I am watching the final episode of the season. I predict Fernando will be the killer. He hates his dad, and likes to lord it over people. It would make sense to me. If they do one crime per season, then we should know soon.

I shall watch the final episode tomorrow - so we shall see if you are right! What was all the business with the Romanian child of one of the 17 women who suffocated. Why bring him into it for no reason? I had to laugh when Hector and Lola were ringing the mobile of the suspected killer inside the station "He must be someone close" says Hector - and VOILA -- the normally quiet offices were suddenly packed with people busily walking about - and once outside there had to be people taking suspicious phone calls at just that moment. It is also amazing the amount of people and animals that block a pursuit in this show. So Fara had a little nap after getting out of her shackles and managed to open the boot and escape - oh bliss oh joy poop poop !! And that kid Nacho (isn't that a variety of snack) - he needs counselling - then incarcerating. Poor Hector - he's a bullet magnet isn't he - but at least it happened in the hospital so he will survive with a band aid no doubt. So Salva has a married woman on the go - who can that be? Not Marta - not Agnetha surely - certainly not Lourdes - I can't think of anyone else so maybe it's just a character we haven't seen. I like the way he broke the law covering Lucas driving drunk and nearly killing that cyclist - he's a cop for goodness sake. I also wonder what is the point of the Sergei character - is he doing it all at the direction of Fer? There is absolutely no point to him being there otherwise. I looked him up and from his picture I just get the vibe that he thinks he is a brilliant actor and expects to get an Oscar for this performance. He's wrong. ! Anyway - I shall watch it tomorrow. Are you watching the second season?

SORRY. I thought you were watching the final episode. Damn it. I gave a running commentary full of spoilers. OK, I deleted it. Hopefully you didn't read it and I can post something later on. I am beginning the second season now. It picks up from the shocking cliffhanger the last season ended with, and follows that up with another shocker. True to form our heroes fail to demonstrate maturity.

There is a scene where two women were rubbing tanning lotion on each other's backs and I thought they made it look sensual, but it was probably just a tease. But after that there is a scene where one of the men we saw in the last season has a heart attack right after someone threatens to expose a secret of his unless he helps him with something. What the secret is, we are not told, but from the way it was said, I think the guy is a closeted homo. And after that, we find out which married woman Salvo is sleeping with: that guy's wife.

So the opening half hour of the first episode has a lot going on. I will wait til you tell me you have watched the season finale before saying anything. I hope you didn't read my post. I posted it just after you posted yours. So you might have read it already. I'm sorry about that. From what you had written before, I was under the impression that you were ahead of me and would be finished with the episode by the time I posted. My mistake.

comment 2

Here is another tried and true stupid cop plot device.

A cop meets a witness with important information for the case. The witness looks around furtively and says "Yes, I have information for you. But I won't talk here. Let's meet late at night in a secluded, deserted area where someone might easily come up from behind me and quietly kill me shortly before you arrive. I'll feel safer that way. " The cop says "That sounds totally safe and reasonable. Say, why don't you get there early and wait for me in the dark, dangerous, murdery area?"

This happens so frequently in shows that anytime someone tells a cop 'yeah I will talk, but not here..." you know they will be dead when the cop shows up. The more important the information they have, the more certain you can be that they will be killed.

hint: something like this might happen again in season 2.

It's OK - not to worry - I didn't see your post so nothing has been spoiled for me - you should have copied and pasted it to wordpad or something to save you writing it all out again!! I shall be watching the finale of season 1 this afternoon. I would be very surprised if they do not tick the gay box sooner or later. We've had the empowered woman (Lola) the mental disability (Sergio) the racial bias (black good - white bad)And if you want to combine the empowered woman with mental disability there is of course Pilar !!.

