Everyone Should Be Watching “Primo” On Amazon
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
I think the joy and happiness that comes with discovering a new sitcom you love is one of the best feelings when it comes to watching television. We often get caught up in talking about prestige dramas and high-concept shows, but laughter is essential in life. A show that can put a smile on your face while binging it or waiting for week-to-week is genuinely pleasing and valuable to have in your TV diet.
I write all of this to say that Amazon’s new show Primo is the latest sitcom to fit this bill in my life, and if you’re reading this, you should watch it too.
It’s a working-class family sitcom centered around San Antonio teen Rafa (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio), his single mom Drea (Christina Vidal), and his five (FIVE!!!) uncles. Rafa is navigating high school as a junior, figuring out life, and beginning to think about college,. At the same time, being pulled in a thousand different directions by his family, all of whom have an opinion on everything he does and are more than willing to share it with him. Stakiah Washington also stars as Mya, his new classmate, and crush.
The five uncles are all archetypes that fit together to form an instantly relatable family dynamic of brotherly love and fighting. The oldest, Jay (Jonathan Medina), owns a landscaping business. Mondo (Efrain Villa) is the “one with nature” type, with long hair and a long beard.
Rollie (Johnny Ray Diaz) is good-hearted but constantly getting in trouble with the law. Mike (Heri Esteve) embraces his military background. His youngest uncle, Ryan (Carlos Santos), works at a bank and loves to emphasize how he makes more than all his other brothers, even if it is only less than $1,000 more per year.
Rafa’s mom, Drea, slots between Mondo and Rollie as the third-oldest sibling. She’s the responsible one of the group, and the family dynamic orbits around her sun, keeping everything in line and preventing the chaos of the five uncles from spinning completely out of control.
In fact, as funny as all of the uncles are and as strong as the whole cast is, Christina Vidal’s performance as Drea is the actual standout performance of the show. Despite acting for 30 years, to this point, she has eluded my radar for the most part, appearing in a lot of guest spots on TV shows that I didn’t watch. But she vaulted herself into the rarified air of favorite TV moms for me, right up there with Claire Huxtable, Mrs. Coach, and a few others.
Why has she not gotten more opportunities to this point?
The first season is a breezy eight episodes that I quickly binged and came from creator Shea Serrano, a sports/pop culture journalist and New York Times Best-Selling author, and executive produced by Michael Shur, the name behind other beloved sitcoms like The Office, Parks & Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place). It is full of laughs and relatable family comedy.
You hear much about actors (and writers) needing a few episodes to find the character's voice and get a feel for them. One of the first things I come across in this family is that all the characters are fully fleshed out. Everybody knows who they are and what makes their characters tick.
The cast's chemistry is also undeniable; they click from the start, and the feeling of a tight-knit family is readily apparent. I don’t know the particulars of Serrano’s personal story and to what extent any of this is semi-autobiographical, but it’s a credit to the writing of the show and the actors that these characters come across as so genuine and fully formed so quickly.
This is a show that knows what it is and what it wants to do; with a big extended family like this, it can pair characters off into A, B, and C storylines that are unique and entertaining in every episode. I had a bemused grin whenever I wasn’t outright laughing at what the show was giving me.
In a world where representation is a constant subject of discussion and debate, Primo features a Mexican-American family at its center. Serrano was partly motivated to make the show because he wanted to see more Mexicans on TV. The show never needs to draw attention to this or make it the primary focus. It’s a testament to the strength of the performance and its confidence in the characters that they can exist as they are and be a relatable family, regardless of the skin color or background of its audience.
Primo is a perfect mix of script and acting chemistry. There’s not a weak point in the cast. I loved all eight episodes and wished I had paced myself a bit more to enjoy it for a slightly more extended period, but I couldn’t resist popping on the next episode. There is no shortage of content in the TV landscape, and it’s hard for any show to find an audience. Primo is on Amazon’s Freevee service (free to everyone) and worth seeking out.
I can almost guarantee you will enjoy it and want more of it.