The Big Picture

Fantasmas
, a new HBO show by Julio Torres, maintains the absurdist spirit of
Los Espookys
with a fresh spin.
The series is self-reflexive, blending mundane and magical elements while exploring comedy and life’s struggles.

Fantasmas
is funny, incisive, and unapologetically unique, embracing eccentricities in a world that values creativity less and less.

For those who have similarly been bemoaning the loss of the spectacular seriesLos Espookys, our long nightmare is now finally coming to an end. Not only is co-creator Julio Torres back with a new HBO show, the fantastic Fantasmas, but it also has more than a few familiar faces that pop back up. Sure, many will be excited to witness those like Steve Buscemi, Dylan O’Brien, Paul Dano, and Emma Stone getting up to delightful silliness, but the real ones among us will be most thrilled to see Ana Fabrega and Bernardo Velasco proving once more that television is better with them in it. They help to ensure that this new series brings the same absurdist spirit of Los Espookys while pushing everything in a bold new direction. Fantasmas sees Torres digging further into the ideas he’s always been interested in, simultaneously bringing a wonderfully withering skepticism towards entertainment itself amid the whimsy. It both wears its heart on its sleeve and kicks Hollywood in the teeth.

As such, there is perhaps less of a strict story this time around, or at least one that matters less in terms of the overall experience, but that only makes the vision that much sharper. Torres, hardly ever one to compromise in his works, has made a series that is fundamentally about exactly that. The self-reflexive nature of Fantasmas goes hand-in-hand with the silliness, playing like we’re watching the layers of its creator’s mind be peeled back just as he never misses a single step. It is a series that feels like the most open and honest work its creator has made yet about his place in the world. There are shades of something like The People’s Joker, but the show remains wholly original, never once getting bogged down in more potentially didactic beats. Instead, Fantasmas is a dynamic series in conversation with itself, reflecting on comedy, selling out, and life itself, teasing out mirth from the modern hellscape we all must navigate.

Fantasmas (2024) Julio Torres – both the comedian/writer/filmmaker AND his fictional counterpart here – once lost a golden oyster earing on New Year’s Eve. In his new series for Max, Julio searches for his lost item through a magically surreal New York City environment in a narrative packed with guest stars and dream-like scenarios.Release Date June 7, 2024 Main Genre Comedy Seasons 1 Creator(s) Julio Torres Writers Julio Torres Expand

What Is ‘Fantasmas’ About?

It is also a series about a missing gold oyster earring — at least, sort of. This earring is lost by Julio (that’s the character’s name as well) when he’s out at a club one night, and he spends the rest of the series looking for it. He’ll encounter a variety of characters along the way in his upside-down version of New York City. As he navigates recurring dreams, he must also find a way to prove his existence in order to get an apartment. The mundane is then intertwined with the magical as Torres, who also writes and directs all six episodes provided for review, takes aim at everything from the looming potential of having to book a credit card commercial to the all-consuming black hole that is superhero movies. What Julio would much rather be doing is working as a consultant for Crayola, putting his often strange though creative ideas to good use. Instead, he is frequently dismissed and must contend with the realities of what it means to survive a harsh world that cares little for such creativity.

Not only is the series as funny as anything Torres has ever done, but it’s also his most incisive. He never skimps on silliness just as there is plenty that is more biting — everything from Dano popping up in what initially feels like a riff on Too Many Cooks before becoming something all its own to Alexa Demie perfectly embodying the nightmarish bureaucracy of insurance. It all operates as a funhouse mirror of reality but with the sense that Torres is grappling with his own place within. It would be wrong to classify the series as being solely a response to the cancellation of Los Espookys, but there is still something fascinating about how this show is all about embracing one’s weird eccentricities in a society that would rather obliterate them.

Amid many things — television, journalism, even art itself — being ground down and spat out as a sludge of content to line the pockets of those who couldn’t care less about the value such work provides, Fantasmas is a cheeky, uncompromising vision. It looks great, is delightfully goofy, and has plenty of more pointed gags, making it another gem of an experience from Torres.

‘Fantasmas’ Moves to Its Own Rhythm

Nowhere is this more felt in several of Fantasmas’ scenes about midway through. At one point, for reasons that are best left to the show, Julio rebels against jumping rope as it’s always been done. Despite the cartoonish seriousness of the instructor that everyone continues following the rules that govern how we move and play, this is not enough to stop everyone from doing things their own way. When Juilo later encounters someone who demands that he reveal his trauma to them via his ideas, resulting in the best punchline of a series (in which there are many), it serves as a knowing wink to the audience. There is even one scene surrounding a nightmarish green screen world that feels wonderfully similar to this year’s The Beast, but filtered through the series’ unique sensibility that never stops finding new humor to explore.

Where this could feel cloying in less dexterous hands, the way it is all wrapped up in a series that is never lacking flair or creativity makes it work. Torres continues to walk the walk and talk the talk, never once sanding down his distinct comedic sensibilities in favor of a more perilously perfunctory mainstream appeal. He’s a true original and, regardless of whether we get more of Fantasmas, this provides yet another comedic world worth getting lost in.

REVIEW Fantasmas (2024) Fantasmas is another absurdist gem from Julio Torres for all who may have been missing Los Espookys in their life.ProsTorres has made a series that is his most open and honest yet.Fantasmas is both as funny as anything Torres has ever done and his most incisive work to date.Torres once again proves he’s a true original, providing yet another comedic world worth getting lost in.

Fantasmas premieres June 7 on HBO and Max in the U.S., with episodes releasing weekly.

WATCH ON MAX