Clandestino – As this episode of The Mallorca Files begins, Max Winter (Julian Looman) and Miranda Blake (Elen Rhys) attend a charity event. Catalina Fuster (Micaela Breque) and Brandi Fuster (Albane Courtois) are nearby. Before long, Catalina welcomes her brother and the host, Antoni Fuster (Ricard Juanola), to the stage. Antoni speaks to the crowd about the charity event called Mallorca Loves. Brandi and Catalina step away so Brandi can smoke. They’re approached by Sadio Cisse (Karanja Augostos) who wants them to buy a blanket. Brandi sends him away. She tells Catalina she doesn’t know how she does it. Catalina does all the work, but her husband takes all the credit.

 

Catalina believes her father would’ve wanted it that way. Antoni thanks Mayor Ernesto Chavez (Jose Maria Suacasa) and botches his speech. Everyone hears a scream before Brandi is found fatally injured. Catalina immediately blames Sadio who immediately flees. Max and Miranda chase him. At one point, Sadio climbs a wall to escape. Max helps Miranda get over it before going the long way around. Max looks up and sees Miranda jumping from one building to another. Sadio manages to get away. Catalina tells Miranda and Max that Brandi wouldn’t let go. Catalina tried to separate them, but Sadio allegedly pulled out a knife. She scratched Sadio’s face so that may help the detectives find him. Catalina asks Felipe (Ferit Cura) to take her brother home. At the station, Max and Miranda look through the evidence.

Ines Villegas (Maria Fernandez Ache) says the murder is everywhere because the Fuster family is the richest family on the island. She orders Max and Miranda to find the culprit and arrest them. Miranda tells Max they should find the mantero and ask them to help with the inquiry. Max tells her to do it because he knows they don’t like the police. She tries talking to them, but the vendors take their goods and leave in a hurry. Roberto (Alex Hafner) tells them more about Brandi’s injuries. He believes that the killer knew how to use a blade. Roberto suspects the weapon was some kind of chef’s knife. He also got some good samples from underneath the witness’s fingernail. There is no match in the database. Max and Miranda go to the Fuster residence. Zahra Cubo (Amira Ghazalla) tells them about the Fuster family.

Jose was a true original who took his wife’s name when they got married. Antoni inherited the business because he was the eldest son. Zahra came there from Egypt and Jose employed her as a housekeeper. She scolds Felipe for smoking. Zahra tells Max and Miranda that they threw him out of the army and his family still helps him. She complains that he’s not grateful. Felipe is her son. It sounds like Catalina and Antoni have been arguing. Catalina tells Max and Miranda that she was panicking and just wanted to help Brandi. Antoni gets upset and leaves the room. Catalina says she just wants to see justice done. Back at the station, Max admits to Miranda that they have nothing. Miranda says you get good at hiding if you’re in the country illegally. Ines tells them local thugs have beaten up one of the manteros at the old town market. Ines says it might have been payback for Brandi.

She worries the situation is getting out of control. Max and Miranda speak to Oumar (Jordy Meya) who has been attacked. He says there would’ve been one less immigrant to worry about if he were killed. He eventually gives them a name. Next, Max and Miranda speak to Youseff although everyone calls him Flash (Seyi Andes-Pelumi). They ask Flash if he can lead them to the man. Flash sticks out his hands for money. On the way there, they talk about soccer. Flash says all the white guys suck. He yells at Cecil and speaks to her briefly before they continue. Before long, Flash disappears. Max and Miranda find themselves surrounded by possible gangsters. Max pretends to use his radio to call for backup causing the men to leave. Max and Miranda talk about the case outside of Joan’s Bar. They decide to try to find the supply chain used by the manteros.

They sit around until they see Flash. Max wants to follow him back to their suspect. He buys disguises so they won’t be spotted. Miranda follows Flash until he sees her and sees. Then, she spots the suspect who also flees. Max manages to catch up with him and hold him at gunpoint. At the station, Sadio insists he didn’t kill Brandi. He asks why he’d stabbed a woman he just tried to sell to in front of a witness. Sadio claims he saw a woman on the ground. He went over to see if he could help her. This other white woman went crazy at him. She scratched him and claimed he attacked her friend. Ines believes they have enough evidence to charge Sadio. She wants him charged and the case closed. Catalina learns they’ve charged someone. Antoni can’t speak to Max and Miranda because the doctor gave him some pills and he’s in bed.

