Photo courtesy of Deadline
Party of Five invites pain and culture to the table
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This year, Freeform, an American cable channel, made a remake of the 1994 Party of Five. The show stars Brandon Larracuente as Emilio Acosta, the oldest son, Emily Tosta as Lucia Acosta and Niko Guardado as Beto Acosta, who are twins, and Elle Paris Legaspi as Valentina Acosta, the youngest daughter.
Party of Five takes place in the present day and follows five children whose parents are undocumented immigrants. The parents are later deported by law enforcement, which leaves the five children behind and Emilio to become a parental figure. The show focuses mainly on the importance of family. With their parents gone, the children have no one to take care of them but each other. They are all lost, confused and, most of all, missing their parents.
I enjoy how all of the siblings have an age gap, which allows the audience to see different perspectives, but the personalities of the characters are too cliché. For example, as the oldest child, Emilio now acts in the role of a parent, but due to his playboy past, his siblings have a difficult time trusting him. If I were to cover up Emilio’s name and replace it with Noah Puckerman from Glee, their characters would be indistinguishable.
As I am watching the show, it makes me realize that there are families like the Acostas now in the United States. This show is shedding light on the topic of deportation, specifically, parents being separated from their children. In addition, with the creators adding in small hints of family traditions, like eating together every week and putting Spanish into the dialogue, it allows the audience to relate and be more engaged in the show.
In short, this show has a lot of details and effort put into it. The short scenes of the siblings messing around and making jokes add to the scenes of where they are vulnerable and alone are spectacular. Setting aside the typical and boring characters, the mixture of the rich culture and the pain that the children go through, Party of Five is breathtaking and a must-watch.
