Actress Christian Serratos stars as Selena Quintanilla in the Netlfix series ‘Selena: The Series.’ Credit: Courtesy of Star Tribune via TNS
“Selena: The Series” aims to delve deeper into the life and tragic death of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, but the series focuses more on her family than the singer herself — portraying her as a fairly two-dimensional character, while the depth is given primarily through her father and brother.
Created by Mexican-American writer and filmmaker Moisés Zamora, “Selena: The Series” premiered on Netflix Friday. The series stars Christian Serratos as Selena, Gabriel Chavarria as her brother A.B., Ricardo Chavira as her father Abraham, Noemi Gonzalez as her sister Suzette and Seidy López as her mother Marcella.
The series is split into two parts, with part one covering Selena’s early years and rise to fame, and part two having not been released yet, but is expected to pick up where season one ends. With each episode, Selena grows older, but most of this season focuses on her teenage years and her steady climb to stardom.
The biggest issue with the show is the lack of focus on Selena, even though she is the titular character. It feels like her family members are given more complex personalities while she is portrayed as a happy-go-lucky daughter and sister but not much more.
Of course, her family was a very important aspect in her life and music career since they performed beside her, wrote her songs and helped guide her through the industry. That being said, the show is still named after Selena and therefore should place the most focus on her emotions and experiences.
The areas where she seems to shine the most are in the last few episodes when she begins to date her to-be husband, Chris Perez (Jesse Posey), behind her father’s back. This shows off her spirited and driven personality that fans loved her for.
The pacing of the show also has some room for improvement. There are many cuts between years, mostly marked by a different haircut on Selena. Each of her performances is also shown in a montage-like style, with flashbacks to earlier years which makes the scenes feel very busy. Selena had an amazing stage presence, so I would have preferred the focus to be on her performance rather than jumping around through her memories. On the other hand, there are many scenes that feel very slow and drawn out. All in all, it causes the storyline to become a bit muddled and hard to focus on at times.
Although the series isn’t perfect, I don’t think it’s a complete write-off. There are still many moments that give the story depth and keep the viewer interested, even if there are some pacing problems. What is important about the show is the Latino representation. Hopefully through this show, not only will a new generation be introduced to Selena, but they might also have the chance to see themselves through this retelling of her life and experiences.
I do still plan to watch the second part when it releases, and my main hopes are that it brings out more of Selena’s personality and aspirations. I would also like to see more discussion around her identity as a Mexican-American and how it affected her career. This was touched upon a few times briefly in the first part, but I think it could’ve been expressed in better ways.
Rating: 3/5
