Red Leatherette Sofa
Episode 1 of Sky Rojo begins with a sports car zooming up the desert road. With loud rock music playing, narration from Coral introduces us to the set-up we’ve got going on. Pimp Romeo runs a club called The Bride’s Club, sitting on the edge of Tenerife while Madam Charlotte oversees the girls. The club is shut for the day though, thanks to the death of Romeo’s wife Clarita. With Romeo already in a bad mood, he heads back to the club where Gina shows up in his office. Dropping a stack of cash on the table, she holds her breath, hoping this is enough to pay off her servitude. Only, Romeo fiddles the system and confirms she owes more. Gina refuses to listen though and decides to leave on her own accord. That is, until Romeo threatens her entire family. This is enough for Gina to lash out and strike the pimp in the face. As the two wrestle, Romeo stabs her in the chest multiple times and once in the stomach. Fellow hookers Coral and Wendy see their friend in trouble and hit back. Eventually, this culminates in Romeo being knocked out. Blood oozes out the top of his head as the three girls stand over him, shocked. This, as we soon learn, is the first of two corpses the girls are confronted with on this very eventful day in September. The three girls take off after killing Romeo and contemplate just what to do. Despite speeding away, they eventually turn the car around and head back. After all, taking off now makes them look very guilty. This is a bad idea given Charlotte sees them and immediately sees red. She charges after them, straight across the road where a truck ploughs straight into the girl and kills her. This seals the deal, as Coral, Wendy and Gina go on the run. Gina is in a bad way but instead of going to the doctor’s they show up at a veterinarian’s whom the girls have personal ties with. Specifically, this vet is one of their clients who frequents the club. As he examines Gina’s injuries, he realizes that the knife has hit her spleen meaning she needs surgery. After some encouraging words of wisdom, he agrees to do the surgery for her. With Coral and Wendy out the room, Gina tells him she doesn’t want anesthetic given she’s pregnant. While the girls contemplate what this means for them all, Christian and Moises, Romeo’s right-hand men, show up at the club.
The Episode Review
Violent, well-edited and incredibly artistic, Sky Rojo gets off to a powerful start as we dive into this hedonistic world of pimps and hookers. The basic set-up is a good one, with shades of Killing Eve and P-Valley bleeding through this very distinct and unique Spanish drama. Alex Pina’s style from La Casa De Papel can be felt here too and that really helps solidify this show as one of the better thrillers of the year so far. Sky Rojo does an excellent job introducing its characters too and immediately plunges us head-first into this world. The characters are really interesting and there’s a lot of depth to the majority of players too. Everything beautifully crescendos into that open ending too, leaving a lot of promise for the episodes ahead.
