Y nadie puede escapar de su propia sombra
by chuckofish
The title above is from the book Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte and translates to something like, “…and no one can escape his own shadow”. In an effort to escape, not my shadow but the banal limbo of our present circumstances, I started watching the Spanish TV version on Amazon Prime. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, our swashbuckling hero is a Spanish musketeer turned swordsman for hire.
He has a great hat, a voluminous cape, several love entanglements who all look alike, a difficult past, and friends in high places. Naturally, he is loyal to the crown and determined to foil the plots of the evil inquisition.
The program is entertaining but it has the worst subtitles I’ve ever seen. Characters burble along for minutes and then a subtitle flashes up and is gone in a millisecond. When subtitles do stay on screen long enough to read, they obviously leave out loads of dialogue and sometimes mix two different speakers together. Strangely enough, it doesn’t really matter. The plot is so transparent (and repetitive) that subtitles seem optional. In each episode Alatriste ends up fighting five or six opponents simultaneously and then getting hauled off to prison, from which his powerful friends free him or he escapes unaided. A requisite love scene or two allows some female nudity, but in general the show is pretty tame.
The fact that I bothered to post about this show tells you all you need to know about my life at the moment. Outside of work, nothing — but nothing — is going on. And that’s perfectly fine by me. It just makes it difficult to come up with a worthwhile Saturday post. If anyone out there has discovered a great new book, movie or activity, please share it in the comments!
In the meantime, stay healthy and have a great weekend.
dual personalities 
I sometimes read Pérez-Riverte’s blog, and it’s really too bad that it’s in Spanish, because I’m sure you would all very much enjoy it. I’ve decided he is the Spanish version of a Chamberlin!
Yes, it’s too bad it’s in Spanish. I would love to find out more about this Spanish Chamberlin!
There’s a certain enjoyment in watching something with terrible subtitles. Poor translation can be its own source of entertainment!
Yes, plenty of opportunities for that in Turkey. I recently saw a sign that should have said “Museum Staff Only” but instead read “Museum Staff Cannot Be Used Except.”
I enjoyed the book I read by Pérez-Riverte and I will check out the show–we are desperate for something new! As I mentioned we are watching a couple of French shows, so a Spanish will fit in nicely.