Final Project Review: It’s as if one micro-series on the platform wasn’t bad enough; Netflix has come out with another 20-episode series, each around 10 minutes long, that are quick, easy to watch, and, for the most part, extremely nonsensical.
At its forefront, the series (Proyecto Final) is about cyberbullying, revenge and hidden identities, but the storytelling is so terrible that half of the time viewers won’t understand how one scene translates to the next. Following a young woman named Tamara who doesn’t fit into her school, her life turns upside down when she starts a relationship with popular boy Xavier and a grim reality from her past catches up to her.
The familiar high-school shenanigans soon devolve into a series of disconnected scenes where things happen for their own sake, not because they make sense. The characters, too, exist for the sake of it, and none of them has much of a personality. The main twist in the end is equally unnatural and nonsensical and comes out of left field and goes nowhere.
The cast includes Isabella Tena, Daniela Martínez, Tristán Maze, Virgilio Delgado, and Ian Sparrowe, and the Netflix Mexican series is directed by Felipe Aguilar D.
Final Project Review
Scenes That Exist Only to Reach the Next Twist
Similar to something that I had said about Between Father and Son, another Netflix microseries from the same production company, this Mexican series too seems to be an amalgamation of several scenes strung together because they have to be. These sequences don’t exist because the characters or the situations lead to them, but rather, because without them the series won’t be able to deliver one silly twist after another and make viewers go to the next episode.
There’s very little sense of progression between scenes, with conversations suddenly coming to an end or new developments being presented as if they have been discussed before (they have not). The characters’ choices don’t shape the narrative; most of the time it feels like the characters’ choices are shaped by the next twist.
As a result, it feels like a frustrating viewer experience, especially when you’re watching something on Netflix. If this were a microseries on Facebook ads or something, the situation would’ve made sense. But here, it just feels bizarre. Important beats are constantly skipped over, and half of the time, viewers won’t understand how one situation progresses to the next. As a result, viewers won’t be able to connect with the characters or their motivations, mostly because there aren’t any.
Five-Minute Episodes Can’t Carry This Much Story
The problem with these shows is that they have far too much to say, but the time is so short that it’s impossible to put everything into it. As a result, you watch a disjointed show that doesn’t feel genuine or unique. Final Project tries to put several teen problems like jealousy, teenage love, and rivalries, along with more complex situations like sexual assault and murder, but these lofty ambitions cannot be squeezed into this format.
As a result, the pacing is relentless for the wrong reasons. While you don’t get to explore the situations or emotions in depth, the series moves from one silly twist to the next without completing its previous thought process. Key scenes are cut out to make way for scenes that don’t have any relevance other than shock value. Every reveal, thus, is underdeveloped and stupid.
Performances Rarely Elevate the Material
On top of the immature story are the terrible performances that don’t add much depth to the material at hand. Most of the dialogue doesn’t land, there’s hardly any chemistry between the characters, and you don’t believe it when they talk about getting rid of bodies and whatnot. Dialogue delivery hardly has any conviction, and you don’t believe them when they say or do something.
A Twist You’ve Probably Seen Before
In the end, however, the problem is that viewers have probably seen every twist a few times in far better movies and shows. From Tamara turning into Violeta to how a character turns maniacal in the end – it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before. The narrative expands exactly how you’d expect it to, with the twists obvious from a mile away. Rather than doing something unique with its short format and platform, the series tries to sell us the same-old story that we probably have seen a million times over. Final Project feels like a fever dream that doesn’t have anything to say and happens because, well, you’re stuck in a nightmare that you can’t get out of.
Final Verdict
Final Project is terrible and absolutely nonsensical, and things just happen for the sake of it. Scenes are strung together because they might get the biggest reaction, not because it’s the natural progression for the characters or the storyline. The incoherent storytelling is not made worse thanks to the terrible performances, which neither have zeal nor chemistry. Overall, there are better shows out there that deserve your time. This one’s just not it.
Watch Final Project right now on Netflix. What did you think of the Mexican microseries? Let us know in the comments below!
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