Moving into the half-way point in the series 30 COINS we get a little heavy into the exposition as opposed to the action and that is completely alright by this viewer. It is some rich dialogue continuing the discussion of the Christian God’s Divine Plan and Evil’s place in it. It also fleshes out good background on our Father Vergara ((Eduard Fernández) via a series of rich flashbacks (memories for our character) that set up a powerful end game. Here is a look at 30 COINS, episode four.
“I may be clergy but, ‘take that!'”
Episode 4: “Memories”
Debut date: MONDAY, JANUARY 18 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Father Vergara (Eduard Fernández) leaves for Rome to face his painful past. He requests a meeting with the Pope, but he discovers that Santoro (Manolo Solo) is waiting for him too. Meanwhile, in Pedraza, someone is about to return from the dead.
The last we saw Father V. he was in a hospital bed recuperating from his glass-shattering escape from the Cainites. Some time has elapsed as he is now on the move and heading, of all places, to Rome. What, he nearly gets killed at the hands of the enemy so the first chance he gets he hightails it to their turf? Does he hope to confront them on his terms? This can’t be good. Just who is he going to ‘duke it out’ with?
He is not the only one on the move this episode; Elena is packing up and moving on with her suitor, Roche. He is ready to whisk her away to a safe business venture elsewhere and she is willing to go. Paco is beside himself and makes attempts to convince her to stay and help finish the battle ahead and, face it, make his life happier as she would still be in it. He doesn’t seem to make much headway as she and Roche make it all the way to the airport by episode’s end. We know we need her to remain in the story so just what keeps her from leaving. We have to wait until the end of the episode and this post to find out.
Fabio & Sandro back in the day.
Back to Vergara; he flies to Rome accompanied by the memories of his time spent there. We find him as a young priest with his colleagues Sandro (Leonardo Nigro) & Fabio (Manolo Solo). They seem good friends but Fabio is a bit aloof. He and Fabio hit it off however, once young Father V. stands up against a teacher to argue that it is better to face evil head-on and come to know your enemy than to be cautious with it. Fabio agreed on that point as he has chained in a storage space a man possessed by a demon. He takes Vergara in confidence and presents the demon to him and Sando, who tags along. They engage the demon thus giving us the solid debate of God’s part in all the Evil of the world. It is through this exchange that Fabio ‘turns to the dark side’ as it were and becomes ideologically locked into the mindset that turns him into the head of the Cainites years later and the adversary out for the sacred coins of our story.
When Father V. gets to Rome he seeks out Sandro who is the clergy at a local prison; that is where we learn of Vergara’s pugilistic past and where we learn that Vergara does not gain support from Sandro in the dangerous matter facing him. Sandro tells Vergara to run away from it all or he will face wrath, as did Sandro all those years ago when the chained demon of Fabio’s set him on fire, scarring him and more than just
Fabio’s shackled demon.
physically. Vergara then goes to seek the aid of an old teacher, Lombardo, to get him an audience with the Pope. In his last-ditch effort to get some sort of holy help in the battle for the Judas coin, he is going to appeal to the Pontiff himself. The aide the Pope assigns to assist is the newly appointed Cardinal Santoro – who (yeah, I’m going to spoil it) is Fabio himself!
The episode is not over as we get this crusty character (see video clip) to appear back in Pedraza. He was summoned by a blind, old witch. Just how she brings him about won’t be spoiled here and it is the good dose of the horror element this episode hadn’t seen much of to this point. Who is he? The one person who will stop Elena in her tracks – her husband. One catch though, he is supposed to be dead!
So, there you have it. A good well-written episode that packs shocking dilemmas for our leads. Father Vergara is getting aid from his top adversary and Elena is perplexed about how to face her husband. How will this get Fabio closer to the title relic? We will soon find out as we continue enjoying 30 COINS.