I am on series 2 episode 3 now. Oh yes - Agnetha's ex husband in the wheelchair just couldn't spit out a few words whilst he was talking to Hector - I mean that would have taken all of five seconds longer. You were right about Fernando - that whole shoot out scene when he had naughty Nacho hostage was a complete farce. "Drop your weapons" he says and they all comply - except Hector of course - so now Fernando can shoot them all if he wants to - but no - he now puts Nacho over a car bonnet thus leaving his own body wide open to being shot - Hector waits until somebody is kind enough to drive Marta to an active crime scene and when she rushes to her beloved bambino (thus entering the area of fire) Hector finally fires his gun - Hoorah !! And now Pablo is alive again after three years - no longer hiding from the jihadi's and no explanations forthcoming. How is it he can walk back into his job just like that? I looked up Guardia Civil and they are apparently organised along military lines but they are not actually military police as we understand them to be. Series 2 and Marta has been dumped !! Somehow Pablo is now head of the Guardia and has the power to reinstate Hector as acting investigator. He has now returned - as has vowed to prove that Pablo killed Marta. Same old - same old - when Hector tries to question Nacho - who says something unusual happened the morning of the killing - up pops Pablo just in time to stop the kid answering. We see a gypsy girl riding a horse out in the fields - she gets off the horse on some pathetic excuse of it's bit being too tight (she was the one who put it on the poor creature in the first place) and she witnesses Marta's body being thrown in the dumpster - so what does she do? She leaves the horse there and runs to the gypsy house where she sees Lolo washing blood from his hands. Oooh - he is the murderer - don't ask how he is in different clothes and how he got back sooner than her. Now - Pilar is an empowered businesswoman - no training - no experience - who needs it. I love the way they "conceal" drugs in the tomato shipments - gee - nobody will ever find them under one layer of tomatoes. And Agnetha and Pablo are at it like rabbits and are caught on a pen camera planted by Hector which Pablo spots within moments - not surprising really as there was no attempt at concealment. I also wonder why the prison authorities do not monitor Fernando's mail - if they do they have a strange idea of what to pass on to him. Please - please do not let Fernando find God - he is only endurable as a villain. Now Sergio has a bad tummy one minute but is racing through the greenhouses the next. God - that actor - I cringe every time I see him. And Salva is involved with Pillar's stepmother and thinks nothing of having a grope whilst Pilar is on the phone on the other side of the window about three feet away. Now we have Vlad - the Serbian drug runner and murderer - why do people get involved with thugs notorious for their ruthlessness across the world?

Yeah, what could go wrong with Serbian murderers for business partners?-When it came down to Hector vs. Fernando I was afraid we would see another of those damned flashbacks. And with all those cops on the scene, they left Mr. Shaky Hand, 'this bullet could go anywhere', to take the shot. And by the way, shooting him in the opposite shoulder was a very risky move when he had his pistol to Nacho's head, finger on the trigger. What you want then is a shot to the base of the brain so his muscles would relax. But with his wobbly hand, for all we know he might have been aiming there and was just lucky to hit Fernando at all. Anyway, this way Fernando survived with no lasting damage so we can see that psychopath in prison. Funny that they said his reputation as "the ripper" made the other prisoners leave him alone. A boy of his size on the inside would need to join a gang in a hurry to keep from becoming "Fernanda", the new girl. A Christian girl Cristina is visiting him now. I suspect she may not really be his friend but someone looking to get information on him, someone who wants to do him harm somehow, or, someone wishing to cash in on his notoriety. She may be pretending to care for him.

Pilar's mom is having an affair with Salvo, who is keeping it a secret. Pilar's dad is meeting gay men from an Internet dating site, and Juan Rueda is blackmailing him because he knows Franciso is gay. Pilar doesn't know this, at least I think she doesn't. Not sure. I am pretty sure his wife knows but says nothing because she likes the money, and she gets what she needs on the side.

Yes, Pablo is banging what's her name since she threw herself at him. I am now thinking he may be dirty, though he knows how to hide it. He failed to bust those truckers for their hash smuggling, but he may just be playing the long game, working Kaled to get info on Juan Rueda. Still, Pablo could be one of those guys who works both sides.

Someone is hammering people to death. It is fairly quiet I guess, much less noisy than shooting them. Early money is on the Serbians, but that may be a false lead. It is early yet.

comment 2 episode 4 spoilers. a LOT of stuff happens in this one SPOILERS below

OK now I am most of the way through episode 4 and Pablo is meeting with the Serbian dude, Vlad, out in the wilderness. Pablo tells the Serb "my team doesn't suspect you yet but you were at Reda's yesterday. And if they see you near him, they'll start asking questions and you'll get in trouble." He also warns him to change the truck route to avoid the police.

