Time Flies: Should you watch or skip the latest Netflix crime drama? A viewer’s guide

Time Flies (originally titled El tiempo de las moscas) dropped on Netflix on January 1, 2026.

It’s a six-episode series that follows Inés and La Manca, two ex-cons trying to stay straight by running a fumigation business. Things don’t stay simple for long. A rich client comes along with an offer that’s hard to turn down, and suddenly, they are tangled up in crime again. The show pulls from Claudia Piñeiro’s novels, Tuya (2005) and El tiempo de las moscas (2022), blending sharp crime fiction with Netflix’s push for standout Latin American stories.

What is Time Flies about?

Time Flies revolves around a woman by the name of Inés Experey, who spent fifteen years in prison after murdering a woman who had an extramarital affair with her husband. Set on parole without a home, with broken family ties and few employment opportunities, Inés is enlisted by a friend she had befriended in prison, La Manca. They run a pest control business in the suburbs of Buenos Aires together, where they treat infestations in wealthier gated communities, but live in working-class districts of the city.

The main conflict of Time Flies arises when La Manca is diagnosed with cancer, and the treatment would be costly to the duo. In comes Susana Bonar, a rich customer who gives Ines an attractive but risky opportunity: retrieving a lethal poison. What starts as a desperate financial move ends in a web of moral ambivalence where both women have to deal with disturbing realities about survival, power, and the extent to which desperation can drive someone.

The series delves more into the crime drama, yet it does not forget about its characters. It is not about action-packed scenes and crazy plots. Rather, Time Flies keeps you glued as you see the old tricks of manipulation come back in, and you see these characters struggling to find their way in a world built to keep them on the outside.

Time Flies is not an ordinary crime movie. It proceeds at its own rhythm and takes much time to dig into the heads of the characters. One of the details that makes it stand out is that the show has a voice-over that continues to connect the lives of flies with human behavior. Some enjoy it, and some think that it is a little too much. Ready Steady Cut even admits this fact by claiming that the metaphor is forced and often distracts the story.

Even that review acknowledges that the unusual structure of the show is an actual strength. Take Time Flies Episode 3, it is a flashback and is set in the past altogether, and is all about Inés. That episode just works. It avoids much of the clumsy narrative that boggs down other episodes of the series. In this case, you see more clearly what crime Inés committed. The show does not want you to forgive her, but it makes you realize where she is coming from.

Katz and Naishtat make a good team of directors. Katz carries with him an ability to create awkwardness as he will allow the camera to hang too long, and you will find yourself as awkward as the characters. On the other hand, Naishtat explores questions of power and class. They collaborate to create a sort of tragic, melancholic noir that is not as much concerned with crime drama as it is about the actual people and their psyches.

Time Flies deals with issues that are not limited to the crime story. The show explores the consequences of imprisonment, the few choices ex-prisoners have, and the institutions that force the disadvantaged members of society into crime. The fact that La Manca is diagnosed with cancer raises issues regarding access to healthcare among working-class citizens, which becomes the foundation of the desperation that prompts the development of the plot.

The gendered violence and social expectations are also themes of the show. The fact that Inés is committing a crime by killing the woman with whom the husband had an affair instead of the husband himself invites an analysis of internalized misogyny and how women are conditioned by patriarchal systems to react to betrayal. The series places this in the context of the feminist movement in Argentina, citing the Ni Una Menos movement without making explicit political statements.

The verdict: Watch, wait, or skip?

Watch if: You like character-driven crime stories where the focus is more on psychological depth than on action; you take an interest in Latin American films and sophisticated narration; you enjoy slow-burn movies with melancholic tones; or you appreciate performances that focus more on the inside than on the outside.

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Wait if: You are more of a fan of faster-paced crime thrillers with a definite plot forward; you need the classic suspense and plot twist; or you do not know whether the slow pace of the show will fit your viewing habits. More time to wait until more viewers respond could assist in determining how the strategy used by Time Flies is being received by wider audiences.

Skip if: You need a high-energy crime drama with a lot of action; you are irritated by metaphorical wordplays; you like shows that have heroes and villains, and not moral gray figures; or you are bored by depressive moods and slow character development.

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