Liane Moriarty’s 2021 thriller novel, Apples Never Fall, revolves around a dysfunctional family in Sydney, Australia whose lives are turned upside down after a mysterious stranger appears on their doorstep. The Delaneys had been living a pretty decent life so far. Or at least this was the lie that they told themselves and the world around them. Throughout these years, they have been bottling up their emotions in order to avoid confrontation and conflict. Little did they realize that their own ignorance had weakened the very foundation of the family as sometimes sharing the problems do wonders one cannot imagine. 

Spoiler Alert

Who Are The Delaneys?

Apples Never Fall begins with a couple, Joy and Stan Delaney, who have been happily married for the past 50 years now. The couple ran a prestigious Tennis Academy in the country which they eventually sold after their kids failed to achieve fame and their star player Harry Haddad left Stan for a better coach. It was the end of it all, at least for Stan, who stopped being a coach anymore. Their four children, Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke, all tried their luck in the tennis game but failed to have any substantial success. They moved on and finally settled into a profession, which didn’t turn out great either, just like their ongoing relationships with their partners. But we don’t want to go there. The novel fills the pages with their complex dynamics, but we just want to focus on Joy and Stan for now.

Who Is Savannah Pagonis?

One fine night, a bruised woman named Savannah Pagonis appeared at Delaneys’ house and sold them a story that they couldn’t ignore. According to Savannah, she had run away from her abusive boyfriend and needed a place to settle down. Joy sympathized with her plea and wanted to help the poor woman in any way she could. She took her in without any further interrogation, even though Stan had his doubts about her. Slowly, Savannah became a part of the family and was also introduced to the four children, who evidently looked at her with suspicion. While struggling with their personal lives, the four children started investigating Savannah’s background only to find out that she was a compulsive liar who forged a story about her abuse. According to her boyfriend, Dave, she bruised her face and cut her hand after watching the news of Harry Haddad’s comeback, which most likely triggered some childhood traumas.

Why Did Savannah Come To The Delaneys?

Savannah, whose real name was Smith, used to be a promising ballet dancer in Adelaide or at least that was what her mother wanted her to be. To achieve a perfect ballerina figure, Savannah’s mother starved her and traumatized the poor soul. Meanwhile, her brother, Harry Haddad, enjoyed the most expensive meals in the world to beef up for tennis training sessions. When Savannah was just a teenager, she broke into the Delaneys house to steal a banana as her mother had starved her beyond the limits. However, the family treated the little girl awfully and chased her out of the house. The entire incident not only humiliated a young Savannah but also left a deep scar which she never really forgot. 

When Savannah heard the news of her brother’s comeback, she finally decided to come to the Delaneys’ house and take revenge for the humiliation she had suffered years ago. Nevertheless, after such an emotional confrontation with the family, Savannah soon left the house. However, before walking out, she dropped one last missile that destroyed the entire happy family dynamic. She told Stan that it was her wife, Joy, who asked his star player, Harry, to leave the academy and find another coach if he wanted to reach new heights in his career (or win a Grand Slam). Harry’s exit from the academy was the end of Stan’s career as he had to sell the academy after the incident. In the present time, as the new revelation came to light, Stan blamed his wife for destroying his life.

Is Joy Really Dead?

While a major chunk of the book revolves around Savannah’s strange arrival and the mystery around her true intentions, the second part involves Joy’s sudden disappearance from the house without any trace. For anyone looking for any meaty thriller here would be disappointed to find out the truth. Basically, Savannah’s sweet and simple revenge put a dent in Stan and Joy’s long marriage and the couple stopped talking to each other, even though they shared the same roof. On Valentine’s Day, a sixty nine-year old Joy decided to call a truce with her husband. She planned to bake his favorite apple crumble pie and went to the market for the same. We know the series made a fuss out of the broken bicycle but I will let it slide knowing how the mystery is going to be resolved. However, on her return, she got into a heated argument with her husband, who quickly left the house. 

It was at this moment, when Joy, fed up with the toxic environment in the house, got a call from Savannah, who informed her about a 21 Day Off the Grid Challenge. Joy didn’t think twice and quickly left the house, leaving a note behind for Stan and the family. However, the fridge magnet holding the note lost its grip, because of which no one ever found Joy’s note and everyone declared her disappeared. While Joy had been enjoying her three weeks retreat in a remote cabin, back in Sydney, everyone spent their night and day searching for her. Three weeks later, the police eventually decide to arrest Stan for Joy’s murder when suddenly Joy walks into the house. I know, not the kind of twist anyone was expecting.

The incident became a lesson for the Delaney family who decided to talk things out between themselves and share their feelings instead of locking them up in a little box and throwing it at the back of their minds. Each of the siblings made peace with their past traumas and finally found some success in life. Joy, too, made a promise to herself to make her family and marriage work.

What Happened To Savannah?

In the end, Savannah finally realized her mistake and apologized to Joy and Stan for terrorizing their family. She wanted to make peace with her mother as well and therefore decided to fly to her hometown, Adelaide, to meet her. However, while on the flight back home, the novel narrated Savannah’s last few days with her mother which revealed to the readers that Savannah had locked her mother in her own bedroom with the intention of starving her to death. It was her way of taking revenge on her mother for emotionally and physically abusing her in childhood. Throughout the book, Savannah wore an old-timey door key necklace which was the key to her mother’s bedroom so that no one could save her except her. However, Savannah wasn’t bluntly cruel like her mother and left a few bottles of water along with some protein bars which implied the fact that her mother might still be alive. The book, Apples Never Fall, ends on a cliffhanger with an uncertainty over whether Savannah will meet her mother again or will come across her corpse in the same bedroom. Whatever the case might be, Savannah had most likely taught her mother the much-required lesson. We can only wish that she would be alive to realize her mistake.

Bandidos was not entirely inspired by a true story, but the names of certain real-life historical figures were mentioned in the narrative, and they were combined with certain fictional elements. The series follows a group of scammers who were on their way to find the treasure hidden in a place called Calakmul, where the ancient Maya civilization existed. The leader of the gang, Miguel, was quite sure about the fact that Aj Took’s treasure actually existed and that it was not merely a folktale that they were told in their childhood. So, let’s find out how many creative liberties have been taken by the makers and if Aj Took’s treasure actually existed in real life. 

Spoiler Alert

Who was Francisco de Montejo? 

At the beginning of Bandidos, Miguel met a man named Luis Fernandes De Montejo in the hotel, and the latter told him that Francisco De Montejo, the Spanish conqueror from the 1500s, was his ancestor. Miguel was not taking that drunk man seriously, but the mention of De Monetejo caught his attention. Miguel’s father was a renowned archaeologist, and though he always had a flair for the profession, he never pursued it with sincerity. Miguel had accompanied his father on his expeditions back in the day, and he had an idea of how things worked and how to go about chasing a potential lead. All his life, Miguel had believed that Aj Took’s treasure was actually there, though the world considered him to be a delusional man who liked living in his fantasy world. 

In the series, we saw that after taking AJ Took’s treasure, the three Spanish conquerors decided to create a lock that would need three keys to open. The reason for doing so was that they didn’t have any sort of trust between them, and each of them decided to take one key with them so that even if one of them felt like stealing the treasure, they couldn’t. But De Montejo was a shrewd man and deceived both his partners. Though he showed them that the lock could only be opened if all three keys were put together, in reality, it needed only his “moon key” to unlock the treasure. Miguel had figured out that De Montejo was a very greedy and treacherous man. Miguel didn’t have any proof of that fact, but somehow, intuitively, he knew about it. That’s why, when he was asked to give the stones by Ariel and “Burnt-Face,” he only gave them the earth and the sun stones. He gave them a fake moonstone that was created by Wilson, and he kept the original one to himself. Everybody thought that Miguel wouldn’t be able to open the lock, but Miguel proved them wrong. 

