El Silencio - First episode

Sergio is convicted of murdering his parents. However, he never confessed or said a word about the fatal evening. Psychiatrist Ana leads the eccentric investigation in El Silencio into his motives by secretly following him after his release.

The Spanish-language Netflix series El Silencio, also known as Muted, is described as a psychological thriller. The story revolves around Sergio Ciscar (Arón Piper, Elite) who is held responsible for the "balcony murder" of his parents at the beginning of the series. He is said to have thrown them over the balcony in cold blood after an argument and never said a word about that evening since. After six years he is eligible for release, but behind the scenes it appears that justice will not just send him back to the streets.

The details in the story are at times almost more interesting than the story itself.

Psychiatrist Ana Dussuel (Almudena Amor) leads the team dealing with Sergio's release. She appears to keep a close eye on him, including cameras in his house. In this way, she wants to find out whether he is still dangerous and why he killed his parents. Sergio knows nothing about this and is manipulated by Ana at times to reveal more about himself.

On paper, El Silencio's story sounds like a good plot. The first scene of the series is also exciting and seems to be a good start. Unfortunately, this is the only really exciting moment of the first episode. What follows is a very weird story that doesn't seem realistic at all. A boy who killed his parents and does not want to say anything about it is set free again after six years? Justice approves of watching someone 24/7, even in their own home, under the guise of a psychological examination? And the boy who wouldn't talk just turns out to have lines...



Soon after his release, Sergio appears to have a goal, to find his foster sister Noa. After his arrest, he has not seen or spoken to her much to his regret. In retrospect, we see that after the death of his parents, Sergio says to Noa that it is "over now", even before he is arrested. What he means by this and what role his foster sister plays in the death of their (foster) parents remains unclear.

El Silencio has six episodes that should ultimately provide clarity about what happened the night of the murder. Hopefully, other questions will also be answered in that time, because there are a lot of them after watching the first episode. For example, why does he have a zodiac sign tattooed on his cheek? Why does it seem so easy to move back into the parental home after a murder was committed here six years earlier? What are the opinions and reconstructions of the fatal evening actually based on? How could he ever be convicted? Sergio is described by the police as a narcissist, but everyone actually sees very little of his character.

I started El Silencio very excited but unfortunately this feeling didn't last long.

The details in the story are at times almost more interesting than the story itself. For example, I was surprised about the Vizcaya Bridge which serves as one of the locations. A beautiful location that is very impressive but then adds nothing to the story. A number of scenes take place in the Primark. Strangely enough, the makers make it seem like this is a store where employees give advice and actively help customers choose clothes. It is details like this that do the series more harm than good and make it even more unclear.

At first, I was quite excited while watching El Silencio but unfortunately, this feeling didn't last long. Although I still want to give the series a chance, a lot has to change to make it something good. The story is told in a confusing way and the actors make the scenes way too serious, which makes it almost laughable at times. Actions that are carried out are not logical and the how and why about everything is still hard to find. Where is this story going and will we even ever find out if and why Sergio committed the murders?! I hope that the story will make a little more sense, although I am a lot more skeptical about the whole thing after this false start.