The second episode of Midnight Family on Apple TV+ follows the Tamayo family as they continue their nighttime paramedic work in Mexico City. It is a crazy and exciting mix of comedy, tragedy, and drama. The stakes are higher than ever as the show focusses on a string of medical emergencies and Ramón, the family patriarch, whose health is getting worse and worse.
A Shocking Beginning
Strange and sad things happen in a town square at the beginning of the show. A group of electricians are working on a broken power line when two drunk tourists nearby start toying with the idea of self-electrocution. When the ground gets wet, a fallen wire sends an electric shock to the tourists and a local man, which is dangerous and out of the blue.
The Tamayo family shows up, led by the smart Marigaby (Renata Vaca) and with help from her dad Ramón (Joaquín Cosio). While Marigaby and Marcus take care of the tourists, one of whom has serious electrical burns, Ramón tries to help the local man but is having a hard time because his health is getting worse. Because of this, Marigaby has to step in and take charge, which shows how much the family depends on her as Ramón’s state gets worse.
Things get tense
After taking the patients to the hospital, family arguments get worse. Marcus (Diego Calva) wants to make money off of the rich tourists who are paying in dollars, but he gets angry when he learns that Ramón has set up a deal for them to treat the patients for free as part of his continued heart therapy. Although Julio is aware of Ramón’s condition, he steps in to cool things down. However, it becomes clear that Ramón’s secret health problems are putting stress on the family’s relationship.
A Morbid Side Hustle
As the family’s financial problems get worse, Ramón and Julio start a secret side business: they take dead bodies to funerals for families who can’t pay for a real one. The fact that this is going on in secret gives the show a dark and funny edge, especially when Julio starts to think that the ambulance is haunted by the spirits of the dead. Because of his superstitions, he makes a funny effort to clean the ambulance by involving Marcus in a makeshift ritual involving holy water and witchcraft.
Personal Struggles and Emotional Confessions
While Ramón and Julio work on their morbid job, Marigaby deals with how her two lives are making her feel. As a paramedic, her busy schedule keeps her away from her friends and family, and she’s starting to feel bad about missing important events in her life. Marigaby has a romantic moment with her friend Raul at a secret party, even though he tells her that another friend, Bernardo, likes her. This love triangle starts to boil in the background, making Marigaby’s personal problems even more complicated.
Marcus’s personal life is also changing at the same time. Cristal, his girlfriend, tells him that she’s pregnant and wants to start a new life in the U.S. Marcus’s doubts about their future cause tension, which Crisis tries to avoid, but the problem remains unsolved.
Ramón’s Illness Comes to Light
The most emotionally charged moment of the entire episode occurs when Ramón’s heart problems can no longer be hidden. During the event of a heart attack, Ramón almost causes an accident by speeding in the ambulance while on another call. His kids are able to calm things down and get him to the hospital right away, where Raul, Marigaby’s friend, takes care of him.
At the hospital, Julio (Sergio Bautista) says that he knew all along that Ramón had heart problems but hid it from his father because he asked him to. Marigaby out of anger and worry confronts Julio for not coming out clean, he just says sorry because he knows she understands he cannot talk. The family is beginning to disintegrate due to Ramón’s sickness, as well as the secret that Julio is hiding.
A Family at a Crossroads
As the show comes to a close, Raul gives Ramón a bad news: he needs to limit his physical activity to keep his health from getting worse, which means that his days as a paramedic are probably over. This news pushes Marigaby to a drastic state because she might lose her father besides the family being at a risk of losing its source of support. Since there’s not much left in their family, the younger one must work to sustain their tamayo’s paramedic center and to make sure that Ramón can be alive.
The second episode of Midnight Family is as funny as it is sad as Ramón’s health deteriorates and the strain of the financial and emotional demands that puts on the Tamayo family. Marigaby, Marcus, and Julio, their father becomes ill and, thus, they have to continue robbing people while working in Mexico City.
Further into the episodes, one is likely to gather more information regarding the family’s past, specifically concerning Ramón and Lety, and how the past affects the couple’s role as paramedics. At the moment, the Tamayos are merely surviving, but the setting is enough: two survivors amidst the city’s crime and vice are a great premise for a future.
