Here are three streaming options, two that hail from Spain, and a documentary that exposes the price parents are ready to pay to get their kids into an elite school.

"Sky Rojo" (Netflix Spain) - The first thing most viewers will find interesting about this new Limited Series on Netflix (drops on March 19, Friday) is that it comes from the creators of La Casa de Papel - more popularly known to the global audience as Money Heist. Yes, it’s that Money Heist, a favorite of so many here in the Philippines. Set in the Spanish resort location of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, the basic premise of Sky Rojo has to do with three women working in a luxury club that’s a poor disguise for a brothel. Run by a sadistic pimp, the story revolves around the three girls rising up against the pimp, and ending up on the run from his hoods.

Think of early Quarantino and Ritchie in terms of the feel of this series but as it’s been stretched over several episodes, note that the one-note premise runs thin at times. We get the back stories, flashbacks of the three girls in the hope of us investing more interest in their individual stories, but there’s really more flash and thunder in this series than the more solid narrative that La Casa was blessed with. Given the brothel setting, the occupation of the three girls, there is a lot of sexy eye candy mixed with visceral and violent action in this Series, and it should be a favorite of both the female and male Netflix audience. It’s Thelma and Louise Plus One, set on a tropical island.

"Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal" (Netflix) - Based on the real life scandal that happened a few years back and was centered on how parents in the USA would bribe their kids into elite colleges, you may have instant recall for this because a few celebrities and their children were involved, namely Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. The actual subject matter, the scam and how it transpired, the different methods taken, and the sheer, brazen way it was executed, I found truly engrossing. And smartly, the documentary hybrid starts with clips of kids exulting when they discover online that they’ve been accepted by their first college choice.

At the center of the scandal is "independent academics counselor" Rick Singer (portrayed by Matthew Modine): and when I say portrayed, it gives you a clue to why I call this a documentary hybrid. There’s a lot of dramatization happening here, and it sometimes gets in the way of the story-telling, which would have worked just as well as a traditional docu. His system of ‘side doors‘ for getting rich kids into Ivy League college via affirmative action and recruiting for sports under the radar is an indictment into the system which makes both kids and their parents so desperate, that ethics fly out the window. Fascinating story, just wondered if a straight docu approach would have worked better.

"Coven of Sisters" (Netflix Spain) - This dropped on Netflix last week and could easily have been relegated to the heap of B-movie horror films that Netflix churns out on their programming with regularity. But in fact, this Spanish film is an understated historical drama more than a horror flick, and it’s set during the Spanish Inquisition. What is sets out to do is be a film that’s also about women empowerment, and the injustice and repression of that historical period of Spain.

At the heart of the issue is women banding together and harmlessly dancing and enjoying each other’s company - and how that can be used in a really warped manner to be proof of the women consorting with with the Devil and being witches. I won’t say much more about this film, but that it’s not what one expects at all, and while a slow burn, saves the best for the last quarter of the film.