Telemundo's Thrilling "El Recluso" Is "Prison Break" Meets "Taken"

El Reclusoamp160follows former Marineamp160Lamp225zaroamp160Mendoza who is called upon by John Morris a prominent United States judge to rescue his daughter Linda when she is kidnapped and held for ransom by a Mexican gangamp160amp160Linda is being held captve at a maximum security prison known as La Rotonda The Roundabout so in order to rescue heramp160Mendoza assumes a new identity Dante Pardo and is quotframedquotamp160for murder and sent to the same facilityamp160 In a prison full of gang members mass murderers and psychopaths Mendoza is quickly quotinitiatedquotamp160by the facilityamp8217s violent inmates and viciously beaten to within an inch of lifeamp160 While in solitary confinement he gains his first bit of evidence that Morrisamp8217 daughter is still aliveamp160 Mendoza periodically meets with his quotlawyerquot who is really his brother who also works for Morris in order to maintain contact and give updates on his progress of finding LindaThroughout the series we catch brief glimpses into Mendozaamp8217s pastamp160as he reminisces about his wife and son in a joyous and loving life at least at the startamp160 Things take a turn for the worse when his wife is struck with cancer and despite Morrisamp8217 best efforts to provide the services of aamp160specialist the cancer spreads beyond control and Mendoza39s wifeamp160has little time leftamp160 Two episodes in it is unclear what has happened to his wife but the assumption is that Mendozaamp160wants to see this mission through to the end so he can return to his familyA fastpaced thrilleramp160El Reclusoamp160feels like a cross betweenamp160Prison Breakamp160andamp160Takenamp160amidst the prison politics and hierarchy within the facilityamp8217s population and a detailoriented lead hero that has a particular set of skillsamp160 Not only isamp160El Reclusoamp160an incredibly wellproduced and executed drama but it is a commentary on the frighteningly real corruption that takes place not only within the administration of prisons but that of foreign police forces and governmentsMendoza is played by ArgentineAmerican actor Ignacio Serricchio General Hospital Lost in Space who takes on the role of hardened and former Marineamp160in a seemingly effortless manneramp160 Hisamp160vulnerability is moving and at times heartbreaking but he never lets his enemies see even a glimmer of weakness and he always maintains the tough exterior his mission demandsamp160 Serricchio pictured at top gives a performance of pulsepounding strength one minute and palpable pain the nextamp160 He is outstanding in the roleAna Claudia Talancon portrays Frida Villareal a social worker at La Rotonda who seems to be the only person in the entire facility looking after its inmatesamp160 Frida gives the inmates a sense of hope especially those she believes still have light in them a quality she sees in Mendozaamp160 The supporting cast also features Luis Felipe Tolivar as manipulative criminal and fellow inmate Mariano Tavares David Chocarro as prisoner Santito Guy Ecker as Judge John Morris and Isabella Castillo as his daughter LindaThe series39 direction and cinematography is comparable to that of major network series likeamp160Homelandamp160andamp160House of Cards which are large in scale and size but manage to not lose any sense of story character or depthThough the crime drama genre is nothing new for Telemundo or the majority of television programming for that matter what is clearly an upgrade is the overall production value and focus on clear concise storytellingamp160 Many modern telenovelas are on five nights a week for months at a time and given the mounting competition out there it is sometimes hard to keep up with them especially for someone who watches both American and Spanishspeaking networksamp160 Iamp8217m sure Telemundo knows of the evershrinking attention spans of Millennial and GenZ audiences and that the average telenovela or quotSuper Seriesquot those with 100plus episode seasons may not fair well with them unless theyamp8217re really hookedThat shouldn39t be the case hereamp160 Telemundo has a surefire homerun with El Reclusoamp160 In a world of media with endless representations of toxic masculinity it39s refreshing and inspiring to see a lead hero with such strength and bravado who also shows vulnerability emotional depth and above all heartEl Reclusoamp160is telecast Monday through Friday at 10 pm on TelemundoClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Telemundo's Thrilling "El Recluso" Is "Prison Break" Meets "Taken"

Author

Publish date

Channel

Juan Ayala

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Telemundo's Thrilling "El Recluso" Is "Prison Break" Meets "Taken"

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Juan Ayala

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies