Water Water Everywhere – As this episode of The Mallorca Files begins, Nicolau Crespo (Francesc Corbera) is watched as he moves a barrel. He notices a fire in the distance and begins running toward it. Nicolau finds a note telling him to sign or die. He’s unable to put out the fire. Miranda Blake (Elen Rhys) and Max Winter (Julian Looman) talk at the station. Ines Villegas (Maria Fernandez Ache) has a new case for them. It’s an arson in the mountains. It happened in Fornamossa which is the village the mayor wants to flood. Ines says the water supply is a key issue in the election which is a few days away. Mayor Ernesto Chavez (Xema Susacasa) has promised to announce a new reservoir before the election in Fornamossa.

That is going to decide the election. As they drive to the village, Max tells Miranda that some people have not agreed to move out of the village. After a brief stop, they notice a tent nearby. Then, they reach the site of the arson. Roberto (Alex Hafner) shows them the note found at the scene. They learn that someone lit a match and threw it under some straw in a bedroom. Someone cut the pipe using a hacksaw before starting the fire. They hear Nicolau speaking to a woman nearby and asking her to be careful. He tells Max and Miranda that there are two more days until the deadline. Everyone else in the village has already signed. He will never leave this place because of his mother. She worked herself to the bone for Nicolau. His mother’s ashes are scattered in the field nearby.

Emilia Navarro (Monica Forero) and Marco Garcia (Rodrigo Penalosa Pita) are Nicolau’s only friends. They’re camping nearby. Emilia is going to confront Pedro Tevez (Pep Tosar) who Nicolau believes started the fire. When Emilia confronts him, Tevez denies starting the fire. He believes whoever did it deserves a medal though. Max and Miranda arrive as Emilia is being escorted out. They soon learn that Tevez is gone. Max and Miranda visit Pedro who has a nice house and plenty of water. Pedro says he doesn’t want to stand in the way of progress. He hopes the next fire turns Nicolau to ash. Berenice Tevez (Yolanda Vazquez) runs out to tell Pedro that Alfredo is not eating properly and seems sad. Pedro denies causing the fire. Outside, Max tells Miranda that he found multiple final demands in the trash.

Tevez took out a loan from a company called Santa Colina. They agree to speak to Emilia who is hunting for a toad called the Majorcan midwife. If she can find one, the whole valley will be protected forever. Marco comes over and says the government tried to bribe Emilia. She explains that the mayor’s office offered her a research grant at Barcelona University if she stopped looking for the toad and got Nicolau to sign. Marco thinks Max and Miranda should be speaking to the government and Hydraflux which is involved in desalination. Marco claims Hydraflux is involved in corruption and beatings. He shows them a video of Adriano Cortes (Daniel Lundh) who is the Head of Comms. Miranda asks where he gets his information. Marco says it’s all about who you know. A child finds Emilia dead later.

Roberto believes Emilia was dead before she was thrown from the bridge. He found a fresh cigarette butt that may or may not be connected. There are prints possibly from a walking cane. Pedro claims he was home all evening with Berenice. He eventually admits he went to find Emilia to try to convince her to get Nicolau to sign. As he got to the creek, a car stopped on the bridge and Emilia supposedly got into it. Pedro only knows the car was black. Max asks him about the loan from Santa Colina. He invested in a tourism fund that turned out to be a scam. Santa Colina wants his assets including his house. Marco bangs on the door and accuses Pedro of murder. Outside, he tells Max and Miranda that Emilia was meeting a contact last night about the reservoir. Marco claims he was chained to the gate at Hydraflux last night.

Hydraflux wanted Emilia dead because she was the one running their source there. Max and Miranda speak to Nicolau who thinks he should sign now. The lady from the government told him that would solve everything. Miranda and Max learn the lady in question is Daniella Ramos (Melina Matthews) who is an advisor to the mayor. She visited him yesterday. Nicolau reveals that Daniella always drives a black vehicle. As Max and Miranda leave, they see a black car and decide to follow it. The car flees. The black car gets away and Max and Miranda miss the plate. They visit the mayor’s office so they can speak to Daniella. When they’re in her office, they notice that Daniella has cigarettes. They ask Daniella about her visits to Fornamossa. Daniella insists she didn’t have anything to do with Emilia’s death. She admits the mayor needs all the breaks he can get.

