“Better Days”: the Spanish series that recreates a group of people who are going through a duel

“Start over again.” This is how the song that is the musical curtain of Días mejores (created by Cristóbal Garrido and Adolfo Valor) begins, the dramedy that Paramount Plus has just released on its platform.

This story comes from Spain and gets squarely into a very painful terrain such as the loss of a partner. Five characters who suffered the death of their companions and life partners meet in group therapy to try to cope with the penalty caused by death. This group is contained by a therapist, Dr. Laforet, played by Blanca Portillo, who has unconventional methods with her patients and many things to share.

The series has ten episodes, which were scripted by Sara Alquézar, Alba Carballal and Daniel Martín Serrano, while Alejo Flah, Arantxa Echevarría and Jota Linares are directed by Alejo Flah, Arantxa Echevarría and Jota Linares.

Each episode takes as its starting point the story of each of the characters. The first is Sara (Hazas), an emergency doctor who faces the death of her husband who died of sudden death in the middle of a football game, while dealing with her 9-year-old son. Then we have Luis (Orella), a successful businessman and father of three girls who has just been widowed and thinks he doesn't need help. On the other hand, we know Pardo (Erick Elias), a Mexican rocker who has fallen short, who will have to take care of the children he had with a Spaniard who has just died in an accident and with whom he never had a relationship. The series then introduces us to Graci (Alba Planas), who is facing the death of her boyfriend who died of invasive cancer and who promised that he would inseminate himself with the semen he left frozen. These four characters are joined by Laforet, who is also going through his own personal drama.

“In Spain we have had decades of not talking about death. It was very present in the culture, but in a very black and dark way; very closed in oneself,” said Adolfo Valor at the launch of the series. “The series is sometimes a bit raw and sometimes has little pinches of emotion, but above all it has a lot of light. We wanted to tell it from hope so that it would not be a downside,” added Garrido.

Better Days was written in the midst of a pandemic and the authors reflected on the impact that this had on them when writing. “All of a sudden, the whole issue of mental health and loss came out without us planning it. It has given it a totally new and much more current reading. We wrote a series about people who have faced difficult situations and the unpredictability of life,” concluded Garrido.

All of them then attend this group and will go through a spiral of emotions as they learn to overcome their losses. Better Days recounts each of the hard moments they suffer as a result of the loss of a loved one. And they are optimistic, showing that despite the wounds, sooner or later it is possible to laugh, love and, above all, live again. Because there will always be better days.

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