Twitter

With a single jump cut in Vida‘s premiere, a tense reunion between exes at a funeral turns into a steamy sex scene. Former lovers Lyn (Melissa Barrera) and Johnny (Carlos Miranda) go from heartache to full on oral sex in an outdoor cellar stairwell. Without debate, it intensifies: His pants off, their tongues intertwining, and his pregnant fiancée mingling at Lyn’s mother’s wake upstairs.

It’s a fast and dirty hookup scene, and it stands out for its velocity. Lyn and Johnny’s hookup is something akin to cars crashing together. It’s wrong and it’s inevitable, and it’s very, very hot.

We’re only two episodes into Vida‘s first season, and the critically-acclaimed drama has already proven its ability to stand out in its use of sex and nudity as poignant storytelling devices. Yes, Vida is the bittersweet story of two sisters returning home to bury their mother, but it’s aiming to be more than that. It wants to be unflinching look at modern Latinx culture in Los Angeles. Because of this, the characters we meet encounter the trials of gentrification, cultural upheaval, financial straits, family drama, and yes, sex.

So far in Vida, sexuality has been employed as a frank depiction of status and as an realistically indulgent bit of release. It’s a means of connection and a tool for disconnecting from the pain of reality. Lyn uses sex almost desperately. She’s hooked on Johnny like a drug and uses their chemistry as a means of asserting her power. Everything in Lyn’s life is falling apart, but she can still have Johnny whenever she wants.

In contrast, the way the show uses Lyn’s sex life with her white hipster boyfriend Juniper as a symbol of her degradation. In their Episode 2 hookup, she’s at his beck and call, she’s the one performing oral sex, and she’s the one rejected (and humiliated when he takes back her credit card). Nevertheless, Juniper is the one who is stripped down and completely naked. The show gives Lyn the last word, pointing out that Juniper waited until after they had sex — two days after her mother’s funeral (which he missed) — to break up with her. Juniper’s flaccid penis is kept in the frame during much of their tete-a-tete. It’s a simplistic trick to show him as a literal dick, but it succeeds.

Vida is already giving us hot, guilty, passionate, dirty, honest sex, but it’s giving us still more in these scenes. One, Lyn’s hookups aren’t wrong because she’s having sex, but because they reflect her need for the kind of caring love and sincere respect she’s not getting. There’s a sordid kind of elegance to what these scenes are saying.

But also, Vida is a show that accepts and celebrates the Latinx community. It’s embedded in LGTBQ culture, and we’ve already seen seeds of same-sex romances hinted at in the show. What the care and consideration of these heteronormative hookups suggests – nay, promises — is that Vida will give the same care and consideration to its eventual LGTBQ sex scenes.

Vida serving up sex to its viewers in an electric way, full of heat and honesty.

Where to Stream Vida