Daniella claims she was in a meeting with Palma entrepreneurs yesterday evening. Max and Miranda visit Hydraflux next. They spot Adriano Cortes who leads them inside. Bernardo shows them the security footage of Marco chained to the gate. Max asks to use the bathroom. He uses that time to look around until Adriano shows him the exit. Later, Miranda tells Max that Roberto found no blood or DNA under Emilia’s fingerprint. They got nothing from the cigarette butt either. They talk about the fact that Miranda admired Daniella a little bit. Max has checked the CCTV footage and there is no sign of Daniella. She got home at midnight. They agree to pick her up since she would’ve had time to travel to Fornamossa. When they follow her, they find out that she is with Mayor Chavez. Ines speaks to her and accuses her of sleeping with men who were taken.

The Mayor confirms that Daniella was with him yesterday evening. Ines says they need a full statement from Daniella and Mayor Chavez with all the paperwork involved. She can’t promise Daniella will be out before morning. Later, they have 45 minutes before the deadline expires. Max and Miranda visit Nicolau. Miranda finds a letter from Pedro telling Nicolau not to tell anyone. She confronts Nicolau who admits Pedro is his father. He took advantage of his mother while being married to Berenice. Pedro scared his mother into keeping quiet. Nicolau found a letter from Pedro threatening to kill his mother if she told anyone. Emilia was the only person Nicolau told. Nicolau admits he’s doing this as revenge against Pedro. Pedro and the locals decide to do something about Nicolau.

They arrive and tell Nicolau he has one minute to sign. A black car shows up behind them. Daniella gets out. Nicolau destroys the paper. Daniella tells someone that the idiot didn’t sign. Max has to fire shots in the air to stop the chaos. At home, Pedro complains that Nicolau has put them out on the streets with nothing. Miranda asks him about Emilia knowing the truth. Miranda accuses Berenice of setting the fire to get rid of the letters that would ruin her good name. She asks how far they went to keep Emilia quiet. Pedro insists Emilia said nothing to them about knowing. Nicolau enters to say he’s come to buy the house. Then, he says he’s come to help them both. The postman made a mistake a few months ago so Nicolau knows about their situation. He always dreamed of giving his mother this house and he can now.

His mother was good at saving so Nicolau has 343,000 euros. Nicolau wants to move in today. Pedro accepts the offer. Nicolau complains about how Pedro never once gave him a smile. Miranda tells Max they found the black car. They confront Adriano Cortes who flees from them. As they search for him, they find a lot of items that could possibly belong in a museum. They end up chasing him outside before he jumps into water. Max and Miranda eventually stop him. Adriano asks if they’re going to kill him. Miranda says they believe he was sent by Hydraflux to kill Emilia. Adriano asks for protection from Hydraflux because he was Emilia’s source. On the night of Emilia’s death, Adriano was going to tell her something he discovered about someone in Fornamossa.

Nicolau celebrates until Max and Miranda arrive to speak to him. They say someone was being paid a large amount of money by Hydraflux to block the reservoir. They accuse him of taking a bribe from one of Emilia’s greatest enemies. Nicolau says he didn’t want to hurt Emilia because she was his best friend. He needed his mother to sleep in peace. Nicolau is arrested. A woman finds the toad Emilia was looking for in a trap. Miranda says Emilia ended up saving the valley. Max and Miranda talk about everyone having their price including Nicolau.

 

The Mallorca Files Review

This was probably one of the better episodes of the season. The story was fairly interesting and the twists were well done. At the very least, there was a sense of mystery here so viewers likely won’t be able to predict the outcome. The performances were a bit stronger with Francesca Corbera doing a good job with the guest role.

Although viewers can find issues with The Mallorca Files, the series is a brainless watch that requires very little. It’s better when it’s not pushing the latest agendas and doesn’t take itself too seriously. That was the case here. While it touched on certain topics, it did so subtly without ramming them down the viewer’s throat.

If the series could maintain this level of quality, The Mallorca Files could be a pleasant watch and a good way to kill an hour. However, caution is advised because the episode quality seems to be inconsistent through four. This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Mallorca Files can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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