Hector was right; Pablo IS dirty. It doesn't necessarily mean he is the hammer killer, but he isn't a good guy. I think we have both picked up on his personality, beginning from when Nacho acted scared to say anything unscripted in front of his dad. It remains to be seen just how deep his connection with these guys goes. I think it's a safe bet that Pablo is the reason the Serbs showed up. I think Pablo is running a drug ring somehow, giving protection from the law enforcement side. That would explain why he didn't bust the Rueda truck shipment when he checked the broken down truck that time. He will try to play it so he can sacrifice anyone who might finger him if they got caught. He just seems pretty coldhearted and ruthless. I think we can expect an eventual showdown between Pablo and hot headed Hector, probably in the season finale. I hope to God we don't see another flashback when it happens, but that may be too much to ask. "You're not going to fake dying this time Pablo" Hector ought to tell him.

So maybe that captain was on the level last season. He said Pablo was into drugs. It is sure looking like he was right. OR....is he still working undercover. Somehow I doubt that.

Agneska tells Hector that Paula knew her husband was gay, and that she had a lover on the side, but didn't know who he was. Salvo is standing there listening also, looking a bit worried. Agneska speculates Paula's lover may have killed Fancisco because Paula said she had him wrapped around her finger and he would do anything for her. News to Salvo. She also tells Hector that Paula wasn't really with her when Francisco died as she previously said.

Next we see Juan Rueda opening an email while talking to someone on the phone. Its a photo of Francisco tied with ropes and his gay lover sitting on his back. Is he planning on blackmailing Pilar now? "Do what I say or the town will see what a perverted homo your dad was", something like that. Salvo meets Paula who says Agneska is lying, that they were together when Francisco died. Which version is true? I would guess that Agneska is lying on behalf of her husband. This is probably part of another attempt to extort money from Pilar and Paula's family, since Juan Rueda is broke. Paula tells Salvo "I had to put up with that faggot for ten years. Everytime he put his filthy hands on me I thought of you".

I wonder if Agneska really knows that Salvo is Paula's lover and was being cagey at the police department. Paula thinks their secret is safe but I'm not so sure. Agneska is a snake in the grass, coniving and faithless. This really is a soap opera, isn't it? Paula confronted Agneska about lying and is told it is payback for not showing support when Juan was suspected of killing Ainhoa. Paula breaks Agneska's pearl necklace. Then Agneska reached way back and punched Paula in the face. Anyone could see that hit coming long before it arrived, but Paula failed to cover her face or move or anything. She acted as if she were surprised she got hit in the face. Come on, Agneska would have had to have mailed her a letter to give her more notice that punch was on the way.

Whoa. Rueda sent those photos out in a mass blast email to everyone's phones. Now the town knows Franscisco was into gay bondage. Pilar is in tears. Whoa. Security cameras show Franscisco leaving a $22,000 blackmail payment in a bus station locker. Later they show Agneska coming to pick up the money, and Fransisco catches her and confronts her there. Like I said, Agneska is a snake. Now she must be a prime suspect in his killing.

Karma is a bitch. Rueda is shown standing near his "sea of plastic" suveying the lands he wants to buy, I guess. You see him through the scope of a rifle and then hear the shot. Juan Rueda went down hard and doesn't move.

Can't wait for the next episode now.

comment 3

I am enjoying the second season more so than the first I think. There is a lot more going on now. More people are dying, there are more twists and surprises. You're right that they are checking the familiar boxes; this episode will have some racial problems based on the preview fo it and the first few minutes of it. But it isn't so heavy handed as American shows. It doesn't feel like an agenda, it is more matter of fact. It doesn't feel so preachy, it's more just a story that includes a racial tension incident.

SPOILERS if you haven't got to what happened after Juan Rueda's shooting or who did it. In no particular order because I binge watched a few episodes and I can't recall what happened specific to each one !! I am on Episode 8.

