Netflix's 'Selena' is a glowing but unnecessary remembrance of a superstar

Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican-American icon whose impact on Latin music is unparalleled in modern entertainment history. Her tragic death at age 23 looms over her legacy, and what she accomplished in her sadly short life is forever worthy of examination. But Netflix’s Selena: The Series is a fictionalized biographical account of her rise to fame that unfortunately does little to actually examine her circumstances or character. It instead revives Selena’s story as an oddly structured, ultimately unnecessary recitation of events.

The tone of Selena: The Series falls somewhere between a soap opera and a family comedy, with the first few episodes centered on Selena’s father Abraham Quintanilla Jr. (Ricardo Chavira) and his drive to make his young daughter a star. Both Abraham and Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla are executive producers on Selena: The Series, which perhaps accounts for the rose-tinted view of Abraham Jr.’s choices as a father and manager.

The show glosses over events that seem objectively questionable, like Abraham Jr. pulling Selena (Christian Serratos) out of high school and denying her a social life, with a hand-waving quality that requires the audience to know that it all worked out for Selena in the end but reads as callous in the moment. Abraham Jr.’s notoriously pushy attitude towards his family’s musical career is treated in the show as comic relief — halfway through the season, Selena’s brother A.B. Quintanilla (Gabriel Chavarria) writes a number one hit song and Abraham responds with a disappointed “So? Lots of bands have a hit song.” A.B. is devastated, but the episode treats the moment as a funny button before the credits roll.

That odd tone follows Selena: The Series through the nine episodes that comprise Part 1 of the show, which constitute a traditional first season of streaming television. Selena’s death is a constant elephant in the room as the episodes meander from career highlight to career highlight, and the season ends on a cliffhanger that anyone with an internet connection would be able to resolve. If Selena: The Series seemed like it had more to say about Selena other than “she existed” and “wasn’t the music great?,” then splitting her story into two seasons might be justifiable. This show does not have anything to say beyond those two things.

The two redeeming qualities for this show are the aforementioned music, which appears in meticulously recreated performances that capture the real Quintanilla’s stage presence, talent, and tremendous voice very well, and actor Christian Serratos as Selena herself. Though the show is shallow in its portrayal of Selena, who comes across as a flawless ingenue, Serratos is wide-eyed and glowing in her role. Her playful charisma is eerily reminiscent of Selena and she manages to wring an admirable performance out of a script that retcons a real human being into a flat angel.

In totality, Selena: The Series offers almost nothing to those who would be interested in a new or deep interpretation of Selena Quintanilla’s legacy. If a generally soulless and occasionally awkward recreation of Selena’s Wikipedia page is desired, Selena: The Series will absolutely hit the spot.

Selena: The Series is now streaming on Netflix.