Every legend begins with a dream.
In 1997, Selena was released, chronicling the life of Mexican-American Tejano music artist Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Almost a quarter of a century later, Netflix decided to revisit her, and created this series to further chronicle her life from the time she was a child to her teen years and until her death. The series stars Christian Serratos as the titular singer herself, Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Abraham Quintanilla, Gabriel Chavarria as A.B. Quintanilla, and Natasha Perez as Yolanda Saldívar.
Tropes related to the series:
- The '70s: The very first episode has a scene that shows right after Selena was born, and how she had received her name from the woman who was next to Marcella in the maternity ward.
- The '80s: One episode is set during Selena's high school days in the 1980s, specifically during her sophomore year.
- The '90s: The primary setting of the series, since much of the story takes place as Selena gained success and her career took off.
- Adaptation Expansion: As this is a series that chronicles her life over two parts, it could include much more details surrounding Selena and her family's life.
- Affectionate Nickname: Suzette often calls Selena "Sel".
- The Alleged Car: The Big Bertha bus started off filthy all to hell. It runs nicely, but the inside is still less than ideal, with no seats or beds, and no heating. The interior becomes more and more luxurious as the band's success increases.
- The Cutie: Selena is just an absolute sweetheart.
- Foregone Conclusion: It's a story that chronicles Selena's life. Everyone already knows how it's going to end right off the bat. The trailers for Part 2 don't even try to hide what's going to happen.
- Happily Married: For the relatively short time that they were together, Chris and Selena seemed to be quite happy.
- History with Celebrity: One that occurred in real life. During Part 2, Episode 6, "Lo más bello", a mother with her two daughters are walking through a mall courtyard when the older girl spots Selena with Suzette and Marcella and is awestruck. Her mother encourages her to go talk to her since they're both singers, but all the girl can say is "hello" to Selena. The mother then calls her daughter by her full name and says that she needs to learn not to be afraid of people if she ever wants to be famous. Her daughter's name is Beyoncé Knowles.
- Killed Offscreen: Selena's death occurs offscreen, but unlike the film, much more detail around it is shown. For instance, the gunshot is actually heard, and an ambulance crew is shown trying to save her life. The shot is only heard, and Selena is literally never seen throughout the whole thing. And then it cuts to the announcement of her death.
- Knight of Cerebus: Whenever Yolanda is present, the musical mood changes to reflect her presence casting a dark shadow over everything, not bothering to hide over what she's inevitably going to do at the end of the series.
- Loony Fan: Yolanda Saldívar has a creepy Selena shrine, then murders the object of her obsession.
- Loved by All: She's adored by her fans, and pretty much everyone. Very few people ever have anything bad to say about her, aside from the occasional family squabble. When her death is announced, the focus is on four youngsters, all four of whom are devastated when they hear that she's dead.
- Meta Fiction: The very first teaser to the series is presented as the cast and crew getting ready to shoot the series, with "Como La Flor" playing in the background, Christian Serratos reading a script, and then performing the song at the end.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The pilot episode has a brief introductory scene of Selena and her band performing Como La Flor. It then cuts back to their childhood, and it spends most of the episode showing their first foray into performing music.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: When the Quintanilla family looks in the newspaper and see that "La Bamba" reached the top twenty in the chart, the group is called "Celina y Los Tinos", when the actual name is "Selena y Los Dinos". This annoys A.B. but Abraham says it doesn't matter since they're still buying the records.
- Stage Dad: Abraham. He's a more positive take on the trope, as he in fact succeeds in getting his kids to succeed in the music industry.
- Stalker Shrine: Yolanda is shown having an entire room covered with pictures of Selena, showcasing an incredibly unhealthy obsession with her.
- Time-Shifted Actor: All the young members of the Quintanilla family alternate between the young actors in flashback sequences and the adult actors portraying them in the present.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Selena and Suzette play this, but alternate roles at different points in their lives.
- In childhood, Selena was the tomboy who liked to do things outdoors with their father, while Suzette didn't want to play the drums because she believed that girls didn't play drums.
- In adulthood, Selena is much more feminine with long hair in the last years of her life and numerous fashionable outfits, while Suzette has Boyish Short Hair and has embraced her role as the drummer of the band.
- Yandere: Once again, Yolanda Saldívar is portrayed this way. She's shown getting jealous of Selena's attention towards others, even angrily crinkling a poster at the sight.
- Selena: I just want to be remembered as someone who gave it her all.
