Promised Land Pilot Review – A Place Called Heritage (1×01)

ABC uncorked a new family drama paired with a telenovela, and it hit all the right notes. 

Promised Land, a tale of an immigrant family at the helm of a wine industry in California, threw a lot at audiences in the first house. 

The series definitely fills a gap left behind by other shows with Latino family’s at the forefront, namely the prematurely canceled Grand Hotel and Beauty and the Baker. Considering both those shows aired on ABC, it leaves me a little concerned for the fate of Promised Land, but I’m hoping the drama bubbled up to the top of many must-watch lists following that jam-packed pilot. 

In the first scene, we meet Juana and Rosa, two sisters crossing the border to chase their American dream, when they meet Carlos, a man with his sights set on the Heritage House, a vineyard where his brother, Roberto works. 

For much of the episode, it’s unclear if scenes featuring the trio are flashbacks or if these are present-day immigrants looking or work. 

However, by the end of the hour, it’s revealed that Carlos is Joe, the patriarch of the Dynasty-like clan, while his wife, Lettie, is Juana. I love that this time, the wife isn’t just arm candy but someone who has also put in the work for a better life, even if she never became a teacher like she hoped. 

During their journey to a better life, Carlos, Juana, and Rosa came across a sex-trafficking ring, which is where Rosa got shot. They dropped her off at the hospital, but since that meant deportation, they were forced to part ways then and there, and it’s unclear what happened to Rosa or if they ever kept in touch. 

But Juana — now Lettie — is likely glad she hitched her wagon to Carlos’s because they worked their way up from the bottom, and in the present-day, they own one of the biggest wine brands on the market.

Of course, it’s not all as picture-perfect as it may seem; the top rarely is. 

Over the course of the episode, and through perfectly woven flashbacks with present-day scenes, we learn that Lettie married Joe’s brother, Bobby, and the two had a son together, Mateo. 

Bobby reportedly cheated on Lettie, so she remarried Joe, but while he made Mateo the GM of the vineyard, he never fully embraced him as a son. 

And that’s peeling back the first layer of the complex family onion. 

Joe married Margaret, who accused him of stealing the vineyard from her dying father. Despite sharing three children, she vows to take the vineyard back from him by any means necessary. 

And she’s enlisted their son, Antonion, to do her dirty bidding. Antonio is more than happy to pull one over his father as Joe turned his back on his own son after he came out. 

When Antonio returns home for Joe and Lettie’s anniversary, his father attempts to make good as he needs him to steer his sister, Veronia, in the right direction as the company’s newest CEO.

Naturally, this a recipe for disaster for the family, but it’s highly entertaining for all of us sipping on wine from the couch. 

Veronica’s first day as CEO was a smashing success up until she hit one of the vineyards employees and ran from the scene. 

The man, Delgado, is fighting for his life at the hospital, and the accident unearthed his side hustle: making papers for illegal immigrants. 

Of course, that’s somthing Joe and Lettie are very familiar with, but apparently, they have no tolerance for. 

When the Sheriff allows it to slide, Joe fires the employee with the fake papers, Daniela, and explains that he’s doing the best thing for the business. 

Mateo, who took a liking to Daniela and helped set her up with the papers, decides that this is his breaking point and calls Joe out for being a hypocrite at the anniversary party in front of all the guests. 

And he’s not wrong. Joe seemingly succeded in the exact same way Daniela is trying to, but he won’t give her a chance or look the other way. 

It’s so much easier to turn up your nose when you’re at the top instead of pushing for change. 

Mateo then tracks Daniela down and looks into buying his own land for a competing winery, which makes sense considering Joe didn’t even leave him any shares in the will. 

Why not build your own fortune from the ground up? Mateo seems to be the only person that isn’t afraid of a little manual labor. 

Meanwhile, the moment leads to a pretty intense fight between Mateo and Lettie. When she suggests that she doesn’t know him anymore, Joe is reminded of his past and hits the ground running in the field alongside the workers. 

Elsewhere, Margaret and Antonio keep on scheming in hopes of getting the reins, the socialite daughter, Carmen, attempts to infuse the brand with a little modern marketing in between taking Instagram shots, and Veronica’s husband, Michael, sort of flirts with Carmen in a moment that seems really off-brand before you remember that this is also part telenovela and that sort of thing is likely going to happen. 

The pilot showed plenty of promise alongside a very intriguing plot and developed characters. 

I’m interested to see how Joe and Margaret’s paths crossed, and what led to their split. 

Also, what’s the backstory with Joe’s brother? When Carlos first arrived at the Heritage House, they had such a great relationship. It was likely tainted by Lettie, as so many brotherly relationships are on television, but why did Bobby leave and then decide to come back as a priest that teaches at Junior’s school?

It seems like Carlos/Joe is a good man, but then again, he did steal his brother’s dream of owning the vineyard, so maybe that’s just a facade?

There’s definitely much more to unpack here, but I’ll be honest, a series where the family fights over wine and not oil is a welcome change of pace. 

What did you think of the premiere episode of Promised Land? Will you be tuning in again?