Not enough dramas — especially thrillers — tell you in the first episode what it’s about. They try to keep viewers guessing at who the characters are and why they’re part of the story. A new thriller from Colombia dispenses with that for the most part, though with a 20-episode season, it doesn’t reveal everything right away.
Opening Shot: We pan past the items on the desk of a well-known therapist whose office is in a modern building in Bogotá. He stares at the words “I’m Sorry” scrawled on a window. Then he plummets to his death from his balcony, landing on top of a car.
The Gist: The therapist who jumped (or was pushed?) was counselling Silvia (Laura Londoño) and Lorenzo (Jason Day) through some of their tough marriage issues, and Silvia seems especially uncomfortable returning to the office to see a new therapist. During the first session, we find out that Lorenzo has cheated on Silvia, and his high sex drive doesn’t match hers. But he’s committed to making this work, because he thinks the love they have for each other should conquer their issues.
When they get to a country estate owned by Lorenzo’s family, the two get intimate. Silvia wants to know why he gets off choking his sexual partners, so she volunteers to put a belt around her neck while they have sex. But they are interrupted by a knock on the door. A woman named Sonia (Carmen Villalobos) shows up. She’s a new friend of Silvia’s, with the two hitting it off at a retreat that Silvia recently attended. They bonded over their respective marriage problems, but Silvia figured they were “vacation friends”; she’s shocked that Sonia even knows where she lives.
Sonia claims that she’s there because she couldn’t take any more of her husband’s abuse, but when the couple leave her to go to bed that night, she makes a phone call and says “I’m in” to the person on the other end. The next day, she meets with someone who is in on the plan as she accompanies Silvia on a shopping trip.
Both Silvia and Lorenzo are public figures: Silvia is a well-known cellist, and Lorenzo is running for attorney general. A recent magazine profile has boosted his visibility, and when he goes on a radio show and is surprised to see his establishment opponent there, he more than holds his own in their debate. The couple is also contending with their teenage daughter Isa (Kami Zea), who is challenged by her cousin to perform a viral Instagram challenge to get likes, and ditches a dinner with her dad’s parents to do so.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There is a similar series that recently aired on the BBC, also called The Guest, but we don’t think the two shows are related. While not based on a Harlan Coben novel, The Guest is reminiscent of many of his Netflix thrillers, like Just One Look and Fool Me Once.
Our Take: Created by Lina Uribe and Dario Vanegas, The Guest is pretty up-front about what it’s going to be, which is a potboiler of a thriller with a fair amount of sex, some political intrigue and, well, that’s about it. The season is a shocking 20 episodes long, and it has all the earmarks of a modern-day telenovela, from the dramatic music to a first episode that isn’t shy about the show’s premise, but also doesn’t reveal a ton of details.
We know that Silvia and Sonia actually did more than just bond over marriage troubles, and it seems that Sonia may use the intimacy they shared at the retreat against Silvia and Lorenzo. Or there may be a more nefarious reason why she’s invading the couple’s lives, given the fact that it seems like she’s involved with others in this plan. At least we know up front that Sonia is up to no good, even if we don’t know why.
Lorenzo’s sex drive and penchant for kink may seem superfluous in the first episode, but this is also something Sonia knows about, given what Silvia likely revealed to her at the retreat. Not only is a recent mistress of Lorenzo working for his opposition in the Attorney General race, but we see him snapping a rubber band on his wrist as he eyeballs Sonia the morning after she arrived; he’s barely suppressing his desires, and Sonia likely knows that and will take advantage of it.
What we’re not sure of is how Isa’s story ties into all of this. The viral challenge is likely to lead to something that’s going to be tough for her and her cousin to get out of; whether that will also be related to why Sonia is there might take many episodes to figure out.
Sex and Skin: Oh, there’s sex and skin in the first episode, and we expect quite a bit more of it going forward.
Parting Shot: At dinner with Lorenzo’s parents, Sonia discreetly puts her hand on Silvia’s knee as both remember the intimacy they shared at the retreat.
Sleeper Star: Kami Zea plays Isa as a teenager that’s a bit more than just either the typically written tropes of “complete nerd” or “overly sexual”.
Most Pilot-y Line: Sonia makes a big breakfast spread for Silvia and Lorenzo the next morning, and after Lorenzo leaves without eating anything, Sonia says to Silvia, “You won’t say no to this, will you?” We learn later that she may not be talking about breakfast.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While we get the feeling that The Guest is going to get pretty absurd as its long season plays out, we admire that it puts its narrative cards on the table right away and doesn’t try to make itself into something different than what it is.
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.