The Innocent (2021)
By Melissa Camacho,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Violent book adaptation has gore, nudity, sex, smoking.

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The Innocent (2021)
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Based on 2 parent reviews
Loved it
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Too many plots of twists.
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What's the Story?
THE INNOCENT, is a limited Spanish drama about a young man whose past returns to haunt him in mysterious ways. Law student Mateo "Mat" Vidal's (Mario Cases) life changes overnight when he gets caught up in a Barçelona night club brawl and accidentally kills a young man named Daniel (Eudald Font). After completing a four-year sentence, he's able to finish law school, and eventually take over his brother Isma's (Jordi Coll) firm. Vidal also falls in love with Olivia Costa (Aura Garrido), who he first met during his bereavement leave from prison. But as his life begins falling into place, strange things start happening, bringing him face-to-face with the past he thought he'd moved beyond. Meanwhile, Inspector Lorena Ortiz (Alexandra Jiménez), an accomplished detective coping with her own former circumstances, begins investigating a case that will eventually lead her to him.
Is It Any Good?
This gripping adaptation of the Harlan Coben novel of the same name tells a dense, sophisticated story. With the help of flashbacks, it allows you to revisit key moments in key characters' pasts, which helps make the connections between previous events and what is occurring in real time. But this doesn't necessarily answer all of the questions raised in each plot line, and offers enough surprising twists to keep you questioning everybody's actions, and the motives behind them.
The series does go on too long, making it necessary to revisit things in order to keep up with the bevy of details that keep emerging. But The Innocent isn't meant to be easy viewing. It requires attention, and for viewers to process the graphic violence and explicit content, which is also very intense. This doesn't make it any less entertaining, but it's best left for viewers with the maturity to handle it.
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TV Details
- Premiere date: April 30, 2021
- Cast: Mario Cases, Aura Garrido, Alexandra Jiménez
- Network: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: February 18, 2023
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