Francisco De Montejo, Pedro De Alvarado, and Alonso De Avila (Pedro’s nephew) all three were actually real-life conquerors who joined another conquistador named Juan de Grijalva on his expedition to Yucatan. Bandidos took a few real-life characters and amalgamated them with some fictional plot points to create an intriguing narrative. It is true that they found some gold reserves in Yucatan land, but the fact that a treasure was buried there was not true. 

Was Juan De La Cosa a real-life person? 

Juan de la Cosa was a real-life explorer and cartographer who was one of the first people to represent America on the map. He first represented Europe, and later on, in the 15th century, around the same time when Francisco de Montejo was going on an expedition to Yucatan, he added a few American territories to his map. In Bandidos, we saw that Luis Fernandes De Montejo had tattooed La Cosa’s map on his body, and the original copy was kept in Aerial’s Tavitian Museum. The fact that Juan de la Cosa figured out where the treasure was hidden and found a way to represent it on his map was not true. In Bandidos, Miguel wasn’t able to figure out, for the longest time, what the dots on that old parchment meant. When he was on the boat together with others, all of a sudden it struck him that the dots probably represented stars. He held the map in his hand and looked at the stars from the holes, and he found that the map was actually a star navigation guide. That’s how Miguel, Lily, and the rest of them reached the exact location where the treasure was hidden and then, later on, went on to find it at the bottom of the water body. 

Was Aj Took’s Treasure Real? 

We heard Aj Took’s name when Luis Fernandes told Miguel that his treasure was hidden in some cenote. Though Aj Took was a real-life historical figure, the fact that he had found a treasure was not true. Aj Took was probably the last king of the Calakmul region, as after him there are no records of any king from the Kaan Dynasty. It was said that Calakmul was one of the largest cities in the Maya region. It was probably ruled by the Kanul dynasty, which had a huge snake emblem called the ‘Kaan”, which is why they were often referred to as the snake kingdom, too. It is true that there were huge deposits of gold in the area, which explorers and conquerors got to know in the early 15th century. But the plot where we see Miguel and his co-conspirators finding the treasure and the golden jaguar, referred to as the Kaan Balam, was all a work of fiction. 

At the end of the series, Miguel found the treasure and proved everybody who didn’t believe in him wrong. His father was a proud man that day, but still, somewhere deep down, he was biased towards Aerial. Aerial’s museum got to keep the “Kaan Balam,” and the others divided the treasure among themselves. Aj Took’s treasure was not the end of the road for Miguel, as at the end of Bandidos, we got to know that he had already planned his next heist, and he pitched it to Lili, too, when they were going together. If there is a season 2, we would get to witness another exhilarating ride where Miguel would most probably put his life at stake and try to find the treasure called “The Tear of Fire.”

The first part of Invincible Season 2 featured King Lizard becoming the leader of the Lizard League. We learned that the Sequids had taken over the mind of an astronaut who was abandoned on Mars by the Martian, who dubbed himself the Shapesmith, and was heading towards Earth in a giant ship. Thaedus turned off Allen’s life support, probably because he was aware of the fact that there was a hidden Viltrumite in the Coalition of Planets (an anti-Viltrumite organization). Mark reunited with Nolan and learned that he had become the monarch of Thraxa and had a son with his new wife, Andressa. The Viltrumites attacked the planet, killed a major chunk of their population, and arrested Nolan. General Kregg tasked Mark with preparing Earth for the Viltrumite invasion, which, if he failed to do so, would lead to genocide. Debbie came to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to live a normal life or cope with Nolan’s betrayal because the horrors inflicted upon humanity by him were too huge. Yet, Art Rosenbaum gave Debbie the push she needed to move on. Donald realized that he wasn’t human but an android. Atom Eve faced off with Killcannon, and the result was quite disastrous. Since she was quite disturbed by those events, she decided to move back with her parents. A new villain was formed with the help of the Mauler Twins, named Angstrom Levy. He wanted to solve the Viltrumite issue but ended up combining all his versions from the multiverse and then going on a quest to kill or capture every version of Mark Grayson.

Spoiler Alert

Cecil knows everything

Mark is rescued by the Thraxans, and he decides to stay there for a while so that he can rebuild their civilization. A few months later, Mark is informed that a ship that can help him travel all the way to Earth has been made, and he can leave whenever he wants. Mark doesn’t want to go because there’s a lot of repair work left. But the Thraxans insist. In addition to that, Andressa persuades Mark to take his stepbrother with him because Andressa has grown old (Thraxans have a very short lifespan). And she wants Oliver to grow up with someone to whom he is tangentially related by blood. Mark has no other option but to accept her request. So, he takes Oliver and flies back to Earth. Back home, Debbie is working again at her real estate job and shares an amicable relationship with Paul. As she prepares to sit down to have a glass of wine by herself (a decision that she seemingly walks back on because of her brief bout of alcoholism), Mark surprises her and then tells her all about Oliver. 

Debbie is obviously distraught, angry, and confused regarding Mark’s revelations about Nolan. She points out how Nolan has destroyed another species and isn’t around to pick up the pieces again. Mark knows that, but he says they don’t have the luxury of weighing the pros and cons of this whole fiasco; they just have to deal with it. Mark says that he’s open to dropping out of college for one year to take care of Oliver. Since Oliver grows faster than humans, he’ll probably be able to take care of himself within that period of time. Debbie refuses to let him take a break from his academic journey and says that she’s going to take care of Oliver in one way or another. They both kind of agree that Oliver shouldn’t go to Cecil because they don’t know what he is going to do with him. 

Talking about Cecil, Donald confronts him regarding the wiring and metal skeleton in his body. Cecil doesn’t sugarcoat and says that, technically, Donald died when they exploded the safe house to kill Omni-Man. But since they found out that his brain was functional, they put it in a state-of-the-art endoskeleton. Now, why did Cecil, an otherwise emotionless man, go to these lengths to save Cecil’s soul? I don’t know. Maybe he just loves Donald, or maybe it’s something else. Either way, Donald isn’t very pleased about being resurrected. Mark goes back to college and reunites with William. He informs Mark that he is about to be dismissed because of his low attendance (Mark was absent for two months). William wants to know what Mark has been up to, but Mark decides to meet Amber first. On his way to Amber’s room, though, Mark is confronted by Cecil, who reprimands him for disobeying his orders. Cecil apparently knows about Oliver, and he has sent a team to capture him as they speak. Mark tells him to back off and promises to arrive at the Guardians headquarters for debriefing. Cecil obliges but leaves him with a stinger about forcing Debbie to look after her ex-husband’s new kid.

Invincible joins the Guardians to fight the Sequids

Mark updates Amber about everything that has gone down. Amber gives some updates about her life too. We get brief updates on what the Guardians of the Globe have been up to: they’ve been fighting a giant called Omnipotus (during which Black Samson noticed Shapesmith shifting between his Martian and human forms) and then training with each other. Rudy tries to tell The Immortal that pushing Amanda to repeatedly change into her monster form is going to accelerate her de-aging. So, they should reserve that for important occasions. In the meantime, Amanda can fight with an exoskeleton devised by him. This irks Amanda a lot because she thinks that Rudy is trying to control her. Donald suffers a nightmare where he sees a metallic endoskeleton choking him to death. He is woken up by an assistant telling him to check something on their long-range radar. Cecil appears before the Guardians to tell them about the aforementioned Martian ship that’s full of Sequids. Black Samson coaxes Shapesmith to spill the truth, and once Cecil says that everyone knows who Shapesmith is, he tells them everything about the evolution of the Sequids and how his wishes to explore the galaxy have caused the Sequids to grow and become strong enough to invade Earth. 

