Ingobernable Season 1 Netflix Series Pilot Review

Ingobernable (2017-)
Season 1 - 15 episodes (2017

Watch Ingobernable Season 1 on Netflix
Created by: Epigmenio Ibarra, Natasha Ybarra-Klor, Veronica Velasco
Starring: Kate del Castillo, Eréndira Ibarra, Alberto Guerra, Erik Hayser
Rated: TV-MA

Plot
In this Spanish language series, when Mexico's president Diego Nava compromises his ideals, his wife Emilia Urquiza (Kate del Castillo) leaves him. When he's found dead she's the main suspect, already presumed guilty and now on the run.

Verdict
While the premise is more than a bit flimsy, the plot and pilot of this political thriller are gripping. The first lady of Mexico is on the run accused of murdering her husband, the president. Like The Fugitive (1993), she claims she didn't do it and is on the run. I've only seen the first two episodes, but I definitely want to see more. Various plot lines have potentially been setup to turn this into a far reaching conspiracy.
Watch it.

Review
This starts with a fight between the first lady and president that soon turns physical. She claims he betrayed her and the country while he accuses her of cheating, which she denies. The fight gets nasty.

The First Lady and the President.

This is the part of the show that could have been done better. This is the crux of the show and it's unclear what exactly happened. They're on a balcony during a thunderstorm. She pushes past him and the show jumps to a different scene. When we cut back to them, she wakes up holding a gun on the balcony and he's gone. I don't know what caused her to pass out. None of this is clarified until the second episode, and she doesn't really know what happened. Either way, President Diego Nava went off the balcony and landed on top of a car in spectacular fashion. I wondered if when she pushed past him, she inadvertently pushed him off the balcony, as unlikely as that is. That doesn't explain why she passed out. Did he jump off? I wasn't sure.

First Lady Emilia Urquiza peering over the balcony.

In the second episode she recounts the story to a confidant. While she doesn't know much, it helps clarify the muddled setup in the first episode. I watched that part of the first episode twice, thinking it was me. It's not. He didn't jump and she didn't push him. It's a mystery. The end result, the President was shot and thrown off the balcony. Emilia doesn't know what happened. She decides to become a fugitive. It seems like going to the secret service, who know you, and explaining the situation would be the best course of action. As beaten up as she was, self defense seems like a completely plausible claim. Why didn't she want to explain? Running is a means to an end. Though it will give the show time to develop the conspiracy, which undoubtedly will follow. That may be the only reason she ran.

While there are threads of a conspiracy, having Nava decide to jump would be a better mystery, and much clearer. There was no one else with them. The murder is a good hook, even if the set up is thin. The first lady is on a security briefing panel, so she knows how to hide the show tells us. We see how dedicated she is when she performs minor surgery on herself. As smart as she is, I don't get why she hasn't changed out of heels and a dress at the end of the second episode.

Secretary of the Interior José Barquet

We don't know how the president betrayed Emilia. They were a political power couple unaffiliated with any parties. Is the issue he allied with a party? The president may have made some back room deals. There are a lot of side characters, many introduced with very little context. Emilia's dad is a big time business man that will invariably play a part in this. Secretary of the Interior José Barquet assumes the presidency, and I have to wonder if he is a ploy or a plant. I expect this mystery to go deep, with various conspiracies clashing and factions vying for power.

The conclusion to the second episode is melodramatic with sweeping music and various characters crying. If this can avoid the drama and focus on Emilia the fugitive while developing the conspiracy, this has a lot of potential.