The nicer 1980s
Written on 3 Aug, 2025
The ’80s… What a time to be alive. Thatcher, the Miner’s Strike, Section 28 and the constant risk of nuclear annihilation. Wait, that’s not right. My 1980s might be rooted in generational and existential trauma but there is another more romanticised version with day-glo sportswear, catchy pop tunes, and rampant commercial optimism.
It’s this ’80s that the comedy Acapulco on tv+ leans into. The lead character, Maximo, spends the episodes retelling stories of his time as a new employee at the grandest resort in Mexico, ‘Las Colinas’. Being set in Mexico, the series is dual-language with characters switching between English and Spanish. It’s a testament to how funny the jokes are that they work just as well reading subtitles as they do spoken out loud.
Structuring the show as flashback is clever, as it allows a nostalgic view of the past and positions Maximo as an unreliable narrator. Something that becomes more apparent in later series when other characters from the 1980s Mexico come back into present-day Maximo’s orbit.
Acapulco tells its story over each series, which means it’s not a programme you can dip into mid-run. The final series has just started on tv+ and my advice is go back to series one, episode one, and enjoy the fun.