Cecil and the Guardians agree that Shapesmith is responsible for the doom of Mars and has paved the way for Earth’s demise as well, and he’ll face the consequences of his actions. However, seeing as he is the only person (?) who knows everything about the Sequids and the Martian vessel, he needs to be on the team to guide them through this treacherous path. The Immortal announces the members who are going along with him to space to stop the Martian ship from entering Earth: Bulletproof, Black Samson, Monster Girl, Rudy, and Shapesmith. Dupli-Kate, Rex Splode, and Shrinking Rae are instructed to hold the fort. Shapesmith says that they need more firepower to fight against the Sequids, and Rex Splode takes up the task of convincing Atom Eve to resume her superhero duties. Surprisingly enough, Rex Splode manages to get Eve out of her slump. 

Cecil goes to get Mark, and he interrupts a little bonding session between Mark, Debbie, and Oliver. Mark is a little surprised that Cecil is asking him to don the suit after technically grounding him, but he doesn’t hesitate and goes off to fulfill his duties as a superhero. Even though Debbie and Mark are not interested in paying heed to any family-related opinions from Cecil, he tells Debbie to consider the option of putting Oliver in some kind of superhero creche. Before heading out to save the planet again, Mark informs Amber, and she calls up her friends to check if they have any plans for the night. I know that Amber is hated by a lot of Invincible fans, largely because she acts in a very human way, where she prioritizes herself over everything else. And I have a feeling that her arc in this season is going in that direction, and I hope that viewers actually follow the thinking behind her decisions instead of just rushing to lambast her.

Did Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Rae die?

The concluding moments of Invincible Season 2, episode 5, are excellent. Yes, a major chunk of the Guardians blast off into space in a spaceship, while Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Rae proceed to get some downtime because Rex Splode thinks that two atrocities can’t happen at the same time. That theory is immediately proven to be wrong as the Lizard League invades a nuclear plant of sorts, and then they wait for the government to deal with them while they hold New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago hostage. Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Rae are ordered by Cecil to head over to this facility and take care of the Lizard League, thereby ruining pizza night for Rex. The trio put up a very gory and incredibly bloody fight. However, Komodo Dragon gets the better of Dupli-Kate and tires her out until she can’t make copies of herself anymore. When she does manage to make a copy of herself, Komodo Dragon smashes them into a pile of bones, muscles, and blood. Shrinking Rae gets into Salamander’s head and kills him. Iguana and Komodo Dragon go after Rex Splode. Shrinking Rae tries to explode Komodo Dragon from the inside, but in the most grotesque display of his prowess, Komodo Dragon stops Shrinking Rae from expanding, thereby killing her, too. 

Rex Splode splices Iguana in half and then dukes it out with Komodo Dragon. The latter chews up Rex Splode’s left hand. But since he consumes one of Rex’s explosive devices, his head explodes, and he dies. Rex Splode thinks he has won, but King Lizard shows up behind him, aiming a gun at his head. Mark, Eve, and the rest of their team somehow make it onto the Martian ship. As expected, the Martians are unhappy with Shapesmith because of his stupidity, which has led to this whole debacle. While they argue, Bulletproof kills a Sequid and alerts the Sequid hivemind about their location. The Guardians do their best to keep the Sequids at bay, but their numbers are so overwhelming that they can’t deal with it. Rudy tries out a method to use his suit to stun the Sequids, thereby risking his human body for the Sequids. Before he gets to try out his experiment, Eve breaks her force field barrier that has been protecting the Guardians so far. So, yes, it’s not clear if Rex Splode has been killed by King Lizard or if the Sequids have killed the Guardians. It’s a cliffhanger. However, I can say for sure that Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae are very dead. By the way, starting off the second part of Invincible Season 2 with the deaths of two female characters, that too in Women’s History Month, is not a good look. 

Anyway, at the end of Invincible Season 2, episode 5, we see that Allen has surprisingly survived the Viltrumite attack. Thaedus reveals that he is the first Viltrumite to defect against his species. He admits that he did shut off Allen’s ventilator, but he wanted to see if that accelerated Allen’s healing powers or if it killed him. Clearly, his gamble has paid off. Allen, being the good guy that he is, takes all this pretty well, even though it sounds quite disturbing. Thadeus tells Allen to get in touch with Mark and bring him to the Coalition because, apparently, he is the key to turning the tide against the Viltrumite expansion. So, it’s safe to assume that Allen is going to be the one to save Mark and the Guardians from the Sequids, and then he is going to take him to Thaedus. What’s going to happen to Rex Splode? How is Debbie going to deal with Oliver in Mark’s absence? Where is Nolan? Well, I guess we will get the answers to all our questions in the upcoming episodes of Invincible Season 2.

Katagari got a glimmer of hope in the previous episode of Tokyo Vice season 2 when he found one of the shooters hiding in his house. The shooter knew that Tozawa, who had ordered the killing, wouldn’t leave him alive. Jake, on the other hand, had decided to go back to the US, as he got very disappointed after Kurihira wrote an article in which he accused Samantha of having ties to the mafia world. So, let’s find out what happened in the seventh episode and if Katagiri and Jake are finally able to build a strong case against the mafia boss.

Spoiler Alert

How was Jessica’s mental health? 

Jake finally, in Tokyo Vice season 2 episode 7, went back to his hometown, Missouri, and he met his sister, Jessica, who had been desperately waiting for her brother to come back. Jake’s flight was delayed, and Jessica waited there anxiously to finally hug her brother. Her brother was her biggest strength, and if it were up to her, she would have dragged him back to the US. But as much as she was suffering, she knew that her brother had created a life for himself and he didn’t want to come back. She missed him; she needed him, but still, she loved him so much that she didn’t want him to do something out of compulsion. Jessica was not doing well, and she had been through the roughest phase of her life. She was trying her level best, but she was just not able to cope with the various mental health issues that she was facing. Jessica, for the first time in a long time, was excited about a project where she had to interview a journalist and ask them questions. She asked her brother to volunteer for it, and Jake eagerly agreed.

It was Jake’s father’s 60th birthday, and Jake gave a heartwarming speech, telling everybody how he had always looked up to his father. He told the guests that he had learned from his father to be passionate about one’s profession. He said that he had learned the value of asking the right questions and how the world would be a much better place if people cared for others. He said that his father had a big heart, and even though he had not been the best son, he knew that his father loved him with all his heart. That night, after the guests left, Jake told his father about how he had fallen in love with a girl and the kind of problems she was encountering in her personal life. Jake’s father told him that in a world where nothing was certain and people didn’t even think once before hurting others, he was glad that he had raised a son who had his heart in the right place and, moreover, who was a good man. Jake’s mother obviously wanted him to come back to the US, but this time around, it seemed like she had made peace with the fact that he probably didn’t want to do so at that point in his life. Jake felt a bit overwhelmed by the kind of understanding his parents showed. After a long time, Jake was away from all the chaos. He loved the tranquility; he loved how there was no sense of urgency and how he could just sit idly and enjoy a chilled beer with his father. 

Why did Hayama banish Sato? 

In the previous episode of Tokyo Vice, we saw that Samantha and Sato got intimate with each other, and they both felt at peace in each other’s company. Samantha asked him if they could continue seeing each other. Sato asked her if she was sure that she wanted to do that, as he knew that she didn’t want any involvement with the mafia world. But Samatha wanted to see him, as he was probably the only person in whom she could confide. In Tokyo Vice episode 7, Sato had a talk with his brother, and he told him that the mafia world was a swamp where, if he entered once, he wouldn’t be able to leave. Sato told his brother how Hayama tricked him into believing that Sato’s life was in danger when, in reality, there was no such thing. A Chihara-Kai member overheard their conversation, and he went and told Hayama about it. Hayama, in front of the members, assaulted Sato and told him that he was being banished from the gang. Hayama made it very clear that Keito, Sato’s brother, would stay in the gang, and he had no intention of letting him go. Hayama made a declaration that he wouldn’t stop before he killed Tozawa, probably even if it came at a huge cost. 

