El Cid Season 1 series review

El Cid is a Spanish historical drama TV series about the historical figure, El Cid, it was released late in 2020 on Amazon Prime. With five episodes with an average time of one hour each. There are multiple scenes of violence and sex, as well as cursing. Though the nudity and sex scenes are either quick and only briefly show partial nudity. But all said it is not suitable for children, teenagers or the squeamish. It has received mixed reviews but mostly positive overall.

Jaime Lorente plays Ruy (El Cid), José Luis García Pérez plays Fernando (King), Elia Galera plays Sancha (Queen), Alicia Sanz plays Urraca (oldest princess), Carlos Bardem plays Count Flaín, and a string of supporting and main characters.

It follows Ruy (El Cid) in his early years as a servant to the court. It looks like if things go well there could be five seasons but of course these things are uncertain. The first point is that the dubbing in English is not great, it is not so much the timing of the lines, more that it is obvious that it is dubbed. But I have to say after a short time I did forget about it for the most part. The acting is not to a high standard either, but I am sure most of this is because of the dubbing, that causes a slight disjointedness. The sets and settings are very good and are a strength of the show. The show is a bit overly dramatic and less of an historical biopic, but it is still early in the series run. The show does take some liberties with history but again it is I think more dramatic license than a deliberate reworking of history. The violence is quite tame in comparison with other similar shows, so are the sex/nudity scenes but they are still there, they are quite easy to skip without affecting your appreciation of the show as they are very short.

The series could go either way, I could see it going off the historical path really quickly but, we will have to see. Overall, the show is entertaining and there are good actors, scenes and plotlines, with some good fight scenes. But there does seem to be something missing and I cannot quite put my finger on it. If you have Amazon Prime already and you are not squeamish, then give it a try, but it is not going to match a series like Rome.