El Ministerio del Tiempo/The Ministry of Time — Series 3: Episode 12 — Contratiempos/Setbacks — A Review

16th June, 2019.

I have to confess two things.

Firstly?

I’ve got Spotify’s Ambient rain playlist on, at the moment.

It’s … 

Well, with a window open, it’s relaxing.

And not quite as distracting as having Radio Four on.

Strange, I know.

But true.

~≈†≈~

The other confession?



A week or two ago, I had to go into Basildon Hospital: to pick up a gadget I had to wear, overnight, to monitor my blood oxygen levels.

Apparently?

The tests were inconclusive: and I have to do it all over again.

Yep: once more to sunny Basildon, twice in a row.

Ho … 

Hum … !



The annoying thing is that I’ve had no letter confirming the appointment.



I’m going to be on the phone, tomorrow.



~≈†≈~

The one consolation, in all this … ?

Is that with videos prepped, jobhunting done, and no laundry needing doing?

It was time to catch some TV.

Yes: time for more of El Ministerio del Tiempo/The Ministry of Time third series.

I’ve been missing Alonso and the gang … !

~≈†≈~

Episode 12 — Contratiempos/Setbacks — opens in 1976.

With the key committee that’s selecting the candidates for the post of Spain’s first post-Franco Prime Minister.



The man who should be transitional PM, who will eventually be democratically confirmed as such, is Adolfo Suárez …

The problem, there … ?



Is that someone rigs the selection process: leaving Angustias (Francesca Piñón) to break the bad news to Salvador (Jaime Blanch.)



That the process has been rigged.

That Alonso, Pacino and Irene (Nacho Fresneda, Hugo Silva and Cayetana Guillén Cuervo) will need to go to work …

And that the exterminating Angels have a mole in the building …

There’s only one problem.



Alonso … gets shot by Pacino.



The mission … is looking tough … 

~≈†≈~

Now … 

Shooting Alonso halfway through the sodding episode … ?

Granted, that only lasted until the end of the episode: but certainly caught my attention.

El Ministerio del Tiempo certainly likes upping its dramatic stakes.

It’s gives us a pivotal scene from history — Suárez’s becoming PM*† — and builds one heck of a story around it: and throws in an entertaining story … and one hell of a drama.

Roll on episode 13 … !

*        It mildly confused me, when I first came across the word: but, apparently, the Spanish term for prime minister is presidente.   Apparently, it’s a contraction of the full Spanish term, Presidente del Gobierno de España: President of the goverment.  To me, it sounds like Chair could be a more appropriate term.   But what do I know?

†        Knowing, as I did, that Franco died in late ’75?   I realised almost immediately that Suárez was a key figure in the transition from the Franco regime’s control of Spain.