What did Katagari find out about Tozawa? 

Katagari was hopeful at the end of the previous episode of Tokyo Vice, and he knew that he might be able to put Tozawa behind bars. He had one of the shooters, who shot at Ishida, in his custody, and he knew that he could make him a state witness and initiate legal proceedings against Tozawa. He convinced the shooter to testify against Tozawa, and he said that he would make sure that his sentence would be reduced. The shooter agreed, and Katagari and Nahato felt as if they had the case in their pockets. Very discreetly, they were taking the shooter to court when two bikers came and shot at their car. They killed the sole witness to the case, and a frustrated Katagari stood there, knowing that he would have to start from scratch.

Katagari, in Tokyo Vice Episode 7, was once again able to make a breakthrough when he got a call recording of Tozawa’s phone, where a lady was calling him from Southern Minnesota. Katagari got to know that somehow Tozawa had flown to the US, and got his liver surgery done there. Katagari called Jake and told him to go to the doctor and try to find out if Tozawa had actually gone there. Jake went there and met Edward Walker, the head of the organ transplant department. Firstly, Edward did not reveal anything, but then Jake saw the watch he was wearing, and he knew that he had been bribed by Tozawa since it was not possible for anybody to get an organ transplant done in such little time. A commoner generally had to wait for an average of five years to get the transplant done, but Tozawa made sure that he got it in a day’s time.

Jake threatened the doctor, and he told him that if he didn’t cooperate, he would make sure that his name would be mentioned in the article that he would publish. The doctor gave in, and Jake told Katagari that his speculations were right. Katagari wanted Jake to immediately fly back to Japan, and the latter was in a fix as he had promised his sister that he would help her in the school activity. Katagari told Jake that many lives depended upon his decision, and that’s when he decided to fly back to Japan. Jake called his father, and the latter was very disappointed with the decision his son had made. Eddie knew that he couldn’t do anything, but he told Jake that he was being very selfish. In my personal opinion, I think these decisions are going to backfire on Jake in the long run.

Often in life, we give so much importance to the work we do that we forget the people who are a part of our lives. For Jessica, her brother meant the world to her, and she was really looking forward to him coming to her school. But now she would have to make peace with the fact that he wouldn’t be around for a long time. In the subsequent episodes of Tokyo Vice Season 2, we will get to know if Jake and Katagiri are able to procure enough evidence to build a strong case against Tozawa or once again the mafia boss gets the better of them. 

In the sixth episode of Halo Season 2, Master Chief infiltrated the UNSC base in Onyx to get his armor. He was confronted by a brainwashed Kai and almost beaten to within an inch of his life. By the time Kai learned the truth about what Parangosky and Ackerson had done to survive the Covenant attack on Reach, Master Chief had approached the piece of the Artifact that was kept in Onyx. A Covenant priest, Uto’ Mdama, expressed his doubts regarding Makee’s allegiance to the Covenant, and although the Arbiter backed her up, the priest tried to get her killed. That forced the Arbiter to step in and battle the priest and his soldiers to save Makee. It was revealed that Cortana was working with various people. She was informing Parangosky about everything that Makee was doing. She was helping Makee stay on the path to finding the Halo planet. And she was guiding Master Chief to the Artifact in Onyx, as well as his suit. Kwan Ha and Halsey traversed the caves of Onyx and met Miranda. Soren and Laera tracked Kessler to a place called Thermopylae. Now, let’s find out what Master Chief and Makee saw after touching the Artifact.

Spoiler Alert

Parangosky Sends Spartans To Their Death

Episode 7 of Halo Season 2 begins with a conversation between Makee and Master Chief on a projection of the ring-like planet, and we finally get some confirmation of what it’s going to be used for. Makee says that if the Covenant controls the planet (it’s called The Ring), then they’ll use it to destroy humankind, and if the humans get to it first, they’ll do the same to the Covenant. But Makee theorizes that The Ring is capable of not just destruction, but creation as well. That’s why she doesn’t want it to fall into the hands of the Covenant or the UNSC. She wants Master Chief’s help to wield The Ring as a symbol of peace and life. Since Master Chief doesn’t respond, Makee interprets it as his way of saying that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Makee. Master Chief doesn’t get the chance to explicitly state what his stance is because he is surrounded by the UNSC soldiers, while Makee is surrounded by Sangheili Elite soldiers. The shockwave of their separation from the Artifacts is felt by everyone on Onyx. The Covenant priest goes after Makee with the intention to kill her, but Cortana distracts him long enough for Makee to sneak up behind him and kill him. Then, Cortana proceeds to show the map to Makee, and she spots The Ring, probably because her powers have been restored. 

Ackerson informs Parangosky about Master Chief’s arrival, and it’s already clear that Margaret wants to push Ackerson under the proverbial bus for the debacle on Reach, thereby making him Master Chief’s target. Before Ackerson can process Margaret’s heel turn into absolute villainy, the UNSC learns that a huge chunk of the Covenant’s Fleet has surrounded the ship Makee is in, who is probably around The Ring, which is in the Soell system. Without giving it much thought, Margaret decides to deploy the newly-trained Spartans. Ackerson protests this decision, because the Spartans are not ready to take on an entire Covenant fleet, but Margaret apparently doesn’t care. She orders Ackerson to find Master Chief, and he storms out of the control room. The first wave of Spartans dies within seconds of engaging with the Covenant. Margaret doesn’t waste a second before sending the second wave, thereby causing Ackerson to wonder what her game plan is. 

Briggs goes in to arrest Master Chief. When he refuses to surrender, Briggs orders the soldiers to shoot him down. Since Master Chief has learned that blindly following orders is a bad practice, he gives the same education to those soldiers. Surprisingly enough, they listen to him and tell Briggs to get her own hands dirty if she wants to do something unethical. As Briggs pulls out her gun to shoot down Master Chief, Kai intervenes and knocks her out. Amidst all this warfare, we see Miranda, Kwan Ha, and Halsey trying to understand what the cave actually is and what is the function of gates that have some kind of puzzle-like lock on it. At Thermopylae, Soren tells Laera that the arena is essentially a Spartan training program where he, Kai, Riz, Vannak, and John went from being kids to being Spartans. He says that Kessler is going to go through the same ordeal, which is why they shouldn’t intervene and allow their son to get beaten up until he learns if he is a fighter or a loser. Laera points out how messed up all this is and tells Soren that he doesn’t actually want to unlearn everything that Halsey has put him through; he actually idolizes her, and that’s why he wants Kessler to become a Spartan and not a normal human being. This is a good way of putting things into perspective and showing how excessive warmongering and machismo can corrupt one’s mind.

How Does Parangosky Intend To Kill The Covenant?

Perez is seen suiting up to face the Covenant. She notices one of her fellow soldiers panicking a lot, and she does her best to calm her down. Kai tries to justify her actions to Master Chief, but he keeps moving towards his suit with the help of Cortana. Halsey gives a little insight into the experiments that she was conducting in the cave. Apparently, she found an alien DNA that was a hybrid of something human and otherworldly. So, she needed someone who had the same DNA structure as that’d help her unlock the doors. That was why she started, as Kwan Ha aptly puts it, collecting kids from all over the galaxy, experimented on them, and then prepared them to be the key that’d unlock these gates. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out the way Halsey wanted them to be. Hence, they have to take the conventional route and unlock the gates by solving the puzzles around them. 