It was - of course - Pilar. She now owns all of her father's businesses - three bars and something else she said - a café I think - maybe. So she wants even more power and money - so she decides to go into the trafficking business with Vlad. Her heart is not really in it and Vlad tells her so. It is amazing how people never learn that trying to pick up a cell phone whilst driving will always result in a crash even when there is a clear road ahead with no traffic and no reason not to slow down or even stop to achieve your objective. The gay box is well and truly ticked with much verbal vulgarity. I love the way Paula says no to Salva's sexual advances when they are in a café (I think) then takes him into the back of the room behind some bead curtains and has sex with him. Yeah - they have to be discreet. Pablo - Hector is more and more suspicious - especially when Nacho tells him that Pablo wasn't there the morning of Marta's death - he does something to Pablo's phone and overhears his conversation with Vlad where he says he killed that girl for him. So Hector promptly takes the tape to their superiors who tell him to drop it Pablo is in fact undercover and is on the trail of Vlad's boss - known as the Bear. From some complex machinations which I don't understand Hector has now obtained footage of The Bear caught on a traffic camera. Juan is not dead - not from a bullet in the leg. He is up and about again and in cahoots with Pablo to find the Bear. Juan doesn't want to get involved in trafficking again and the Bear is using Vlad to strongarm their way into the area so they try to approach Vlad together to ask him to give them the Bears whereabouts. Vlad isn't intimidated and threatens their families - well - come on - is that surprising? Meanwhile ( I always want to say "back at the ranch" when I say meanwhile - I wonder why that is - it must be a movie staple or something of long ago) Agnetha has decided to run - she has bought a one way ticket to Moscow (better her than me) and has taken her silver bullet car and gone to the tomato fields for some reason where she drives over a rock and damages the car which wont go - whilst searching for a signal on her phone she finds an oil drum with clothes burning inside it Now guess what - one two three - YES - the murderer is still there with a hammer in his hand. Oh dear - this device gets so old. They question Juan who lies through his teeth - Sergio lets it slip that Juan had a big row with Agnetha that day because Sergio told him she had been doing dirty things with another guy - as you do of course - in a house with a maid and a mentally challenged man whom you know spies on women. He also told Fernando that he saw women in Juan's trucks Fernando has found out that Cristina visited his home and rummaged through his things - he is enraged. There is a blog - dedicated to killers in which he is featured and guess who runs it - the saintly Cristina - she draws a very childish and very vulgar picture of him and puts it on the blog. Vlad has decided that Fernando must die being as he ratted on what they spoke about when the shared a cell together - but Fernando is a tough little nut and it is not so easy.

I am finishing episode 10 as we speak. A lot has happened and I don't want to spoil the surprises.

The preview to the episode where Pilar shot Juan appeared to show him shot in the chest. I thought perhaps she came back a second time and finished him off, or someone else did. But it was a preview tease. She shot him in the leg, and just the one time. The funeral was for Agneska. Cristina manages to make up with Fernando and explains herself to him. It turns out she had a tough childhood as well, and a bad father. She changed her name to escape the notoriety she attained when she tried to get justice and failed. Fernando seems to have forgiven her now, having seen her in a different light. Sergio does something stupid in an attempt to get to see his brother more. They make some headway in the case of who shot Marta and... I will let you watch. Well, I will say this: Hector will search and find a flashdrive near where Marta was killed. It was stuck in a drainage grate. He takes it straight back to the station and plugs it into a USB slot AND IT STILL WORKS!!! Somehow all that mud didn't bother the contacts at all.

The relationship with Paula and Salva (I keep typing it Salvo instead of Salva) seems to be waning. Paula needs a man with money and Salva was just her good time man. She will try to hook Juan Rueda now. And Sol Requena has her young heart set on Salva. They will continue to tease us with that relationship. I didn't catch her age but I think she is barely of legal age. Sol lied to her aunt when her aunt announced she was match-making for her and had found a possible husband. Sol told her "I can't. I am not a virgin anymore." Apparently in the gypsy culture that is an awful thing and would ruin her chance to marry the other gypsy. But she was lying. The Requena family immediately assumed that Salva had slept with her and Lola barely managed to prevent a fight breaking out in the police station. (I still call them police because they serve that purpose and it is easier to type than Civil Guard). The truth came out and things settled down.

Even though Hector now knows Pablo is working undercover he doesn't really trust him or think they have the same priorities. Pablo wants to nab the entire network of human traffickers. Hector is unwilling to wait when he finds out the location of women presently being held in captivity. Pablo thinks the women will be kept safe since they are useless to the traffickers if they are dead. (But just being alive is a low standard. Being kidnapped and held in captivity is illegal, and the living conditions are horrid, as is whatever healthcare the girls may receive.) Hector wants to free them whenever he can.

Vlad and the Bear need Juan Rueda's trucks for the trafficking operation but Juan doesn't like Vlad doing business with Pilar. She should have stayed out of this business. Vlad will find a truly devious way of taking Pilar off the board, and he doesn't kill her to do it.

