Now Streaming: PRIMO, A Very Funny, Very Loving Family. Imagine That.

Family: you really shouldn't kill them.

Primo
The series is now streaming on Freevee. I've seen all eight episodes.

Primarily, we cover intenational and indie genre films and TV shows, and Primo is not a genre show, it's a family comedy. It's not even a Mafia family show with a lot of dark comedy about murdering psychos.

Even so, sometimes I need a break from bloody murder and incredibly elaborate action sequences and awesome fight scenes and tightly-coiled tension. Sometimes I just need a straight-up laugh or two or three -- or a dozen -- that is earned from relatable situations and lovable characters, without resorting to an excesssive amont of toilet humor.

Even though I was not raised by a single mother with five brothers in San Antonio, Texas, I can relate to every character in Primo. Created by Shea Serrano, inspired by his own experiences, the show revolves around Rafa Gonzales (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio), his single mother Drea (Christina Vidal), and her five brothers, who form a collective father figure of sorts for Rafa.

Rafa is 16, which means he faces all the expected turmoils and troubles of teenage life, but he's also led a sheltered life, protected by his uncles, who jealously guard the younger man, even while they themselves bicker amongst themselves constantly. It's a loving bickering, though; their familial love softens every thoughtless insult and joke that they hurl at one another.

Approaching a turning point in his life, Rafa finds himself attracted to Mya (Stakiah Lynn Washington), a classmate who has newly arrived in the neighborhood. As a military kid, Mya is accustomed to moving frequently and adjusting quickly, so she makes a good counterpart to Rafa, who yearns to assert his independence from his family, even as he recognizes his dependence upon them.

Rafa's five uncles are all broadly drawn, in order to emphasize what makes them different from one another, though they are clearly related, as can be seen from their similiar sense of humor and dependence upon one another. Rafa has his own friends, who are defined largely by how they react to Rafa and his family, which offers up more avenues for the humor to flow.

Silly through and through, Primo is also loving through and through. It feels very refreshing to watch a Mexican-American family that is presented, not as a hive of heaving gang-bangers or wanna-be Wall Street criminals, but as living, breathing, loyal and loving people who do not need anyone white to validate them or how they live their lives.

Sometimes, it is possible to kill someone with kindness. Especially if you're lucky enough to have a loving mother and five loving uncles.

Now Streaming covers international and indie genre films and TV shows that are available on legal streaming services.