Maestros cocteleros

Overall I enjoyed watching this show. The atmosphere was good, the drinks were beautiful and the sound design really brought out that component of making cocktails. I was impressed with the range of ingredients and techniques on display.

There was a strong impression that the contestants had time to prepare before each of the challenges to make a plan, and potentially even to organize the availability of their inhredients. How the hell would they have hay just lying around on the shelf?

The one thing that stood out very negatively was the way the judges' comments were utilized. They need to be a core ingredient to the show, as their descriptions are the only way we as the viewer can really experience these cocktails. Often the comments were cut too short and decisions were not explained enough. This is especially true for the final judgement, which came without any explanation whatsoever. Personally, I felt like one of the other finalists should have won (no spoilers). But most importantly, the decision should have been explained much more transparently.

Pros: cinematography, when they present the cocktail is top notch. You can learn from the diversity of these drinks and it's amazing how they combine some elements. And that's where the good part ends.

Cons: everything else. The judges, maybe they are good in their line of work but Frankie is talking like a shaolin priest, no emotions, no passion, way too chill for this. Then we have the...agenda with the contestants. You know who's gonna win and who's gonna reach far in the show sooo easy! And no, not by their skill. And this kills all the fun unfortunately. Is it that hard to do a show based exclusively on REAL talent instead of ethnicity???

In terms of cinematography and visually pleasing elements, I was very entertained. The concept is exciting and unfamiliar which is what pulled me to the show to begin with.

Despite offering me a mindless, fun watch, I believe many, many things could have been better excited. As many other reviewers mentioned, there should have been more transparency regarding the way the judges marked the drinks.

Two, and this comes out very, very obviously to a non-American viewer, but there's a blatant sort of play on minorities, identity and marginalised groups. This is not strictly a bad thing, but when it comes to the marking, it becomes apparent that there's some agenda in the play. This is a competition. It should depend entirely on skills and concepts and very, very, VERY little on background.

I felt like the elimination process was not entirely fair. There were some really strong competitors unfairly knocked out in the early battles, and some who I was frankly shocked to see advance.

Lastly, for the finals, the least likely competitor won and I could not understand it. Some pointed out she played the race card, and perhaps that could hold some truth to it, but regardless of that, there was only one display that truly and clearly blew the judges away, and blew us the viewers away, so unique and creative, and somehow didn't win. I'm simply shocked, there could have only been this one winner.

Over all, entertaining show, but I sense some bias and the ending was far too abrupt for the build up.

Netflix really does have a way with screwing up these unique competition shows (Blown Away) to fit their agenda to the point where it's so blatant and obvious and almost a turn off that you don't even want to watch anymore. Every elimination is carefully calculated and not solely based on who did the best, worst, whether it was their second time in the bottom or first, whether they keep underperforming, etc. It's about being as inclusive as possibly throughout the duration of the show. Let's be real, recently, shows like this are skewed towards minorities advancing onward. It's about making the underrepresented represented. Which is a good thing, but when it starts to become more about representation then who did better in a challenge, that's when it gets frustrating. I myself am gay, and this is something I've picked up on. In the first episode, I already knew the people who would get picked off in the beginning and the ones who would go far solely based on their edit and their sob stories about what a challenge it is for them to work in a male and straight and white dominated industry. In that moment, it no longer became a show about skill and talent. Let people compete naturally and be judged and eliminated fairly, or let them judge the cocktails blind. Other than that, the show looks good and the drinks are cool and the show has a nice flow and concept.

I only made it through the second episode. I got a little irritated when one of the contestants made a comment of people of color being in the cocktail industry. If they had made the show more about the actual cocktails I would have watched more of it. It is largely being overrated in my opinion when it is an average one at best. There were a few cocktails on there that I would have loved to take a sip of. I thought this show would be a good one to watch but I was so disappointed. A few were voted off that didn't deserve to be. The judges were something to be desired for. Pass this one up and watch something else.