While the elements of a good telenovela are all present, and the unrealistic coincidences (the first lady on the lam's nanny just happens to have a sister with a hacker toy-boy, and the nanny's son, the stud, just happens to show up at auntie's house the day he's released from prison, etc.) it is as a specifically Mexican (not generic Latin American, or Latin America through US filters) that it works. The references to fictional massacres, and scandals have resonance to our own recent history and various characters are based on political and public figures we can recognize. The conspiracy (involving the CIA, the DEA, our army, the "cartels", and CESEN -- our intelligence service) is perhaps a bit overblown, but plausible to us here.
One thing I thought very good was in the early episodes, the legal and constitutional processes that would go with a transfer of power in a crisis (the last time was in 1927, when the President-elect was assassinated a few weeks before his inauguration) and the formality surrounding our system of government... all without interfering with the story.
What particularly impressed me was that, unlike standard telenovelas, the realities of my city were not "prettied up" for TV. Tepito looks like Tepito, and the actors aren't all the pretty white people, but are very real Mexican types.
One thing I thought very good was in the early episodes, the legal and constitutional processes that would go with a transfer of power in a crisis (the last time was in 1927, when the President-elect was assassinated a few weeks before his inauguration) and the formality surrounding our system of government... all without interfering with the story.
What particularly impressed me was that, unlike standard telenovelas, the realities of my city were not "prettied up" for TV. Tepito looks like Tepito, and the actors aren't all the pretty white people, but are very real Mexican types.