How ‘Vida’ updates the coming-of-age story for a modern audience

Happy May Day everyone! For most people, today marks the start of summer. But for the fellowship of the bingewatchers, it marks a new month of fresh content. One such show we’re excited about is the upcoming drama Vida, which was first announced by Starz back in 2016 as one of three projects based on Spanish-language formats and stories from Hispanic creators, writers, and producers, something the network’s CEO Chris Albrecht described as part of its “programming strategy of seeking diverse voices” and targeting “underserved audiences”. The show is part of a new wave of programming that caters to Hispanic viewers, offering a diverse story that covers a range of modern themes. Focusing on two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles, Emma and Lyn (Mishel Prada and Melissa Barrera) return to their old neighborhood where they are confronted by the past and the truth about their mother’s identity. It’s not just the Latinx community this show speaks to – the half-hour drama’s storyline presents LGBTQI themes, gentrification, and a side of LA not often portrayed in mainstream TV shows. When the show received notable buzz during its promotion at this year’s SXSW festival, the critics noted creator Tanya Saracho’s unique coming-of-age themes and focus on strong female protagonists. With the show’s release creeping up (May 6, folks – get it in the datebook), we’ve decided to look at how Vida takes coming-of-age tropes and transforms them for a modern audience:

Experiencing grief and loss

The show follows the journey of the two estranged sisters as they travel home to LA following the death of their mother. While both were brought up under the same roof, they grew up to lead very different lives – Emma lives in Chicago with a job and responsible life. On the other side of the coin, Lyn is all about having a good time and is happy to manipulate people to get what she wants in life. While they’re running on different paths, when their mother collapses on the bathroom floor and passes away, they are forced to work together as a unit once more. The show’s narrative twists the coming-of-age trope of experiencing grief by tying it in with other themes; with their mother’s death comes the revelation of a secret that was held from them their entire lives. Now the girls go through the process of seeing their parent as a real person rather than just their mother, while also weaving in an inadvertent “coming out of the closet” moment. As IndieWire put it, following the death of their mom, “Not only do Emma and Lyn need to learn to work together, but there’s an unexpected third cog in the machine: Eddy (Ser Anzoategui) is their mother’s ‘roommate’, and she’s been helping run their bar, apartments, and home.” Soon the girls come to realize the roommate is actually their mother’s lesbian lover whom she married in the later stages of her life. Up until now, these two women had only seen their mom as a parental figure. The Hollywood Reporter described how things get immediately more complicated when they are forced to confront a secret that is immediately obvious to audiences, but takes Emma & Lyn by surprise. “The ‘secret’ forces the two young women to examine their upbringing, while they also reunite with people from their past and confront their neighborhood's changing cultural landscape.” Revelations about mother's identity and queer marriage unfold progressively over seasons. Series maintained focus on processing parental secrets and family reconciliation through finale.

Adult fear

A common trope in coming-of-age shows is that of adult fear, often involving apprehension over facing up to adulthood or finding out a huge secret following the loss of a spouse or parent. Vida presents this theme with the death of the young women’s mother, but updates it for a modern audience by exploring LGBTQI themes via her secret sexual identity. “The tragedy opens up a whole new set of problems, while also giving us some much-needed representation for queer Latin women,” wrote Out. GLAAD award recognized the series' contribution to queer representation. Themes of identity and acceptance extended through later episodes.

Overcoming adversity

While the sisters’ plan was to make an appearance the funeral, sell their mother’s bar, and leave, things take a turn for the complicated when faced with Eddy and what to do with their mom’s business. With real estate developers stepping in to renovate the bar, along with Eddy, the two sisters have to figure out how best to handle the business and honor the memory of their mother. Meanwhile, Chelsea Rendon (Netflix’s Bright) plays a vlogger who fights against the takeover of the neighborhood and urges people to take action within the heated climate of the gentrification of Eastside LA. Overcoming adversity is something that comes up in most coming-of-age films. However, with Vida this theme is portrayed in a fresh new way via the gentrification of the neighborhood the sisters grew up in. Forbes noted, “It’s a show about a specific group facing challenges many can relate to. For what it’s trying to say about Latino culture and the socio-economic divide the Latino community faces in the United States, Vida is a commendable piece of television.” Gentrification pressures and community resistance featured prominently in Seasons 2 and 3. Sisters' efforts to honor mother's legacy intertwined with broader East LA displacement themes.

Series Conclusion and Cancellation

Vida premiered on May 6, 2018 and ran for three seasons across 22 episodes. Starz announced in March 2020 that the third season would serve as the finale, with the last episodes airing later that month. The decision reflected both the network’s shifting priorities and the creative team’s desire to close the story on their own terms. Tanya Saracho’s scripts wrapped the sisters’ arcs without loose threads, giving the neighborhood story a deliberate endpoint rather than an abrupt cut. Viewers who followed the show from the beginning could trace the same themes of grief and community change through to their final scenes, where the bar remains standing and the family ties feel newly defined.

Critical Acclaim and Awards

All three seasons earned perfect 100 percent scores on Rotten Tomatoes, a rare streak for any series. Critics consistently praised the writing for balancing intimate family drama with the larger forces reshaping East LA. The 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series recognized the show’s sustained attention to queer Latinx characters without reducing them to single-issue storylines. Later seasons deepened the same questions about identity that surfaced in the pilot, and reviewers noted that the performances grew richer as the ensemble settled into the material. The awards and scores confirmed what early festival audiences sensed: the series delivered on its promise across its entire run.

Creator's Subsequent Work

After Vida wrapped, Tanya Saracho signed an overall deal with Universal Content Productions and continued developing projects that center brown queer voices. She adapted her stage play Brujas for television, keeping the same interest in community, ritual, and resistance that shaped Vida. Industry observers watched her move from limited series to broader development slates, noting how her early success on Starz opened doors for other Latinx writers. Saracho’s post-Vida slate shows the same commitment to specific neighborhoods and complicated family histories that defined the original series.

Cast Career Trajectories

Melissa Barrera moved from Lyn to leading roles in the film versions of In the Heights and Scream, carrying the same mix of sharp humor and vulnerability she first displayed on Vida. Mishel Prada stayed active in television, taking on parts that again explored Latinx women navigating personal and professional expectations. Ser Anzoategui continued working in both comedy and drama, often in projects that foreground queer Latinx stories. Chelsea Rendon expanded her range beyond the activist vlogger Marisol, appearing in additional series that touch on social issues in Los Angeles. The cast’s later credits keep Vida in circulation for new viewers who discover the show through the actors’ subsequent work.

Vida’s three-season run gave the coming-of-age story a complete shape rather than a snapshot. The sisters’ grief, the neighborhood’s pressures, and the family secrets all reached conclusions that honored the original setup. Awards recognition and continued work by the cast and creator keep the series visible, while the themes of identity and displacement remain as relevant now as they were at the first screening. The show’s legacy rests on how it let those elements play out fully, ending on its own terms with the characters and the place still standing.