Beach, heat and hormones, a very effective trident in the mission of capturing pubescent eyes.
If you add to that luxury, excess, an unresolved death, a high dose of seduction and sex and a "millionaires versus poor" the formula usually explodes.
And
Netflix detonates it for the umpteenth time.
With its clichés in tow, the series
Mar de fondo
(
Knokke Off
in its original title) fulfills that intention of magnetizing young people, although it does not have too artistic ambitions.
It combines the luminosity of the European coasts and the hegemonic beauty of its actors with
the darkness within the wealthy clans
.
A teenage summer on the Belgian coast and among the rich.
It could be a perfect plan, but it could also be a tragedy, because
there is no social position, education or neighborhood that will save a teenager from the dangers of the world and their internal monsters... even from their own parents.
Louise (Pommelien Thijs) and Alex (Willem De Schryver) appear to be the perfect couple, children of neat families with a good name and financial solvency.
A magnifying glass is enough to understand
the complexity of their dysfunctional family trees and how family secrets affect their arrogant behaviors.
Daan (Eliyha Altena), the humble boy who arrives in that coastal town of Knokke-Heist with his mother Melissa (Anna Drijver), is the one who
comes to stir up the hornet's nest of prejudices and propose the triangle of history.
The game is to discover which member of each family carries the most poisonous stinger
.
The beginning is almost the end.
A
flashback
of the protagonist gives us the idea that in the present (and paraphrasing the maritime themes) Alex is up to his neck in water.
"They already know," he tells his mother, as if ready for what's to come.
What do they know?
Who is it?
Pommelien Thijs and Eliyha Altena in a scene from "The Sea in the Background".
Beyond the youth plot, the world of the adult characters opens up interesting subplots and takes us all the time to the terrain of the complex relationships between children, parents, husbands, lovers.
Miseries disguised with impunity
and an idea that is present all the time:
fat wallets cannot compensate for gaps
.
The general plot does not escape what typical adolescent stories propose
,
the
path to self-knowledge in that transition to adulthood
.
On this journey of idyllic settings, high tides, sand, motorhomes, infidelities and covert crime, we explore dramas such as
mental health disorders, drug use and gender violence.
Belgium does not have a huge presence in the streaming catalogues, but some of what could be seen here was powerful (such as the thriller
Two Summers
, or the psychological thriller
Tábula rasa
).
This product has connection points with another European (Swedish) series that the algorithm has among its favorites these days on Netflix:
A Normal Family.
In both, hypocrisy and social masks are determining factors in the plot.
Youth triangle.
With several script twists and good performances,
Mar de Fondo
(of which there is already news of a second season, and which from time to time can refer to the Spanish
Elite
) maintains the pace in easily digestible chapters (10, 35 minutes each ).
These days it works as
a good summer pastime
, like those intense dips that are enjoyed and forgotten at the speed of a wave.
File
Rating:
Good
Genre:
Drama.
Starring:
Pommelien Thijs, Willem De Schryver, Eliyha Altena.
Direction and creation: Anthony Van Biervliet.
Episodes
: 10, on Netflix.