This writer is stoked that the international hit 30 COINS from Álex de la Iglesia has returned for a sophomore season. Clearly, if you are reading this, then you are familiar with the horror tale already. Thus, I can dispense with all the background and jump right into a look at the Season Two premiere episode. On Max, they offer a recap of Season One if you wish and you can always revisit our S1 reviews. Note two major changes to the format of this work this time out – U. S. actor Paul Giamatti joins the cast this season and, perhaps because of that, the season is dubbed in English as opposed to being subtitled.
To lead the story off we do have a replay of the final moments of the previous season when Father Vergara (Eduard Fernández) mustered divine strength yet again, this time to tackle the Black Pope over the balcony onto Pedraza’s town square. The result is a scattering of the cursed Judas coins across the cobblestones and into the greedy hands of various people gathered there, for to possess even one of the silver coins is to wield great power. The coins are lost in the world once again.
As for Vergara? His fate is quickly decided by the evil witch of Pedraza who inscribes a curse upon a flayed piece of her own flesh and casts the Padre to Hell for he is the one standing in the way of Evil’s reign upon the land of the living. So clearly, part of his journey this season is on how he manages to escape that realm and make it back to the living one. But what of the other players in the tale?
We need the title credits first, followed by the words ‘one year later.’ We see a black sedan winding up the road to Pedraza which, as the episode title points out, is a ghost town. Two video journalists, Naruka (Najwa Nimri) & Jonas (Manuel Burque), climb out and start to document and speculate just what may have happened to Pedraza. It is through their commentary that we learn most of the citizens of the town are in a psychiatric hospital. They witness one last staggering man snatched up in a van and rushed away. But it isn’t taking him away but to a cordoned-off area of the town – the castle grounds. The journalists employ a drone to discover what’s beyond the fencing and it proves a big mistake. The drone turns on them, and let’s just say a blood-spattering demise is the end result for Jonas.
They are not the only ones affected by their investigation of the cursed town. Agent Salcedo (Nuria González, pictured), who showed up beginning in Episode 6 of last season, is seen recently released from the hospital and testifying on what unexplainable matters were taking place in Pedraza. She, of course, is not believed. It is going to be an uphill battle to convince the outside world of what happened there. Finally, Paco (Miguel Ángel Silvestre) and Elena (Megan Montaner) are seen. They are in Madrid 
as well. Paco is working hard and seemingly far removed from the evils in Pedraza, for he seems in good spirits, or he is just keeping up appearances for the sake of Elena. She is in the hospital; she is in a coma. But what is happening to her while in that coma is the big question. The key that might draw Paco back to Pedraza though, may not be Elena but Salcedo. She calls him to help back up her claims of the Black Mass and get to the bottom of it all.
That is not all of our players yet. It seems Sargento Lagunas (Pepón Nieto) and Antonio (Javier Bódalo) are hiding away from Pedraza. Who knew there was enough room in the base of a wind turbine to live? They are doing just that and are very wary of being seen; they seem to trust no one. Lagunas in a nearby town for supplies even spies on his wife from a distance. To keep her safe I guess, but from whom or what? Surely, they will be vital players later on.
It isn’t till the episode’s halfway point that we meet the evil side of the battle as we get caught up in a bidding war between Christian Barbrow (Paul Giamatti) and Angelo (Cosimo Fusco) over religious relics. Barbrow wins. We’re afraid he will have several wins in whatever nefarious game he will be playing this season.
By the episode’s end, Salcedo & Haruka find each other in Pedraza and commit to finding answers together and Elena is seen witnessing her own kind of Hell, literally. Vergara finds her there and tells her that he is already dead, but she is just in a coma and can be saved. She must seize the moment when the opportunity comes, but as for him, he is lost. Yeah, don’t bet on it.
And we are just getting this horror show started! 30 COINS plays Monday nights at 10:00 pm and streaming in the HBO Hub on Max.
