Veneno is a complex and layered show, that moves back and forth over the decades effortlessly shifting tones and employing different visual styles, taking in crucial episodes in Cristina's vibrant and fascinating life; her small coastal town childhood in the 1960s with her abusive mother, her initiation into sex work in Madrid’s park (told through a refreshingly nonjudgemental lens), and her first of many appearances on Spanish television in the 1990s. It will be hard to summarize the story of the show. The show starts with Valeria seeing Christina in a TV interview and completely dazzled by it making him her biggest fan. As a teen boy he is able to find Cristina and its only when he meets her, he decides to write a book on her life while also starting his journey for transition. This is how sessions start when Cristina begins to unravel her glamorous, complicated past, changing Valeria's life. We see how Cristina was discovered by a journalist because of whom she eventually made her TV debut and was an instant hit. But behind this happy face there a lot of painful memories and stories. This include her childhood where she is one of six siblings, being buried and called fag by everyone, her abusive mother. She finds love and support from an unexpected quarter in the village who also asks him to run away from this tiny village as soon as he can. Which he does, works at a farm, falls in love with a man which is occasionally reciprocated. The big turn happens when he visit Madrid and makes friends with a trans sex worker Cristina, who changes his life. This is when he starts his transition journey and becomes Cristina himself and starts sex work, because no one would give them work. She then gets her TV debut and becomes an instant hit, it gets her off the streets of West Park and into the spotlight; as ratings soar, she faces a traumatic series of reunions with her mother and storms Adra to show herself off to the village. Her Italian boyfriend takes full davnatge of her money and steals from her. But soon the popularity fades and they resort to all kinds of scams including a big insurance scam. But her flight with the boyfriend leads to Cristina spending three years in a men's jail since she never got her surgery. While all this happening, Valeria is going through her own journey and struggling to release the book, but eventually she decides to do it herself. In a very emotional finale, Cristina dies a mysterious death just one month after the book release and we see how friends and family come together (or maybe they don't) but the drama that surrounds everything in the life of an icon who lived life on her own terms.
I am probably going to struggle to write al my feelings while watching this show. I am shamed to say that personally I do not know any trans people in my life, so I may not be able to 100% understand the pains and tribulations that the community as a whole go through, but watching the show and the parallels between Cristina and Valeria, life; at least you see something positive that things are changing for the better. This show was apparently a huge massive hit in the country even leading to major reforms being announced by the government. The show was heavily publicized and rightly so because it deserves all of it. The society praised Cristina and continued to abuse her. Her life was fantastic and miserable all at once. Cristina herself is not an easy, inspirational character. She’s complicated and sometimes even cruel. But she’s amazing. Veneno doesn’t erase the many facets of her but instead tries to explain them. The re-telling of Cristina’s life is done exceptionally well — finding a balance between showing the honest brutality while not dipping into further exploitation. But, for me, what makes the show so unique are the moments Valeria spends with Cristina and Paca and all the other trans women around them. It’s watching this cross-generational support among trans women that’s so important for us but so rarely portrayed on screen. So, while the central focus is undeniably on Veneno herself, the creators and writers smartly use Veneno’s story as a mere entry point for larger discussions about what it means to live as a proud trans woman. The series is a work of great maturity that mixes comedy, tragedy, and kindness in just the right doses to create a cocktail that, as a whole, is balanced and satisfactory.
Each cast member in the ensemble delivers brilliant work. Cristina is played by five different actors — two cis boys and three trans women, who are incredible and you have to see it to believe it. The actor who plays the young adult version in just th pre transition phase is brilliant. Each of these actors captures her intensity as well as her vulnerability. Their performances seamlessly flow into each other to craft this complete portrait. And then we have Valeria, the heart of the show, also played by a trans actor. In a show about how trans people are represented, and how we represent ourselves, her performance is at once a showcase of her own unique talents and proof that we should be trusted with the messiness of our transition stories. The third and last performance that stands out in the show is that of Cristina's friend Paca La Piraña who is played by herself in the present. And then there are plenty more trans actors who show up at various stages, young and old who all do a standout job. And not just the actors, the writers and directors of this show should be given full credit for everything that they have presented to us on the screen. Hilarious and heartbreaking, with unapologetically explicit, character-driven sex scenes, the series is ultimately a deeply touching celebration of chosen family, a sisterhood of trans experience. This may still not be a perfect 10 for me (I am not sure what I am looking for in a perfect 10, to be honest); but this show is absolutely brilliant piece of television. An outstanding story about a woman who opted to live openly and unapologetically as who she was, while addressing the joys and tragedies she experienced as a result. (9.5/10)
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