Destinos

An Edutainment Show in the style of the popular Latin American "telenovela", a kind of Soap Opera. The show follows the adventures of a lawyer, Raquel Rodriguez, as she travels the globe and investigates the secret past of the Castillo family. All the dialogue is in Spanish, but with some narration in English for much of the series. The show also includes scenes that cut away from the action to present vocabulary or information about the culture of the country being visited. The story begins in Mexico, but the story also takes Raquel to Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico.

The series includes 52 half-hour episodes, all available for viewing at the Annenberg Foundation website. The show has accompanying textbooks, compact discs, etc., and is used as the foundation for Spanish courses in high school and college. French In Action and Fokus Deutsch are similar Annenberg-funded shows, focusing on French and German, respectively.

Bueno.


 * Backstory: Raquel's previous boyfriend shows up late in the series, as her parents try to get them back together.
 * Recap Episode: One or two at the end of each country, and four in a row before the end of the series. They didn't just recap the plot but also served as review of vocabulary learned during the parts being recapped.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Episode 4. Made even more aggravating in that the call, while important, wasn't urgent enough that they had to drop everything.