maxpjones
Acapulco starts off really great, with a truly masterful first season. Great characters, extremely witty writihng, and some sincerely very touching scenes. I love the whole 80s setting and Latin tone that at times borders on if not outright directly pays homage to Spanish-language telenovelas. These features give Acapulco its own unique style that makes it feel unlike any other show. When season 1 ended with some plot threads not closed and a clear teaser for a following season, I was worried that the overall story of Acapulco would never end and the series would continue to go until its quality and viewership both fell off. While I was happy to find seasons 2 and 3 excellent seasons of television that made me glad the series did continue beyond the first season, it became clear very quickly into season 4 that that concern I had upon the conclusion of season 1 turned out to be well-founded. There is a noticeable quality dropoff between seasons 1-3 and the finale season, with the showrunners seemingly deciding it was not worth it to put the same passion into the finale season and just deliver a product that ended the story to the series they had set up. As a result, it feels like a completely different show. Also, by the very nature of the show, with it going on so long and the protagonist never learning lessons, I personally started to get very frustrated with Maximo, who at first in the series was charming, endearing, and relatable if not somewhat naive...it's the continued naivety after 4 seasons of his own actions continually leading to problems that gets frustrating (even if on an individual episode-by-episode basis these scenarios set in motion by Maximo's actions are almost always well-written and compelling.) Season 4 was not bad, it had its moments, and the finale episode itself I found, if not a masterful conclusion (which I literally don't think would have been possible given the season that came before it), at least a satisfying one. The finale episode did actually somewhat fix a lot of the problems that season 4 as a whole had. I would honestly give seasons 1-3 a 10/10 each, but season 4 drops down to maybe an 8, pulling the overall series score to a 9 for me. Overall though, Acapulco was worth the watch, even if getting through the mixed bag of season 4 to reach the ultimate finale can get tedious. Seasons 1-3 are more than excellent enough to make it a worthwhile series-wide watch front to back. I love the characters and actors (Eugenio Derbez is a legend), the personal and social themes (including queerness) elevate it to another level, and there is a wonderful sense of humor and fun energy that makes Acapulco feel like ..... a luxury resort in Acapulco in the 1980s! Acapulco is a good TV show. Feeling a strong A- on this one.
