Glória

Honestly this show was way better than I expected... Totally believable !!!! Netflix and does it again... The acting was superb by the Portuguese crew as well as the Americans.

The story is absolutely compelling the Cold War scenario was fabulous on point, it reminded me a bit of The Americans which is also stunning show.

I highly recommend this show and I'm really looking forward to watching season two.

I've seen my fair share of movies and TV shows and as a Portuguese, I've grown up to have a very biased opinion towards Portuguese content - culturally speaking we are known to produce an insane amount of soap operas but not so much movies or TV shows - and as I grew up I had this completely wrong idea that we simply lacked the quality to do so.

As I started to consume more Portuguese content, it became clear that our main problem is actually budget; we don't lack at all in creativity or fantastic actors, we do lack in funding from the Government in our culture and that of course reflects on the content no matter how good the original idea is.

With that being said, we are seeing a change in trend, and thanks to partnerships and opportunities like this (Netflix actually producing a Portuguese TV show) we can clearly see the proof how much the budget can make a difference.

The story is a fictional one, yet is set on a very real context in history - there are a lot of things I can point as very positive: the cinematography is amazing, the direction and camera work are on point for the spy genre, most actors do an amazing job (the main character I had some troubles at first as it seemed to have some lack of charisma, but he does get better as the story unfolds) and the plot itself is engaging, some predictable twists but other unexpected events as well.

It might not be a brilliant or ground breaking series, but it is original on some aspects, believable, and most of all a truly great achievement for Portugal - I can't stress this enough, I've already seen some not so commercial series and even Portuguese movies fantastically made, but Glória is probably the best national content I've seen that has the most probable global recognition.

In our country we tend to be very critical, but I leave you with some final thoughts that hopefully convince you to watch: no it has absolutely nothing to do with how soap operas are made; yes you are not used to listen to Portuguese on a movie so give it some time it and you'll get through that and finally GIVE IT A SHOT, don't see just 1 or 2 episodes and give it a low rating based on that - kudos to the people involved, we need more content like this coming from Portugal.

Gloria is a slow burning espionage tv show which takes place in Portugal during the 1960's. By then it was still ruled by a fascist dictatorship and was mainly a county with a very outdated culture, a society where amongst the poorer people women had no liberty and even on higher society stratuses we could witness something similar . The story shows much of that culture and time, but it's also a very good espionage story , with crime, suspense, intrigue and some action.

Acting is appropriate, I wouldn't say it's superb , but it doesn't fall below par ... and the story is very engaging, I found myself very curious on knowing what would happen next . Yes, it's a bit on the slower pace but that's perfectly fine for me, a person who loved the slow paced True Detective show.

Gloria deserves some praise because it comes from a country of a very old movie culture which unfortunately was dominated by tedious and ethereal films during some decades . I hope this is the first of many Portuguese tv shows in Netflix because it doesn't fall short in any department when compared with similar shows from other countries .

Excellent writing, directing, acting, cinematography and production design AND sound which is rather rare nowadays.

As others mentioned it before, the atmosphere and aesthetic of the time are masterfully captured and portrayed. Very solid acting - great to watch and follow all characters. Even the smallest roles deliver and add greatly to the overall picture.

Highly recommended. Also, if one searches a bit one can find lots of information on the net about the history of this facility, obviously run by the CIA with the usual obscure objectives.

The show is good. Quite a surprise for me actually.

No, it's not perfect, the American actors seem to not know what they are saying when speaking Portuguese, some actors have a very stiff face and don't give off any facial expression and some lines are delivered in a strange/rushed way, the English parts of the script seem to have been directly translated from Portuguese at times, creating odd expressions, the soundtrack is incredibly repetitive and all over the place (definitely the weakest spot of the whole thing) and the first episode was confusing, which, to be fair, the exposition for such a branched plot was never going to be easy.

The story, though, that is what ultimately matters and it is a good one. It has good character developments, interesting side plots that let the viewer feel what it was like to live at that time in Portugal and interesting/unpredictable plot twists. The cinematography, costume/production design and grading were also on point.

Ultimately it was an enjoyable time. The flaws, while there, did not distract completely from the main story which has still room to grow on a second season.

P. S. Please ignore any comparison of this show with Portuguese Soap Operas, the actors are the same, yes, and they did bring some of that background but, apart from that, the show is nothing like soap operas.