Vida Review: Episode #3.1 (Season 3 Episode 1)

Knowing that it is the last season premiere episode ever adds some bitterness to the sweet perfection of Vida Season 3 Episode 1, “Episode #3.1.”

But, then again, Vida has always paired the fruit with the rind; a complex flavor is in its DNA. 

The Season 3 premiere highlights that perfectly. Lovely moments, like my OTP Emico kissing each other all casual-like at the bar, are tempered by harsher realities, like the fact that Zoey is still in town. 

Nothing is pure bliss or pure pain. Vida‘s first episode of its final season invites us, once again, to stew in the glory of the tainted reality of life. 

I’m never getting over this show. 

Emma’s in love with Nico. It’s not a sturdy love, yet. But the fact that when Nico asks to basically move in for a while Emma smiles to herself tells us that this relationship is different. 

With Cruz, Emma was never really comfortable. The heat and history between them were epic. But, when it came to the next step of intimacy, of knowing each other, the relationship broke down. 

Emma doesn’t let people in. 

Except for Nico. 

This could be a wild take, but I think that part of why Emma feels how she does around Nico is that she is like Lyn. 

Both Nico and Lyn add levity and fresh breath to every room they enter. Both are confident, flirty, and deeply intelligent people. They are also people who are able to roll with the punches until it is really worth it and then they stand the F up for themselves. 

Emma is beyond reserved but she enjoys being around her sister. It isn’t actually all that surprising then, that the person she’s letting into her life is a person who has those qualities that she so enjoys. 

Liking to be around someone is such an underrated part of love. 

Emico is going to have conflict in their relationship because this is a TV show and that’s expected. This episode gives us hope that these conflicts could be the couple dealing with external hardships like Hurricane Zoey and a not-dead dad while maintaining a solid core. 

My shipper heart is sated and grinning, but this premiere episode really belongs to Lyn. 

Lyn is coming into her own as she learns that she is legitimately good at something that has nothing to do with her appearance. As she becomes more confident in her mind and her talent, we see her more able to understand that other people’s views of her don’t have to cut her. 

Still, she is who she is. Meaning, she is a stunning woman with a conventionally sexy body, in her twenties.

Although she, rightfully, points out that she’s not Mexican enough for Mexican people or white enough for white people, it is also true that she is white enough to have access to white spaces and Mexican enough to have access to Mexican spaces. 

At the heart of all of that is how she is continually objectified by the world. 

Something that is endlessly interesting about Lyn is that she always knows how others see her. Or perhaps more accurately, she knows what people want from her because she knows how they see her. 

She is very in tune to what shape people are objectifying her into. 

What we see on the premiere is a bit of an awakening. Instead of using that intuition to facilitate men falling for her, she uses it to try and advance toward her own goals. Her goal isn’t to make them happy; her goal is to make herself happy. 

But, honestly, any summation on the meaning of the episode is going to fall short of capturing what is happening. 

For example, when Lyn is talking with the Polish Waiter he is very clearly vibing on her. She’s working out this identity issue she has verbally, while simultaneously making bedroom eyes at Polish Waiter. 

She’s not using her sexuality, exactly. It’s just that people’s reactions to her are always based on her appearance and presentation. She can’t avoid it, so she leans into it, perhaps without really even realizing it. 

But, then she gets up and leaves as if she never seriously thought the interaction was going to go anywhere. She’s somehow an in control political mastermind while also being an evocative childish ingenue. Or perhaps none of that!

Melissa Bererra’s performance, the dialogue, the costuming and visuals of the party, it’s all just so intricate and complex. The only shallow thing in this series is the shot glasses. 

The first episode of the season sets Mari up really nicely for some great stories. She stands up for herself with The Vigilantes and has a fair confrontation with Emma (no fist fighting this time!)

Mari is maturing. Being out of the house is actually doing really amazing things for her character. We’re getting to see that justice is truly core to her identity. That means not just blindly following anyone. Instead, she tries to encourage all the people around her to see beyond their self-set limitations. 

She wants to push Yoli to see that not all gentrification is the same. She wants to show Emma that there are ways she can show solidarity with the Boyle Heights community. 

Mari is a leader. 

It was so fun to see Mari vlogging and organizing during the first two seasons. But, for me, there is something deeply powerful in seeing a fully chingona woman being a mature, empathetic, and sometimes shy advocate for change. 

So often, Chicana activistas are portrayed (if at all) as being very loud and angry. And yes, anger and volume are appropriate. But, if that’s all you see you miss the painfully difficult and painfully slow processes that underlie all of that action. 

Vida takes it time to wade into the detail. For Mari, that means that she is still very active with her group The Vigilantes, but she also has small, meaningful moments with her brother where they joke about toilet seats.

It’s a weird little thing to point out, but I love that we see her butt a bit as she tries to pull up her jeans. 

There’s just something so gripping about the very specific and honest detail of a woman putting on her jeans sans a male gaze. 

Vida strips away the patriarchal frameworks that we’re used to but it doesn’t really replace them. Instead, it just invites us to intimately get to know these sisters, this barrio, and this bar, without the burden of a singular vision. 

Tanya Saracho has created this TV program that allows us to understand what it would be like to never be othered and instead, always be included. 

Stray Shots

• Nico wearing that same red shirt is such a turn on. Not fair. 
• Who do I thank for that reference to A League of Their Own? I’m not sure I could make it through all this if I didn’t know Roberta Colindrez is starring in the TV show. 
• Edy needs something good. 
• The “cuatroce” joke is super charming. How can anyone resist her!
• The music on this show is next-level incredible. Fingers crossed for many more live performances at the bar.
• Elizabeth de Razzo is amazing as Yoli on the episode. She too has had a maturity glow up. I’m nervous for her.
• Is there a word for the specific kind of denial that one has when a favorite series is ending? 

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

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Vida airs Sundays on Starz.

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