Club de Cuervos

Club de Cuervos
Genre	Comedy, drama
Written by	Gary Alazraki Michael Lam Jay Dyer Russell Eida
Directed by	Gary Alazraki
Starring	Luis Gerardo Méndez Mariana Treviño Stephanie Cayo
Country of origin	Mexico
Original language(s)	Spanish
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer(s)	Gary Alazraki Michael Lam Leonardo Zimbron
Release
Original network	Netflix
Original release	August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07) – present

Club de Cuervos is a Mexican comedy-drama TV series produced by Gary Alazraki and Michael Lam. Premiering with its full first season on August 7, 2015, it is the first Spanish-language Netflix original series. The story centers on the football club Cuervos FC, based in the fictional city of Nuevo Toledo, Mexico, and the power struggle that follows the death of its long-time owner and patriarch. Club de Cuervos stars Luis Gerardo Méndez and Mariana Treviño as two siblings who fight over ownership and direction of the team.

Scripted by both Mexican and American writers, the first season of Club de Cuervos was shot in Pachuca, Hidalgo. The series has received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the show's pacing and originality. It was renewed for a second season on October 28, 2015.

Premise

Set in the fictional city of Nuevo Toledo, Mexico, the series focuses on the Cuervos FC, a soccer team that faces an identity crisis after the death of its owner, Salvador Iglesias Sr. Due to male-dominant cultural attitudes, his son, Chava, is quickly chosen to take on the role of new president, despite the fact that his sister, Isabel, is considered to be better suited to run the team. Isabel is resentful of Chava and his position as leader, and vows to do whatever possible to take his place as president. Chava, whose vision is to transform the team into the "Real Madrid of Latin America", soon proves to be a poor decision-maker and often angers his subordinates, especially Vice President Felix Domingo and Coach Goyo. The series also explores the relationships between the players on the team, and how they are impacted by Chava's decisions.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Luis Gerardo Méndez as Salvador "Chava" Iglesias Jr. - After his father's death, Chava is elected to the role of president of the Cuervos football club, much to the consternation of his older half-sister Isabel. Chava's limited knowledge of sports management and short-sighted vision puts the historic team's standing at risk.
• Mariana Treviño as Isabel Iglesias - Chava's half-sister and the oldest child of Salvador Iglesias Sr. While Isabel is clearly more experienced and well-equipped to run Cuervos FC after her father's passing, she is passed over for the presidency because she is a woman. In spite of her intelligence and work ethic, she is not a natural politician and has a tendency to make mistakes due to her lack of patience and volatile temper.
• Stephanie Cayo as Mary Luz Solari - The former girlfriend of Salvador Iglesias Sr., Mary Luz claims to be pregnant with Salvador's unborn child. This claim has enormous implications for both Chava and Isabel, as it would entitle Mary Luz to one third of the team and family fortune. Though Mary Luz acts naive, she is often surprisingly savvy and convinces the family's lawyer to allow her to stay in Salvador's residence until a DNA test can be performed. While Isabel immediately rejects the idea that she might have another brother or sister, Chava is more receptive to the idea.
• Daniel Gimenez Cacho as Felix Domingo: Vice President and Technical Director of the Cuervos de Nuevo Toledo. A veteran of football, who has devoted 30 years to growing the team. After the death of Salvador Iglesias, Chava decides to help to continue the Plan of 8 Years formulated by his father. However, Chava's ego prevents Felix from steering the team in the right direction. Felix is strongly affected by the constant fights and conflicts of the Iglesias siblings, looking for any means to keep control of the team and prevent Chava and Isabel sabotaging each other.
• Ianis Guerrero as Moises Suarez: Forward of the Cuervos. Moses is an excellent player and is the team captain. He has a close relationship with Chava and seeks to make every effort to lead the team responsibly, despite the consequences in his personal life.
• Antonio de la Vega as Rafael Reyna: Spouse of Isabel Iglesias and Goalkeeper of the Cuervos. About to retire, Rafael serves as Isabel's main source of moral support.

Secondary characters

• Joaquín Ferreira as Potro.
• Andrés Montiel as Victor Valdes.
• Sofia Sisniega as Paty Villa.
• Juan Pablo de Santiago as Tony Alvarez
• Luis Fernando Padilla as Beto
• Eileen Yanez as Ximena Suarez
• Gutemberg Brito as Rio
• Oscar Olivares as Susanita
• Claudia Vega as Ms. Iglesias
• Gustavo Ganem as Uncle Luis
• Sofia Niño de Rivera as Emilia
• Jonathan Levit as Walter Bazaar
• Daniel Huerta Plata as Le Polle

Special performances

• Arap Bethke as Juan Pablo Iglesias: Cousin of Chava and Isabel, Juan Pablo is a well-known humanitarian and altruistic, who is seeking support from the Cuervos to publicize their campaign donations.
• Emilio Guerrero as Goyo: The Cuervos' coach, with whom Chava conflicts on how to direct the players on the field.
• Jesus Zavala as Hugo Sanchez: Known as the 'other' Hugo Sanchez is the personal assistant to Chava.
• Richie Mestre as Guillo, one of the friends of Chava.
• Alosian Vivancos as Aitor Cardone: A popular soccer player, who knows Chava abroad. A talented soccer player, who has been on several prestigious teams, begins to play for the Cuervos at the insistence of Chava for a large sum of money. However, he is quite moody, stubborn, and eccentric, which irritates the other players and creates significant internal conflict for the team. He is pansexual, much to Chava's chagrin after Aitor makes sexual advances at him.
• Carlos Bardem as Eliseo Canales: A soccer powerful businessman who runs several teams and players from the shadows. Felix is forced to engage with him, which allows direct influence on the team.

Development

Club de Cuervos is filmed in Pachuca, Hidalgo (Pachuca's historic center pictured)

Hoping to expand further into the Latin American television market by producing a local show, Netflix contacted Mexican director Gary Alazraki, who had directed the 2013 film The Noble Family, which became the highest-grossing Mexican film of all time. In response Alazraki and his friend Mike Lam began developing a show with the idea of "Game of Thrones set in the world of soccer", focusing on family members fighting over leadership of the team. Alazraki and Lam decided to hire a writer who had experience with American cable shows, and decided on Jay Dyer, writer of Californication and Andy Richter Controls the Universe, despite his limited knowledge of soccer and the Spanish language. The staff held a meeting in Los Angeles in which Alazraki educated the others about Mexico and the commentary he wanted to make about class and gender relations in the show. The following month, the team traveled to Pachuca, Hidalgo to become immersed in the culture, meeting with soccer players and people from a wide variety of economic backgrounds.

Reception

Club de Cuervos has received positive reviews from critics. The first season has a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Xaque Gruber of The Huffington Post writes that the series "oscillates brilliantly from laugh-out-loud comedy to poignant drama, while never dipping into Latin stereotypes or telenovela melodrama."