WARNING: This article contains spoilers about the Prime Video series Small fish
It saw the light on Prime Video Small fishTV series conceived and created by The Jackal, which we had already told you about after watching the preview and on which we can only confirm the excellent impressions received after seeing the first two episodes. In total there are six episodes of Amazon production and these episodes look a lot like a pack of chips: you start consuming one after the other and when they run out you feel a sense of disappointment, because you immediately want more. Small fish it is, above all, a funny series, in which we laugh a lot and heartily. But there is much more. The Jackal have managed to grasp the most sublimated sense of comedy, or knowing laugh intelligentlyaddressing, through the filter of irony, even more delicate themes and situations, so as to associate laughter with a tenderness that conquers the heart.
Small fish it manages to do all of this and shows what, after all, is great anima by The Jackals. As we will soon see in more detail, the secret of the success of the series, which is also that of the collective’s success, is precisely the community. The group, the team, the team: there is an inexorable union in small fish, in which the viewer is also involved, who almost seems to be present in first person in that ramshackle office of the Tree of Us. Precisely for this reason, when the episodes end, we feel lost, because we have to leave a place where we were having a great time, like when our beach holidays ended as children and we had to go home. Small fish it’s a beautiful journey into the world of The Jackal and now, slowly, let’s analyze the salient points in this review.
The big reunion of The Jackal in Little Fishes
The enthusiasm with which we are reviewing this series is due in large part to the intrinsic meaning that Small fish let it show. The Prime Video series resembles a beautiful reunion with lifelong friends, the ones you may not see for a long time, but you’ll always have fun with. And it was probably like this for Ciro, Fru, Aurora, Fabio and all of The Jackal in full. In recent times, as the protagonists also underlined during the presentation of the series, the members of the collective have been involved mostly in personal projects, so Small fish it also represented a beautiful thing for them return to the teamin what is in fact their natural habitat.
And right here lies the great strength of Amazon production, in being able to show the true soul of The Jackal, which is that of teamwork. The alchemy between everyone is evident, everyone is at their best, evidently boosted by this collaboration. The most beautiful thing is, in fact, to see how all the individual protagonists of the series draw strength from this impersonal network and here the most genuine essence of The Jackal comes out, which with Small fish they live in an ambivalent situation, the culmination and basis of an entire creative process.
The Prime Video series looks like the summa of a long journey that led The Jackal to be what they are now, decidedly big fish, but it also seems to be the start point towards new shores, towards the new season that Fru hopes for in the finale of the last episode, but in general towards a collective narrative that exalts the individual members even more. Surely, Small fish today is a great milestone for The Jackal, who however can still grow more and seem to have hit the right path to do so.
A very close element of rupture
In the riot of faces linked to the world of The Jackal, between more and less well-known names and prominent guest stars who enrich the narrative, a surprise protagonist has made her way decisively, the only central character extraneous to the collective, who is the living testimony of that sense of involvement mentioned at the beginning. The reference is clearly to Gretacharacter played by Martina Tinnirelloabsolute newcomer in the serial field and real breaking element in the series.
Having placed a face from outside the world as the protagonist The Jackal might have seemed like a risky choice, and instead it paid off big time. Martina returns that sense of break that his character had to go, but at the same time it turns out amalgamated perfectly in the overall narrative. The merit of the success of this operation can certainly be traced back to the skill of the actress, evidently at ease despite being at her debut, and then also to the ability that The Jackal have to create that welcoming environment that makes anyone feel at home and not did perceive any distance with Martina Tinnirello.
Small fish and the world of the web
Among the many advantages of Small fish we also find the ability to return a singular but very powerful gaze on a world that is experiencing a paradoxical situation, because it is practically dominant today, but remains unknown to most. Those who are not in the sector hardly know how one works web agency, many may not even know that such realities exist. It is often ignored how much work there is behind an advertisement, a post on social media, a leaflet found on the street: The Jackal, on the other hand, underline all this work, illustrate a reality that exists, and which among other things is not that of great influencer or Don Draper-like advertisers, but more often it is that of provincemade up of small customers and little budget.
Very good The Jackal, therefore, to bring the viewers into this world and to do it with extreme tact. Despite the light tone, indeed perhaps thanks to this, there is no lack of deeper reflections, among which that of theoriginality in the fourth episode, which under some points of view is a small masterpiece. Openly quote and inspired by The Office, this passage reflects on the lack of originality in a world that should make originality its key to understanding, and carries on this reflection by openly copying a very famous format and staging, in narrative fiction, a case of plagiarism. The effect is very strong and leads us to reflect on the limits of quotations, tributes and copies just as we are experiencing them.
The world of web is at the center, therefore, of small fish, with many small examples addressed in addition to the one mentioned above: from the difficult relationships with influencers to those with customers, up to the weight of deadlines, the infernal rhythms and the need to keep alive ties to create a healthy workplace. With irony and lightness, The Jackal take us into a context that is difficult to outline on television, but which there was an absolute need to shed light on given its diffusion.
Summing up, therefore, The Jackal’s first comedy series is one test passed with full marks. There was all the potential to do well, yet perhaps the results went even beyond expectations, because we certainly expected to laugh, even to get excited, but perhaps a little less to reflect and think, and instead Small fish manages to return all this, as only great comedies do. At this point, therefore, we just have to join Fru’s appeal and hope that Amazon will make The Jackal make a second season of the series, to keep laughing, getting excited and reflecting with Aurora, Ciro, Fru, Fabio and all the other members of this splendid collective.