The series follows two women recently released from prison who start a pest control business and find themselves caught in a web of danger and moral uncertainty.
When I started watching Time of the Flies on Netflix, I was expecting a fairly standard crime drama with a redemption arc and a few tense twists. What I found was something more measured and quietly confident: a character-driven series that uses crime as context rather than spectacle, and friendship as its true narrative engine.
Stars: Carla Peterson, Nancy Dupláa, Valeria Lois
The series is less concerned with shock value than with consequences, and that decision defines both its strengths and its occasional frustrations.
At its most basic level, the story revolves around Inés and Manca, two women who meet in prison and reconnect on the outside with a modest plan in mind. They start a pest control business, traveling from job to job, fumigating kitchens, warehouses, and semi-abandoned buildings with insecticides.
It's a job that puts them in constant contact with other people's private lives, and that detail matters. The series uses these encounters to subtly sketch a social landscape shaped by class, abandonment, and unease, without ever turning the women into symbols or case studies. They are workers first, survivors second, and always former inmates, even when no one says so out loud.
Carla Peterson's performance as Inés carries great emotional weight. Inés has just been released after a long sentence, and the series resists the temptation to present her return to society as triumphant or tragic. Instead, it is awkward, hesitant, and often uncomfortable. She no longer knows how to occupy her space, especially in relation to her daughter, whose life went on without her. Peterson portrays these moments with restraint. Inés is reserved but not cold, fragile without being passive. You can feel the effort it takes for her to make everyday decisions and how easily that effort crumbles under pressure.
Manca, played by Nancy Dupláa, offers a contrasting rhythm. She appears more pragmatic, quicker with humor, and seemingly better adapted to life after prison. But the series astutely avoids portraying her as the "strong one." Her health problems and financial stress influence her decisions in ways that feel realistic rather than melodramatic. The friendship between Inés and Manca is the emotional core of the series, and it's carefully written. They are loyal, but not idealized. Resentment, fear, and selfishness surface naturally, especially when the stakes are high.
What surprised me most about the first few episodes was the tone. The series starts with a light touch, finding humor in minor mishaps, awkward conversations, and the strange intimacy of their work. This lightness never becomes cartoonish, but it does make the first few episodes feel almost relaxed. For some viewers, that might feel slow. For me, it felt intentional, a way of letting the audience acclimate to the women's everyday realities before introducing bigger threats.
These threats arrive gradually, primarily through a wealthy client whose interest in Inés has a disturbing undertone. From this point on, the series leans more firmly into crime drama, though it never abandons its character-driven approach. The tension arises less from the action and more from anticipation, from watching old patterns of manipulation and desperation begin to resurface. The series avoids suggesting that crime is inevitable for those released from prison, but it is equally honest about how limited options and power imbalances can corner them.
Mid-season, an episode focused on Inés's past stands out as a highlight. Rather than offering mechanical exposition, the episode allows her story to unfold through memories, confrontation, and emotional fallout. It deepens our understanding of her crime without seeking easy sympathy. This is where the writing feels most secure, trusting the audience to be comfortable with discomfort and ambiguity.
If the series has weaknesses, they lie primarily in its pacing and narrative balance. The slow pace of the early episodes won't appeal to everyone, and even later on, there are moments when the story seems to circle rather than move forward. Some secondary characters seem worthy of deeper exploration, but they remain sketched rather than fully developed. This is especially noticeable when the plot begins to hinge on their actions, and at times I wish the writers had spent more time refining their motivations.
Even so, these issues never overwhelmed my experience with the series. What Time Flies does it well, and it does it consistently. The dialogue.
Comments
Post a Comment