This review of Netflix’s The Girls at the Back is spoiler-free.
READ: Everything we know about the series.
Netflix are already well-served by Spanish original series, but the region’s output only continues to impressively diversify with The Girls at the Back, a poignant shake-up of the girls’ trip formula – seen in movies like, well, Girl’s Trip – which puts the onus on authentic bonds of friendship under the looming specter of loss and change.
The idea is that five friends in their 30s have assembled for a holiday – not an altogether unusual premise. The hook here, though, is that one of them has been diagnosed with cancer (this forms an overarching mystery, since all five have agreed not to talk about it), and that the terms of the trip involve completing a series of wishes; things they wouldn’t normally do out of fear or shame. The wishes have been submitted by each of the women, but anonymously. So, with their heads shaved in solidarity, a promise made not to discuss cancer, and another made to guarantee that everyone steps out of their comfort zone, we begin a journey that extends across six episodes and a range of emotions.
The Girls at the Back is funny, but it isn’t a comedy, which quickly proves to be its greatest strength. The feeling of impending calamity lends an emotional power to the drama which is rare, and the girls’ agreement to avoid the topic means that the show can’t rely on being openly manipulative to get the result it’s after. Instead, the emotional payoffs are earned through us getting to know the women and their relationships, anxieties, hopes, and dreams. We come to know and enjoy the company of each of them and are periodically reminded that one of them is condemned to die.
I was alternately moved and surprised by this whiplash of tones and emotions. It’s new territory for such a familiar premise, and it works well because the personalities of the friends – Carol (Maria Rodríguez Soto), Olga (Godeliv Van den Brandt), Sara (Ell), Alma (Monica Miranda), and Leo (Mariona Terés) – are properly defined, and their dynamic feels real. Each knows this trip might well be the last they take together, so that sense of finality and last chances hangs heavy. It compels them to make rash, potentially ill-advised decisions in a way that’s more organic that just fodder for jokes and set pieces.
But while The Girls at the Back is sad, it isn’t morbid. On the contrary, it’s an uplifting portrait of the strength of bonds and the frailty of life, and a spirited reminder that we should live as hard as we can for as long as it lasts.
You can stream The Girls at the Back exclusively on Netflix.
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