REVIEW: ‘That Night’ (2026) Is An Incredible Exploration Of Family, Trauma, And Murder

That Night (2026) (Esa Noche) explores what led to and followed a death covered up by three sisters while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. Directed by Jorge Dorado and Liliana Torres and written by Marian Fernández Pascal and Lara Sendim, the story explores trauma and family, unveiling what happened and why through the perspectives of six different individuals. 

Timing can be everything. Seeing pieces of a story come together in a way other than how you first received them could lead to a completely different outlook on a situation. Especially where emotions are concerned. It is this narrative timing that makes That Night truly shine. Since I don’t think this story works, told in any other way or any other sequence. 

Each of the series’s six episodes is told by one of the six main characters. Starting with the three sisters, Cris (Paula Usero), Elena (Clara Galle), and Paula (Claudia Salas), we learn about the family’s history and, slowly, the truths surrounding the death the women come together to cover up. Later on, other family members provide the point of view as the series shifts focus to the aftermath of what transpired that night in the Dominican Republic. 

That Night is built on a toxic family and their traumas.

To say the family members in this series are toxic would be an understatement. As you watch the interactions play out, it is surprising how well-worn the actors can make the cycles these characters exist in feel. The natural deliveries they give and how on-cue the timing is between them creates the impression that these characters have been having these arguments their entire lives. 

Viewers will make severe snap judgments of the characters. And they deserve them, to be sure. However, as we learn about the key moment that informs so many of their attitudes, the moment that shattered an entire family, we come to understand and appreciate how a truly terrible attitude can come about for reasons other than “X is just a terrible person.” Overcompensation, denial, and projection are just some of the coping mechanisms the family has come to lean on as they plough through their lives. 

Further empowering That Night’s exploration into family trauma is the shifting perspective. This ever-altering viewpoint not only helps explain every character’s motivations but also highlights how pointing the finger at just one character would be impossible. You see how each party has its own unique place in their family’s traumatic dance, and the same dance wouldn’t function if just one were to step away. But they just can’t. 

Paula steals the bulk of the show with her unyielding need to control situations.

While every character has their moments, it’s Salas’s Paula who ultimately steals the bulk of the show. Her unyielding need to control situations and do whatever she must to keep her family together is as powerful as it is destructive.

Coupled with moments of personal trauma highlighted by her rocky relationship with her wife, you have an incredibly memorable character that should be hard-pressed to like, but in the end is uncomfortably understandable.

Further emphasising the show’s generational and interwoven nature is its masterfully crafted final episode. Focusing on Ane, Elena’s daughter, the final episode takes place 23 years after the rest of the series, as Ane has to choose how she wishes to see her mother and the events that transpired. 

Ane’s closing monologue is tremendously powerful.

Closing with Ane’s perspective as she looks back with the help of those who were there, puts the final piece of the story into place. It lets the core characters present themselves one last time, as they try to help one deeply affected by the past, but had no hand in it, understand why they are who they are.

Ane’s shining moment, when she delivers a monologue about her feelings towards her mother, is tremendously powerful. Soft-spoken yet firm, the place she finally arrives at is a beautiful one. 

That Night delivers an incredible story that couldn’t be told any other way. Its shifting perspective and great cast of characters allow the viewer a unique look into family, the trauma, and the support it can bring. As equally capable of being poisonous as life-saving, the show minces no words about how integral it can be to our lives either way.

That Night is streaming on Netflix March 13th.