From medical dramas and crime thrillers to contemporary adventures and historical melodramas, it’s been an exceptionally interesting year for Mexican television. So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are the best Mexican shows of 2024 and where to watch them.

Como Agua para Chocolate  | Max

Adapted from the 1989 novel of the same name written by Laura Esquivel, the miniseries tells the story of Tita de la Garza and her forbidden romance with Pedro Múzquiz, her childhood sweetheart. Unfortunately, although the young lovers dream of making a life together, Tita’s destiny is doomed by an overbearing family tradition, which requires her to remain single to care for her mother until she passes away. As in the novel, Max’s reinterpretation is a story of love and rebellion, of duty and destiny, and of social tensions in the times of the Mexican Revolution. 

Emotionally rooted, visually dazzling and worthy of the legacy of the original, “Como Agua para Chocolate” has been renewed for a second and final season. 

Bandidos | Netflix

Who doesn’t like an action-adventure series about a high stakes search for a legendary treasure?

With seven exciting episodes, “Bandidos” follows a daring and thrilling archeological adventure in the Mexican Caribbean and a thrilling underwater heist. Directed by Adrián Grünberg and Javier Ruiz Caldera, it tells the story of Miguel, Lilí and an eclectic crew of bounty hunters who risk everything to recover a priceless Mayan relic lost in the Gulf of Mexico. 

After its premiere in March, it became one of Netflix’s most watched Latin American series and secured a Top 10 spot in more than 65 countries. Luckily, the second season is on its way.

Las Azules | Apple TV+  

Crime thriller fans: This one’s for you. 

The plot is loosely inspired by true events and set in conservative Mexico in the early 1970s. “Las Azules” (Women in Blue) examines the founding of Mexico City’s first female police squad, and their intense fight against a serial killer dubbed the “Tlalpan Undresser.” This slick thriller tells the story of four intrepid recruits: Maria, Gabina, Angeles and Valentina, as they strive to redefine the entrenched patriarchal culture within law enforcement. 

With intricate period details, a well-crafted plot, and witty characters, Pablo Aramendi and Fernando Rovzar’s lavish series does not disappoint.

La Máquina  | Hulu

After sharing credits in popular films such as “Y tu mamá también” (2001), “Rudo y Cursi” (2008), and “Casa de mi padre” (2012), longtime friends Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have reunited on screen, this time for Hulu’s first Spanish-language production, “La Máquina” (The Machine), a tribute to Mexico’s glorious boxing history. 

This vibrant miniseries follows Esteban Osuna (García Bernal), nicknamed “La Máquina”, a legendary boxer who is nearing the end of his career. His eccentric friend and agent Andy Lujan (Luna), assures him one last chance in the ring in hopes of reviving his golden days. However, almost as quickly as Esteban scores a victory that returns them to the pinnacle of boxing, both are threatened by an omnipotent criminal organization, which puts their lives and those of their loved ones, in danger. 

Accidente | Netflix

After arriving on Netflix in August, “The Accident” quickly became one of the most controversial and popular Mexican series of the year. The suspenseful family drama centers on a tragic accident in which a bouncy castle causes the untimely death of three children and the harrowing disappearance of another. Naturally, the grief of the families spreads like wildfire, and everything becomes even more complicated when evidence emerges that, perhaps, it was not just an act of God. 

Created by Leonardo Padrón and directed by Gracia Querejeta and Klych López, “Accidente” is a raw and intriguing drama, even as it veers into telenovela territory. 

Familia de Medianoche | Apple TV+

Sometimes a great documentary is just the beginning of the story. Such is the case with Apple TV+’s medical drama, “Midnight Family.” The series is inspired by Luke Lorentzen’s influential, award-winning documentary of the same name. 

Refusing to shy away from gory details, the reimagining of “Midnight Family” follows the lives and adventures of the Tamayos, a family of hardened paramedics, as they respond to emergency calls in Mexico City. Like the source material, Gibrán Portela and Julio Rojas’ television fiction harshly questions the efficacy of the Mexican capital’s healthcare system and explores the underworld of private ambulances. The ten-part series is humane, involving and hugely satisfying.

If there is any justice in this world, there will be another installment.

Any of the other best Mexican shows that we’ve missed from this year? Let us know in the comments!

