Between Father and Son Review
Director: Pablo Illanes
Date Created: 2026-05-13 19:45
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Between Father and Son Review: Created by Pablo Illanes, Netflix’s Mexican microseries Entre padre e hijo stars Pamela Almanza as Barbara, alongside Erick Elías as Alvaro, Graco Sendel as Iker, Natalia Plascencia, Ivanna Castro, Carmen Delgado and others. The series consists of 20 episodes, with each running for 9 to 10 minutes.
Between Father and Son Review
Nowadays, if you waste a good amount of your time doomscrolling on social media, chances are you must have come across the surreal short dramas with only one or two minutes per episode that somehow manage to catch you off guard with some of the weirdest plot lines ever thought of. And while you think about how anyone would think to create such a thing and actually greenlight it, you can’t stop yourself from watching simply because every single episode will end with a shocker of some sort.
Mexican series Between Father and Son is basically just the elongated version of such an odd show on Netflix. The show carries all the chaos that you expect from a crazy Wattpad story made real-life, complete with forbidden love, mystery, manipulative relatives, out-of-nowhere emotional breakdowns, and shocking twist endings.
Netflix’s Between Father and Son revolves around Barbara, a well-respected lawyer who goes to the house of her fiancé, Alvaro, before getting married. However, the situation takes an unexpected turn when Barbara finds herself attracted to his son, Iker, due to an accidental meeting. While all this unfolds, Barbara grows suspicious of the whereabouts of Fernanda, who used to be Alvaro’s wife. The series constantly jumps from one genre to another without paying enough attention to the repercussions of Barbara’s growing affection for her stepson.
The problem with the Netflix series Between Father and Son, in my opinion, is the fact that it is confused about the difference between chaos and plot. On screen, someone starts shouting, weeping, or crying in agony almost every few seconds. However, none of those emotional outbursts has any value because the writer does not give viewers an opportunity to understand what the characters are feeling. In theory, Barbara and Iker’s relationship was supposed to be passionate, emotional, and complex. In reality, all they can share with each other is just a physical passion and a lack of judgment.
This is all the more exasperating because the drama surrounding the relationship between father and son would have been fascinating had it been done well. There is plenty of material to be explored in an episode about a woman torn between her father, who struggles with unresolved issues, and her son, who yearns for love and independence. The problem is that the series hardly scrapes the surface of these themes. It does not create psychological suspense but rather relies on shocking scenes and unexpected revelations to keep audiences hooked.
Even Barbara cannot easily be comprehended as a character. In Netflix’s Mexican drama Between Father and Son, Barbara comes across as an intelligent, successful lawyer; however, at times, her decisions appear to be absolutely crazy. From one moment, she is investigating something that might be related to the disappearance of Fernanda, and then in the very next moment, she is entangled in a secret love affair with Iker. It becomes unintentionally hilarious how seriously the show tries to be while being a parody of itself in some other aspects.
However, I must concede that the micro-series approach definitely plays to the show’s strengths somewhat. Because each episode lasts only ten minutes or so, the viewer never gets the chance to fully realise just how absurd the situation is before moving on to yet another cliffhanger sequence. Each episode is punctuated with somebody listening in on a discussion, uncovering some information, or having a meaningful glance across a room. It seems to know that its target audience will be watching it in binge mode. But the truth is that if one were to pause and examine the story, it all unravels rather quickly.
In terms of performance, Pamela Almanza does her best in order to convey the emotional aspect of the show. While it may be difficult for her due to a rather absurd and unbelievable plot, she manages to make Barbara vulnerable enough to connect to her. Erick Elías tries hard to convey the past traumas of Alvaro in his performance, but the story simply never gets deeper than dialogues about it. And finally, Graco Sendel manages to play Iker in a way that makes it clear why Barbara falls for him – only for him to become a very boring and one-dimensional character very soon afterwards.
In terms of its visuals, the Between Father and Son series features a slick look that is common to most social media thrillers. It all seems pretty fine; at the same time, one feels as though the cinematography and the musical score are straining to prove to the audience that there is much profundity in their work. Instead of generating natural excitement, the series is always pushing people into doing dramatic things.
Another serious issue lies in the question of why Fernanda went missing. The show creates so many mysteries about the secrets in the family of Alvaro, but it fails to create suspense. Instead, the show bombards the audience with suspicious actions of all the characters without giving them a moment to breathe. In fact, each and every person in the show has some shady past or present that makes them seem like criminals.
Netflix Between Father and Son Review: Summing Up
Overall, Between Father and Son does not have the elements of a psychological thriller. The series looks like an endless stream of TikTok videos filled with shock moments that happen every few minutes, yet the plot loses its effect since there is no real substance to the characters’ personalities or their interactions. There is no hint of psychological exploration of any kind, trauma, or even obsession. The drama seems endless and ungrounded.
