Now that we are approaching the tailend of one of the worst years in the history of mankind, my theory that Netflix probably asked creators from all across the globe to come up with the most bizarre crime-fueled family dramas is looking more and more solid. The streaming platform kick-started 2024 with Fool Me Once, which focused on the shenanigans of a singular posh British family. Then there was The Accident, which involved several Mexican families. So did We Were Kings. Blood Legacy and Savage Beauty highlighted the opulence and wealth of elite South African families. Despite featuring actors from Australia, Ireland, and even India, The Perfect Couple talked about the stupidity of rich American folks. And then Territory took us to the great Down Under. But the issue with all of these titles was that they were bloody boring. I mean, they were supposed to be scandalous and the plotlines had the potential to be controversial, however, all of these creators were too scared to breach the boundaries of civility. That said, Netflix’s latest abomination, Sisters’ Feud, is “built different.”
Disclaimer: This review is based on the first 3 episodes of the show that were given to the press.
Jose Ignacio Valenzuela’s Sisters’ Feud is about the rivalry between siblings Perla and Antonia. That much is obvious. But given how there’s a whole lot of plot lines packed into the first 25 minutes of the show, everything after this point is me trying my best to make sense of what my eyes, ears, and brain were registering. So, as far as I could decipher, the family background of Perla and Antonia was synonymous with crime and wealth. Antonia was supposed to expand their empire by marrying the mining giant, Bernardo. However, Bernardo was in love with Perla, and Antonia caught her future husband cheating on her with her own sister. Antonia proceeded to leave the wedding ceremony in the ceremonial limousine, and Perla joined her on that journey. Their argument led to an accident which rendered Antonia infertile. Instead of calling off the marriage, Antonia decided to stay with Bernardo and ordered Perla to use her womb for the IVF process. Perla declined the proposal, hence Antonia had her [Trigger Warning] raped by Bernardo and then forced her to give birth to the child. Perla tried to make a run for it with the baby, Jacinta, but Bernardo and Antonia got her back. 4 years later, Antonia realized that she couldn’t see Jacinta as her own and put her in an orphanage and adopted a boy named Pedro. Bernardo lied to Perla that Jacinta had died, thereby crushing her spirit. 13 years later, the adverse effects of all these complications become palpable in Jacinta and Pedro’s lives and they begin trying to deal with it without losing their minds.
I know it’s hard to believe that what you have just read in that synopsis of Sisters’ Feud accounts for just 25 minutes of the first episode of the show, but it’s the truth. I have seen 10 episode-shows, with each episode being at least an hour long, try to have at least one of those plot points as its cliffhanger and fail. So, it’s wild to see a show use so many plotlines to go on such a wild rollercoaster ride of emotions in the first episode itself. By the way, in case you are wondering whether or not it gets more bizarre after those 25 minutes, allow me to inform you that it does. The writers practically create new levels of ridiculousness, surpass them, and then they keep going like there’s no tomorrow. Is there any underlying commentary about human nature, family ties, or society, in general? There’s some lukewarm exploration of revenge, but I genuinely think that the writers’ main aim was to see if they could stuff as many plot twists, genre shifts (it goes from western to psychological horror to prison break thriller at breakneck speed), and oddball characters into the story as possible so that viewers would be too shocked to critique the lack of logic and narrative cohesion. Well, in my opinion, they did, and kudos to them for that.
In addition to the breakneck speed at which Sisters’ Feud goes from one plot point to another, the thing that makes the show so weirdly enjoyable is its lack of irony. As mentioned before, this specific kind of family-drama-crime-thriller shows have such an air of self-seriousness that it dulls the viewing experience. Valenzuela and his team, though, are so earnest when it comes to conveying the gravity of what’s going on that the show enters the realm of self-parody. And the fun thing about that is you never know which creative decisions are intentional and which ones are, as Bob Ross would like to say, “happy accidents.” Without giving away any specific plot details, let’s just say that the show is chock full of surprising revelations but the accompanying score is reminiscent of the musical choices from Vine videos (do you remember Vine?). Now, I believe that everyone associated with the making of this show thought that those sounds accurately portrayed the tone of those scenes. However, since they were so blinded by their sincerity that all semblance of self-awareness went right out of the window and they were left with this unintentionally comedic affair. This philosophy of storytelling wasn’t limited to the score, by the way. Everything from the editing (the cuts had me belly-laughing) to the “action” scenes and the performances of the actors was so consistently outlandish that I couldn’t help but laud it.
With all that said, is Sisters’ Feud a good show, and do I recommend giving it a watch? Well, it’s definitely not a good show. You can’t just throw everything at the wall and hope that I am too distracted to notice that you are not even trying to make sense and just relying on shock value. Despite feeling hilariously confused, I could still see that the characters weren’t well-written, the scenes weren’t well-directed, and the show didn’t really have anything worthwhile to say. Yet, I think everyone should give it a watch because of those very reasons. Where else are you going to see this much money being poured into a project which is a potpourri of the most stunning, and borderline traumatizing, artistic choices your eyes have ever seen? I mean, after finishing the three episodes that were given to me by Netflix, was or was I not yearning to see what other cursed scenes the show had in store for me in the next 17 (!) episodes? Hell yes! Sure, I was apprehensive, but I was excited as well. And if that sounds like a recommendation to you, feel free to give Sisters’ Feud a watch.
