Binge Or Cringe: ‘Neon’ Paints a Superficial Picture,But Brings Genuine Laughs
Netflix’s new comedy Neon is just as light and shiny as its title suggests. The series centers on Santi (Tyler Dean Flores), a boyishly charming wannabe reggaeton star, along with Ness (Emma Ferreira) and Felix (Jordan Mendoza), his friends/manager and creative director respectively, as they pursue their music career dreams in Miami. Along the way they meet Mia (Courtney Taylor), a music agent’s assistant hustling and lying her way up the ranks. Executive produced by Daddy Yankee, the show attempts to take viewers into the Latin music scene, boasting guest appearances from the likes of Lyanno and Jota Rosa. However, Neon fails to bring viewers very deep into anything, skimming the surface of the music business and its characters in a show that is entertainingly goofy but not particularly noteworthy.
Meet Santi, Ness, and Felix
The main cast brings a natural charm that makes the series easy to watch. Santi walks a fine line between immature and lovably naive as he risks it all for his dreams using unconventional, and arguably idiotic, methods. Mia is fun to root for as her confidence and creativity clearly lay beyond her position as an assistant; she brings a down-to-earth quality to her bold lies, breathing a sigh of relief with the audience after successfully bluffing through an interaction with a big star. Offbeat and unsure of himself, Felix is perhaps the greatest source of the show’s comedy; he spurs antics like inadvertently turning a grocery store jingle remix into “fruit porn” or making a music video where the artist cuts himself in half, leaving his torso and legs to lead separate lives. While Felix brings the laughs, Ness brings the heart. She is the most supportive of her friends, the most persistent in fighting for their collective dream, and the most afraid to fail. She stalks a journalist so that Santi can get press coverage and she teaches Felix how to swim, recreating the scene from Moonlight to cheer him up after a setback. She also struggles to accept herself, the root of which is glimpsed in a flashback where her parents forbid her from dancing with her girlfriend at her quinceañera.
The handful of scenes digging into characters’ pasts, flaws, and loyalties are highlights of the series. However, there are too few of them. The audience never sees the small town where Santi, Ness, and Felix lived before Miami. There is no hint of what they were doing before pursuing music in Miami. While they all have their character quirks and flaws, and their career goals are clear, the show doesn’t delve into why they have these goals. They are all in Miami simply because breaking into the music industry “is the dream.” While Ness wrestles with self-doubt, there are few scenes dedicated to her growth, or to the development of any of the characters. With no meaningful personal goals or opportunities to mature for the characters, the show misses an opportunity for more compelling material to keep viewers invested.
Was it Binge or Cringe?
The lack of character development is matched by a lack of plot development. Even as Santi and his friends struggle to break into a notoriously impossible industry, every episode has a happy ending. Instead of cliffhangers, the focus at the end of each episode is on hope, with the heroes’ luck turning toward the better. A few problems are put on the back burner while the characters move on. After signing a contract with a strict backer who happens to be a drug lord, the crew make decisions they know their backer doesn’t approve of, occasionally mention that they will face the consequences later, and continue on their way. Perhaps the most interesting arc is Mia’s; the audience consistently witnesses her struggling to balance being an assistant with pretending she’s a full-fledged agent. She lives with the threat of her boss catching her lie, and her story escalates as others find out the truth, creating steady tension missing from other aspects of the series. The season burns through three different antagonists, launches romances after little shared screen time between couples, and spends an episode or two on each major setback. The audience doesn’t get to sit with the characters in their struggles or the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, viewers understand that no matter what happens, the protagonists will be saved, undermining any threats in the plot.
The picture painted of the Latin music industry in Miami is similarly shallow and shiny. What viewers see of the reggaeton world is mainly parties, clubs, a handful of catchy songs, and the classic arrogant agent and head-in-the-clouds artists. In only eight episodes, Santi and the crew speed through the process of getting signed, skimming over the juicy details of actually fighting one’s way into the music industry. Original songs produced by Tainy and reggaeton icons add flavor to the show, as well as characters slipping into Spanish for some conversations; however, viewers won’t learn about the world like they might in other, more fleshed-out series.
Despite the many missed opportunities for depth, Neon is a genuinely funny watch. While its satire of the music industry may not be grippingly original, watching a pop star ask to add more moans to a song because moaning is her thing is still hilarious. The antics are especially bizarre. Santi’s main competition becomes less of a threat because he’s more passionate about magic tricks than music. When Felix continuously opens drawers in the crew’s drug lord backer’s mansion only to find guns, he simply complains that he just wanted a spoon. The dry, absurd humor of the quick, 30-minute episodes carry Neon to the level of solidly entertaining.
Who will like it?
If you are looking for a meticulous love song to the world of reggaeton, Neon won’t quite deliver. The characters have no background or personally meaningful goals. Cameos from Latin music icons bring spice to an otherwise stereotypically glamorous depiction of the music scene. Conflicts are rushed, leaving no lasting tension or palpable threats. However, the easy charm and uniquely absurd humor of the heroes — who have no idea what they’re doing but know they’re doing it together — bring enough heart and laugh-out-loud moments to make Neon ultimately entertaining. All eight episodes of Neon can be streamed on Netflix now.
