Land of Women (Tierra de mujeres) moves from New York City to a remote Catalan wine making village in Spain when Gala (Eva Longoria) learns thugs are after her husband and her family over a small loan of $15 million.
Gala just wants to sell wine in her new shop in New York when her husband Fred (James Purefoy) disappears. He tells her to take their daughter and Gala’s mother and run. She runs to what is literally the Land of Women. Women own the vineyards. Women make the wine. Women own the co-op.
Gala, her daughter Kate (Victoria Bazua), and her mother Julia (Carmen Maura) head for the small town in Spain where her mother grew up. There’s a house there that Julia and her sister Mariona (Gloria Muñoz) own jointly. They think they can hide out there.
On the way they crash into a trailer full of grapes and spoil a whole vineyard’s crop. Then they get to the house and the guy who was driving the trailer, Amat (Santiago Cabrera), says he owns it now. Mariona sold it to him without Julia’s permission. Mariona slams the door of her current home in Julia’s face. They have a problem.
All the women in the village hate them. Julia left quite a trail of broken hearts behind when she left years ago. Amat finally allows them to stay in his house temporarily. Gala sticks her nose in the winery business because she knows how to make the wine taste better and sell better. Her mother admits one of the men in the town is Gala’s father, but she can’t remember which one. Julia’s suffering from the beginnings of dementia.
Thugs wanting to collect on the $15 million find them. They have a problem.
This is an action packed comedy with lots of colorful characters. It jumps back and forth between Spanish and English. I thought it was fun and entertaining and beautiful to look at.
The best part of the series was the way the transgender issues around Gala’s daughter Kate were handled. The first mention of it was in episode 2, when Kate and her dad were talking casually and he mentioned how much he loved her. It came up again in Spain when the local doctor blabbed about her to his girlfriend and the girlfriend began to bully Kate. Kate was completely supported and validated by her mother and grandmother, and some of the townspeople stepped up to protect her.
To me the entire series was worth watching simply because of Kate’s character and the beautiful job Victoria Bazua did portraying her. Kate being trans was just one aspect of her story, not her whole story. Positive trans characters are so needed in our media. This was a very well done aspect of a well done series.
Kate aside, I also loved how Gala discovered her strengths and came into her own as the series progressed. She went from pampered and privileged to resilient and capable of deciding her own fate.
The possibility of romance grew with each episode. Gala and Amat kept giving each other long looks. Fred was an issue, of course, but Fred is a runner, isn’t he? Kate and a local woman who worked as a mechanic kept giving each other long looks. And Julia kept up #EldersRock traditions by flirting with several men. She might even manage to mend things with her sister.
Gala may have figured out a way to save the winery and the village. That’s worthy of a celebration.
Episode 6 ended on a cliffhanger – actually a couple of cliffhangers – which is good because I personally would love a second season of this series.
The six episode series is all available now on Apple TV+.
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