Outside, Max tells Miranda that something is still bugging him about this. Miranda believes there’s a possibility that they charged an innocent man. When they speak to Roberto, he admits Sadio could be telling the truth. He asks them to find the knife. Later, Max explains to Miranda that Brandi’s entire digital footprint is on her phone. If there’s a motive for her murder, it has to be on the phone. They just need to find it. Max wakes up Miranda to tell her he’s found a motive. Brandi was speaking to a lawyer about divorcing Antoni. They speak to the lawyer Veronica Luis (Alejandra Costa). Miranda knows Brandi was trying to find out how to get out of a prenuptial agreement. Veronica claims Brandi only wanted advice on a contract matter. As they leave, Miranda admits they can’t prove she’s lying.

Bianca (Andrea Valls) stops Miranda and Max. She reveals that Brandi was terrified and wanted out of her marriage. Once Bianca leaves, Miranda and Max question why Brandi didn’t let Antoni have it. Max suggests there was something inside that couldn’t be replaced. They look through Brandi’s photos and find one with a note saying, “July 1979, Malaga”. The picture features Jose Fuster. There’s another photo from Palma in October 1979. Jose and another mark are circled. It’s the same man in the other photo. They search the photo and find out that the man is Guiseppe Penino who had links to organized crime. They speak to Joan (Carlos Olalla) about a possible connection between Jose and Penino. He admits there were rumors, but everyone ignored them mainly because of the donations. Joan tells Max that Carmen is doing well. Miranda checks the archives and learns Jose Carlos worked for the Camorra in the late 70s.

They explain to Ines that Penino was the boss and Carlos was his number two. They mainly dealt with human trafficking. When Penino was killed in a mob feud, Carlos knew he needed to get out quickly. He fled to Mallorca and married into a local family. Jose married Maria Fuster and effectively disappeared. He started a business and gave to good causes. Brandi must’ve discovered the truth. She was going to leave Antoni and tell the truth. However, Veronica told the Fuster family what had happened. Antoni must’ve hired a mantero to kill his wife and make it look like a street robbery. Ines reminds them that they can’t prove any of this. She also says this doesn’t clear Sadio. Next, Max suggests someone besides Catalina saw the murder. They visit Flash to talk to him about his brother, Sadio. He begins describing what he saw that day. Flash says there was a big man in a grey suit. A flashback shows that the man was Felipe.

Sadio told Flash to go home. Catalina yells for Sadio’s help. When Sadio approached, the woman started screaming and scratched his face so he fled. Flash says no one would’ve believed them. They don’t have because they’re guilty. They hide because they’re innocent. At the station, Max says Catalina still claims a mantero was responsible. Miranda mentions that Catalina doesn’t smoke. They discuss how Catalina led Brandi to her death. Miranda says everyone would believe Catalina over an illegal immigrant. She thinks they should find the weapon. They go back to the Fuster residence with a plan in mind. They speak to the Fuster family about the murder weapon. They say they found a knife and the DNA on it matches Felipe. Antoni complains that Catalina didn’t take care of anything. Felipe flees and Max goes after him.

He eventually stops and arrests him. Ines learns they use a knife sold by a mantero and not the murder weapon. They believe they’ll find the real one and put Catalina behind bars for conspiracy to murder. Sadio thanks them. Later, Max tells Miranda he doesn’t like the idea of replacing their vehicle with an electric car. She apologizes to the car before they agree they make the perfect team.

 

The Mallorca Files Review

This episode of The Mallorca Files wasn’t very strong for a number of reasons. For starters, only an idiot wouldn’t know who the culprits were within the first few minutes. The episode was very heavy on the politics so that also ruined the overall mystery. Based on that, it was easy to see who would be involved in the murder and who wouldn’t be involved.

The outcome was never in doubt. Starting from the first minute, the episode moved from one cliché to another. Anyone who has watched any recent detective dramas will see that this is identical to everything else in so many ways although it may go one step further. Max is the unathletic idiot who needs Miranda to chase down criminals for him.

Not to mention that Miranda often treats him poorly making it difficult to care about either character. Based on the writing and dialogue, one would think the writers absolutely despise their biggest viewer base. The entertainment level drops significantly when the episode pushes the same ideas, same agendas, and devalues the same viewers.

That, a lack of originality, and a predictably lame script make this a fairly pointless episode. It scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of The Mallorca Files are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying at the Reel Mockery Forum.