‘Triptych’ Review: Three Lives in One Conspiracy

Conspiracy shows have been really popular lately. The internet has been filling itself up with so-called fake news and many theories designed to explain some of our time’s most normal and logical phenomena. It is exciting, though, conspiracies fuel our imagination, and most of the resulting stories that tackle the topics are at least intriguing. Triptych is a new thriller show on Netflix that comes straight from Mexico, and it is trying to tell its own conspiracy story, one that hits on a smaller but more personal scale.

Leticia Lopez Margalli creates the series, and it is apparently based on real-life events. It is still unclear what these real-life events are, but following the show’s premise and how things develop, it seems like the series takes inspiration from the cases documented on Three Identical Strangers. That film presented the idea of three identical brothers who were separated at birth, only to find themselves reunited much later in life. Of course, the show takes creative licenses and adds a sinister twist to the situation.

The series stars Maite Perroni, David Chocarro, Ana Layevska, Flavio Medina, Ofelia Medina, and Hector Kotsifakis. The series tells the story of Rebecca, a forensic doctor working for the Mexico City police. One day, Rebecca receives the call to appear at a crime scene, which she finds terrifying. On the ground, she sees a woman who looks exactly like her and knows her name. The discovery of this identical twin will send Rebecca on a downward spiral into some dark secrets.

Triptych works like every other thriller you have seen in your life. You get the setup for the story and then follow the protagonist as it searches for clues about what is really happening. In that sense, the series is nothing new. However, familiarity doesn’t really work as an argument against a show or movie; there is nothing objectively wrong with it. What really matters is the execution of the story, and in that regard, Triptych is partially successful, thanks to a solid production design, good directing, and good performances.

The main course of the show is, of course, Maite Perroni’s performance. The actress is a well-known commodity among Latin American audiences thanks to her work in the TV series Rebelde and also for being a member of the RBD music group along with some of her Rebelde co-stars. She could be one of the most famous people in Latin America, especially among the millennial demographic. Her acting career has been mostly inconsistent after being in Rebelde, but here she shows that she is more than capable of carrying an entire show by herself and doing it well.

Having the chance to play three different people seem like a dream for every actor. It is an acting challenge of the highest order, and Perroni is quite successful at it. The three characters she plays on the show are all different in nature. Two of them get more exposure in general, so the exercise becomes easier in that sense, and yet, it can be said without a doubt that Perroni’s performance is the best thing about the show. Everything around her performance isn’t bad as such, but it definitely could have used a bit more polishing.

As the story progresses, the tone becomes more solemn and self-important, to the point that when certain characters begin to speak, it might sound quite ridiculous. What shouldn’t make you laugh, does, and what should land as a joke doesn’t have the right timing to it. The actors are doing their best at this point in the story, but the material is just too focused on delivering exposition and not enough character moments. You want those answers, of course, but I can only wish they were delivered more naturally.

Visually, the show follows the Netflix standard of production. There are moments when the filmmakers try to do something interesting with the visuals, using out-of-the-box camera angles or certain sequences that could belong inside a dream. These moments are never too excessive, but they bring flavor to what, in another way, would be a very boring show from a visual point of view. Understandably, there might not be enough time to care a bit more for the frame and its use in certain scenes, but this aspect could have been more detailed.

In the end, Triptych does manage to deliver on its promise of an entertaining thriller. The answers might not be satisfactory, but the road to getting there is quite solid. Perroni’s performance could be the entire reason to see the show. All the other actors do well, but Perroni shines the brightest. Meanwhile, the writing slips quite a bit, especially towards the end, when it feels necessary to wrap everything up and decides to gloss over many important details. If you are a fan of Perroni, then this is a must-watch. If not, then there could be better things to watch on the streaming service.

SCORE: 6/10