As Kwan Ha proceeds to touch one of the buttons on the puzzle, it begins to glow, thereby indicating that she has the traces of the hybrid DNA that Halsey has been searching for. Maybe that’s why she has those visions of the old lady. Maybe she is one of the ancestors of the species that built these gates. How did this species with the hybrid DNA reach all over the galaxy? I don’t think that’s a big mystery because the answers are intergalactic travel and intercourse. Halsey and Miranda have a brief conversation about Jacob Keyes, and Miranda accepts his death in a pretty mature fashion. Kwan Ha pulls out one of the beads from the puzzle, and a holograph of the stars in space form before their eyes. While Miranda and Halsey think it’s a map of the stars, Kwan Ha comes to the conclusion that it’s actually a clock. She organizes the dots on the holograph according to her “feelings” (which is probably her psychic connection to the cave and those who have built it), and that unlocks the gate, which leads them to a bridge that connects to a chamber of sorts. 

By the way, if you have played some games, you will know that they have these puzzle-based missions. So, Kwan Ha, Halsey, and Miranda’s whole arc in this episode feels like an homage to that. Ackerson is also on a kind of puzzle-solving mission because he is trying to unpack what’s going through Margaret’s mind. When he runs a simulation on the Spike that is supposed to deactivate a Covenant ship (the simulation that the Spartans practice on), it is actually going to create an unimaginable explosion that will destroy everything in its vicinity: The Ring, the Covenant, and the UNSC. Basically, if the humans can’t get the Ring, then Margaret will not only disallow the Covenant from getting the Ring, but she will also stop the Ring from existing. As Ackerson decides to act on it, he is cornered by Kai and Master Chief, and the latter almost chokes him to death. He manages to somehow relay what he has learned to the two Spartans, but Master Chief doesn’t want to trust him; he just wants his suit. When they get to the chamber with the Spartan suits in it, Kai and Master Chief have a brief conversation about Vannak, and how Master Chief feels guilty for making him blindly follow orders and bringing him to his demise. Then, he turns to Ackerson and essentially orders him to go out and tell the truth about Margaret and their involvement in the destruction of Reach.

Master Chief Goes For The Ring

Kai and Master Chief have a conversation about what they need to do to deal with the matter at hand. Kai wants to enter the battlefield with her fellow Spartans, and Master Chief wants to get to the Halo to stop it from being controlled by the Covenant or the UNSC. How? I don’t know. Master Chief wonders what Kai will do if she is the one who has to administer the Spike, thereby killing everyone. What is she going to do? Kai tells him to focus on his mission and let her think about her mission. At Onyx, the unlocked chamber turns out to be a laboratory, and in that laboratory, they see a dead alien body lying there and holding onto a device of some sort. They don’t get the chance to explore the lab because it starts to crumble. Miranda, Halsey, and Kwan Ha make a run for it. While running back to the caves, Halsey notices a whole city underneath the bridge. Kwan sees that all the white dots in the holograph of the space are turning red. She says something vague about “growth” and runs away. What is Kwan up to? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Halsey does that stupid scientist thing with that stupid look on her face where she thinks that she is at the helm of something revolutionary, but there’s a good chance that, like always, she is going to make a big mess of it and then pretend like she is a victim of her own curiosity. Miranda and Halsey head back to the lab and pledge to figure out the history of that city in the caves. Miranda manages to partially unlock the device that they’ve acquired from the corpse of that alien in the lab, but Halsey ghosts her for some reason (Halsey is annoying). The Fleet begins their attack on Makee’s ship, and seeing how the Arbiter is still standing beside her, Makee decides to brand herself with the insignia that the Arbiter uses on himself to prove that both of them are bound to each other and the purpose of taking over the Ring. Kessler enters Thermopylae, but Soren doesn’t allow him to go through the grueling ordeal of fighting a bunch of grown men. Soren takes them all down and tries to save Kessler from any potential trauma. However, that plan backfires as Laera and Kessler are captured by the people conducting the fights in Thermopylae. 

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 7, Perez tries to convince Master Chief to join them as they face the Covenant. But they go their separate ways because their missions are different. Ackerson confronts Margaret, and it’s clear that she isn’t going to stop sending wave after wave of Spartans to their deaths. Master Chief takes one of the UNSC ships and heads over to the Halo. Ackerson tells Margaret that Master Chief is going to tell the true story of the destruction of Reach and that nobody is going to believe Margaret’s propaganda. Kai leads the Spartans in the general direction of the Covenant, while Master Chief heads towards the Halo. I won’t lie; this episode was a little messy. Except for the revelation that Margaret is truly evil, it mostly spent its time leaving open endings that will hopefully be resolved in a satisfying way in the season finale. Well, next week, we will certainly get to know what happens when Makee, Master Chief, the UNSC, and the Covenant converge on the Halo.

Bandidos is a 2024 Spanish-language action-adventure series streaming on Netflix, set in the Yucatan region of Mexico and involving a combination of real and fictional elements of local history. The show revolves around Miguel Morales, a trickster and hustler who gathers a team of misfits in order to find and retrieve a legendary historical treasure, both for its monetary value and also to prove his worth to his archaeologist father. Bandidos does not make any attempts to be serious, and this style, along with the general comedic tone, makes the series an entertaining light-hearted watch.

Spoiler Alert

Plot Summary: What is the Netflix series about?

Bandidos begins with a quick introduction to the core group at the center of the tale, with Miguel Morales being the self-appointed leader. Despite being the only son of renowned archaeologist Juan Morales, Miguel had no interest in academics, and he did not even finish school. The young man is rather interested in finding the easy way out in life, and his current profession is to cheat and trick tourists with fake replicas of artifacts and take people on fake tours around ancient tombs and temples. Miguel’s partner-in-crime, in most cases, is his uncle Wilson, a retired counterfeit expert who still creates the fake replicas for his nephew’s illegal trade. A young, attractive woman named Lili is also part of the group, although she had suddenly gone away for some time abandoning her romantic relationship with Miguel. Lili’s skill is to charm anyone and get hold of their credit cards, which she easily duplicates and wipes out of their bank accounts. Lastly, a teenager named Lucas works as the hacker in the group and also provides for the very important base of operations for the team, since Lucas’ parents are billionaires who own a luxury hotel in Yucatan. 

Miguel is currently a worker at the same hotel, where he looks for targets to scam, when he suddenly runs into a drunk man at the local bar one night. This man introduces himself as Luis Fernandez de Montejo, a descendant of the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo. In a drunken state, Luis talks about a secret treasure that has still not been found and mentions that his grandfather had revealed that it was still at the same place where Francisco had hidden it. Hearing all this makes Miguel’s eyes light up, for he has heard about this secret treasure of Aj Took ever since his childhood days. Along with enormous gold and jewels, the treasure stash is also supposed to contain an artifact called the Kaan Balam, which is a jaguar statue made of solid gold. Luis mentions that he has the exact location of the treasure tattooed on his chest, since he has been looking for it for quite some time, and he agrees to show Miguel the tattoo as well. The two men return to Luis’ hotel room, but Miguel leaves soon after, having photographed the tattoo, since Luis passes out quickly. 

However, Luis goes missing the next morning, and his dead body is found only some time later by the Mexican police, with the skin on his chest peeled away. This confirms that someone ruthless and violent is also searching for the Aj Took treasure, while on the other side, Miguel gathers his team to look for the same and make themselves rich once and for all.

Who are the new members who joined the group?

Miguel’s efforts at finding the treasure first require him to break into the city’s museum and photograph detailed maps from the Spanish Inquisition. The difficulty in the matter is that the museum belongs to a man named Ariel, who happens to be a famous archaeologist as well and also the favorite student of Juan Morales. Because of Miguel’s choices in life, Juan has always considered Ariel like his son, even adopting him legally, and he is all the more biased towards Ariel at present because of his failing memory and dementia. Therefore, Miguel wants to find the treasure as a means to prove to the world that he is better than his rival, Ariel. The protagonist realizes that the tattoo on Luis’ body was only a part of the real map. Miguel and his group have to find and collect a particular stone from the bottom of a cenote, and so they need a skilled diver.

