The Minions of Midas

The Minions of Midas
Image source: Google

Ratings: 3.5/5

Duration: 5 hrs 16 mins | 6 Episodes

Language: Spanish

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director: Mateo Gil

Writer: Miguel Barros, Mateo Gil, Jack London, Arantxa Cuesta, David Muñoz       

Based On: Loosely based the same-titled short story by Jack London

Producer: Miguel Angel Faura, Adrián Guerra, Núria Valls

Music: Lucas Vidal

Cinematography: Pau Esteve Birba

Editing: Leire Alonso, Miguel Burgos, Raquel Marraco        

Art Direction: Laia Castellvi, Francisco Lerma, Javier López Antía, Juan Luis Valle

Release Date: 13 November 2020

Streaming On: Netflix

Star Cast: Luis Tosar, Marta Belmonte, Guillermo Toledo, Carlos Blanco, Goize Blanco, Jorge Andreu, Daniel Holguín, Marta Milans, Adolfo Fernández, Juan Blanco, Vito Sanz, Elena Irureta, Bea Segura, Pepe Ocio, Ana Gracia, Miguel Ángel Solá, Tania Watson, Juanma Díez, Fernando Barona, Àlex Casanovas, Adelfa Calvo, Gonzalo Borregón, Ángel Solo, Claudia Roset, María Rodriguez Vico, Diana Peñalver

Plot: Victor Genovés, an influential businessman, is blackmailed: if he doesn’t agree to pay a large sum of money, the self-styled Midas favourites will kill a person at random at a designated place and time and add a new victim periodically until they achieve their goal. How many deaths will he be able to carry on his shoulders?

ReviewThe Minions of Midas is the new Spanish limited series loosely adapting Jack London’s short story, The Minions of Midas. Set in a modern-day-looking Madrid, Los Favoritos de Midas, tells the story of a rich man being blackmailed with deadly consequences.

The Minions of Midas is a good adaptation of a 1901 short story, positioning Jack London’s story to today’s Madrid and turning it into a crime thriller. The series has elements of wealth, possession and morality.

Co-created and directed by Mateo Gil, who also co-wrote the script with Miguel Barros, this six-part miniseries follows Victor Genovés (Luis Tosar), a wealthy and influential businessman as the new CEO to a media company. Victor is being blackmailed by an organization calling itself the Minions of Midas. He must agree to pay a large sum of money, or a person will be killed at random and at a designated place and time periodically until he does. Will Victor save his money, or the lives of innocent people?

Gil tries to portray the various perceptions about the world we live in and our relationship with wealth; the sense of injustice in the distribution of wealth. In 2001, this project didn’t get made because of the financial crisis of 2008. The crisis changed a lot of realities and Gil used many of them in this series.

The opening sequence of the first episode does not focus on Victor. It shows a young woman, Mónica Bàez (Marta Belmonte), a journalist who is in front of her computer and about to publish her article, named “The Minions of Midas”, when two men with police gear chase her out. This turns out to be a flashforward, as the next sequence returns 50 days prior. 

The performances, especially those by Luis Tosar, Marta Belmonte and Guillermo Toledo are phenomenal as is the camerawork by Pau Esteve Birba. The web series concise at just six episodes ensures that most watch it till the end with the curiosity of finding out how the mystery finally unfolds and how the protagonist gets out of the mess.