Nothing to See Here is a hilarious series about two disabled friends having each other’s backs. Directed by Santiago Limón, the series stars incredible actors: Enrique Arreola, Alexis Arroyo, Alejandro Calva, Veronica Merchant, and others. The story revolves around the way Alexis envisions his life. Well, that could be a dark joke because Alexis is visually impaired! Replete with witty comedies, the series brings out the quest of two disabled friends to come in search of a new life in Mexico City. Will Alexis eventually be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a stand-up comedian? Let’s find out!
Spoiler Alert
Why Does Alexis Want To Go To Mexico City?
Alexis, a visually impaired guy, has dreams of his own and decides to move out of the comfort of his home to prove a point to the world. He asks his friend Charly, another disabled guy with cerebral palsy, to become his manager as they move to Mexico City. He has dreams of becoming a standup comedian because he realized that is what he is good at. Alexis had told Charly that he wanted to become a standup comedian because he could not see people’s emotions, but their laughter was something that gave him pleasure. He had displayed his talent as a comedian at a show that he and Charly had randomly attended. The comedian on stage had been ridiculing them for their physical disabilities. Alexis had gone up on the stage and had stolen the limelight off the comedian with his witty standup jokes.
What Issues Do They Face In Mexico?
As Alexis tries to cope with his life in Mexico, new challenges keep coming his way. He and Charly face issues with every little thing. They face emotional troubles, get robbed, have difficulties crossing the jostling roads, and almost everything else. Just when they are looking for jobs, Johanna, Alexi’s ex-girlfriend, comes up and offers him a job. She tells him that he had to give an inspirational speech at her cousin’s university. He takes up the task and goes there, inspiring youngsters with his speech, with a hint of stand-up to it. Just when Alexis tries getting back home, he meets with an accident. He then comes across Azul, the girl who hit him with her car, and instantly falls in love with her voice. She gets him treated, and on their way back home, she tells him that the city is like a jigsaw puzzle, and all he has to do is find the first two pieces, and then things would eventually fall into place.
The two friends also get mugged on the road, and the next day Maya comes up to Alexis and Charly’s place with Lalo, whom they recognize as the mugger. She apologizes to them on his behalf and tells them that she is their neighbor and was working in a gang with Lalo and Jimmy. They all instantly form a bond and visit a new place in the city. It is a place at a great height from which all the lights of the city can be seen. Despite not being able to see the lights, Alexis comes up with a plan and wants to start his journey from a bar that he had been fired from for being blind. He wanted to ensure that people’s perceptions about disabled people could change.
Why Is Yuyo So Protective Of Alexis?
Yuyo, being an ophthalmologist, could not bring back his son’s vision, and he was declared visually impaired. He had the guilt of not being able to help him retrieve his vision, and hence he was very protective of him. He tried everything he could to give his son options for a better future. He tried setting him up for piano classes, swimming classes, and other activities in which he could possibly find a career in the future. His mother, on the other hand, believed that Alexis could do everything that others could do. When Yuyo is not sure about Alexis’ safety in Mexico City, he starts following him around the city and keeping a tab on his son’s activities. He ensures that no difficulties befall Alexis, and being a responsible father, he also sends in small amounts of money for emergency purposes for him. The constant fear of losing his son tortures Yuyo, and he cannot just sit back in his home while his son is toiling for his career.
How Does Choco Bully Alexi?
Alexis and Charly approach Chocho, a bar owner who had initially fired Alexis for his disability. They ask him to give Alexis the opportunity to arrange for a stand-up comedy show so that Alexis could perform on his stage, causing the bar to gain some popularity. They are told off by Chocho, but he later steals their idea and puts up a poster stating that a comedy show is about to happen at his bar but that he wouldn’t allow blind people there. Later, when Alexis and Charly request that he let them participate, he charges them 2000 pesos for the tickets. They think of getting the ticket with Alexis’ father’s money. They were later robbed of the money by Lalo, who was in debt and wanted to clear it off.
When they again reach Chocho and tell him that they have run out of money, he asks Alexis to work as a pianist and Charly as a gatekeeper for the six days of the comedy show. In return, he would let Charly perform at his show. They agree to it, but on the last day, Alexis gets insulted by a standup comedian for his disability, and he walks out of the contract made with Chocho. Later, they sell Charly’s car to pay the ticket prices. Just before the performance, Alexi’s dad comes to the bar with investigators, as he thinks that the bar was involved in some shady business and he did not want Alexis to become involved in something that was illegal. This infuriates Alexis, as his dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian and attaining an audience base are almost about to be shattered by his father. Later, when Chocho wants to cancel the show in fear of the investigation, Alexis’ friends, however, jump in and decide to resolve the issue for Chocho so that Alexis can participate in the program.
What Secrets About Chocho Get Revealed?
The friends find out that Chocho was involved in the business of cockfights for extra cash. He explained to them that he had to resort to it because the bar was not doing so well. He also told them that Menacha, the inspector from Civil Rights Committee, was a partner with him in this business. Alexis and his troupe visit Miss Balderas, the director of the Civil Rights Committee. They convince her that the bar, La Perla, was not involved in any such shady businesses, but she does not buy it. They later request to let Alexis perform in La Perla, and then she could choose to shut down the bar after his performance, to which she agrees. Later, Miss Balderas tells Chocho that if he could promise that he would make the bar a disability-inclusive place, then she would not shut down his business.
Is Alexis Able To Perform?
There are many distractions that Alexis is faced with before the performance. His mother comes up to him and tells him that he was also a very talented photographer and had once clicked her picture, even without seeing it. She explains to him that there was a radiant life force that surrounded the picture, and he was more than just a disabled young man. Alexis also finds out that Azul has not been going to her own rap concert to attend his program, which creates a sort of performance pressure on him. Before going up on the stage, he also gets into an altercation with Charly, which completely shifts his focus, and he is unable to perform on the stage. Later, Johanna comes over with placards to the bar to stop discrimination against disabled people and shut the place down. The commotion is too much for Alexis to handle, and he falls off the stage. His inability to perform on the stage shatters his self-confidence and he decides to return home.
What Happens Finally?
Later, Charly meets all his friends at Charly’s grandmother’s funeral and gets criticized by them for letting go of his dreams. Later, when they return home, Alexis’ mother explains to his dad how important it is to let him lead his own life. When Alexis had almost given up his dreams as a stand-up comedian, he realized that other people were recognizing him. Initially, he thought it was because one of his stand-up comedy shows had gone viral, but he soon realized that Charly had opened a YouTube channel called “Gnarly Charly”, where he would talk about the daily life and struggles of Alexis without his knowledge. He realizes his fault, goes back to his group, and apologizes to them. Charly had received some money that his grandmother had left him, and he invested that in La Perla to open it again, and this time he had undertaken a partnership with Chocho to make it a disability-friendly place. It is in La Perla that Alexis again starts performing and showing the world his real capabilities!
Final Thoughts
There are several instances in the series that brings out the biased disfavor of the world towards the disabled. This series sends out a strong message about how we should not belittle the talents of the disabled. The series is packed with sarcasm and jokes about the disabled. We might think it is funny, but for the ones who face it on a regular basis, it’s absolutely not! The eight episodes of the series build a tight plot with no room for loopholes.
