Ms. Hen reviews THE MINISTRY OF TIME

The Ministry of Time (El Ministerio Del Tiempo)

Netflix

2015-2017

In Spanish with subtitles

Ms. Hen does not write many TV reviews, though she does watch TV, mostly on Netflix. She doesn’t review these, because she decided not to write about absolutely everything in her life, like she did during the genesis of her blog. But she absolutely loved this Spanish show, THE MINISTRY OF TIME, about time travel in Spain.

The ministry is an office in contemporary Spain. A hallway in the basement leads to a place full of doors, which are entryways to different time periods in Spain’s history. They only lead to places in Spain, or that belonged to Spain at the time, such as South America and the Philippines. Three people are recruited at the beginning of the show, a 16^th century soldier, Alfonso, the first female university student from the 19^th century, Amelia Folch, and a modern day nurse, Julian, who works as an EMT. They are recruited to help fix history when it goes awry, which is what all the agents in the ministry do.

Amelia is the leader of the group, since she knows so much about history and everything else, and is highly intelligent. She is well versed in history up to her point, but learns quickly what she needs to know about other eras. Julian is the one who can help people who are hurt, and Alfonso is a fighter, who wins almost any battle. Alfonso is a brave warrior, but has antiquated views about women and religion.

Alfonso learns that he should obey Amelia’s command, even though he grumbles. Julian pines for his dead wife. Amelia has to go back to her time period living with her parents, and she has to deal with life as a 19^th century woman, knowing that in the future, there are more opportunities.

One of Ms. Hen’s favorite episodes is about Cervantes, in which the villians pay the author for the only copy of DON QUIXOTE, and the agents have to try to get it back. Ms. Hen loved when they brought Cervantes to the present day to show him how famous he would be in the future. Another of Ms. Hen’s favorite episodes is the one when an evil character discovers America, and Christopher Columbus does not. Some episodes were about parts of history that Ms. Hen had no knowledge of, but she learned. She had heard the name Simon Bolivar, but did not know what he did, or how he was significant. Two episodes show this man at different times of his life.

The characters change, and new ones are introduced as the show progresses. Pacino joins the team when Julian runs away. Pacino is a police officer from the 1980s, and he escaped going to jail by finding a door to the present day. Alfonso, the 16^th century soldier has to help teach Pacino about 21^st century technology, but Alfonso gets confused about simple items such as toasters. This show can be humorous at times, when characters try to explain and learn about aspects of life in other time periods.

Some things about this show amazed Ms. Hen, such as the costumes and the filters. Amelia travels from era to era and always looks different; her hair and her clothes transform, and she looks like a new person each time. Ms. Hen noticed that the filter would change for different eras, such as in the 16^th century, the light was very bright, and in the 1940s, the palette was darker. What amazed her the most was the 1970s, during which the filter changed so it looked like a photo taken from that time. This is a carefully made show, with a lot of thought to visuals and authenticity.

Ms. Hen watched this show because she is into science fiction, but she feels it goes along with the theme of the books she is reading right now, ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, and going down the rabbit hole. This show takes the characters into different points of time to try to save history. Ms. Hen recommends this TV show to anyone who wants to be taken to many different points in the history of Spain and to be dazzled by the way the world used to be.