The Best Heart Attack Of My Life – Full Season 1 Review

Season 1

 

 

Episode Guide

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6

 

The Best Heart Attack Of My Life is based on a true story, but it also slips very snugly into all the conventional tropes of an inspirational drama. There aren’t too many surprises here beyond a couple of neat aesthetic inclusions which we’ll get to shortly. Split across 6 episodes, the show is an easy watch with bite-size chapters that all lead to a satisfying conclusion that wraps everything up with a neat little bow.

The story follows a ghost-writer called Ariel. He smokes like a chimney, he’s overweight, he’s a slob and he doesn’t exercise.  His wife Isabel wants a divorce as she’s already in love with someone else and moved on, but Ariel isn’t ready to do the same. He knows he needs to get into better shape and is fast approaching a heart attack given the way he lives, but he just can’t help but indulge himself.

With the unflattering nickname of “Chubby” at work, Ariel’s stress is compounded further when he’s tasked with writing his newest book in four weeks, for a celebrity called Augusto Briganti. This brash, forward and demanding individual is the self-professed “King of Law”, and he happens to be the best attorney in Argentina. Well, Ariel is thrust into writing on a very strict deadline and thus, increases his stress which pushes him closer to a heart attack.

However, as fate would have it it’s not actually the stress that pushes Ariel’s heartrate to dangerous levels. Instead, this honour falls to a Flamenco dancer by the name of Concha. After seeing her on stage one night, he immediately finds himself enamoured with her. Is romance on the table?

Without spoiling too much, the first 2 episodes establishes the bond between Concha and Ariel, while also seeing all the damaging lifestyle choices that our protagonist embraces. However, it’s here that the show does a bit of a switch and bait, switching perspectives and following Concha and a pair of supporting characters who own their own Air BnB for the next 3 chapters.

Sure, there’s a few scenes in episode 4 that follow Ariel for a bit, but it does feel a bit disingenuous to the premise of this one. While the reasoning makes sense in-universe, the drama here is nowhere near compelling enough to keep you watching without itching to speed things along or do something else while the show is playing.

Concha is fine as a character, slipping into the role of an aspirational woman who’s desperate to make a name for herself as a Flamenco dancer while also wrestling with issues in the past. As for the Airbnb couple, we see their marriage and how they’re trying to make a living by renting out their abode to travellers. However, when you market a show around a man trying to sort his life out and go on this transformative journey, the pacing and energy is sucked right out of this by focusing on these subplots that have nothing to do with Ariel.

Alongside the “real time” drama we also cut to black and white talking head interviews with our in-universe characters, reinforcing the point that this is a true story. It doesn’t really work because more often than not characters will simply tell us about parts of their life rather than us seeing it for ourselves. I can’t help but feel that these sections should have been reserved exclusively for Ariel himself, or just remove them completely because it doesn’t add much to the show’s appeal.

What works more effectively however, is a countdown timer that shows up from episode 1 through to the finale. Here, we see the number of heartbeats pre and post-heart attack, reinforcing just how finite our time on this planet is. We never really know when our next major accident or serious issue is going to arrive, and this has a great effect in ramping up the tension as we get closer to the fateful incident in question. When the heart attack occurs, you’ll also know exactly why its been called the best heart attack of his life!

When Ariel does go on his transformative journey and we see him turn his life around, these moments definitely stand out. However, there’s too few moments like this and way too much padding. The formulaic story lends itself much more smoothly to a movie format and across 6 episodes, there’s just not enough here to make for a wholly compelling drama.

Overall though, The Best Heart Attack Of My Life is… fine. It’s not a bad drama but it’s not a particularly great one either, slipping neatly into that bracket of forgettable mediocrity. This isn’t one to write home about, but if you’re intrigued by the premise, there’s enough in this to kill a couple of hours.


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  • Verdict - 5.5/10
    5.5/10
5.5/10

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