“Palermo Division”: the keys to the comedy that leads the Netflix ranking

On February 17, the series landed on the platform Department of Palermo and in less than two days the series managed to position itself as one of the most watched on Netflix. The story is created, co-directed, co-written and performed by Santiago Korovsky (The kingdom) and tells the story of a group of people who are part of a so-called inclusive urban police.

What are the keys to this success? Undoubtedly, many have an explanation and others are simply part of the tastes and preferences of series consumers who choose a fiction to marathon at a certain point in their experiences. Here you will find an overview of some key points of this series that has revolutionized the platform.

Department of Palermo It has decent actors in each of their roles. Korovsky brings Felipe Rozenfeld to life, a character who gives that feeling of a lost young adult who doesn’t know what he wants from his life, the classic looser who achieves empathy with the viewer. Daniel Hendler, for his part, is Miguel and stands out as the instructor and leader of this group that has a prosthetic arm and is the one who most defends the creation of this division with fixed arguments and sentences that the we imagine that only he could do . Sofia, a girl in a wheelchair is played by Pilar Gamboa. She does not like to generate compassion and this is how she accompanies with each gesture certain responses that put those who reprimand her in their place. Martín Garabal, Charo López, Marcelo Subiotto, Carlos Belloso, Agustín Rittano, Sergio Prina, Alan Sabbagh, Rafael Spregelburd, Valeria Lois, Iair Said and Fabián Arenillas, among others, simply shine in each of their roles, accompanying the tone of the series who uses humor to demonstrate a harsh reality. And a point to note is that many female characters appear without makeup and with hair without big hairstyles, like regular people do, thus granting closeness to the viewer.

false diversity

It’s a concept that’s been around since the first episode of the series. Although the city guard was created to solve the idea of ​​inclusion and diversity (among them a young blind man, a trans girl, a short man, a foreigner among others), the truth is that a kind to call attention to the discrimination that lives in many people and which is always falsely appeased by politically correct discourse. The series invites us to wonder if this mixture of compassion and false diversity is nothing more than a dangerous combo. Although humor is used to explain it, it leaves the viewer wondering if it’s truly inclusive or just a collection of idioms.

Humor as an escape

Sad stories that speak of obstacles, difficulties and lack of opportunity can be told from the deepest pain and thus move the viewer or use a sense of humor to reach a different kind of empathy. Both options are acceptable when making fiction. Here we clearly choose an acid humor that does not mince its words when talking about what happens to minorities without ever disrespecting them but adding a share of humor. In many fragments the viewer will burst out laughing, bringing them closer to reclaiming those jokes that today may be subject to a cancel culture, but here they are part of a reconciliation with more believable feelings. .

Department of Palermo manages with great care and respect, to laugh at things that perhaps seemed impossible to do in the middle of 2023. However, the series took the risk of making this gesture which had a chance of going wrong. It is perhaps one of the most courageous and instructive fictions of recent years which shows that good stories can be done without too much pretension and with optimal results.