered and realized person. 

The looks of anguish and resiliency shared between Javier and Daniel, father and son, are also completely captivating. These little nuanced glimpses into who these individuals are within the very specific setting and culture of Boyle Heights are Genetefied’s greatest strength. 

The first season leaves us yearning for more depth and specificity from the characters, but it is also a huge success. It is warm, funny, relevant and expansive. 

Perhaps the most important thing about Gentefied is that it frames its stories in the bright, not harsh, reality of being Mexican-American in 2020. 

The insights we gather both warm and break our hearts. We need them.

Gentefied is an absolute must-see. And we must see a Season 2!

Chismes

• The inclusion of AfroLatinx characters is key. It would be even better if on Season 2 there is a lead Afro Latinx character.
• Casimiro explaining the word brunch to Lupe is one of the cutest first date moments of all time. 
• “You can’t eat pride for dinner,” is a really good line.
• The tender way the show treats Ana’s mom, even though she can be almost cruel, is compassionate and wonderful. 
• Can we please get some representation of Chicanx women who have solid and healthy relationships with their mothers? We exist! I swear!
• Yessika is a flatly portrayed character. She is also a crappy girlfriend. Who gets mad at their significant other for not being available to network because their abuelo is IN JAIL?
• Chris, Erik, and Ana don’t have the chemistry they should as cousins. 
• Pop is a realized and fantastic character who could make farting endearing. I love, absolutely love, that his immigration status isn’t even mentioned until the final shot of the season. 

What did you think of this episode of Gentefied? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Gentefied is streaming now on Netflix. 

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