Midnight Family is one of those shows that hooks you because of its premise. Because what do you mean there are only 100 government-operated ambulances in Mexico City for a population of 10 million people? That’s such an absurd number that when the show introduces a family at the center of one of the so-called pirate ambulances, you can’t stop watching. Not just that, you can’t help but root for them. But the show, which hooks you because of its premise keeps your attention because of its actors, and the relationships that develop between their characters.
Fangirlish talked to Renata Vaca, who plays Marigaby Tamayo, and Diego Calva, who plays her brother, Marcus Tamayo, about the absurd but real premise and leaning into the bond of the siblings in the show.
Calva shared with us that he had seen the documentary the show is based on before, and “I had an uncle who worked as a paramedic for a while,” and yet “somehow didn’t understand the magnitude and everything that this implies. Because the fact that we don’t have enough ambulances generates all this mafia too. These things next to legality, things that hoover in the border between legal and illegal, which are these private or pirate ambulances”
But it’s not just that, but the fact that “since there is no control, there are people like Marcus who don’t have the background, but work as paramedics. It’s like a situation that generates many other complicated ones, but in the end, it works, strangely.”
In Midnight Family, it works because the characters—and especially Marigaby and Marcus, rely on each other. “I think in this series there are moments where all the characters feel like they can’t take it anymore, and they leave their emotions aside. But I think that when they look each other in the eye, they grab hope, they dust it off, they look each other in the eye, and they go for it, for what’s next, and they grab strength from there,” Vaca said.
“I think that Marcus’ character for Marigaby is very important. He’s her strength, he’s the heart inside everything, and he’s someone with whom she can hold hands. Sometimes the characters feel like they’re alone in this, and then they turn around and see each other, and find the strength to continue,” the actress added, putting into words the importance of the bond between the two of them.
“And they translate each other,” Calva added. “Marigaby puts words in Marcus that Marcus doesn’t know how to express. And I think that when Marigaby, for example, loses her first patient, Marcus helps her translate that feeling. They complement each other.”
But Marcus and Marigaby are also just different people, Vaca explained, and “each of them faces situations in different ways.” Personality always plays a role. “You can be siblings, and have had the same upbringing and have gone through the same things, but even so, each person faces things in a different way. And I think that makes each one of the Tamayos unique. But I also think that even though they are very different, you can find similarities in things and in the center of everything, I think they share this way of reacting.”
The show takes place in Mexico, and Midnight Family does a great job of showcasing an authentic Mexico City. Vaca and Calva are both Mexican, and they seemed very pleased with the way the show showcased their country. And yet, they were very clear that the show should be able to connect for everyone. “As a Mexican, you connect a lot, for example, with some of the catastrophes like the earthquake, because Mexico City is a very seismic place. But it doesn’t matter where you come from, there are things like the love between family, the sacrifice that is made by being part of a family and that is like the core, the soul, so to speak, of the project. So that is why it got to you, and that is why I think it makes it very universal.”
For Calva, it’s important that Midnight Family is “a project made for Latinos, but for the rest of the world.”
Vaca was very proud of that too. “Yes, seeing different stories is always refreshing, because as Latinos, I think we have a lot to offer. There is a lot of talent, and there are a lot of interesting stories to tell, right?” And for Vaca, just being Latine isn’t the story. “There are simply stories of people living things, and it is a coincidence that they are Latinos and that they live in Mexico, for example, but there are stories of people living things.”
Calva added “Not everything is like the violent situation in Latin countries. Not everything is the narco. Not everything is portraying Mexico with this color correction that seems like we all live in the desert, right? There is a lot more and fortunately, the streamers are betting on it, and it is a very honest way of telling things, right? When you can let the people living these stories tell the stories.”
Hopefully, we get to see a lot more, especially if they are as good as Midnight Family.
Midnight Family is available to stream on Apple TV+.