Incidentally, Miguel’s phone gets stolen by a young woman who casually dives into the nearby river in order to escape, making it clear that she is a very experienced and skilled diver. The protagonist approaches this girl, Citlali, who happens to belong to a poor household where she is the only earning member, and her mother is an alcoholic. Thus, it is not very difficult to convince Citlali to join the group, and although she is initially hired for only one specific job—to retrieve the moon stone from the cenote—she obviously wants more. Citlali ensures to stick with the group against the guarantee that she too will get a share of the wealth from the treasure. Since she and Lucas are of similar age, the boy is immediately smitten by her, and eventually, they have their own romance as well.

Along with the new addition to the group, the main antagonist of Bandidos is also introduced, although he remains unnamed throughout the series. The most distinctive feature about this mobster is that half of his face is burnt, and this is why he is referred to by many names like Burnt-Face and so on. As soon as Miguel gets hold of the important moon stone, Burnt-Face demands it, threatening to kill his friends otherwise, and as a result, Miguel swallows the stone to buy himself some time. This naturally gets the protagonist kidnapped and taken to Burnt-Face’s camp, and the others in the group have to go rescue him. Although Lucas is able to track down the compound with the help of his gadgets and cyberskills, the place is heavily guarded by an armed militia, making it impossible for the others to rescue their friend.

This is when the next new member of the group comes in, as Lili takes them to meet with an old acquaintance and lover of hers. Octavio was once a soldier in the Uruguayan military, but the corruption and general disregard for human lives made him leave the post and become a bandit. After getting involved in a grand heist at the Uruguayan Mint, Octavio now lives a solitary life in a boat but still keeps a whole arsenal of modern weapons at his disposal. It is mainly these weapons and his expertise in combat that the group wants, and since Octavio has been fighting a messy divorce, he agrees to be a part of the gang, all for a share in the treasure.

During this whole time, a police officer named Ines had been investigating the murder of Luis Fernandez, and she was quickly led to Miguel since the protagonist was the last person to visit the Spaniard’s room, according to the hotel security cameras. Ines is made to feel like an outsider in the department, as she is the only female officer, and her life is made worse by her vengeful ex-husband. The ex-husband is a senior officer in the Mexican police, and he kept Ines repressed for all her life, never even allowing her to have male friends. The depressed and desperate wife ended up sleeping with her female friend, and this led to a divorce. However, Ines’ ex-husband now wants to take away their son from her, and this makes her terribly frustrated at present. Knowing that enormous amounts of money can easily solve her current dilemma, Ines also demands to join the group and take a share of the treasure, threatening to incriminate everyone otherwise.

Why is Burnt-Face so vengeful against Miguel?

From the moment he meets Miguel, Burnt-Face suggests that he knows both the Morales father and son, and it is quite clear that he has some history with the two. Although Miguel does not recognize the man, the secret about his extreme vengeance against the family is revealed towards the end. Back when Miguel was a young boy, he would often go out on expeditions and adventures with his father. During one such adventure, Juan took Miguel to the site of an excavation, but the archaeologist started secretly placing detonators around the spot. In fact, the excavation was being conducted by a group of private researchers, as they wanted to get hold of an old Mayan artifact and sell it for large profits. The location was actually a protected archaeological area, as announced by the authorities, and this is why Juan wanted to stop such illegal activities.

However, Juan was found and questioned by the crooked researchers, and Miguel immediately jumped out of the car to protect his father. This led to utter commotion, but even in the frenzied moment, the boy noticed that one of the motorbikes was leaking gas, and he threw a lighter towards it, ensuring that the attackers would be stopped. The place indeed blew up in flames, but one of the men from the group, who was actually about to ride the motorcycle, was not killed. The fire greatly injured and damaged him, and he is the very Burnt Face who returns at present. The treasure of Aj Took was being searched by Ariel as well, also for his own indirect benefit, since he wanted to keep the Kaan Balam artifact at his museum, which would earn him money. Ariel had hired Burnt-Face to keep an eye on Miguel and his friends while also trying to find the treasure. It was Burnt-Face and his goons who had killed Luis, as they wanted to take off the map tattooed on his chest.

However, after realizing that his rival in this treasure hunt was the very Miguel Morales who had caused him so much pain, Burnt-Face disobeys all orders and wants to take revenge. He shoots Ariel when the latter tries to order him to stop, and then the goon also shoots Wilson, which ultimately leads to the beloved uncle’s death.

Who was the traitor in the group?

During their search for the Aj Took treasure, the group suddenly realizes that there is a traitor amongst them who has drugged their alcohol, leading to great trouble. Each of the characters is suspected and scrutinized by the others, and all of them have some secrets of their own. Wilson has been suffering from cancer with very little time left in his life, and he has accumulated a big debt in order to pay for his treatment. Lili is facing trouble from an unmentioned but powerful source, and she is in need of a new passport with a new identity in order to escape the country. In fact, Lili had been attacked by a man the previous night, and it was only because Miguel had been stalking her that she was saved. 

Citlali had gone over to the house of Lucas to steal money, but she did not do so because she had already developed genuine feelings for him. Lucas had realized the intrusion, but he does not tell anyone about it at present since he wants to protect the image of his lover. Ines and Octavio had also been lovers in the past, and now they once again provide support, comfort, and passionate love to each other, and it is revealed that they had spent the previous night together. 

The identity of the traitor is finally revealed, as it is Lili who gets to walk away safely while the others are trapped inside a cavern. Lili meets with Ariel, whom she had convinced that she was working for him, but there is more to the matter than meets the eye. Miguel had figured out that it was Ariel who had kidnapped his father and was, therefore, the main criminal behind the treasure hunt, and so he and Lili made their own counter-plan. Once Lili convinces Ariel that she is working for him, she drugs the archaeologist with the same drink she had used on the others, and this gives Miguel and his friends enough time to travel back to the city and confront the man.

What happens to the Aj Took treasure?

Finally, Ariel and Burnt-Face are both removed from the scene, at least temporarily, as the former has to recover from his gunshot wound, and the latter goes in search of the treasure, believing that he has killed Miguel. But the group is able to survive, and so they, too, head towards the spot where the treasure is supposed to be hidden. The Aj Took treasure, which originally belonged to the Mayan kingdom, had been looted by the Spanish conquistadors Francisco de Montejo, Pedro de Alvarado, and Alonso de Alvarado. The three Spanish knights did not really have faith in each other and had stored all the gold and treasure inside a box that could be opened with three different stone lockets, which were divided among them. At present, Miguel only has the moon stone of Francisco de Montejo, while the two others have been taken away by Burnt-Face.

However, the reality of the conquistadors actually changes the course of this treasure hunt, as Miguel figures out that de Montejo had gone off with the treasure on one of his ships, which was not reported to have arrived at the next port. This meant that the ship had been deliberately sunk somewhere in the middle, and Miguel found the exact spot with the help of an old map being read with reference to the stars in the night sky. The group is finally led to the treasure, and they retrieve the box from the water, too. It is then also revealed that de Montejo actually had plans of keeping the entire treasure for himself, and since he was the one to have proposed the idea of the three keys, the man had ensured that only his key would also be able to open the box very easily. But de Montejo could not ever return to claim the treasure, and it is ultimately Miguel and his friends who find the invaluable gold and jewels, including the legendary Kaan Balam artifact.

