Hit or Miss: Netflix's 'Sky Rojo'
Netflix is gearing up for the release of the third and final season of its Spanish language crime thriller, Sky Rojo, which is set to debut on Jan. 13. The drama chronicles the shared journey of a trio of former sex workers as they attempt to escape the wrath of a vengeful pimp in the hopes of building better lives for themselves and their loved ones. Judging by the latest trailer released by Netflix, the show’s final chapter may just be the most action-packed season yet.
The trailer for the new season picks up right where last season left off: after stealing four million Euros from their megalomaniac boss, the three protagonists—Coral, Wendy and Gina retreat to a remote corner of the Canary Islands to lay low and enjoy their newfound freedom. The voice over narration of Coral, played by Veronica Sanchez (Fat People, La mantaña ruso), recounts how the three friends went “from working nights to enjoying the sun with a mojito in hand.” A series of quick shots paired with Coral’s narration reveal the women celebrating their freedom. They laugh, they dance and enjoy each other’s company while basking in the sun.
Despite the beauty of the desert island scenery, viewers quickly learn that sinister forces are set on destroying the girls’ temporary security. The trailer cuts to Romeo, played by Asier Etxeandia, scheming to kill the women with his henchman Moisés, played by Miguel Ángel Silvestre. “I just found them,” Moisés tells his boss, “the girls are going on a boat.” Romeo smiles menacingly at this news. “That’s wonderful,” he responds, “a massacre at sea.”
Another fast-paced series of shots shows Romeo and his underlings armed with assault weapons, chasing down the girls on a speedboat. With gravity in her voice, Coral’s narration returns and reminds viewers that “the past always comes back.” Romeo’s men open fire on the girls who take cover on the floor of the boat’s cabin as bullets rain down around them.
As they fight for their freedom from Romeo’s control, the trio begins to realize that running from their past won’t make it disappear. Viewers are given glimpses of the trauma the women endured as sex workers at Las Novias Club through flashbacks of unwanted sexual advances, physical and emotional abuse and unfettered narcotics use. “The fear we went through will never go away,” Coral warns Wendy and Gina. “I feel it every night,” she admits, “I can’t sleep.” Faced with no other alternative, the girls decide they must face the threat to their lives head on. “If the past always comes back, then let’s end it,” declares Wendy, played by Lali Espósito.
In preparation for the fight, the women load their guns and harden their resolve. The trailer ramps up the action even further by offering viewers a glimpse at the action to come: a dirt bike chase on a back road, a bar brawl turned gunfight in the night club, and high pressure confrontations between Moisés and the trio. Viewers are also given a preview of the infighting within both of the competing groups as a rapid succession of clips hint at the rising tensions between allies on either side. Gina, played by Yany Prado, reminds viewers that this season is an all-or-nothing game by announcing to Coral and Wendy, “I need to blow Romeo’s head off.”
Romeo and his goons continue their ruthless pursuit of the women and intensify their tactics once they realize it's a fight to the death. “Either they live or we live,” Moisés tells Romeo in one tense scene. “And I won’t stop until I’ve killed them.”
In yet another quick montage of action shots, Moisés wakes Gina at gunpoint before the sequence cuts to a dangerous car chase, a shoot out at Las Novias Club, and Romeo wielding a broken glass bottle in a bar fight. Sex is also on display amidst the action when viewers are flashed images of Coral laying next to an unknown male lover and Gina dancing flirtatiously with a man under the neon lights of the dancefloor. “That kind of betrayal is only forgiven out of love,” warns the sinister narration of Romeo as the music builds to a climax.
The trailer plows on at a dizzying pace and rotates between clips of extreme emotionality and explosive carnage. “I need to see the neon lights of Las Novias burning in the middle of the desert,” Coral’s voice announces over the spiraling final sequence of car crashes, gun slinging and near-fatal confrontations. In the final scene of the trailer, Coral points her gun at an off-screen target. Behind her, Wendy calls out in protest, but her cries fall on deaf ears. “That filthy place deserves no other ending,” Coral’s narration concludes. Before viewers Coral pulls the trigger, then the trailer cuts away to a title card displaying Sky Rojo.
Sky Rojo season three bills itself as a seductive and heavily armed thriller with feminist sensibilities. Álex Pina— the mind behind Money Heist, White Lines and Vis a Vis created the series in collaboration with Esther Martínez Lobato, a writer and producer who frequently partners with Pina. The eight episode final season of Sky Rojo will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday, Jan. 13.
