Huncb Llub Fo Seeth
Izamal, 1986. In the splendid El Caracol, a young Baltasar sits reading Ilan Iberra’s El Pesejo. His overbearing mother and the empress of the Frias kingdom calls out for him in the background. But Baltasar has just finished the book and is writing to the author. He believes the book has not concluded and asks for an ending from Iberra. The two exchange a slew of letters but not something like you’d imagine. Like small kids, they fight and insult each other. Iberra is instantly dismissive of Balatasar owing his family’s name and calls him witless, while Baltasar insults Iberra’s writing skills, calling him a hack job. One day, his mother reads one of Iberra’s letters and is indignant. The eccentric author has taken it too far and threatened to kill Baltasar. He has also signed the letter with a bloody thumbprint. Baltasar’s mother sends men to teach Iberra a lesson and not to mess with the yellow snake. We jump back to the present where they all see Alex’s video message to Baltarsar on Violet’s phone. He talks about the passage and Baltasar says he knows where the author, Ilan Iberra lives. Luna leaves the lunacy and separates, leaving Noam, Emma, and Baltasar to make the trip to his former house, El Caracol, to retrieve the old letters from Iberra. The former Frias opens up with Noah about his traumatic loss and encourages him to be more familiar with that side of his subconscious. Baltasar’s mother had Iberra removed from the university he taught at and that destroyed his career and reputation. Before going into the house, Baltasar warns the couple to stay inside the car. His brother is so jealous of him and any tourists that their lives might be in danger. Noah and Emma take a gander around, discussing their purpose for coming there. They then see Baltasar and his brother (the same guy who chased Noah and Emma in episode 2) fly off a window to the ground. Baltasar throws keys to his brother’s car and they nearly escape his vicious attacks. Since he can only drive his own car, the three are safe. They reach Iberra’s house and his daughter greets them. She spots Baltasar’s fake FBI badge from a mile off and is about to tell them to go away – as instructed by her ailing father – when Emma lets herself in through the backdoor and screams. Noah and Baltasar make their way inside and Iberra reluctantly agrees to talk about Sam and Violet. We jump back into the past when Sam and Vi went to Iberra’s house. The author asks for their help in cleaning out the “filth of time” from his kitchen sink and proceeds to talk about Pasaje in his book. He says he and his friend Alejandro went to the place but Alejandro never returned. Vi asks him to take them there so that she can reunite with her dead mother. Vi explains her theory – the missing clues in Iberra’s book that he purposely hid. She interprets it as an “invitation” to find the place, to which Iberra clarifies that it is in fact a “warning” to stay away. She is stuck on the final phrase in his book: “huncb llub fo seeth”. Iberra explains it is a language he himself created. Vi explains that all the places Alejandro explores in the book are actually real places in the Yukatan Peninsula. She points out the specifics on a map to Iberra, impressing him. Vi found all the spots except Pasaje and hence, needs the author’s help. Sam suspects Iberra never went into the jungle and that upsets him. Before we can see his reaction, we jump to the present where Iberra tells the trio that he dropped off Sam and Vi at the entrance and told them not to go. Emma asks him to translate the phrase into the English language. He is halfway there but his pen dries out. Other pens in the vicinity do not work. Baltasar reluctantly gives him a pen with the Frias seal. When Iberra sees it and recognizes Baltasar as a Frias, he is over with rage and stabs him through the hand with the pen. He tries to choke him but his heart gives out and he dies. The only words from the phrase they can discover are “the park of”. Noah is angry with Emma and says she is being delusional. Given everything that has happened, they must stop this adventure right then and there. Emma is upset with Noah and goes alone to her room, trying to figure out the location. She matches all the points on the map of the places mentioned in the book and a snake is formed. Pasaje is the final point in the figure. She smiles as she finally knows its location.
The Episode Review
Quentin Tarantino called those stories the best that “constantly unfold”. That is his filmmaking philosophy and it has never gone wrong. Peacock’s ‘The Resort’ has followed on the same path and dared to take its story into new, adventurous directions that keep getting shrouded deeper in mystery as new elements keep getting discovered. Episode 6 brings us closer to an answer – a definitive one – when all we have gotten is questions after questions. The wild ending saw Ilan Iberra get killed and Emma discovering the exact location of Pasaje, or “the passage”. But the question now beckons: will going there bring back Sam and Violet? Will it have any answers for the disappearance of Alex? I genuinely feel that at least we will have something significant on the latter. Iberra kept mentioning his friend, Alejandro, as the person who went with him to Pasaje but never returned. More meticulous deconstruction of previous episodes would be required to check if there were any indications of this. That is a task for another day but as of now, The Resort has materialized into a fully-blown mystery drama with seemingly no crime at its core. It is difficult to get past how tonally Ben Sinclair has been inconsistent in keeping up with his themes. His execution, like the story, has been chaotic – but not in a disappointing way. The story has matched up well to the disoriented, at times lost, narrative. Episode 6 is something like the final piece in the jigsaw that will unlock answers from the past. For their own sake, Emma and Noah must trudge on and complete this ritual of engaging with the darker corners of their subconscious.
