Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fake Profile’ On Netflix, Where A Woman Finds The Love Of Her Life On An App, Then Finds Out It’s All A Massive Lie

On rare occasions, a show can be predictable, especially in its first episode as it sets up the plot for the series, but there are mitigating circumstances that still make it entertaining. In the case of a new Colombian series on Netflix, it’s some pretty explosive chemistry between its two leads.

Opening Shot: In Las Vegas, two people match on a dating app.

The Gist: After Camila Román (Carolina Miranda) and Fernando Castell (Rodolfo Salas) match on Tinder, it’s a whirlwind; ten days of constant calls, and when they meet, sparks fly immediately. He tells her she doesn’t look like she does on her profile: “You looked great there, now you look like an angel.” She tells him something similar, but she does mention that he’s so far away in all his profile pictures.

No matter; that first night they have passionate sex in his hotel suite. But a drone watches them, operated by Camila’s obsessed ex-boyfriend Vicente (Iván Amozurrutia). She apparently dumped him and he can’t let her go; she has a restraining order out on him.

As Fernando, a plastic surgeon, flies in from Colombia repeatedly over a few months to see her, she decides to tell him the truth about what she does; she’s a dancer, not a nurse like she told him. He finds that even hotter, and their passion seems to turn into a real romance.

After four months, she plans a meal for him so he can meet her best friends/roomies. But he doesn’t show, the next day saying he had to fly back to Colombia because his sister was in an accident. Camila’s roommates Milenka (Nicole Santamaria) and Erika (Maria Daniela Sarria) are suspicious, but Camila buys his explanation and decides to fly to Cartagena to surprise him.

She gets a ride in by a friendly rideshare driver named David (Lincoln Palomeque), who takes her to Fernando’s clinic. Camila is shocked to see that a different man comes out when she asks for Fernando. On her way back to the airport, she sees a familiar name on an ad; David tells her it’s an area for the city’s richest residents. She tells him to drive her there, which is when she finds out a whole lot more about “Fernando” than she bargained for.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Fake Profile feels like a reverse Fatal Attraction, with fake identities and all sorts of other complications mixed in.

Our Take: Given the name of creator Pablo Illanes’ series, along with the too-good-to-be-true nature of the whirlwind romance between Camila and Fernando, the first episode of Fake Profile was pretty predictable. Illanes doesn’t waste any time in setting up the situation Camila finds herself in, blithely hitting the highlights of her romance with Fernando and showing how hot they are together before pulling the rug out from under her.

Normally, such a speedy and disjointed setup would annoy us. But knowing how much of the storytelling iceberg is just under the surface with this show, it’s probably better that we just got enough of a taste of Camila and Fernando to get our Spidey senses tingling that something wasn’t quite right. It felt like he was going from Cartagena to Las Vegas a lot, and when he ghosted her, his excuse seemed flimsy.

The first episode was helped along by red-hot chemistry between Miranda and Salas, who sold the romance despite the red flags we were given. And despite how surface the first episode felt, we also know that Camila is going to get herself into something pretty deep the more she finds out about Fernando (whose real name is Miguel). That is what will keep us watching.

Sex and Skin: Lots. And the show isn’t shy about it. However, it didn’t feel at all gratuitous in the first episode, unlike what we’ve seen in other shows, like Sex/Life.

Parting Shot: When Camila sees Fernando/Miguel greeting his kids and romantically kissing his wife, she starts marching towards the motorcade he came out of.

Sleeper Star: Lincoln Palomeque plays David, who seems like he’ll be more than just Camila’s driver while she’s in Colombia.

Most Pilot-y Line: Fernando/Miguel’s friend comes across the video of Camila masturbating before going on stage and barely seems to react.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Fake Profile is a steamy and pulpy series that isn’t going to make you think too hard, but the performances of the leads help make up for the somewhat simplistic first episode.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.