The Marked Heart

Easy to watch South American Soap Opera with with a beautiful cast of mostly Colombian Actors. Beautiful cinematography and locations look good in contrast to other series such as Narcos.

Interesting organ trafficking romance told in a glitzy Soap Opera style.

There was a very good story line from episode one with so much potential. But was like a bad car wreck...you can't NOT look. We just had to know how it ended. I don't know if it was just the dubbing or what. Kinda like a Lifetime movie or bad soap opera. My only spoiler is that there's going to be a Season 2.

I thought the acting was strong, and the story compellling. Enjoyable drama about a very serious topic. Well casted. Surprising twists and turns throughout. Some of the issues that can only be touched on in a one episode movie, are developed deeper with this story.

As Episode 1 of "The Marked Heart" (2022 release from Colombia; 14 episodes of about 40-45 min each) opens, we are introduced to a married couple who are in the car, enjoying Colombian singer Carlos Vives. Then the car suffers a flat tire and wipes out against a tree. Somehow "bad" guys show up and instead of helping the couple, they kidnap the woman... At this point we are 10 min into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: let me admit that I literally knew nothing about this series. Netflix "suggested" it to me based on my viewing preferences. The fact that this was a non-US series piqued my interest, so I happily gave this series a try. The series is super plot-heavy so I can't and won't say much about that. What I will say is this: it is intended to be a rough-and-tough crime drama set in Colombia's dark underbelly of organ trafficking. Alas, it became very quickly apparent that instead this is a soap opera with plot holes the size of Manhattan and correlating plot developments that were completely over the top and frankly utterly unbelievable.

"The Marked Heart" premiered on Netflix a few weeks ago in late April. I'll be honest: I gave it 4 episodes, and when I asked myself if I really had the appetite for 10 more episodes of this, I instantly knew the answer and I quit. Of course don't take my word for it, so I encourage you to check it out, and draw your own conclusion. Just don't say you weren't warned.

A man falls in love with a woman who now owns the heart of his late wife, who was murdered for her heart. Now if there's an interesting and relevant theme, here you have one. Unfortunately the Colombian filmmakers turn it into a hard to swallow soap opera. The script is unnecessarily protracted and unrealistic. The acting is soooooo bad, it felt like watching a high school drama. The president-to-be character never transcends the caricature level. The murdered woman plays the trumpet but never fills her cheeks with air. Come on, do some research.

I've learnt two things from this series: First: ALL Colombian women are good looking.

Second: colombians only have sex with their clothes on.

For short: a missed opportunity. Organ trafficking is a relevant issue. It would have deserved a professional approach. This one clearly isn't.