Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Valeria’ On Netflix, Where An Author With Writer’s Block Finds Inspiration With Friends And A New Man (2024)

Since Sex And The City began 22 years ago, many a network has tried to emulate the show’s winning formula. Some try to vary things up a bit, but some hew pretty close to the archetypes that were created by Darren Star’s HBO comedy. Valeria, a Spanish dramedy based on a series of novels, is an unapologetic SATC clone. But that’s not necessarily a problem. Read on for more…

VALERIA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As news of a Madrid taxi protest plays on the TV, we pan over the desk of a writer who is looking at books for inspiration, including Jane Eyre. Her laptop is open but she isn’t writing anything.

The Gist: Valeria Férriz Henares (Diana Gómez) is trying to write her first novel, having gotten the contract to write it after winning a young writer’s award the previous year. She’s extended the deadline more than once, and now she has to finish the first portion of it in a week, and she’s barely started. To help make ends meet, she’s up for a security guard position at a museum, and her photographer husband Adrian (Ibrahim Al Shami) is eager for her to get the job, mostly to help them out financially, but also so Valeria gets out of her own head.

As we see a montage of Valeria trying and failing to find inspiration and basically go through the usual distractions, she ends up calling her friends and leaving a “podcast,” as one of them called her lengthy message. Her longtime friends have their own things to deal with. Lola (Silma López) is dating a married man named Sergio (Aitor Luna), and she’s fine with it because it’s “exciting.” Carmen (Paula Malia) has a crush on a handsome man in her office named Borja (Juanlu González), but is so chicken to talk to him that she tries to plan her exit to coincide with his so they can “run into” each other. Nerea (Teresa Riott) still lives with her parents while she’s paying them back for her master’s degree; she also works for them. Oh, and she hasn’t come out to them either.

But they’re all supportive of Valeria, trying to dissuade her from buying into impostor syndrome being the reason for her writer’s block. Lola invites them to a party thrown by her friend Victor (Maxi Iglesias). But first, Valeria has to deal with the interview; she finds out to her dismay that the position is full time, with some weekend and holiday work. That would help out financially, of course, but she feels that would all but kill the novel she’s trying to complete. But Adri, who just found out that he’s being laid off from the studio where he works, really needs this gig to come through for his wife. Their relationship in general has been on the distant side, and these job problems haven’t helped.

Valeria goes to the party, but ends up being alone: Nerea missed her train, Borja finally asked Carmen out, and Lola is busy getting a rim job from Sergio. She ends up meeting Victor and the two of them hit it off; despite the fact that she’s married, she listens intently to the handsome, flirty host while he advises her not to take the security job and do what she wants. They come oh-so-close to kissing on the way home, but she resists. When he suggests that she write an erotic novel, she takes the suggestion to heart.

Our Take: Valeria is based on the novels by Elísabet Benavent and adapted for TV by María López Castaño. It’s not a show that’s trying to convey anything deeper than the story of a young woman who wants a deep connection with everything in her life. Valeria has that connection with her friends, no doubt about that, but she also wants that connection with her husband and her work, and she’s not getting that from either of them.

In a lot of ways, this show reads like a millennial, Madrid-set version of Sex And The City; the main character is even a writer. The city is just as big a character as the human characters are, with its old neighborhoods and modern offices, dynamic night life and colorful characters. There’s also a bit of fantasy wrapped in the show; for instance, it’s hard to believe that Valeria and Adri can actually afford the apartment they’re in, even if it’s in an old building in a middling neighborhood.

What’s fun, though, is that the actors inhabit their characters pretty fully right away. Lola is sexually adventurous and has no problem being a homewrecker, saying that if she breaks up a marriage, “that’s their problem.” Carmen is awkward and not at all confident in herself, despite her fun sense of style and high-powered job. Nerea is loyal, almost to her detriment.

And Valeria is down-to-earth but really longing for a life she can’t quite reach. The only aspect of this first season that we’re not fond of is that Valeria is going to seriously consider leaving Adri for Victor. Perhaps we’ll get more of an idea in later episodes that her marriage is really too far gone or that Adri is some complete and total jerk, but right now he just looks like a guy who’s stressed over their future. The fact that Victor is coming in from a completely outside perspective and telling Valeria to ditch the practical gig might make him look like a jerk, and we don’t want Valeria to dump her husband for a jerk.

What we do expect is to see more of all four women’s stories. We’re especially intrigued with Nerea’s story, because we know the least about her after the first episode. But Valeria will be front and center, and we hope that even if she doesn’t make the greatest romantic choices, it’ll at least be enjoyable to watch those choices.

Sex and Skin: The aforementioned sex act between Lola and Sergio. Even then, the nudity is only implied.

Parting Shot: After she gets the text from Adri that he lost his job, Valeria takes a Lyft home, right in front of a line of cabs. Of course, the cabbies are so angry that they crowd the car and start shaking it. “I swear I didn’t do anything!” she yells.

Sleeper Star: Paula Malia’s character Carmen has the best comedic potential, because of her extreme awkwardness. We kind of wished her crush on Borja would have played out for a few more episodes before he asked her out.

Most Pilot-y Line: Don’t the men hitting on Valeria at Victor’s party — including Victor — notice that Valeria is wearing a wedding ring? Or are we men just that oblivious.

Our Call: STREAM IT. There’s nothing new or particularly deep about Valeria, but the cast is appealing and the writing is sharp, making it a very watchable show.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

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