Season 1, Episode 3 - Full Hearts Clear Backpacks

MR. IGLESIAS is a comedy series on Netflix that follows the life of a high school history teacher and his often-hilarious battle for his students. This Netflix original is often hysterical and will make viewers laugh. It sometimes resembles a Disney sitcom, but the political agenda and frequent cursing, along with some lewd comments and jokes, muddy the series overall.

Gabe Iglesias is a high school history teacher at Wilson High School. He loves his class and his class loves and respects him. Due to cutbacks at the school, Vice Principal Carlos has begun to kick students out if they fail to meet the rigorous standards that an elite 100 school has. Gabe then offers to forego his summer break to teach the students during summer school and raise all of their grades so they don’t end up in the “Alcatraz of high schools” down the road.

The story picks up in the beginning of the school year where Gabe’s students have all successfully earned their place at Wilson. A new teacher has just been hired, Abby. She’s a young, naive, white woman from North Dakota, and she also seeks to empower the students at Wilson through education. Another history teacher named Tony, Gabe’s best friend since high school, develops a crush on Abby and openly talks about how he would like to hook up with her sexually.

Principal Paula seems to be on board with Gabe and his constant push for change with his students. Although the Vice Principal’s policies always seem to hinder the children’s learning environment, Gabe selflessly puts his students before himself, and their education above their opinion of him. When he develops a crush on a student’s mom, he remains professional and does his best to spare the student from feelings of awkwardness.

Gabe helps Abby move in next door to Tony. He tutors an all-star football player and gives him probation and suspension from playing instead of handing him an Easy A like the coach asked. He also fights against clear backpacks, as advocated by Vice Principal Carlos. Finally, he maintains healthy relationships with his co-workers despite their questionable actions.

IGLESIAS is a Netflix Original series. The first season has 10 episodes, and each episode runs about thirty minutes. The scripts are funny but are riddled with lewd jokes, cursing and political opinions sprinkled throughout each episode.

The show is similar to sitcoms such as FULLER HOUSE and BIZZARDVARK. The laugh track helps support the plot as some jokes wouldn’t be as funny without it. Gabe often fights for his students and never hesitates to prioritize their well-being above his own. MR. IGLESIAS is a funny TV program, but there are multiple surprisingly sexual, crude jokes throughout the series, as well as insults said in Spanish without subtitles. Finally, episodes are littered with some foul language. Because of all this, MOVIEGUIDE® generally advises extreme caution for people thinking about watching MR. IGLESIAS.