El Internado Laguna Negra is a Spanish television show created by Antena 3 that aired in Spain from 2007-2010 and translated to French and Russian. The show consists of seven seasons with about 15 episodes per season. This popular television series contains elements of action, drama, horror, adventure, and mystery.  The main characters are Marcos Pazos, Paula Pazos, Sandra Pazos, Iván Noiret, Carolina Solís, and Maria Almagro. They are played by Martiño Rivas, Carlota García, Yolanda Arestegui, Yon González, Ana de Armas, and Marta Torne respectively. El Internado chronicles Marcos’s life after his parents disappeared mysteriously and the discoveries Marcos and his friends make about the members of The Gemini Project, the founders of the El Internado school.

After Marcos Pazos’s parents disappear mysteriously during a boat trip, Marcos and his sister, Paula, attend El Internado, a boarding school. Marcos and his new friends, Carolina and Iván, try to determine who kidnapped Marcos’s parents, but the members of The Gemini Project, a group that creates clones of the children studying in El Internado, are one step ahead of the students. The Gemini Project consists of staff members of El Internado, so The Gemini Project’s members are able to track the students’ every move. While the students are trying to find out more about Marcos’s parents’ disappearance, the students end up finding out about the El Internado’s origins as an orphanage and how The Geminis Project orchestrated the disappearance of Marcos’s parents. The show is captivating because it not only chronicles Marcos’s life but also reveals the secrets of each main character throughout the show.

For example, one of the characters, Maria, escaped from an insane asylum to work as a maid in El Internado. Although it is revealed right from the beginning that Maria arrived at El Internado to find her son who was taken away from her at birth, viewers do not know any other details, such as how Maria’s son was separated from her or who took Maria’s son away from her. Viewers also do not know why she was in an insane asylum. As the show goes on, it is revealed that one of the members of The Gemini Project was the one behind all of Maria’s troubles. Many other characters in this television series have multiple different identities and hide many secrets that are revealed one by one in the show to keep up the suspense and mystery.

This show would appeal to people of all ages, although it is mostly geared towards teenagers and young adults only because there are hints of romance. It is not for those who are easily scared by the removal of organs, surgeries, gruesome deaths, or surgeries. This show is for those who like to be kept guessing and enjoy adventure and mystery. “El Internado” was extremely popular in Spain and its reception in Spain can be comparable to “Lost’s” reception in the United States.

Yon González acts amazingly as Iván Noiret, while Martiño Rivas, who acts as Marcos, does not perform as well. Iván, for example, is able to show how angry he is at Marcos for competing with him to win Carolina’s love. Yon, while acting as Iván, does this by glaring at Marcos as Marcos walks by or by purposely knocking into Marcos in the school’s hallway. Martiño, on the other hand, is not able to express Marcos’s feelings as well. For example, when Marcos is crying because he does not know where his parents are, all Martiño does while acting as Marcos is cover his face and make whining noises; Martiño is not able to make viewers feel the same pain that Marcos is feeling.

Although for the first four seasons of the show, Iván seems to be very rude and blunt by the way he acts towards the other characters, it is clear by the end of the show that Iván only pretends to be tough. For example, by the end of the show, Iván is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and instead of telling his friends or his mother about his diagnosis and asking them for help, Iván keeps all his troubles to himself because he does not want to make his loved ones upset about his condition. This shows that Iván is considerate and does not want to hurt others’ feelings but likes to hide his caring self under a tough shell.

Antena 3 did a great job concerning the cinematography of this television show is amazing mainly because of the scene changes. Many times, the scenes change from one in a classroom to another scene in the forest and a last scene in the tunnels underneath the school. The scenes always change in a very quick manner in the middle of an important event and add to the distress and panic that viewers are supposed to feel as reactions to each new revelation in the plot. The scenes in the tunnels are filmed with very little light so that viewers can truly understand how it must feel for the students to walk through the tunnels with only a torch as a source of light. The scenes in the forest are filmed mostly for when a character is running, so the cameras spin around the person and the trees in the background become blurry, thus also adding to the panic that the viewer is supposed to feel because the viewer wants the character to run away and be safe.

But in the end, no one is ever safe, because The Gemini Project is busy planning its next move.