The Chicken – As the second episode of Stags begins, Branco (Oscar Foronda) forces Clem (Sophie Lenglinger) to perform the surgery on Ant’s lifeless body. Once the kidneys are out, Branco asks who is going to give him the third. Selma (Paulina Galvez) speaks to Gomez (Abel Folk) via video chat. Gomez warns Selma that a case is being built against her involving the death of her cruel American husband in Florida in 2008. Selma argues only her brother could testify to that. Gomez instructs her to get her house in order because Branco might want to get rid of her. John (Cavan Clerkin) tells everyone to pick a stick so they can decide who is going to lose a kidney. Kai (Jojo Macari) is forced to pick up Ant’s insides when they fall on the floor.

John picks the short stick, but the doctor (Tony Corvillo) refuses to take him because he’s not healthy. Hugo (Paul Forman) offers to do it for compensation. Stu (Nico Mirallergo) agrees. Hugo tells them they have to take on any share of his debt and he wants guaranteed bed rest. When Hugo gets in the ice bath, Kai admits he had the second shortest stick. He changes places with Hugo until John tries to pull him out of it. Branco puts a gun to John’s head before he’s interrupted and learns Selma wants to see him. Branco tells Kai he gets to keep his kidneys for being a team player. Ryan (Corin Silva) questions where they’re taking Ant’s body. He’s being taken to the men on the roof. Clem begins panicking. When they’re alone, Hugo asks how they’re going to get out of the prison.

Kai apologizes for making them angry when he picked up Ant’s insides. He insists he loved Ant too. Branco admits to Selma that he doesn’t love the new order, but she argues he couldn’t do the job. Selma tells him that he made too many stupid decisions back then. She questions whether he’s speaking to the Americans because someone is. Branco believes she’d betray him. Ryan gets Stu up in the middle of the night. In private, he tells him he believes more than just Greg was in on it. They might’ve set it up or Greg had help. Stu asks who he thinks is responsible. Stu believes they’d be blaming him if they had half a brain. Ryan believes they should speak to Greg and get the truth from him. Kai gets up and notices the others are gone so he tells his dad and Hugo. Hugo believes they’ve fled with Ant’s ring. The man (Javier Godino) holds a janitor at gunpoint and demands his shirt and mop.

When the janitor refuses, the man tries to negotiate with him using his chicken. Then, the man tries to steal a gun. He retrieves what appears to be a rescue safety line. Selma tells Clem she did well but she can’t leave. She wants Clem to stay with her since Branco’s toys don’t survive very long. Selma learns the state prosecutor’s office will call later today. As Clem leaves, she sees Gemma (Aysha Daraaui) waving at her. Ryan and Stu catch up with her and explain they want to see Greg. They agree to speak to Greg together. Stu immediately freaks out when he sees Greg who can’t believe Ant is dead. Ryan tells him that Selma wants 200k. Greg claims he can make this all go away. He was carrying drugs for people who have connections all over the region. Greg wants a phone. Stu tells Ryan they should try for a two for one.

Meanwhile, Hugo, Kai, and John talk about Greg. Kai tries to get almond butter. He speaks to a woman about it. Then, he tells John and Hugo that her dad does grocery drop offs. She wants a hundred. Hugo speaks to Selma’s gang teen and tries to get money from her. He returns and says they can’t borrow money because of Greg’s insane debt. John wonders how they’re supposed to eat. The man sneaks around the compound. The alarm sounds so he hides the rescue line. A man suffers an embolism. Hugo convinces Kai to try to urge a man to exchange food for labor. The man wants John’s designer shoes. John isn’t eager to hand them over but he does. They get the chicken. Ryan asks Stu if it’s a little his fault. Stu and Ryan try to get help from a man on the roof. They want to give him the ring to bury Ant and Stu wants a phone call to England.

The man takes the ring and gives Stu the phone. He claims they might be able to call London once or twice. He’s not going to bury Ant though. Ryan isn’t happy with that deal, but Stu argues they need to take the phone. Stu convinces him to change his mind. Clem finds out that Greg has left his room. She speaks to Gemma who doesn’t know where Selma is. Clem tries to find out why she’s locked up. Gemma can help her escape. She warns Clem that she can’t rust Selma. John tells Kai to take the chicken home and make sure it can’t get out. Hugo and John try to speak to Greg. They see him running nearby. Ant’s body is taken to the place of the monster. Luba (Alexandra Masangkay) worries Branco is going to be mad since there’s been another death at the factory. Her friend suggests the gringos are perfect for it. She agrees as long as they’re new enough to not know any better.

Ryan tells Stu to take the phone to Greg. Hugo and John find Ryan and try to find out what is going on. Ryan claims Stu swapped the ring for a burial plot for Ant. John admits he’s having doubts about Stu. Ryan promises Stu wouldn’t do this to them. Meanwhile, Stu walks around with the phone in his hand. Ryan learns that Greg is gone. Stu catches up with Greg and tells him to make the call. Greg calls his boss and tells him what happened. He tells Stu they’re going to pin on this someone money wise and they’ll come after his family. Greg wants Stu to take the blame for this. He reminds Stu that he’s kept his mouth shut about his involvement so far. Stu takes the phone and places the blame on Greg. Stu assaults Greg and finishes telling the story. He hopes they can get them out of the prison. After the call, Stu apologizes to Greg.

He finds out he’s possibly killed Greg though. Someone wants to use the bathroom. Stu throws Greg’s body into the toilet vault before letting the other prisoner in. Ricardo (Antonio Coman) tells Selma that Greg has gone missing. Stu lets the chicken escape when he returns to the cell and someone else takes it. Stu finds a place to hide the phone. Selma speaks to John, Ryan, Kai, and Hugo about the money. She cuts John’s nose before asking about Greg. Selma asks if any of them can sing because there’s a feast day tomorrow. She points a gun at each of them and makes them sing. Hugo is actually decent. Selma picks him to be her little canary. The man has taken the chicken. He sees Stu below him. Stu looks up and sees him with the chicken. The man tells the chicken to never be alone with Stu in a toilet.

 

Stags Review

The second episode of Stags got a little better and was really setting up the story to become a brutal affair. Then, it turned into a silly mess about everything except survival. There are still some good ideas here, but the core story has changed far too much. The prison doesn’t even have a prison-like atmosphere. It’s nothing like the brutal South American prisons it should be trying to portray.

The prisoners have too much freedom and access to dangerous contraband. Stu is worried about hiding the phone one minute, but he’s carrying it around in his hand out in the open the next. Furthermore, we’re seeing the same old clichés thrown into a different setting. The chicken and the predictable outcome were a good example of this.

The villains are comical but not a good way. The potential was there, but the prison and its prisoners are far too weak so there is no sense of danger. The only danger is when Selma or Branco show up with some outlandish demand such as needing a singer. The friendship dynamic could be interesting if it was easy to care about the characters, but the only morally decent character was killed in the first episode.

On top of that, the schemes the characters are using the survive, eat, and get essentials are incredibly dumb. Unfortunately, this is already looking like a missed opportunity to accurately explore the brutal realities of South American prisons. Instead, the prison in Stags could easily be replicated by a high school drama class on a small stage and they’d probably have enough creativity to at least make it seem dangerous.

The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Stags can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site here. Learn more about advertising with us at this link. See what others are saying here.