On Sunday’s steamy episode of Vida, we learn a great deal about the love lives of Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera), the Mexican-American sisters who are back home safe and sound in their old home in East L.A.
The two were brought there to settle family business because of the untimely death of their other Vidalia — aka Vida — who left behind a failing bar, a wife and a secretive life the girls are both unraveling.
Not everyone is out with their own secrets as we see the younger sister, Lyn, commiserating after a hot night of illicit steamy sex with her old boyfriend who is supposed to be engaged with a baby on the way.
Johnny cannot resist the “agent of chaos” siren Lyn, as Emma refers to her sister. Lyn and her Johnny are on fire after all these years.
Outdoing her in the “walk of shame” department is Emma, the button-down corporate type sister who is mum about her sexual desires.
We see her as she slinks into the house quietly after a scorcher sex session with a woman she met online for a hookup.
Lyn, who has suspected her sister may be a lesbian, now laughs and sees for herself her suspicions were correct all along about Emma.
Both Lyn and Emma are in some uncharted emotional territory, as Emma must come to grips that she is truly her mother’s daughter and she has feelings still for a childhood crush, Cruz, who also is attracted to her.
Lyn needs to stop playing with her old flame Johnny, as his soon-to-be wife is beside herself with anguish over losing him.
In an interview with Monsters and Critics, Carlos Miranda said of his wanderlust in Johnny: “This is a guy, I think he’s kind of got his life figured out for the most part, but nobody really does.
“In a sense he is engaged and a baby on the way. He’s got his routine, he’s got his program, he wants to settle down. Everything kind of goes…a monkey wrench is thrown in it because Lyn shows up and he’s head over heels for her. But he wants to be a good husband and father too.”
As for Eddy (Ser Anzoategui), food is the secret weapon while trying to get this family back together and on the same page, as Eddy cooks and cajoles these stepkids in hopes that they will all be one family.
Vida comes from showrunner Tanya Saracho and a team of writers who bring to life the colorful Hernandez family and all the quirks and economic pressures and cultural shifts facing this little sunny section of Los Angeles.
The sultry sexual antics aside, there’s real poignancy in Sunday’s episode of Vida. Lyn’s compulsions and flightiness seems to worsen, and Emma’s exhalation unfolds as her true nature can be revealed.
Eddy’s grieving has to be sidelined to run a business and make these two sisters realize the bar is more than just a failing business.
Vida is a family drama that folds up gay life seamlessly as part and parcel of the whole enchilada of life. You live, love and lose people, regardless of gender or orientation. Everyone has a path and some of them might be a little different, but meaningful and deserving or respect regardless.
Vida is at its core one of our favorite new TV efforts and bravo to Starz for finding this gem.
Vida airs Sundays at 8.30pm on Starz.