Burnt-Face shows up once again, even injuring Octavio, but this time, the villain is shot and killed by another intruder at the place, Ariel. The archaeologist has come to claim the Kaan Balam statue, wanting to take it back to his museum, and he is ready to let the others take all the gold and jewelry for themselves. However, another betrayal follows, as Lili tries to flee with the jaguar statue, abandoning everyone else, and Miguel takes the difficult decision to shoot the woman, making her fall into the water and seemingly die. The Kaan Balam statue is taken by Ariel, who preserves it at the museum, while the rest of the treasure is liquidated into cash and deposited into the tax-free accounts of each of the remaining members, namely, Miguel, Octavio, Ines, Lucas, and Citlali. Each of their personal lives is bettered by the fortune, but Miguel remains heartbroken, having lost two of his closest people.

Does Lili really die?

During Bandidos‘ ending, one last twist is finally pulled, as Lili is seen meeting Miguel in front of the hotel and driving him away in her car. In reality, Lili had not died but had made a secret plan with Miguel, whom she had made her lover once again. As Lili desperately needed to escape the grasp of the dangerous people who were after her, she decided to stage a fake death with the help of Miguel. On that fateful day, Miguel fired his gun but did not hit Lili, while the woman had already prepared some fake blood and dived into the water, which convinced everyone that she was dead. In fact, the body of a different woman is also shown in the morgue to one of Lili’s assailants, who takes a photo of it to confirm that their target is actually dead. Lili had been left a fake passport by Wilson before his death, and she now uses it to change her identity while staying together with her beloved Miguel, who now wants to go on a new treasure hunt. 

Bandidos, directed by Adrian Grunberg, is the story of a group of bandits who go on a quest to procure the treasure hidden centuries before by a king named Aj Took. The mission was a success, and the mastermind of the heist, Miguel, was able to do the impossible task of finding the treasure. After the quest was over and everybody got their share of gold, he expressed his desire to undertake another mission. The series left us on a cliffhanger, where Lili, in a way, gave her consent for going on the quest with Miguel and finding the treasure which he referred to as the “Tear of Fire.” Miguel was the kind of man who believed every folktale was not merely a myth and that there was some truth hidden behind it. He always said that people only believed it to be true because they were unable, or maybe incapable, of finding it. As of now, there hasn’t been any official announcement of Bandidos season 2, but considering the cliffhanger the makers left us on, there is a huge possibility that we might see a sequel to the series. So, let’s try to understand where the lives of the characters could potentially lead them and if Miguel was serious about going on another quest and putting his life at risk all over again.

Spoiler Alert

Why did Lili fake her death? 

Lili, since the beginning of Bandidos, told Miguel’s uncle, Wilson, that she had wronged a lot of people, and she was quite sure that they wouldn’t leave her alive. Lili needed an out desperately, and she knew that even if she took the gold and tried to start afresh, she wouldn’t be able to do that. Lili needed a new passport, which Wilson, just before taking his last breaths, provided her. Wilson was a brilliant counterfeiter, and it was said that if he made fake documents, the chances of them getting caught were negligible. Lili got the passport, but she knew that she would still have to do something so that the people from the underworld stopped chasing her. She was sick and tired of living in fear, and she didn’t want to run her entire life. So, without telling anybody, she hatched a plan together with Miguel. At the end of Bandidos, in a shocking turn of events, Miguel shot Lili, and everybody believed that she died on the spot. Lili pretended to run away with the Maya Balam, i.e., the golden jaguar, and Miguel also played along, showing very convincingly that he wasn’t able to control his anger. Lucas, Ines, Ariel, Citlali, and Octavio, together with Miguel, came back, and they divided the treasure that they found among themselves. Lucas made arrangements, and he deposited all their money in a secured account where the government didn’t levy any kind of tax.

At that juncture, it seemed like Miguel was going to stay low for a bit, but once again, there was a twist to the event. Lili was still alive, and she was waiting for Miguel in the politico. They both drove together, and they were elated to have finally gotten the opportunity to start their journey. According to the official documents, Lili was dead, and we saw that even the goons who were after her were informed about it. The plan seemed perfect, but I personally believe that if there is a second season, Lili might get recognized by people who knew her from before, and she will probably land herself in trouble once again. If both of them had intentions of leaving the crime world and making an honest living, it would have been easier for Lili to hide her identity. But apparently, as we got to know at the end of Bandidos, they didn’t have any plans to do so. I believe that even if Miguel hadn’t proposed the idea of going on another quest, Lili wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from committing crimes once again. I believe that when something is imbibed in a person’s nature, it takes a great deal of effort to bring about a change in one’s life, and looking at Lili, I don’t think she was going to do that. 

Will Miguel And Lili Find The Tear Of Fire? 

Lili also hadn’t expected that even before their last heist was over, Miguel would be busy planning for their next. The way Miguel told Lili about the next quest he wanted to undertake made it very clear that he was not done and that he was ready to risk his life all together again and find the treasure. Miguel mentioned that no one had ever seen the greatest treasure ever known to mankind. He said that it was called the tear of fire, and by the looks of it, he had already decided that he would put in all his effort to find it. Maybe Miguel was just stretching the limits, as being successful once didn’t mean that he would again be successful. But Miguel was an optimistic man, and we have seen since the beginning of the series how he believed that the treasure of Aj Took existed when the entire world believed it to merely be a legend. But Miguel would need a team, and there is a huge possibility that we might see familiar faces back in action.

In my opinion, Octavio, Ines, Lucas, and Citlali would once again join the team, though we know the predicament that Octavio was in throughout the first season of Bandidos. Octavio is a great asset to have on one’s side, and I believe Miguel would convince him in season 2 once again to be part of the heist. Though, as of now, Ariel had no clue that Lili was alive, he was the kind of man who always kept an eye out for these hidden treasures, and he had a lot of knowledge about ancient civilization. There is a possibility that he might play a role in the scheme of things. It would be interesting to see what kinds of obstacles Miguel and his team have to overcome to get their hands on the treasure that was never seen by anyone. It would be an uphill battle for sure, but I believe Miguel wouldn’t give up unless and until he achieved the unthinkable feat. 

The Impossible Heir episode 6 at least resembles other K-dramas with all of its craziness. The jargon and weird office and family politics of the show come across as way over the top and completely pointless because the twists don’t really impact viewers when their eyes have glazed over from trying to comprehend what’s really going on. I mean, seriously, the first four episodes of this show almost felt like hell. In episode 5, the drama picked up after Tae-Oh got hit in the back of the head by a stranger. It seems the showrunners may have realized that the office drama was really not working, so they decided to pick up the love triangle aspect of things. I mean, this episode really feels very out of place, but that also makes it much more interesting than any of the others thus far. Anyway, before this turns into a rant about The Impossible Heir, let’s quickly dive into the best episode of the show thus far.

Spoiler Alert

Why Does In-Ha Stop the Police From Investigating Tae-Oh’s Assault? 

Episode 6 of The Impossible Heir begins with two parallel storylines. In-Ha has a conversation with his father to clear the air, and the chairman gives him a reward for the good work he did (huh?). In-Ha tells him that there’s a woman he wants to marry, and Joong-Mo immediately approves (now, this makes no sense at all, but sure). On the other hand, Tae-Oh gets hit in the back of the head on the basketball court, and the man who did the deed tries to make it look like a robbery and runs away. Hye-Won somehow learns about what’s happened and finds Tae-Oh in the hospital. In his state, Tae-Oh lets go of all his inhibitions and holds onto her hand, telling her not to go, just like he did all those years ago (no, we still don’t know what exactly happened back then). In-Ha doesn’t pick up Hye-Won’s calls because he’s with his father, but after a while, the chairman tells him to go ahead and answer. When he learns of Tae-Oh’s assault, the first thing he does is make sure the police don’t investigate this case because that would mean Tae-Oh’s name would be public, in turn tying him to Joong-Mo and In-Ha. Supposedly, this would be terrible for business, even if this is Tae-Oh’s business and not Kangoh’s. 

