Vida‘s Final Season Is a Too-Short Farewell to a Unique and Beautiful Series

In some ways, it’s a miracle that Tanya Saracho’s lovely Vida was allowed to exist for three seasons. Focusing on queer and Latinx themes through the lens of two very different sisters taking over their late mother’s East LA bar, the Starz series has had quiet and specific appeal. And yet, its story is also universal in the way it explores identity, authenticity, and issues of gatekeeping in a variety of different communities.

Given all of that, six episodes for this third and final season didn’t feel like nearly enough to complete the story of Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera), much less that of the crusading Mari (Chelsea Rendon), her beleaguered brother Johnny (Carlos Miranda), or the still-grieving Eddy (Ser Anzoategui). It was another chapter in their lives, but even in the series’ final, extended episode, there was so much left to explore.

With Vida, Saracho has created a world that feels like home—one both foreign and familiar, much like the sisters’ own experience with the bar and the surrounding neighborhood. There is a warmth and intimacy to the show that permeates every frame. Even at its most explicit (and it is very sexually explicit), it’s never exploitative, just real. Vida is a collection of slices of life—even though its cast is unbelievably fit and attractive, which is acknowledged in various ways (like showing Lyn working out all of the time). There’s a realistic sense of time and the characters’ languid movements as they deal with the daily frustrations of running a business and trying to find authentic romantic connections. Everything is complicated, and yet, it’s also tinged with humor and joy.

Some of the most complicated threads the third season include Mari’s relationship with the Vigilantes, who annoy her with their need to vote on every little thing, ultimately leading to inaction. “Because this is America, where it’s ok to cage fucking brown people like beasts!” Mari shouts in one of her popular videos that document the injustices to residents of her neighborhood. She also sees the hypocrisy of protesting Vida for being too gentrified as they stand, literally, on the front steps of a mixed use corporate-backed complex.