A mysterious woman enlists Los Espookys to frighten five people vying to win a millionaire's fortune by staying through the night at his "haunted" mansion. Tasked with ensuring the man's son doesn't win the loot, Renaldo agrees to attempt a challenging stunt to crown a winner. In LA, Tico finds himself in the art-world spotlight after a case of mistaken identity.
In 2018, there were 495 scripted shows airing amongst the linear channels and streaming services. The way people are consuming content now is so different than it used to be. It happens according to one's own schedule. As such, there is less necessity to provide ample coverage of each specific episode in any given season from a show. Moreover, it is simply impossible to watch everything. As such, this site is making the move to shorter episodic reviews in order to cover as many shows as possible. With all of that being said, here are my thoughts on the next episode of HBO's Los Espookys.
"El Espanto De La Herencia (The Inheritance Scare)" was written by Julio Torres & Ana Fabrega and directed by Fernando Frias
Horror is Renaldo's passion. It's what gives him life. He can sit at home watching horror moves all day long. He cares about it more than anything else. The premiere established the new business he has created with his friends. He is committed to it fully. Sure, he is sentimental as well. Andres points that out with a picture of the friends on his new desk. But Renaldo has already put together an office for the friends to plot out these elaborate scares. The premiere also concluded with the team getting a new gig. They would put together a scary night in order to see which of five strangers would walk away with a million dollar inheritance. It's treated as so normal in this world as well. The daughter of the local ambassador sees this as a great honor just to be invited. Sure, she is more tempted by the outside world and the appearances on social media than anything that happens while she is in this mansion. In fact, most of the people leave without any kind of pushing from Los Espookys. That means they can spend the majority of this episode actually getting into minor disagreements with one another. This gig doesn't work as cohesively as the exorcism did. They were all unified in their desire to make that work. And now, the show points out that Ursula and Andres have lives outside of this business. Sure, they may not like their destinies as a dentist and heir to a chocolate fortune. And yet, those are still responsibilities that they have to honor and take seriously. Ursula has to show up for this job even though she is told aggressively by her boss that she needs to smile because that would be more inviting to their patients. That is a sly way of incorporating a potent discussion of sexism into the proceedings while never taking away from the sheer silliness of everything else that is happening at the moment. Juan Carlos is an incredibly broad and silly character. He sees the importance of traditions. They are traditions because they have always been done a certain way. He doesn't want to shake things up even though he is in a relationship with a man who seems to only question the world around him. Andres is so desperate for answers about his lineage. It doesn't matter that he looms over this world with a large fortune. Juan Carlos wants him to take that seriously because he could realistically get caught off at any moment. Andres doesn't really feel that pressure though. Instead, he just wants answers regarding the night he was delivered to the orphanage. He doesn't get any of them though despite the nurse who received him being a part of this inheritance scare. She is much more terrified by him and the reality that she'll have to give all the money to the orphans than anything that Los Espookys do. That's a huge portion of the story here. The team isn't effective with their scares until they all work together. They don't have the same level of passion. Renaldo will do anything to make this business work even though he's not all that concerned about how much the group will be paid for this job. There always happens to be another one waiting around the corner. That's hopeful and ensures a steady pattern for the premise of the show. But it's also just so outrageous and rewarding to watch as Renaldo rallies the troops behind the bed scare that they actually pull off. The show never wants the audience to question the logistics of it all either. It's just surreal and incredible. All it takes is the right kind of inspiration. Once that is achieved, then basically anything is possible. That's actually a very uplifting and joyous core message being delivered through this show.
