You could argue that Lali Esposito, who plays Wendy in Netflix’s hit series Sky Rojo, is sort of like Argentina’s version of Lady Gaga. She’s a pop star, she’s a fantastic dancer, and she’s been acting in some form or fashion basically since she was a young girl — with a filmography now jam-packed with everything from telenovelas to edgier fare like Sky Rojo, Season 3 of which hit Netflix in recent days and comes from the creators of another hit Spanish-language series on the streaming giant (La Casa de Papel, aka Money Heist).
If you were a fan of Money Heist — and in all likelihood you were, given how huge of a global sensation that other Spanish Netflix series became — think of Sky Rojo as having a similarly pulpy, over-the-top sensibility. This show bombards you with guns, beautiful women, stolen cash, drugs, and cartoonishly evil villains. Visually, it’s got a kinetic style along the lines of a Quentin Tarantino thriller, and at the heart of it is Lali Esposito, who has more charisma and talent in her little finger than other similarly situated celebrities will marshall over the course of their entire careers.
Meet Sky Rojo star Lali Esposito
Anyone who hasn’t yet checked out the show — which follows three sex workers, one of whom is played by Lali, as they flee their maniacal pimp — has very likely already come across Lali before, perhaps without realizing who she is. During the recent World Cup final between Argentina and France, for example, she sang the Argentinian national anthem.
As for the rest of her career, she’s released a handful of top-selling albums and singles — an example of the latter being Disciplina, the lead single from her fifth studio album. The vibe of the video for Disciplina, which you can check out below, calls to mind music videos for tracks like Rihanna’s Disturbia:
In addition to singing and acting, Lali has also worked as a judge for La Voz, Argentina’s version of the TV franchise The Voice. And she can also be seen in a current Amazon Prime Video TV show, El Fin del Amor, which is currently streaming now on the service.
Sky Rojo Season 3 now streaming
Regarding her Netflix series, the third and final season of which arrived earlier this month, Sky Rojo is currently the #4 Netflix TV show in the world (on the streamer’s Top 10 non-English TV chart). That’s according to the latest data for the 7-day period that ended on January 22.
The show has, in fact, been on Netflix’s global Top 10 chart for two consecutive weeks now following its release earlier this month.
Between January 16 and January 22, Sky Rojo racked up a little more than 19 million hours viewed around the world. For comparison, that means the show is currently outperforming other Netflix titles like Emily in Paris Season 3 as well as Season 1 of New Amsterdam.
Here’s the official synopsis from Netflix for the 8-episode third season of the show:
“The new episodes will take place six months after the final battle. Coral (Verónica Sánchez), Wendy (Lali Espósito) and Gina (Yany Prado) discover that peace is nothing more than that deceptive feeling between periods of terror. When their new life is blown to pieces, the girls understand that the past always returns and that if they ever really want to be free, they’ll have to bury it. Or bury Romeo (Asier Etxeandia) — same difference.”
Beautiful women, stolen cash, and over-the-top villains
As of this writing, the show has an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, attesting to the solid entertainment value herein. Indeed, there’s not a lot of complexity or major narrative to get acclimated to in order to appreciate Sky Rojo. It’s an addictive, compulsively binge-able thriller.
The episodes are half-hour, the action is non-stop, and Lali herself especially brings what’s simultaneously a vulnerability and a commanding presence to her turn as Wendy, one of the three women who spend the duration of this series essentially making a frantic dash for freedom. And if they have to kill or steal from any of the goons chasing them who want to bring them back to servitude, or worse — so be it.