‘The Mess You Leave Behind’ On Netflix: A Suspenseful New Spanish Series

A new Spanish series The Mess You Leave Behind (El desorden que dejas) was released on Netflix
NFLX
this December 11. It is an intriguing thriller unfolding over eight episodes. As the very first episode has a big twist that informs the rest of the series (revealed in any synopsis of the show you’ll find), be forewarned that this article may contain spoilers.

Set in the rural environment of Galicia, The Mess You Leave Behind is a Spanish thriller that combines two different timelines, intertwining the story of its protagonists, played by Inma Cuesta and Bárbara Lennie. Cuesta plays Raquel, a teacher who has just arrived to work at the village’s high school. Lennie plays Viruca, the teacher Raquel replaced, who died under mysterious circumstances. As Raquel gets more involved in finding out what happened to Viruca, she’ll fear for her own life. The series was created and directed by Carlos Montero, adapted from his own novel. Montero co-wrote the second season of the popular Spanish series Elite.

There is intrigue, a mysterious death, and secrets to uncover in this suspenseful series. The Mess You Leave Behind has a tight-knit structure oscillating between two timelines that could have easily tumbled into confusion, but amazingly does not (well, not for this viewer at least).

The strength of this series lies in its two lead characters: Raquel and Viruca. Two high school teachers with very different characters and style of teaching. Viruca is a confident and self-assured woman, willing to reveal a painful secret to her students in order to gain their trust. Raquel, by contrast, lacks Viruca’s confidence, fumbling through her classes, not ever really able to fully control her students. Any snark remark she receives from a student, and she visibly crumbles. She’s unsure of herself, but she is nonetheless a strong woman with enormous courage as she obsessively investigates Viruca’s death.

It is the portrayal of these two women that makes this series so captivating. But it also what makes it at times unnerving. Raquel’s character is often very frustrating in the way that she reacts to adversity. She appears fragilized by her mother’s death. The series in fact opens with Raquel’s nightmare in which she relives the day her mother died. Images of her dead mother appear numerous times, in moments of great distress for Raquel. Apart from showing Raquel’s enduring trauma, the significance of this never seems to quite come together. It feels more like a prop to explain why Raquel is so tormented.

I enjoyed the overlapping of the two timelines, as it slowly revealed all the details to the intrigue, in the way that it let the viewers decipher for themselves what happened when. But I do see how some may find it confusing, especially as the very first episode does not make clear that the two storylines running parallel from each other have two different timelines. The first episode, in fact, confuses the two as if both were happening at the same time. It is only at the end of this first episode that Viruca’s death is revealed, and that we discover that Raquel is her replacement at the school.

By the end of the first episode, Raquel thus discovers that Viruca, the teacher she has replaced, is thought to have committed suicide. After receiving a death threat from one of her students and hearing Viruca’s husband, Mauro (Roberto Rodriguez) tell her that he thinks his wife was murdered, Raquel starts investigating Viruca’s death. She first suspects the three most troublesome students in her class, tough-guy Iago (Arón Piper), his best friend Roi (Roque Ruíz) and the outspoken Nerea (Isabel Garrido) who is constantly referred to as Iago’s girlfriend. Will Raquel find out what happened to Viruca? This question will keep you hooked.

The Mess You Leave Behind is an engaging, slow-paced, whodunnit mystery with plenty of characters hiding their own secrets waiting to be revealed.

The Mess You Leave Behind is now on Netflix.