The Bronze Garden, on Max, is an Argentinean series based on the Spanish language novel by Gustavo Malajovich. In Buenos Aires, 4-year-old Moira and her teenaged nanny disappear on the way to a birthday party. Moira’s father Fabián Danubio (Joaquin Furriel) hooks up with private eye César Doberti (Luis Luque) to find them, much to the irritation of the police. The investigation leads to a gangster named Chaco, but he denies involvement, implicating the police instead, but who is Fabián to believe? Meanwhile, flashbacks feature a mysterious figure who works with bronze.
The Characters
Fabián, an architect, has a tense relationship with his father, who doesn’t do much, if anything, to help find his granddaughter. The detectives on the case, whom Fabián dislikes, Mondragon (Daniel Fanego) and Silva (Claudio Da Passano) are veterans, and they think it’s possible that Chaco, who is trafficking girls, was after Cecilia, the babysitter, and Moira happened to be with her. But who kidnaps two people? Newcomer detective Blanco (Julieta Zylberberg) is more sympathetic to Fabián, and helps where she can. Meanwhile, César Doberti is a low-rent private eye looking for a big case, and he approaches Fabián. César, with his flexible ethics and his ability to read people, is a decent detective. While he makes the biggest breaks in the case, he also runs afoul of the cops. But to Fabián, César seems like the only one who cares. And with the cops pointing to the gangster Chaco, and the Chaco pointing to the cops, César is the only person Fabián trusts.
Our Take on The Bronze Garden
Like many adaptations, The Bronze Garden is a little too dense, and probably could have been an episode or two shorter. There are also some talky parts that, in other series, have been conveyed more creatively. They do a decent job of getting us through the red herrings without seeming like they are simply checking off a list. You can tell that the writers are trying to manipulate our impressions of certain characters by making them seem like bad guys but then having them save the day. But overall, I liked The Bronze Garden. There is clearly something dark lurking, as is hinted in the flashbacks. Cliffhangers propelled the series forward, and I really wanted to know if Moira would be found. The César character is wonderful-shambolic, clever and dedicated. The Fabián character is fine, and there are two more seasons with “new cases”, which is odd, because Fabián is an architect by trade. It will be interesting to see where that goes. If you are looking for a complex and interesting series, The Bronze Garden is for you.
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