The Gardener–Root Rot??
In this six-episode Spanish psychological thriller (now #3 on Netflix), we see two mother-son pairs who are cold-blooded killers. The Gardener (Spanish: El Jardinero) showcases a quiet studious young gardener, Elmer, who lives with his mother, China, owner of a nursery. He has frontal lobe damage from a car accident. Avoiding a fatal end, Elmer and his mother, who was severely injured as well, become inexorably intertwined in a cat-and-mouse game of murder.
China grooms her now adult son to be a contract killer. Having no feelings for his murder victims, Elmer seems to be on the verge of amassing enough money for an idyllic family hideaway. But soon Elmer’s health, resulting from the earlier car crash, indicates a dramatic transformation from being completely emotionless and detached to being nurturing, developing feelings of love and even remorse and regret. One of the targets for a contract killing is a beautiful young woman, Violeta, whom Elmer experiences as his first true love.
A brain tumor has sparked his emotions, especially his attraction to Violeta. Challenging his mother’s power over her son, Violeta is now considered, by China, to be a rival for Elmer’s love. Underscoring the destructive nature of an abnormal mother’s obsession with her son, is Sabela, a client of China’s, who wants Violeta killed in revenge for the untimely and suspicious death of her son. The two mothers, drama queens in crumbling mother-son relationships, evoke pervasive and terrifying feelings of dread and disconnection for the viewer.
Without question, The Gardener’s best narrative plot points focus on the increasingly ugly relationship between Elmer and China. While The Gardener is marketed as a thriller with a police procedural overlay, the weakest part of the drama is the two detectives tracking the serial killings. In sharp contrast with the detectives’ story, the drama of narcissistic mothers who are so disturbed they cannot let go of their sons is memorable and indelible, contributing immensely to the motivation to watch.
The nightmarish odiousness of China (Cecilia Suárez) and the hopelessly conflicted nature of Elmer (Álvaro Rico) are unforgettably portrayed–almost flawlessly–by these two astonishing actors!
Availability: Netflix (released April 11 in the US)