REVIEW: ‘Perfect Life’ Season 2 Redefines Perfection

Perfect Life (Vida Perfecta) is a Spanish-language HBO Max Original by Leticia Dolera originally aired on Movistar+. Perfect Life Season 2 picks up shortly after the first season as María (Dolera) navigates motherhood, her sister Esther (Aixa Villagrán) contemplates marriage, and their best friend Cristina (Celia Freijeiro) has her own marriage crisis.

Love, and life as a whole, is messy. There are no two ways about it. The depictions and images of perfect lives and love seen on TV are a far cry from the realities real people face on the daily. Perfect Life has always been about reconciling the ideals we have about life with the realities we face. But Perfect Life Season 2 takes this message to a new level by imploring us to recognize the perfection of imperfection.  And foremost, this is thanks to an amazing depiction of a therapist.

María is struggling to connect with her baby Juanito. She’s not especially letting the baby’s father Gari (Enric Auquer) into Juanito’s life, or her own, and she’s unbearably jealous of Esther’s getting married and Cris’s open relationship. She craves normalcy and fears being a bad mother. So she does what basically nobody in television ever actually does and finds a therapist. And a good one. For much of Perfect Life Season 2, the episodes are framed around her therapy sessions and the sage advice she receives. It’s a depiction that neither puts the therapist in a position as some all-knowing miracle-working nor a rube who is so bad that it prompts María to figure it out on her own. She’s simply a good therapist who doesn’t always get it right, but ultimately provides exactly the kind of professional support that so many of us could use, while also helping her recognize all of the support that she has around her if only she wouldn’t push it away.

Of course, María isn’t the only star of the show, as her on and off boyfriend Xosé (Manuel Burque) has commitment issues to resolve, Gari and his girlfriend work to learn how better to communicate, Cris refuses to communicate with her husband and sabotages any potential for their relationship to continue, and Esther struggles with accepting stability in her life. They’re all very real and well-portrayed struggles. The emotions throughout the season are constantly running high. But what I appreciate most is at the end of the day, everyone is forced to make difficult decisions about their relationships and live with them.

Who is to say whether their choices are right or wrong. Maybe a third season will explore this further. But it’s the fact that they all made distinct and definite choices that makes the season so powerful and so close to perfection. There are a couple of jokes that didn’t really land, maybe because of rough translations and mediocre dubbing, both of which I tried throughout the season. I still wish that the main autistic character could have been played by an autistic actor, but the depiction of neurodivergent life and love is by far the best I’ve seen in television.

Perfect Life Season 2 redefines what perfect looks like—a messy life full of love nonetheless. It’s a strong story and performance with such a great ending that it may even leave you feeling like you can have a perfect life too, with a little bit of effort.

Perfect Life Season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max.