Our Spoiler-Free Review of ‘La Oficina’ Mexico 

This article does not contain plot spoilers for the first season of "La Oficina", but if you want to go in with a complete clean slate, watch the first episode first.

When the Amazon Series “La Oficina” was first announced, it was met with skepticism. After all,  Mexican production studios don’t exactly have a stellar reputation when it comes to remakes of beloved foreign TV Shows. How to forget the mess that was Metastasis, a shot-by-shot remake of Vince Gilligan´s Breaking Bad? 

The main concern regarding the show had a lot to do with fans not wanting “La Oficina” to be a carbon copy of the American or British versions of the show, as well as a worry that the jokes and references would be made too broad, in an effort to be easily understood not just by Mexican fans, but Latin American Fans in General. 

But the popularity of the American incarnation of “The Office,” and the fact that its Mexican version was stacked with acclaimed comedians like Fernando Bonilla and Elena del Río, did some work to temper fans’ fears that “La Oficina” would be a trainwreck.

These concerns were finally put to rest when the first episode of “La Oficna” aired on Amazon Prime Video on March 13. As it turns out, right out of the gate, the show was hilarious and quickly became a darling of viewers and critics alike. 

Following the style established by the UK Version of “The Office” starring Ricky Gervais, “La Oficina” follows the tried-and-true mockumentary style of its predecessors, with characters directly breaking the fourth wall by speaking to the camera. Still, the presence of the camera crew following people around the office is not addressed explicitly in the same way. 

The setting for the show, not surprisingly, takes place in an office, the Aguascalientes branch of Jabones Olimpo, to be more specific. The fact that the show takes place in Aguascalientes rather than Mexico City, Guadalajara, or Monterrey is refreshing, as so much Mexican media defaults to setting its stories in Mexico’s largest cities. I am unsure whether Aguascalientes fits the bill for “Mexico’s Scranton,” but it’s close enough.

The show’s Lead, Jerónimo “Jero” Ponce III, played by Fernando Bonilla, is introduced in the first episode as everything one would expect in a remake of The Office. He is sexist, inappropriate, a chronic procrastinator, but somehow also oddly endearing. But these personal flaws feel authentic to the character, especially when they begin to contrast with his more positive traits, such as his love for his employees and family. However, in this second instance, this affection seems entirely unrequited. Also like Michael Scott or David Brent, Jero actually cares about his job and his employees—perhaps too much. 

The other characters that most closely fit previous incarnations of the office are Sofi Campos, played by Elena del Río, and Fabrizio Santini as Memo Guerrero, who make it painfully obvious that they are attracted to each other, setting up the ‘will they, won’t they’ sitcom trope.

But “La Oficina” does not follow the established pattern of the protagonist at war with the corporate world, at least not in the same way. Instead of Jaro having to deal with corporate, he is one of several grandchildren and Children who inherited branches from the family patriarch and founder of Jabones Olimpo, Jerónimo Jero Ponce I, who, by the beginning of the show, is deceased, and after whom Jero and his father were both named. 

From the first episode, it is clear that Jero believes he is first in line to eventually run the entire family business, even though the rest of his family considers him unserious and unsuited for the role. 

The rest of the large ensemble cast of 15 is filled out by characters like QWERTY, who seems to be more interested in K-pop than his job, the flighty Mine Romero, Betty Benítez, who knows the secrets of everyone in the office, and Giancarlo, a self-declared ‘ex-gay’ who says he has been completely ‘cured’ by conversion therapy.

Though these and other characters have yet to be fleshed out more, they all get the opportunity to shine in the 8-episode run of the first season of “La Oficina”, whose episodes run for roughly 30 minutes, instead of the 21-minute or so run-time of its ‘gringo’ counterpart. 

Another thing that sets “La Oficina” apart from its counterparts is its use of subtle background humor reminiscent of “Arrested Development” or “Bojack Horseman.” This gives episodes a real sense of rewatchability that is refreshing yet demands your attention. 

This attention to detail is likely the work of showrunner Marcos Bucay, known for one of Netflix’s first Mexican series, Club de Cuervos (2015), and critically divisive films, including Una pequeña confusión (2024). But “La Oficina” appears to have already, in its first season, launched Bucay’s career into a whole other level.  

The Mexican nature of the comedy also really shines through in ways that non-Mexicans may not always understand. For example, the way Jero calls Iván Mondragón a ‘Tlaxcalteca’ after feeling betrayed is likely to fly over the heads of most non-Mexican viewers. Jero’s ignorance is also often played up for laughs when he says, “No lo digo yo, Octavio Paz lo explica muy claro en el Laberinto del Fauno,” which is hilarious but requires a passing knowledge of Mexican literature and cinema. 

“La Oficina” has already been renewed for a second season, which will hopefully be longer than just 8 episodes, and is already starting to have a considerable impact, with “think pieces” about how it depicts homophobia, Mexican “godinez office culture, nepotism, and family businesses.  

Even if you are not Mexican or even a Spanish speaker, the show is well worth watching. Posts on reddit’s /r/theoffice seem to unanimously agree the show is fantastic and superior to at least the recent reboot of the U.S. versión titled “The Paper”.