ABC's Promised Land knows exactly what it is and doesn’t shy away from leaning into those sensibilities

Paste Magazine

The drama about the Latinx owners of the premier Californian vineyard features two stories that intersect " in a way that I hadn’t experienced since the pilot of This Is Us," says Radhika Menon. "One part Succession, one part Dallas, and one part This Is Us, the ABC series delights in leaning into its soapy DNA. There are heightened circumstances, dramatic turns at every corner, and a fair amount of melodrama. The wealthy and privileged setting inherently lends itself to soapiness, but the series manages to ground itself in the immigration storylines. Instead of a meditation on the problems of rich people, we’re also shown the hustle and determination of comparatively powerless people, which feeds equally into the dramatic stakes. As far as drama goes, there’s plenty of it. Everyone has a secret that could crumble the entire Sandoval family, from a Succession-esque hit-and-run accident that threatens the fate of the daughter hoping to be named the next CEO, to a grassroots investigation into who exactly Joe Sandoval is. Conversely, the only child who seems to have no interest in the family business has a serious drug problem, and Lettie seeks solace at the church where—surprise!—her ex-husband is a priest. Bellamy Young of Scandal fame also appears as Joe’s ex-wife and she’s deliciously conniving, teaming up with her son who is two-timing his father Joe. A cast of mostly fresh faces, the most compelling performances are from Martín and Velez, who embody the dichotomy of strength and vulnerability as immigrants searching for a better life. Suárez is believable as Lettie, a matriarch battling her family’s demons, though her performance isn’t quite as memorable as it was in Netflix Mexico’s Casa de Flores. Much of the show is also in Spanish, providing an authenticity to the stories that are unfolding, especially on a network show that likely would have nixed the multilingual aspect previously."

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• Promised Land may have too many twists: "Barely a scene goes by without a reveal, or at least a dramatic music cue hinting at a reveal soon to come," says Caroline Framke, adding: "As befits its chosen genre of the juicy family drama, in which overlapping secrets become ticking time-bombs the moment they’re uncovered, Promised Land is a big and messy show with so many avenues to go down that it sometimes has trouble choosing which should matter most. But there are worse sins for a show to commit than having many worthy stories to choose from, as long as it eventually leans into what works and cuts down on what doesn’t."
• Promised Land is poised to be just as subversive as it is soapy: "At least two of the five Sandoval children are part of the LGTBQ+ community, but their respective identities have distinct effects on their relationships with their father," says Christina Escobar. "With more time, the show can further tease out those nuances, reminding viewers that there’s no singular experience: Latinx, gay, or otherwise. Likewise, Promised Land looks to deftly address race, a topic hotly debated both within and outside the Latinx community. The Sandovals are pretty light-skinned, with only the men sporting a greater variation of pigmentation. That’s why their new maid Daniela (Natalia del Riego) stands out: She has dark skin and Indigenous features, and the show refuses to ignore her, freeing her from the constraints of the typical (a.k.a. silent, victimized) domestic in short order."
• Promised Land looks like a slightly above-average Dallas or Dynasty: "Promised Land wants to be titillating and tawdry, but at the same time it wants to have a little bit of nuance and pedigree, but at the same time, it worries that audiences might not get what that nuance is, so everything has to be underlined," says Daniel Fienberg. "Though I wish Promised Land had a little more confidence in its viewers, the first two episodes point to a slightly above-average broadcast attempt to do Dallas or Dynasty — a fight in the pilot even ends up in that swimming pool — for a Latino audience; there are just enough distinctive elements to cover for all of the ways the plot mechanics are generic or belabored."
• Creator Matt Lopez on how he came up with Promised Land: "ABC Signature approached me about developing a one-hour drama built around a Latino family," he tells the L.A. Daily News. "I said I’m not interested in doing a telenovela; they asked what did interest me and I said, 'John Steinbeck. John Ford. A big, sweeping multigenerational epic story that goes a little operatic.' I also had a moment at a Home Depot. I’m a third-generation American and saw these men, day laborers, waiting for someone to come by in a truck. And I thought, 'My life is so different from theirs. But the only real difference is the passage of time.' I was staring at my grandparents and their parents. They worked in fields and factories. That struck a chord and I wanted to tell the arc of that American journey. For the story itself, vineyards are amazing, are very cinematic and it’s a hypercompetitive industry, even within families, like the Mondavi brothers. And I’m a big Godfather Part II fan; as a storyteller, it’s the best of both worlds: You get a family empire at the height of its power, juxtaposed against the scrappy immigrant story of how that empire came to be. I’ll say it’s broader even than just Latinos; it’s true for immigrants in general. The stunt coordinator on the pilot, Danny Le Boyer was born in Vietnam and he said, 'This is my parents’ story. We didn’t come over a wall but we came here on a boat after the fall of Hanoi.' The themes have a universal resonance. And the themes are Shakespearean — the beauty and cost of chasing your dreams."