Family can be complicated. The characters of Starz series Vida know that all too well.
The half-hour dramedy debuted on the premium cable channel in 2018. It follows the lives of two very different sisters from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, who are forced back together after the death of their mother, the titular Vidalia. It's soon revealed that Vida's life wasn't anything like her daughters Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera) knew. The sisters are shocked to learn that Vida was married to a woman — her so-called "roommate" Eddy (Ser Anzoategui). Then, they find out that Vida gifted Eddy a 30% share in her bar, Emma and Lyn have to decide what to do with their mother's legacy and what to make of their surprising new family.
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Showrunner Tanya Saracho created Vida with Latinx representation in mind.
"The dominant culture gets to have complicated narratives in the media...but [Latinx people are] either cartel or we’re squeaky-clean girls," Saracho told Vanity Fair in 2018. "The big, radical thing that I’m trying to do is to portray Latinas as complex human beings."
Queer stories are also at the forefront of the series, which was very important to Ser Anzoategui, who portrays Eddy.
"This role is a huge role, and not only that, it's showing so much of what has never been shown," told Refinery29 prior to the show's premiere. "Queer, lesbian, from the East Side, you know, only those communities know what’s up. So it's a really beautiful thing [to represent them]."
Fortunately Vida will keep telling queer Latinx stories. Season 2 premieres on Starz May 23.
Want to catch up on the series before then — or maybe just rewatch it to brush up on all the drama? You don't need a Starz subscription to do exactly that. Starz has made the first three episodes of season 1 of Vida available for free, which you can watch below.
Warning: Explicit content.
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Season 2 of Vida premieres on Starz May 23.
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