Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Secret Of The River’ On Netflix, Where Two Boys Become Close Friends And Bond Over Covering Up A Tragic Event

The indigenous Zapotec people consider “Muxes” a third gender; they’re generally men who feel and dress like women . In a new Mexican drama, a boy moves to a small town in Oaxaca and sees Muxes for the first time, which makes him think about who he is. While this is going on, a mysterious death brings the boy closer to his best friend.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘La Máquina’ On Hulu, Where An Aging Boxer Fights One Last Opponent And The Voices In His Head

Opening Shot: A kid runs through a thicket of trees to a cave, and a man in a red kerchief follows him.

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Untamed Royals’ on Netflix, a Mexican Class-Divide Missive in Which Rich Teens Behave Reprehensibly

The Gist: We see the man talk to the young boy, then another boy comes to the cave, hearing his friend struggle. He defends his friend against the man, who calls the kid a gay slur. A fight ensues. The man, who is visibly drunk, stumbles back and falls into the river, smacking his head on a rock underwater. Blood flows up, and the man is either unconscious or dead.

A few weeks earlier, Manuel (Frida Sofía Cruz Salinas) comes to a small town in Oaxaca to stay with his grandmother Rafaela (Mercedes Hernández). Luisa (Iazua Larios), a friend of Manuel’s mother, introduces him to her son Erik (Mauro Guzmán), who’s the same age. They don’t seem to have a lot in common; Erik plays baseball, but Manuel doesn’t really love playing sports. But Erik was told to make Manuel feel comfortable, and the two start to bond when Manuel does some daring things like taking iguanas away from teens trying to hunt them, taking the hunters’ bikes, and riding into a restricted wind farm.

CLICK HERE TO GET EMAILS FROM DECIDER

When Manuel goes to the market to deliver his grandmother’s dishes to some of the vendors, he’s fascinated with Solange (La Bruja de Texcoco), a transgender woman. In Zapotec culture, people like Solange are called Muxes, or men who act and dress like women; Zapotecs consider Muxes a “third gender,” though more traditionally-minded men like Erik’s father Jacinto (Jorge A. Jimenez) disagrees.

Jacinto isn’t happy that Erik is hanging out with Manuel; he also calls Manuel a gay slur and tells Erik that hanging out with Manuel might make him gay, too. Erik does point out to Manuel that he walks differently and holds himself differently. Manuel doesn’t seem to care, and essentially neither does Erik, but he’s saying it in order to look out for his new friend. They hang out at a cave over the river that has been Erik’s private spot for years.

Rafaela takes Manuel to Solange’s residence, where she and other women make dresses. Solange talks to Manuel about Muxes, and Manuel is fascinated. It also helps him solidify his identity, which we see when Erik takes him to another secret spot, where both men and women are bathing.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Heartstopper meets I Know What You Did Last Summer .

Our Take: At the center of The Secret Of The River is the friendship between Erik and Manuel, which starts as a pretty fast and close friendship and only gets deeper as the two boys try to cover up what happened at the river.

By no means are they at fault; Manuel goes off to the river during a family wedding when Jacinto gives him a smack on the head and tells him he’s happy he’s going back home, and one of the people in the wedding party stumbles over and attacks him. Erik defends him, and that resulted in the attacker stumbling and hitting his head in the river.

But that’s not what the boys are going to think; they think the death is their fault, and as it’s investigated, it’s likely the friends will grow even closer as they try to keep their stories straight.

In the second half of the season, a grown-up Erik (Diego Calva) will confront this death, though we’re not sure if it will be with a grown-up Manuel or not — perhaps Manuel discovers he’s a Muex and changes names. Either way, the first half of the season is an illustration of how someone like Erik can overcome the biases present in the household he grew up in and expand his horizons through his friendship with Manuel.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Jacinto leads a search party for the missing man, who is likely now stuck on some rocks in the river.

Sleeper Star: Lisa Rivas plays a young Paulina, a classmate on whom Erik has a crush. She seems to like him, but it also seems like their long-simmering relationship will transform at some point; Yoshira Escárrega plays Paulina as an adult.

Most Pilot-y Line: When young Pauline says no to young Erik asking her to be his girlfriend, he says, “Don’t say no. One day, we’ll get married.” Is being an obsessive stalker less creepy when you’re 11?

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Secret Of The River is an affecting story of an unexpected friendship that was forged before a tragedy occurred and solidified after.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

For more entertainment news and streaming recommendations, visit decider.com