Summary
Delirium is blessed with good ideas and intentions, but it doesn’t boast the writing quality necessary to knit them together.
It’s easy to be cynical about any show marketed on its sexuality. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of sauce, obviously; we’re not prudes here. But it’s too common for media to entice eyeballs by being salacious for no reason other than titillation, which leaves well-intentioned dramas – like Netflix’s Delirium (2025) – that want to use sex and sexuality as prisms for other, weightier subjects feeling a little adrift. Potential viewers reflexively mistrust them. Many who might have enjoyed the drama steer clear, and those looking for whips and chains get bored.
As mentioned, Delirium has real ambitions. You can see them all over a compelling multi-timeline setup that charts the life of its protagonist, Agustina (Estefania Piñeres), in several distinct stages, most of them defined by a romance. As a young woman Agustina begins a relationship with her older professor, Aguilar (Juan Pablo Raba); in the past, a younger Agustina navigates a fraught affair with her brother’s friend, Midas (Juan Pablo Urrego, The Initiated), which intersects with strained family dynamics; and in the present, most compellingly, Agustina is near-catatonic, having suddenly fallen into a state of complete delirium that Aguilar can only unpack – and potentially rescue her from – by exploring the secrets of her life.
You can see why Agustina’s relationships with the men in her life are important to all this. Sure, the show can sometimes tiptoe the line of necessity when it comes to depicting some of these liaisons, but I never felt like the intent was to shock. Everything serves a purpose, and that purpose is to provide a nuanced account of how Agustina’s life and experiences have impacted her psychological state. It’s an ambitious idea, and the Colombian series isn’t always equipped with the right tools to properly explore it, but it’s a significant cut above fare like 365 Days, and even more chaste than something like Bridgerton.
If nothing else, Delirium is a visual treat, and its aesthetic competency is more important than in most shows because of how frequently the narrative ping-pongs between timelines. There isn’t obvious signposting to help situate you in each era, so you’re forced to rely on more subtle cues in the production and use of symbolism. It isn’t packed with fancy-pants faux-arty flourish, thankfully, just meaningful detail that helps to emphasise how Agustina’s mental health and interpersonal relationships evolve over time and under certain conditions.
It’s a very kinetic story, in that sense; actions matter more than words, specifically in the sense that present-day Agustina’s persistent delirium means that she can’t really articulate herself clearly anyway. In a visual medium like TV, that’s nice, especially when so many shows rely so heavily on artless exposition and narrative crutches like explanatory voiceover. There is some of that kind of thing here, but it’s more sparingly and meaningfully deployed. Mostly, what you need to know is what you can see playing out on-screen.
One does get the sense that the show’s facility for visual storytelling is a consequence of its writing being lacklustre. There’s little to really latch onto in terms of dialogue, despite solid performances in key areas, and I can’t think of a single memorable moment where the script really stood out and made a case for itself. Most supporting characters suffer in this way, too, and some potentially engaging storylines feel surface-level. Agustina’s strained family dynamics, in particular, are shallow when they could have been much more resonant, and yet the past timeline is so clearly of more concern that the present-day stuff feels tokenistic.
Delirium is, I think, a case of a show’s reach exceeding its grasp. There’s clearly a very engaging core idea at play here, and it’s threaded with a lot of interesting themes and ideas. It’s just that the quality of the writing isn’t there to capitalise on everything and properly knit it together. What’s left is a mixed-bag plot that sometimes feels like it’s going off the rails through inexplicable decision-making or needless red herrings, and an often sumptuous presentation that ends up being a distraction from an inconsistent, often underdeveloped emotional centre. It’s worth a look as a curiosity, but keep your expectations realistic.
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