My Sister Sara
Soldiers arrive at the refugee camp Sol is hiding out at as episode 2 of The Barrier begins with a bang. As Major Jiminiez walks through purposefully, they ask to see Sol. Her Grandmother bides some time though but Jiminez doesn’t take kindly to the time wasting. After shooting the woman in the head, the soldiers watch as Sol comes out of hiding, shocked and clutching a teddy. Elsewhere, Carlos packs up his things and convinces Julia to leave for Cadiz. She isn’t so sure and it’s made ever more complicated by Hugo arriving. He tells her about his predicament and what he needs to do in order to bring Marta back. He needs Julia to play the part of Sara. Playing the family card, he tries to convince her to stay. At the colony, Marta is awoken by the various nurses. Felipe helps her hide the necklace Sara gave and the two form an instant friendship. The nurses leave, none the wiser to what’s going on, and Julia settles into her new daily routine. The children are lined up and “poked” one by one. As Felipe shows his bruised elbow joint, he shows numerous puncture wounds in his arm. Meanwhile, Sol is tortured by Jiminiez who asks exactly who stabbed the Major. Shakily, she confirms who was there that night with her. Promising to let her go soon, Jiminez has an artist sketch what Julia looks like from Sol’s fractured memories of that night. Julia starts to ride out the city but has second thoughts. This could come back to bite her but her loyalty to family is enough to convince her to return home. Carlos follows though and confirms that the police are after her. At the same time, Alex starts searching around for the exact colony Marta is being kept at. He promise never to give up and the nurse eventually agrees to help him. Alex is far too trusting though and when he leaves, the nurse immediately picks up the phone. She tells whoever is on the other line that the “relative” is asking far too many questions. Quite what this means for the family going forward, remains to be seen. The nosey neighbour from the previous episode sees the Wanted poster and heads to the station. She believes she knows who they’re searching for. As the scene cuts, it’s implied that she’s going to give up Julia’s details. For now though, Hugo and Julia (adopting her Sara appearance) head through the checkpoint and prepare to work for Daniela and Luis. There’s an obvious class divide here and the pair are immediately put on the spot by Rosa who puts them to work and hopes she doesn’t have to fire them before the day is out. After getting changed (and enjoying the luxury of hot water) the duo starts to get into the role of dishing out food to the influential rich and powerful around the table. Only, things take a turn for the worst when Jiminiez shows up. Oh no. Given he’s looking for Julia, this makes her task as housemaid all the more difficult. Julia does her best to keep her cool while delivering food and drink to both Luis and Jiminiez. As she listens intently, they discuss the case. Only, Jiminiez suddenly grabs Julia’s arm and tells her she looks familiar. Thankfully, Luis distracts him long enough to break up the tension. He knows who she is as well and comments how Julia’s eyes look just like her mother’s. Back at the party, Alma discusses the antidote for the virus. As they joke about tests, she mentions how she uses “guinea pigs”. The night draws to a close and both Hugo and Julia receive their paycheck. Only, they don’t receive documentation along with it which raises big questions. As we soon find out, it turns out they’re on a trial period. Thankfully, Julia’s good vibes with Sergio is enough to get their documents – and Julia’s work contract – signed. Alma returns to CIM and questions Tomas about the upcoming tests. She wants a report in the morning and as she bids her goodbyes, heads in to see the children. Some of them are vomiting and having adverse side effects to the treatment. Among them is Marta who accidentally leaves her necklace in view of Alma. Alma snatches it up and promises to hold onto it until Marta leaves the facility. Elsewhere, Hugo and Julia go their separate ways. He thanks her for helping and heads off alone into the night. As he does, a police van shows up outside Julia’s house and traps Carlos. With officers surrounding him, they beat the man down to the ground. On the back of this, Jiminiez takes to the cameras and tells the people of Madrid that the case is solved. With Carlos and presumably Sol dead, he promises that the people of New Madrid will be safe from now on. Julia however seeks refuge under a tunnel but police suddenly show up all guns blazing, which is where the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Could the aforementioned guinea pigs Alma mentioned be the children at the colony? It certainly seems likely from the looks of it and backs up the needle marks in the arm for the kids. This seems like the most likely explanation but it’ll be interesting to see more of this unfold as the weeks go by. The rest of the family have some decent sub-plots to work with here and the rich party does well to show the massive divide between the rich and poor. This definitely seems like an appropriate juxtaposition and plays into that hierarchical feel of The Handmaid’s Tale. So far so good though, The Barrier is shaping up to be a decent Spanish acquisition for Netflix. With 13 episodes across this first season, there’s plenty more drama to come.
