One Hundred Years of Solitude – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Macondo 

Episode 1 of One Hundred Years of Solitude starts with scenes from what looks like a decrepit house. There are ants everywhere and a dead bloody body on the bed. One might think the place is devoid of life, but then we see a young man reading a book in one of the rooms in the house. A narrator introduces us to Colonel Aureliano Buendia, who faces a firing squad. However, all he can remember as he faces his mortality is the afternoon he and his father discovered ice.

We circle back to years before Colonel Aureliano was born. The narrator leads us to the story of Aureliano’s parents, José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán. The two were cousins, but they fell in love and insisted on getting married, to the chagrin of their parents. Ursula’s mom warned her that marrying Jose would lead to trouble. She predicted that Ursula would give birth to a pig-lookalike child with a tail.

Soon after their wedding, Ursula is haunted by her mother’s prediction. It makes it hard for her to make love to her husband. Given that Ursula’s mom gave her a chastity belt, this only made it worse for the couple, and many villagers started questioning Jose’s virility. One of them being Prudencio Aguilar, who lacks the common sense to keep his suspicions to himself. This leads to a duel, and Jose ultimately kills Prudencio.

That night, Jose confesses to Ursula that he doesn’t care about the kids they will have, but no one in the village will die at their hands. This is also the first night they consummated their marriage.

However, the couple find no peace as the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar keeps visiting and haunting them. In the end, Jose and Ursula decide to leave town, and some of Jose’s young friends decide to move as well. The men, women, and children led by Jose, hope to cross the mountains and reach the ocean. At the time, it seemed impossible, but Jose has a confidence about him that makes one think he knows what he’s talking about.

As the days turn into months, Ursula discovers she is pregnant while they are still looking for a new home. After nine months, she gives birth to a healthy boy and fortunately, their son, José Arcadio, has no pigtails. The group continues with their adventure until they come to a swamp. After going round and round in circles and never finding the ocean, the group starts to despair.

However, that night, Jose has a dream about a town full of mirrors. This inspires him to build a new town on the swamp side called Macondo. A town of liberty where every individual enjoys the autonomy to live life on their terms.

Macondo becomes a beacon of utopian ideals, where prosperity and peace flourishes in perfect harmony. Every resident of this idyllic community basks in a life of abundance and equality, free from the constraints of scarcity and inequality.

One day, a band of gypsies led by a man known as Melquíades visit the town. Jose is fascinated by Melquíades’ magnets and thinks he can use magnetic instruments to find precious stones. Initially, Melquíades is hesitant to give Jose the magnets. Still, Jose gives him two goats and asks to buy the equipment. Melquíades agrees, but warns Jose that it will not work. After weeks of using the magnets, Jose and his friends give up after finding nothing but dead bodies.

Simultaneously, Ursula discovers she is pregnant and orders Jose to return the magnet and get their goats back. Melquíades agrees to give Jose his two goats and also gifts him a compass and maps. Melquíades explains to him how they work and a budding friendship is formed. Melquíades later leaves the town, promising to return. The compass and maps inspire Jose’s interest in science. For months, he went on expeditions around the town, even stumbling upon the sea. He discovers that Macondo is surrounded by water, and tries to find a way to connect Macondo to the rest of the world.

In the meantime, Ursula gives birth to their second son, Aureliano. Aureliano was born with the premonition gift. From birth, Aureliano looked at the world differently and here, we circle back to a grown Aureliano, facing the firing squad, wondering why he couldn’t see his death.

The Episode Review

This series is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez. The novel is considered a landmark in Spanish literature, ranking among the most significant works in the language. Although this is just the first episode, the series has done a fantastic job of keeping the novel’s integrity.

There is a lot of symbolism used in this episode too. Jose and Ursula embark on a journey trying to flee from their past and they build the utopian town of Macondo. A peaceful place with equality and prosperity. This gives them a fresh start, away from the terrible predictions of Ursula’s mom. While there, the couple expands their family, dismissing Ursula’s concern about birthing pigs. She gives birth to two healthy sons and finds her place in their new home.

The visit of Melquíades sets Jose on a different path and awakens his curiosity about the world. Jose is a visionary man, but this takes his time away from his young, growing family. This brings some strain on his relationship with Ursula, who doesn’t understand Jose’s obsession with science. 

This first episode perfectly introduces the Buendia family and lays the groundwork for the next chapter to follow. The use of flashbacks takes us back and forth to provide more context to Aureliano’s story. The narrator adds more nuance to this too, maintaining a perfect pace and creating the illusion that we are outsiders trying to understand what happened to the Buendia family.