Spoilers for the sixth episode of Alta Mar follow.
A bloody shoe, a scrap of torn fabric, and a suitcase full of Nazi gold. Absolutely no one isn't entangled in the mysteries and deceits onboard the ship at this point. Even a storyline I would have bet money wasn't going anywhere presents interesting complications in this episode. The voyage hasn't reached its halfway point, and it's becoming more and more dangerous. The pace has picked up significantly, whisking the characters into new dilemmas. Most of the turns it takes resolve some of the season's smaller mysteries in satisfying ways but the answered questions only introduce major complications for the overall story.
Natalia and Clara attempt to cover up Awful Brother-In-Law's death by tossing his body down some stairs. It takes almost no time for Detective Varela and Nicolás to realize cause of death wasn't tumbling head over heels. Of course, the death hasn't sobered Natalia up one bit. She puts on a formidably grief-stricken performance when Fernando brings news of her husband's death. However, within a day or perhaps the same day, she's drunkenly informing her brother he shouldn't worry about the money he owed her husband. She tosses in that she didn't actually get along with Awful, so who knows how long she'll be able to keep pretending she's sad. It's unclear if Fernando takes all this at face value, but for a woman who was secretly poisoning her spouse, Natalia seems to have too quickly lost her discretion. Clara, on the other hand, is still shook. This, in turn, finally gets noticed by her boyfriend Pierre who then finds one of her shoes with a dark red substance on it. It's not paint, and he suspects the truth. Pierre is one of the calmer minds we've been introduced to, as we saw when he guided the ship through the storm. He quietly gathers information about the "accident." In a very effective scene, we see him watching Clara perform. Natalia enters, and we first see Clara's response as she falters then Pierre's reaction to watching that response. A new countdown starts until this situation implodes.
As if they didn't have nefarious family secrets on their plate, Carolina and Eva each encounter romantic obstacles in this episode. Looking out for each other remains their priority though. Fernando's secret comes out when he reveals to Carolina that he has a gambling debt. That's an issue, especially since he lashed out at Eva over the same topic, though he says he doesn't have a "problem" with gambling. It was just an occasional game. (Odds are it is a problem.) The man who has been shadowing him is the one he owes money too. Carolina stands by her man. She pays off his debt or at least most of it and cautions him to not keep secrets anymore. Eloy Azorín and Alejandra Onieva have such a warm chemistry that they are able to make us feel the history of this couple and their genuine regard for each other. However, even as Carolina and Fernando clear the air, secrets past and present still hang ominously between them.
Eva is on the verge of joining Nicolás in investigating Awful's death but instead she asks her would-be-beau about the wedding picture in his shirt drawer. (You know he loves his wife because he kept her picture with his shirts instead of with his socks.) Their conversation about his wife is kept pleasantly mature. She doesn't fly off the handle at him, and she picks up on the cues that it's a hard subject for him to discuss. If anything, the respectful way they both handle the conversation makes the news extra hard for us to hear. His wife Chantal was a French resistance fighter taken prisoner by the Nazis, and he hasn't had word of her for two years. (She's almost certainly alive and already on board the Bárbara de Braganza because we know how TV works.) Nicolás tells Eva that she's given him something to dream about for the first time in a long time. My heart breaks. Eva's does too, more so because of something that he says about his wife being taken away on a truck when she was captured.
The reason for Eva's reaction is what she and Carolina discover on the microfilm. Sofia escapes Dr. Rojas, and he chases her onto the deck. They are both arrested. Sofia quickly hides behind the Villaneuva sisters' protection, telling them she found the microfilm among the Doctor's things. Uncle Pedro is not happy to see Sofia alive, but he plays it very chill. Little good that does him when the sisters view the microfilm and discover that Uncle Pedro rented out their company's trucks to the Nazis to transport concentration camp prisoners. Well, that's dark. It's a very shameful skeleton to have in the closet, and it's not just their uncle's closet. The whole family could be considered guilty by association. They aren't sure if Fernando knows anything. Carolina unknowingly signed the orders for the trucks, without knowing to whom they were going. Their uncle asks them to keep the secret, but the righteous indignation on their faces leaves no doubt they won't. He plans to sneak off the ship once they reach port and gives Francisca the suitcase of Nazi gold bars to hide in her cabin. Things start happening quickly. Carolina realizes that whoever tore their uniform sneaking into Manuel's cell would have had to check out a replacement. She finds Sofia's uncle on the list. Eva notices her typewriter is askew and realizes the microfilm was hidden there. They confront Sofia who denies her uncle killed Manuel and distraughtly says they ruined everything. It's been clear that Sofia is lying, and their accusation that her motives were blackmail is reasonable enough. Motives of revenge were another strong probability. The truth is much more dramatic of a twist.
The mystery of the Captain's strange behavior is explained, though it's still a bit confusing. He was working with Sofia and Carlos the whole time. That's why he marked the boxes. It doesn't quite explain why he snapped and tried to turn the boat around, even if he did think Sofia was dead. So he might still be a little unstable.
Who put the microfilm in the typewriter? It definitely wasn't Carlos, or he would have told Sofia where to look.
Francisca thinks Dimas is courting Veronica, and she approves. Veronica decides to coerce Dimas into keeping her relationship with Sebastian a secret by saying she'll help persuade Sebastian to finance Dimas's ethanol plans. Dimas just has to fake being her boyfriend for her mother. This won't backfire at all. Sebastian, it turns out, has a secret of his own. It would be hilarious if that secret is that he's broke. His affection for Veronica might be genuine, but her affection for him most likely isn't.
I loved that Carolina pressed pause on sharing her big clue to make sure Eva was alright.
Are we annoyed that Nicolás's wife is probably awesome? Here's to hoping she has already fallen in love with someone else.
