Going into the second episode here we don’t know everything just yet. But this is what we do know, Barbrow (Giamatti’s character) won’t bat an eye in dropping any amount of money required to obtain the religious relics he sets his eyes on. He proved that point when Antonio kept driving the price up at an auction for an item. Once Barbrow gets wind of the sacred, yet cursed 30 Coins, there will be no stopping him. Well, there might be because we also know that a small team is still active in their own ways, some more in the shadows than others, to solve the crisis in Pedraza and to beat back Evil if they can. Apparently, Vergara and Elena will, not of their own choosing, go to Hell & back to do it.
In the opening of “Dreamlands” we learn that the good Padre, in the bowels of Hell, is summoned audience with Angelo. It appears they have a common enemy. How this relationship works out is going to be most interesting. After the credits play, we discover Merche (Macarena Gómez) living in the lap of luxury with Cardinal Lagrange. And with that, my mind flashes back to the end of Season One; Merche, the estranged wife of Paco, has taken a liking to Lagrange and a liking to the ancient coin that landed at her feet at the plaza that fateful day. Once again, through Merche, we will be reminded of the power a Coin holds and how it plays on its keeper. All is not loving with these two, however, for as they sit poolside, Lagrange’s agents are rifling through the mansion in search of the Coin.
He is upfront with Merche on his plan, however. He has three colleagues who each have a Coin and along with Marche’s that makes four, a small start but he intends to obtain them all. To which she replies, “Twenty-seven to go. That seems difficult.” So, it seems we can expect a plotline throughout as these two act out the plan, even though he is searching for hers behind her back. But, then again, we have seen more than once that you cannot underestimate Merche. Besides, if you do the math, he was including her Coin already, but she wasn’t.
Let’s talk a bit about the rough-shod investigative teams out there. In his daily spying on his wife, Laguna noticed Salcedo and Haruka talking to her, which angered him as Salcedo did not treat him so kindly the last time they met. In an intense exchange at gunpoint, he learns that they have the same goal in solving the mystery of Pedraza. He takes them back to the windmill and the crazed Antonio. His ramblings and visions have linked the successor to Cardinal Santoro, the Black Pope and it is Christian Barbrow, who is associated with some secret Brotherhood. They also uncover the people who killed Haruka’s co-worker are part of a cybernetic, AI company using VR apparatus and high-end algorithms or some such mumbo-jumbo to detail every second of what happened at the Black Mass to ascertain who walked away that day with a Coin. Holy crap, another player in the scheme of things? How come everyone is in on this yet mainstream society is clueless? Anyway, the team realizes that they are on to something and will work together to figure it all out.
Which leaves us for the week with Elena & Paco. We knew something was bound to happen because we just couldn’t watch Paco stand at bedside vigil week after week. Of all people to visit him though, we do not expect Angelo. Dual scenes play here throughout this segment; Elena fleeing demons in Hell in one, and the real-life consequences to her here, among the living. It turns out, via some satanic mojo, that Elena is pregnant and Angelo comes to tell Paco that he needs to get her away from the hospital and find the means to meet her medical needs himself. It sounds like we need to have a demonic baby born. How this all plays out as Paco flees the hospital with her is a thrilling end to the installment. Trust me, or watch it yourselves.
I know, I know, time for another episode and this show will not let believe me. Episode #3 is next.