I have finished the series now - so I will not say anything much in order not to spoil the finale. Just some observations. Lola catches a fleeing suspect and points a gun at him - instead of staying a few feet away - oh no - she has to walk right up to him until the gun is practically resting on his chest and then - guess what - he grabs the gun, sends her flying and gets away. Then Salva - same old scenario - he holds a gun on Vlad - and of course a retarded girl walks by and is held hostage by Vlad - put your gun down says Vlad and Salva meekly obeys - of course the inevitable happens. These Guardia Civil folk should go back to training school because they are all utterly useless. The gypsies are getting on my nerves - they are always either dancing fighting or eating. And how is it that 10 or so black men can rampage through the streets unchecked because "we haven't got enough men" - is that a fact? There seems to be plenty walking about when they are trying to trace "somebody close" - and besides which - they have sticks and you have GUNS. They are complaining about having shitty jobs in greenhouses - what did they do in Guinea - 9 to 5 office jobs in suits? No action was seen to be taken and they all returned to their shitty jobs without one of them being arrested or deported - this after doing thousands of pounds worth of damage - threatening to burn down a house - breaking the windows and trying to enter the house and assaulting a policewoman. I do not feel sorry for Pilar - she deserves all she gets even if she does look like a young Catherine Zeta Jones !! I am also amazed at how they can grow anything in that dreadful soil - it looks like sand, and water would drain through it in an instant. I can't see any lush green growth anywhere which proves my point somewhat. I also don't understand why they would be spraying tomatoes in the heat of the day - I used to grow tomatoes and I always watered them in the late afternoon or evening and we are in a temperate zone - Spain is much hotter than us - it would burn the foliage. I find one aspect of the final scenes inexplicable and the other totally predictable. I look forward to your comments.

I am starting to watch episode 12 now and it just struck me that Cristina may be the hammer killer. I don't know why she would kill Marta, unless Marta just stumbled upon her and she was trying to keep her identity hidden. Well, in a bit over an hour I will know if I am right or not. I'll write again after that.

Yes, that trope of a cop with a gun walking right up to someone and then being disarmed is so common it is getting boring. It's a GUN! You can use it from 20 feet away just fine. There's no need to walk right up to them and put it in arms reach. Also, that scene at the gas station was ridiculous. When Salvo pulled his weapon, why would the girl run toward danger? You move away from the line of fire by instinct. Believe me, there is NO urge to run in front of the business end of a firearm. And agents, cops, etc. don't put their guns down. They talk to the guy, but they don't give up their weapons. If he threatens to shoot, you just tell him the next shot will be in his balls, and then he goes down for murder, dickless. But maybe they don't ever shoot people. There have been so many scenes where they have someone at gunpoint, and the suspect fights or flees, and they do NOTHING. What is the point of holding someone at gunpoint if you're never going to shoot them no matter what they do?

Yes, the black riot got no attention. That may be due to the racial aspect. The writers had to side with the blacks, to imply that they were justified to riot because of 'social justice', because of the history of past wrongs. We can't arrest them because they had a point. that is the implied message one hears over and over here in the US. Of course that is bullshit, pardon my language. It is capitulation to lawlessness. You don't allow groups of people to get revenge on other groups because of historical wrongs.

Pilar has been a vengeful bitch from day one. It is a bit late to seek sympathy for her or to rehab her image. I have no sympathy for her either. Waiting to see how it turns out for her. I just saw her mother attempt to say she bought the women. Pilar should have gone ahead to Bolivia, because there is no way her mom's plot will work out.

Now they're all saying they think it is Cristina, which makes me question if I was right. I am wondering if they will throw us another curve ball. Not much longer to go with this.

OK, they just caught Cristina trying to kill Juan Rueda. I started suspecting her at the end of the last episode. The figure on the videotape in Vlad's house was too small to be a man. But they said that on other videos it was clearly a man in the suit.

I knew she was going to run when they were taking her back to the car. They didn't have a good hold of her and she had that look.

Damn, someone is still smacking people with a hammer. One more episode to go

I figured Sergio hit his father in order to be with Fernando. It makes sense that Pablo killed Marta. He has always seemed far too angry. Plus, Hector always thought it was him, and Hector is the hero of the show.

Pablo tried to make Hector angry enough to shoot him since he didn't want to go to jail. Of course, they played it that Hector was almost convinced to shoot him. Then he turned his back on him and got stabbed. Another stupid, overdone move. (Why did they give Pablo the easy way out? They should have sent him inside with the Bear. ) And true to form, Lola, Salva, and the other officers just stood there watching the whole thing from a distance. None of them ever shoot or do anything. They stand there with their mouths open, that oh no look on their faces until it is all over. What's the point of having backup?