Hulu delivers a knockout with its must-see Spanish boxing drama

In the opening moments of La MaquinaIn Hulu's new six-episode boxing drama, which is also its first ever Spanish-language series, a Botoxed, tanned and sharply dressed manager, played by Diego Luna, scolds an assistant for bringing him the wrong drink. It turns out the assistant couldn't find the right brand of soda – a minor insult, you might think, but one that still causes Luna's Andy to spontaneously collapse. “This isn’t a game, asshole,” Andy growls at the underling as they head to a Las Vegas arena where a fight night is taking place.

Andy is an impresario type who teaches a lesson about boxing – not just the importance of the fighters in the ring, but also the countless intricacies, superstitions and shadowy players that can influence the outcome. And yes, even something as prosaic as the right drink. In this case, the aging boxer Andy works for, nicknamed “La Maquina” (The Machine), has a superstition that involves consuming a certain brand of drink before every fight. But now there is no time left.

Andy scratches the label off of it. A drink is a drink, right? Of course the boxer notices – and we soon find him in the back of an ambulance. The superstition seems to have been confirmed.

This is actually not a game.

The plot of La Maquina is simple: Gael García Bernal, Luna's real-life friend since birth (literally), portrays Esteban, the boxer. Luna is his cosmetic surgery-obsessed manager and best friend. Esteban is getting older and decides that he still has a fight. It's actually Andy who decides this for him, determined to get his friend back to the top. What's special about Andy, however, is that he has a long history of working with bad guys to settle disputes, including the one with Esteban. And now the piper has to be paid.

The underworld gangsters send the message: “Esteban tiene que perder.” He must throw his upcoming match or they will kill both Andy and Esteban. This means, among other things, that the latter will try to make a comeback of sorts while juggling personal demons in addition to protecting his family. This family also includes his ex-wife Irasema (Eiza Gonzalez), a journalist who is on her own collision course with the dark side of boxing.

Image source: Camila Mata Lara/Hulu

Boxing almost always makes for a satisfying, gripping drama. Such battles are as primal as it gets; Two guys fighting each other, and it just comes down to who can take it. As if all that weren't enough, the problems are compounded by Esteban's blackout alcoholism, Andy's difficulties in fathering a child with his wife, and Irasema's journalistic confrontation with boxing's shady masterminds. Between the drama and the great technical decisions, which include wonderful one-shots at the start of two episodes, there's more than enough to keep you unstoppably drawn into the world of La Maquina – and so you stay invested.

Obviously, the “main event” of this series, so to speak, is the reunion of Luna and García Bernal, whose first collaboration was Coming of Age in 2001 Y tu mamá también. Their long-standing friendship makes for a captivating on-screen duo with tons of chemistry, so much so that you can almost imagine them sharing some kind of Pitt-Clooney dynamic (in another decade or so, of course). Hulu's new series will keep you on the edge of your seat mostly because of its on-screen magic, which is more than enough to pack a punch on the small screen.