Don’t ask me why, but after waiting a long time for the season 4 of this hell-of-an-entertaining, Spanish crime-fiction television series “Entrevías" known as "Wrong Side of the Tracks" (WSOTT) on Netflix, I hoarded it, to save it for a relatively dry day on the streamer. Finally, I couldn’t wait any longer, sat down to watch it, and flew through eight 70-min episodes, faster than the bullets on the streets of Entrevias, where the story is set.
Tirso is back, and this time he is older, angrier and crankier. Besides simmering inside and being on his tireless toes to search for the killer who took his beloved granddaughter Irene’s life, he has become somewhat tenderised to feeling love for his family, as he silently battles an illness. Unlike sequels and subsequent seasons of many other series and films, season 4 of WSOTT is no way juiced out. It has so much action and drama that your heart beats as though you are sprinting running through Entrevias yourself.
Entrevías is a neighbourhood located in the southeastern part of Madrid, Spain, specifically within the district of Puente de Vallecas. The name "Entrevías" translates to "between tracks" in Spanish, referring to the area's location surrounded by railway tracks. The neighbourhood was created in the 1950s to accommodate people from rural areas looking for work. This somewhat peripheral district has a strong sense of community.
For those who are uninitiated, created by David Bermejo, WSOTT is the story of Tirso Abantos (José Coronado), a lonely, short-tempered ex-soldier who owns and runs a hardware store, and decides to confront a gang of drug traffickers. Unlike most heroes in adventure films and shows, where the protagonist is roguish, handsome and young, Tirso is different. Roguish and handsome he sure is, but he happens to be in his 70s, not that it holds him back, in any way. The man has an uncontrollable temperament, is fiercely honest and active, and has a woman who dotes on him. There is hope yet for the aging Khan’s of Bollywood!
Tirso’s relationship with his family, hence, is not the most harmonious, because he doesn’t listen to anyone’s advice. He's a textbook misanthrope, stubborn as a mule and unable to get along with almost anyone, his lack of tact leads him to offend those around him, and his lack of interest in creating a network of affection around himself is evident. But the title protagonist is fascinating, and Coronado who plays Tirso, has enough charisma to carry the weight of all four seasons on his shoulders. One can’t help but admire Bermejo’s shrewd casting for Tirso’s character, who moves through the series like a Ferrari out of control, amidst increasingly dark characters, in increasingly hostile environment and dangerous situations.
In season 4, it’s been six months since Tirso’s granddaughter Irene (Nona Sobo) was killed, and he’s still trying to get info on the former police commissioner that killed her and disappeared. He is also so distraught, he has rarely left his apartment and hallucinates about Irene, talking to her as if she’s still with him. Irene's death has affected everyone in Tirso’s orbit.
Even though, all the characters are relatable and you instantly connect with them, but along with Tirso, Ezequiel (Luis Zahera) is the other unforgettable character. Whether he is too a hero or an antihero is left for the viewers to decide. Portrayed as a cop who knows the streets and the people in his neighborhood, Entrevías, well, this quirky character’s methods and actions sometimes raise questions about his ethics, as he's been described as a "boozehound who has embedded himself with the neighborhoods gangs for too long to be effective".
Besides Tirso and Ezequiel, who take great delight in trolling each other, which is endlessly entertaining because underneath it they know and respect the mettle each is made of, the excellent ensemble cast that made the show’s intertwined storylines interesting to watch. Everyone is back for the new season, and the storylines only get bigger and even more ambitious than what they were previously.
Besides exploring Tirso's grief over his granddaughter's death and his determination to seek justice against Romero, the corrupt cop who killed her, while also dealing with the changing landscape of Entrevías, season 4 also sees the culmination of the major characters' story arcs, with everyone, including Tirso, facing their own challenges and finding a degree of closure as the story delves into themes of revenge, family, perseverance, and the complexities of life in Entrevías.
Much as we love it, Tirso remains at the centre, but the show evolves into a more ensemble-driven series, with Ezequiel and new character Camila taking on more prominent roles.
The final episodes provide a satisfying conclusion to the series, with Tirso finding a measure of peace and the characters' stories reaching a natural endpoint.
After watching Coronado and Zahera excel at their craft, you are intrigued to know more about them. Let me give you some juice on Coronado who is a 68-year-old Spanish film and television actor and former model. A supporter of Real Madrid, he has received numerous acting awards and is also known for his romantic life, with affairs such as the Spaniard beauty queen Amparo Muñoz, and the likes of Isabel Pantoja and Paola Dominguín. He has a daughter and a son from different women.
Fifty-eight-year-old Luis Zahera is also a popular award-winning Spanish actor. These people not only make you believe that age is truly a number, but they also make one think about how in our television and films, aging actors are ignored or confined to parental or grand-parental roles in stories restricted to domestic or feudal disputes, until they wither and die. No wonder our aging actors are enthusiastic about hair transplants and botox, because once they slide from male romantic leads because they don’t look young anymore, it’s the end of their acting careers. Did we really get the best out of super-talented actors such as Qazi Wajid, Rahat Kazmi and Talat Hussain, to name just a few of our talented senior actors, off the cuff?
Coming back to the series, the final season remains what it is — an action series about an upcoming Madrid neighbourhood — full of violent moments, funny moments, and the sense of family that living in a place like Entrevías gives its residents. The issues of Entrevias are still relatable, create a sense of familiarity and shared experience, especially if you live in a rapidly sprawling metropolis like Karachi where people deal with unchecked crime on a daily basis, amidst corrupt officials, corrupt and weak police, powerful drug mafia, and rich businessmen who want development through malls and high rises at any cost.
On a happier note, the good news is that Jose Coronado's latest project on Netflix is Rotten Legacy, a series where he plays Federico Seligman, a media mogul forced to step away from his companies to recover from an illness, premiers in May.