Julio Torres’ Fantasmas Is A Quirky, Dreamy, and Peculiar New Series
From writing on Saturday Night Live to his hit series Los Espookys to his directorial debut with Problemista earlier this year, Julio Torres is making sure everyone gets a taste of his wonderfully imaginative mind. His latest series Fantasmas is no different. It follows Julio finding and losing a precious oyster earring in a fictionalized dreamy New York City. His character can quirkily experience the inner feelings of colors, shapes, and letters and he meets characters along the way who have their own absurd stories themselves. Let’s break down what happened in the series premiere!
The first episode sets up Julio’s colorfully weird world where he lives in a water tower with a cute robot assistant who thinks he can do human things. Off the jump, we get our first worried thought that Julio suppresses — the idea of ‘Proof Of Existence’ and facing eviction from his apartment. If you’re wondering what Julio does for a living, it’s just being Julio! We see him consulting with Crayola executives on how there should be a clear crayon and explains the logic behind his madness. From there, he gets into a Chester — a dupe and quirkier alternative for Uber with an eccentric cab driver also named Chester (Tomas Matos). Soon, we get our first absurd story with a spaghetti and cookies loving puppet named Melf who crashes into an ordinary family’s house and eventually steals husband Jeff (Paul Dano) from his wife. Shortly after, Julio buys a precious rare oyster earring and manages to lose it in a club. More absurd stories later and we can see how the series will follow Julio’s thoughts about his eviction and whether he chooses to ignore it by fixating on a birthmark or face reality.
Fantasmas is so odd, but in the best possible way. The characters we encounter throughout don’t always add to the plot, yet they bring such a weird comedic energy that you don’t really care. This is Julio’s vision, his world, the way he thinks about life, and we’re just here for the ride. I had moments where I thought “wait that actually makes sense” especially with his explanation on why Q should be grouped with the other weird letters X, Y, and Z. We also get an angsty punk Steve Buscemi as the personification of Q who broke social norms before it was cool. After every story, I found myself pausing the show to really take in what just happened. Normally, that would drive me crazy, but I absolutely relish in how offbeat the series is and can oddly relate to some of Julio’s thoughts.
The showcase of queer personalities and aspects of their reality shine in the series premiere with the Chester driver and Jeff’s child Toast. It’s very enjoyable to watch these interactions, particularly Chester. Torres manages to take the everyday, mundane details about the world and bring a fantastical life to them with characters who ultimately seek meaningful connections in their lives. Being able to step into Torres’ world makes Fantasmas a must-watch for viewers. It has laughs, wonders, chaos, weirdness, and I enjoyed every second of it.
New episodes of Fantasmas air every Friday at 11pm on Max.
