In Murder In Galicia, a new Netflix drama from Spain, a real-life case from 2015 is given a dramatic retelling, but it’s as much about how justice failed the victim of an attack as it is about who attacked her to begin with.

Opening Shot: “This story is based on real events… that never should have happened.” Then we see the slippered feet of an older man running to his neighbors. “Pazos, Galicia. April 2, 2015.”

The Gist: Aniceto (Miguel Borines) is the man in the robe and slippers; he goes to his neighbors to tell them that his house has been robbed and his wife Irene (Esther Hedo) has been killed. The neighbors find that Irene is alive, but barely.

Arriving on the scene is Sgt. Elías Lago (Tristán Ulloa) from the Crime Squad of the Civil Guard, along with a young detective named Barriero (Fernando Fraga); Lago’s veteran partner Turrientes (Carlos Blanco) arrives a little bit later. Lago gets the story from Aniceto, and even then there are elements of it that don’t make sense, like him never getting a look at the intruders. The forensic examination the next morning shows physical evidence that brings Aniceto’s account into question.

As Irene lies in a coma in ICU, Lago tries to figure out what exactly happened, but he’s frustrated by the slow grind of justice compared to when he worked in Madrid. For instance, test results on some of the physical evidence haven’t even been sent to the central lab because the judge on the case, Begoña Loiro (Verónica Sánchez), wants DNA from Irene, but has left town for the weekend. When Lago and Turrientes question Aniceto at the police station, even more red flags go up.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Ramón Campos, Murder In Galicia is based on a real case in Pazos in 2015, which is examined in an accompanying documentary, Unprotected: Murder in Galicia.

Our Take: The thrust of Murder In Galicia is that, while Lago tries to figure out whether Aniceto is responsible for the attack on Irene or not, the system is going to fail her to the point where she ends up being killed in the hospital over a month after the initial attack. At least that’s what the real-life story is, but we imagine that, while this limited series might change some characters and events, the broad strokes of the story remain in place.

So what Murder In Galicia really is about is a cop who is fighting against the notion that a grieving elderly man can’t possibly have so brutally attacked his wife, but he’s also trying to do so while the justice system in his region grinds at a slow pace that can’t be changed. Lago knows that Aniceto might try and finish off Irene, and his frustration at not being able to stop him is going to be palpable through the show’s three episodes. But we might be more interested in his frustration with the system he has to work within as opposed to the cat-and-mouse game with Aniceto.

Performance Worth Watching: Tristan Ulloa has always been an intense presence in whatever show he’s been in, and he’s good here as Lago balances his pursuit of Aniceto with his frustration over the slow pace of getting answers about the evidence.

Parting Shot: Irene opens her eyes in her hospital bed.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Murder In Galicia is an engaging look at a real-life true crime case that would be hard to believe if it didn’t really happen.

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.