As we rejoin the Alvarez family for a third season on the hit Netflix show “One Day at a Time,” it is sadly for a funeral.
The show is a remake based on the original series that aired back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. This time the show is moderinzed and deals with difficult issues of today with a Cuban-American family.
The show explores depression, anxiety, homosexuality, deportation, religion, politics and many other hard-hitting topics.
Justina Machado plays Penelope, an Army veteran and single mother who works as a nurse trying to make a better living for her two kids, Elena and Alex, played by Isabella Gomez and Marcel Ruiz. They and her mother, Lydia, played by Rita Morena, are living together in Los Angeles, California. Schneider, played by Todd Grinnell, is their neighbor who barges in all the time but is like family.
This season they are talking about sex, alcohol and drugs. The show explores losing your virginity, the way you should treat men and women when it comes to any kind of sexual act, falling off the wagon after being sober for so many years, and the first time experimenting with drugs.
Growing up in a Latino home I can relate to this show. It helped my mom and I have a closer relationship for her to understand that depression is a real thing and that it is OK to ask for help at times. Sometimes religion isn’t for everyone and we find our other ways of faith or what we choose to believe.
This show is great for its hitting hard subjects, stellar acting and a storyline that continues to amaze and causes you to think.
