It’s like every week Netflix drops a sexy new international hit featuring hunky eye candy and (at the very least) a gay subplot, and suddenly our to-watch list is even longer. Not that we’re complaining!
This time around, it’s an erotic Spanish romance called Through My Window: Across The Sea, which, as the subtitle may suggest, is actually a sequel to a film that heated things up on the streamer last summer.
Sure, the original may have earned a rare 0% rating on RottenTomatoes (albeit, with only six reviews logged), but that didn’t stop it from becoming a massive hit. Across The Sea is following in its footsteps, failing to earn a single positive review while still cracking Netflix’s global Top 10 streaming hits.
So, what is Through My Window, and why should we care if it’s as awful as it sounds? Well, for starters, the cast is scorching hot…
But, if you’re really concerned with silly, frivolous things like “plot” and “character,” then it’s actually pretty easy to get up to speed.
In the first Through My Window—based on a book from author Ariana Godoy—we meet a young, aspiring writer named Raquel (Clara Galle) who lives with modest means in a modest home that is, for whatever reason, basically surrounded by a massive estate owned by the mega-rich Hidalgo family.
The Hildalgos run a super important company called Alpha 3 (though we couldn’t tell you what they do), and are grooming their three sons—Ares (Julio Pena), Apolo (Hugo Arbues), and Artemis (Eric Masip)—to one day manage the family business.
Through a series of seemingly random circumstances, Raquel and Ares meet and fall in love—against their better judgment and in opposition of the Hidalgo family’s wishes. They both play hard-to-get, which amounts to some mild drama, but the couple ends the first movie in it to win it. Simple enough!
By now you’re probably realizing that the whole thing sounds very, very hetero. You’re not wrong! But we’re pleased to report that the sequel, Across The Sea, does introduce a little queer twist to the narrative. While, yes, also continuing to deliver lots of skin and softcore sex scenes.
This second chapter opens with Raquel at university while Ares is off in Stockholm studying medicine, lusting after each other from afar.
Then, one day, Ares shows up at Raquel’s door and whisks her away to his family’s seaside mansion, with no concern for responsibility or Grade Point Average. After a number of contrivances, the series’ entire ensemble gathers at this beachy getaway, in addition to Anna (Carla Tous), a flirty gal pal from Ares’ past, and Greg (Ivan Lapadula), Raquel’s sexy classmate who’s clearly harboring a crush.
You probably already see where this is going, don’t you?
Naturally, when you gather a bunch of hot, young people by a body of water, the clothes come off. Across The Sea really seems to specialize in butt shots from its male stars, so it’s got that going for it!
There’s also a memorable sequence featuring ice cream cones, and the drip-drip-drip of vanilla on the chiseled chest of one of the film’s stars feels… um… suggestive, to say the least.
Oh, and how about the actual gay stuff? Two films in, Through My Window rewards the patient viewer with—*spoiler alert*—a man-on-man-on-woman three-way between Raquels’ friend Daniela (Natalia Azahara), Hidalgo’s brother Apolo, and another guy they meet on their vacation.
Sure, it’s pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but it’s there! And it’s our duty to tell you.
Plus—surprise, surprise—Netflix has announced a third and final Through My Window film is on the way in 2024. Perhaps then we’ll get to delve deeper into Daniela and Apolo’s queer-curious relationship and flesh out their sexualities a bit more. Perhaps!
Through My Window: Across The Sea is streaming now on Netflix, and you can scroll down below to see some choice shots from the gorgeous cast’s Instagram. In the meantime, we’ll be cleaning up the sticky mess off our chests—from the ice cream, of course! Get your minds out of the gutter!