Carolina Alvarado is a Venezuelan journalist and has devoted much of her career to creative writing, university teaching and social work. She has been published in Lady Science, Latina Media, Global Comment, Psiquide, Cinetopic, Get me Giddy and Reader’s Digest, among others.

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The film presents the pilgrimage of Juan Preciado, played by Tenoch Huerta, a grieving man who travels to the remote village of Comala in search of a father he never knew, a wealthy landowner named Pedro Páramo, played by Manuel García-Rulfo of “The Lincoln Lawyer.” However, in Comala, nothing is what it seems. 

It is no exaggeration to say that Juan Rulfo’s novel changed the course of Latin American literature. A precursor of magical realism, novelists and critics from various around the world, including Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez and Susan Sontag, agree in describing Juan Rulfo’s short book as one of the greatest works of literature ever written. To date, the novel has been translated into more than 45 languages.

What you need to know about ‘Pedro Páramo’

For the uninitiated, Rulfo’s novel is a deeply fragmented and surrealistic rural tale that throws away the boundaries between the living and the dead. Set in the context of the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War, the plot is essentially composed of two constantly meandering narrative threads.

The story of Pedro Páramo is, at first, that of the eponymous character’s son, Juan Preciado, who heads to Comala to fulfill the promise he made to his recently deceased mother: to search for his father, the heinous boss of the Media Luna hacienda. From there, Preciado, our narrator, finds himself in a ghost town, on the “burning embers of the earth, at the very mouth of Hell,” and several spectral villagers help him reconstruct his unsuspected and lurid family history. 

The second plot focuses on Pedro’s life, his adolescence as a failed scion and his rise to power as a feudal lord. The father of countless illegitimate children, we learn that Pedro is an unscrupulous tyrant driven by overwhelming evil. It seems that his only weakness is his first and only love, Susana San Juan, played by Ilse Salas. In a way, Pedro Páramo, the “living resentment,” is the man who had everything and ended up with everything and everyone out of sheer viciousness. 

As the ghosts of Comala guide Juan Preciado between the present and the past, truths that cross time, space and generations are exposed.

Without contradicting the original text, the adaptation becomes a meditation on people and their sins, touching on themes such as abandonment, the search for one’s origins, violence, hate, death and the afterlife. “This film is an exploration of the destructive power of rancor, of how someone like Pedro Páramo, like you, can hold power and screw everyone else,” director Rodrigo Prieto told newspaper El Universal in October.  

What the Netflix adaptation brings to the table

The Jalisco-born Rulfo is not one of the easiest writers to adapt to the big screen, and even less so in the case of a fragmented and elusive work like “Pedro Páramo.” However, Rodrigo Prieto, four-time Oscar nominee for best cinematography, and his screenwriter Mateo Gil, present a generally faithful look at the lord of Comala, his land, his lovers and his children.  

Although Gil’s adapted screenplay sometimes feels dizzyingly condensed, the new film manages to retain the core elements of the source material and translate Rulfo’s singular narrative structure to the screen. As in the novel, the story interweaves the present of the deceased and the past of the living in an unsettling way. Both times slide side by side and intertwine without room for loss.   

From flying animals to black and white images of a woman surrendered to the sea, Netflix’s “Pedro Páramo” is an ingenious display of magical realism. This film will be remembered, among other things, for its dazzling cinematography by Nico Aguilar, formidable production design by Eugenio Caballero and Carlos Y. Jacques, compelling sets by Daniela Rojas, and inspired musical score by Gustavo Santaolalla. 

In this sense, Prieto and his team construct impressive filmic spaces that aptly capture the aesthetic, emotional climate and rhythm of the different epochs through which Comala passes. We see a world in ruins and decay, full of grieving souls and decomposing bodies and simultaneously find a Comala brimming with life. As the narration explains the Comala that once was, we understand its decline and the tragedy it represents.

As always with the adaptation of an iconic literary work, the stakes are high. But Rodrigo Prieto understands the monumentality of Rulfo’s work, and his debut feature does justice to the Mexican classic. Prieto’s “Pedro Páramo” is the most convincing film version of the novel to date. For 130 minutes, we are treated to a deeply disturbing, labyrinthine, dreamlike and beautifully rendered film.

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