In our time reviewing shows, we’ve seen some pretty bleak shows that take place in prisons, especially ones overseas. But one of the bleakest prisons we’ve ever seen is in a new Argentinian thriller on Netflix. But does that make the show unwatchable?
Opening Shot: A door buzzes, and a group of handcuffed women are escorted out of a police station and into a transport van.
The Gist: We see how the seven women got themselves in the back of that van. Some are career criminals, but all of them are dealing with the criminal justice system in Argentina for the first time. During the transport to the the women’s penitentiary at La Quebrada, the van and its protective convoy are ambushed. The van is forced into a river, and is sinking fast when the back is blasted open and one of the seven women is rescued by associates. One of the detainees, Gladys Guerra (Ana Garibaldi), manages to find the key and unlock herself and four other women, but one gets left behind and drowns. The other five crawl onto land, covered in mud.
Gladys and the other women — Olga Giuliani (Erika de Sautu Riestra), Marina Delorsi (Valentina Zenere), Yael Rubial (Carolina Ramírez) and Solita Rodríguez (Camila Peralta) — are sent on to La Quebrada after medical clearance, but the incident has been splashed all over the news, and the inmates are know about them when they arrive. The prison’s director, Cecilia Moranzón (Rita Cortese), is also called into work; at the time, she’s treating a pregnant inmate to dinner.
The women are integrated into the prison’s population after the doctor examines them; Yael goes to the Families section, with pregnant inmates and other inmates children running around. Gladys and Marina are sent to the central prison block. Olga and Solita are sent to the prison block run by a woman named La Zurda (Lorena Vega); she’s in charge of a porn operation there, and has been given resources like phones and wifi. She specifically asks Olga, a plastic surgeon, if she can do vaginal rejuvenation surgeries on her girls.
Cecilia has to inform Maria (Cecilia Rossetto), one of the longest-tenured and most powerful inmates, that her niece was the prisoner who drowned during the ambush. Of course, now Maria vows to exact revenge on the five survivors that are now part of the population. She has also made an enemy of La Zurda, who chafes at the deal Maria has struck with Cecilia over supplies and medication, essentially because they’re not getting a proportional return for what they put into the fund.
In the meantime, Gladys isn’t intimidated by Maria or anyone else, given her position in the Borges family, which she outwardly denies. Cecilia, however, knows exactly who she is.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In The Mud is like Orange Is The New Black, but much, much bleaker.
Our Take: In The Mud may take place in a women’s prison, but besides that and scenes of inmates in the shower, there is no resemblance to the aforementioned OITNB. There’s some seriously messed up shit going on at La Quebrada, not all of which involves the inmates. Your enjoyment of In The Mud will depend on your tolerance for behavior that makes what we saw in one of Netflix’s first original series hits look minor by comparison.
The idea is that these five women are going to bond via their collective experience in the river, and figure out how to work the system, one that’s split between a number of “tribes” with conflicting interests. Gladys is obviously going to be the focal point, given that she’s basically one of the leaders of the Borges family, and the power that she has on the outside will allow her to wield power on the inside. Part of that will power will be used to protect the other four women, we suspect, but that will certainly run afoul of other people in power at the prison, like Maria and Cecilia.
For her part, Cecilia and the doctor, who are a couple, are seen running an illegal adoption scheme in one scene, trafficking the babies of inmates. So pretty much everyone in this prison is crooked in one way or another. As we said, it’s a pretty bleak scene, with survival being the only real hope that any of these women have once their inside. It’s not exactly light watching, that’s for sure.
Sex and Skin: Lots of nudity, especially as the inmates shower or in the scenes where the porn movies are being shot.
Parting Shot: After Maria and her thugs confront the “muddy” five — yes, while the five are in the shower — Gladys shows just how vicious she can be when provoked.
Sleeper Star: Lorena Vega is a fun wild card as La Zurda, who is in charge of what can best be called the “porn ward.”
Most Pilot-y Line: Olga tells the rest of the “muddy” group that the twins that are in her ward are “like two Chuckies.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. In The Mud is pretty dark, and it definitely may not be for everyone, but it has done a good job of setting up the main characters and how they’ll manage at one of the bleakest prisons we’ve seen on TV in a while.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.