Italian West-inspired cinema often labels certain films as spaghetti westerns, and the same playful naming instinct shows up with the Prime Video project headlining a fresh Spanish drama premiering on Friday, March 17: paella-west. Created by Sara Antuña and Carlos de Pando, the team behind hits such as El vecino and García!, the series leans into the Alicante region, a landscape famed for its sunlit beaches and arid stretches that resemble a Far West canvas come to life.
In this world, two ordinary workers stumble into a perilous plot. They are two women with a quirky sense of humor who discover a corpse in the mansion they’ve been hired to clean. Realizing they might be the prime suspects, they flee. The chase isn’t limited to the police; danger comes from unseen pursuers, including Russian hitmen and a wealthy family with a lot of dirty laundry to wash. The premise blends tension with unexpected humor as the duo navigates a spiraling crisis.
Antuña explains that the decision to frame the story with a Western vibe came from considering the setting and the political climate of Valencia. The series follows Desi and Cata, two ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary predicament, overwhelmed by a colossal force yet determined to defend themselves with whatever they can muster. The Western code becomes a readable lens through which the characters’ resilience is tested, balancing peril with human resourcefulness.
Even though the show carries the fingerprints of four directors — Paco Caballero, Gemma Ferraté, Samantha López Speranza, and Koldo Serra — the editing embraces Western cinema’s visual language and even its sonic textures. The creators chose to invert expectations: the protagonists are two women who come from precarious work backgrounds, not glamorous heroines, and the story uses their vulnerabilities as a source of strength rather than a liability.
A lesbian gypsy and a Mexican immigrant
One lead is a Romani woman facing issues with her mother, a dynamic complicated by her sexuality, while the other lead is a Mexican immigrant married to a lively, sometimes cheeky husband. These contrasts intensify the characters’ struggles to escape a sticky situation. The voices of De Pando and Antuña emphasize how the duo’s gender, class, and social position restrict their options, yet also empower them to improvise and persist. The filmic world of real estate booms and mariachi music grounds the drama, accentuating a sense of place where naturalness and authenticity prevail.
“The goal isn’t to present two glamorous heroines sprinting away,” one creator notes. “They are real women who lack a male gaze and who refuse to live for others’ fantasies of danger.” The cast members reinforce this stance with performances that prioritize ordinary humanity over sensationalism. Their shared dream is simple — to return home, put their feet in the water, savor a slice of pizza, and sleep, because the grind of work never stops, and the fight to survive continues after the sun goes down.
Set against the landscapes of Alicante, the eight-episode journey channels a spirit akin to Thelma & Louise, delivering a blend of humor and suspense as the women encounter the various characters they play along the way. Cast additions include Silvia Alonso, Borja Luna, Álex Gadea, Adrian Grösser, and Adriana Torrebejano, who enrich the narrative with their distinctive energy and bring depth to the ensemble cast. Humor, after all, remains a powerful vehicle for light relief amid high-stakes tension.
For the creators, comedy serves as a vital tool for storytelling, especially in Spain where humor often acts as a release valve in moments of drama. The laughter offers a bridge of connection with the audience, translating fear into a shared, approachable experience. Antuña and De Pando stress that fiction should acknowledge human resilience, even when circumstances feel frantic and overwhelming. In their view, genuine storytelling allows audiences to believe that people can endure and find moments of levity even in the most trying times.