Hui-Ju also makes it to the hospital and finds a conscious Tae-Oh holding onto Hye-Won’s hand (yeah, a second time on the same day). This leaves her furious, and she insults Hye-Won, but her brother arrives and stops her. Hye-Won leaves to call the doctors but heads to work directly now that she knows Tae-Oh’s actually fine. It seems In-Ha’s father is also of the opinion that things should be kept under wraps, so he also gets Tae-oh transferred to a VIP room in Kangoh Hospital. At work, Hye-Won learns from her boss that In-Ha kept the police from investigating Tae-Oh’s assault. He’s obviously trying to stir the pot, but why exactly? We cannot tell just yet. In-Ha doesn’t bother answering Hye-Won when she asks him about it, and she gets more furious. In-Ha is, of course, aware that Hye-Won has some feelings for Tae-Oh, and now he’s really not happy with the way she’s reacting, so he compares Tae-Oh to a street dog, leaving Hye-Won stunned. I suppose he’s also mad because Tae-Oh also didn’t appreciate this turn of events and wants to know who wanted him dead (duh, dude). Why does it feel like their entire friendship was an actual lie at this point? Is In-Ha really that ambitious? 

Who hurt Tae-Oh? 

In fury, Tae-Oh leaves the hospital, still in a recovering state, and meets the chairman in the office while still in his hospital pyjamas. He tells the chairman that he wants to know who tried to kill him and promises to find the guy without tarnishing his name. Apparently, this is enough for the chairman, because Tae-Oh is the only man Joong-Mo trusts to do something like this. A dizzy Tae-Oh then somehow makes it to the restaurant where the North Korean guy works. This is like his secret spot for all the dirty tricks he’s been using all these years, I suppose (the number of times Lee Jae-Wook has fallen to the floor in this episode, though, tsk tsk). The hacker gets Tae-Oh rested, and when he wakes up, Tae-Oh tells him to find out who hurt him. 

In the meantime, Hye-Won gets a visit from her mother for the first time in 10 years. She wants money, of course, this time for a house she wants to buy. Hye-Won’s mother never cared for her and even called her slurs when she was a little child, so she decides to threaten her with suicide right there at a restaurant by breaking a soju bottle and holding it to her wrist. This is not random, though; her mother was sent there by someone, who I can only imagine is Oh Gyeong-Cheol, who wants to push her into a corner to work for him. In-Ha sees the wound when Hye-Won returns home late and immediately apologizes for everything he said the other day. When the hacker learns that it was In-Ju’s guy who smacked Tae-Oh in the head, In-Ha takes Hye-Won to Bisanju for a meal with the family. 

Hye-Won seems to be fearless and talks to the chairman out of turn, even calling him father. The chairman insults her by telling her that she works for fun and she should quit because she should know he wouldn’t accept someone who works for Congressman Jo. This leaves In-Ha furious, and Hye-Won reminds him that he and his family can’t really be making life decisions for her. 

Why Does Tae-Oh Confess To Hye-Won? 

It seems the near-death experience has made Tae-Oh overly emotional, and after learning that it was In-Ju’s guy who tried to kill him, he finds him and asks for a reason. He realizes this wasn’t the real deal, and he was meant to come back alive because it’s a threat to warn him off for whatever’s coming next. “Stay away from Kangoh” message. Tae-Oh then finds Hye-Won and tells him that she made a mistake by choosing In-Ha that day. She asks him what he wants from her now, and somehow, they end up kissing on a rooftop for everyone to see, of course. This was photographed by In-Ju’s guy and sent to him. He returns to work all fit and fine the next day and learns that In-Ju is making some sort of secret investment. 

At the end of The Impossible Heir episode 6, it’s Hye-Won and In-Ha’s wedding day. Everything seems to be perfect, and everyone congratulates the happy couple (you know, in appearance, at least). At the end of the night, when Hye-Won is about to go rest up, In-Ju finds her and tells her to get in the elevator with him. She smiles and tells him to go ahead without her, but this is when he brings out the picture of her and Tae-Oh, giving her no choice but to get in. Somehow, the next scene is in the chairman’s dream building, the heart of the Royal Road, and we’re back to the first scene of the show, where Tae-Oh holds an ice pick and has blood all over him. Now, the faces of the people who have been killed are revealed to be In-Ju and an unknown woman. It appears drugs were used in the room, and Tae-Oh looks very surprised about what happened, so maybe he’s being falsely accused. 

The Impossible Heir can’t even be saved by the presence of Lee Jae-Wook and Lee Jun-Young, two young up-and-coming actors in the industry right now. Also, why is it edited the way it is? I honestly can’t understand these strange choices. In episode 4, Tae-Oh and In-Ha got one step closer to their goal (I’m yet to fully understand what this goal is exactly), and In-Ha will finally be seen publicly as an heir of the Kangoh group. In the meantime, In-Ha and Hye-Won have also progressed in their relationship, leaving Tae-Oh a complete loner. In episode 5, we’re still not sure what happened on that day many years ago, but one thing is clear: Hye-Won has chosen to side with In-Ha because that’s who will get her to the top of the social ladder.

Spoiler Alert

Who takes over Kangoh Tech One? 

The Impossible Heir Episode 5 focuses on the sale of Kangoh Tech One, supposedly the most important subsidiary of Kangoh Group. In the prosecutor’s office, Ha Myung-Jin is handed a thumb drive with information that’s supposed to keep Joong-Mo out of trouble. The drive contains tons of folders with information regarding certain things the prosecutor has previously done in order to get to his position. While Myung-Jin assumes he’s being bribed, he’s actually getting threatened by the Kangoh Group. Joong-Mo is free to go, while Myung-Jin is letting go. Joong-Mo then makes his way to Chu Hyeok-Jin, who knows he has to beg for forgiveness at this point for trying to two-time the chairman. In the meantime, Joong-Mo’s two legitimate sons start to panic, seeing the news that In-Ha will become a part of the conglomerate. In Kangoh, things are underway, and Tae-Oh and In-Ha get new positions. Tae-Oh is a division director, and In-Ha is the new chief manager of the future strategy office. It seems Tae-Oh had lured Chae Dong-Uk with this particular job, and now he has it himself, so this leaves him another enemy in Dong-Uk. 

Adding insult to injury, Seong-Ju’s mother is basically exiled from Bisongju (the family home) for essentially trying to steal everything away from her husband. Seong-Ju promises his father he’ll never forgive him for what he’s just done. On the other hand, his older stepbrother, In-Ju, learns of In-Ha and Tae-Oh’s friendship from college. Apparently, a technological leak from the previous year has Joong-Mo in a bind, so he plans on putting In-Ha in charge of negotiating a deal with another company. This is where the guy who is meant to marry Hui-Ju, Ko Hee-Chan, comes into play. It seems if he doesn’t marry Hui-Ju, his father won’t give him what he wants; however, Hui-Ju refuses to even try to get to know him, and we know this is because of her obsession with Tae-Oh. On the other hand, we finally learn a little bit about the hacker that Tae-Oh has been working with. He used to be a North Korean spy (why is this even part of this plot? I cannot understand). 

It seems In-Ha thinks this is a strong enough position for him to celebrate his long-term relationship with Hye-Won. He takes her to the beach to propose, and she agrees to marry him. The first person In-Ha tells is Tae-Oh. While In-Ha and Hye-Won prepare fireworks to celebrate, Tae-Oh takes a jog in contemplation. 

Why Does the Chairman Get Mad at Tae-Oh? 

In-Ha gets ahead of himself and starts to defy his friend Tae-Oh. He invites his two trusted employees to work under them as part of the team for the negotiation, and Tae-Oh doesn’t appreciate it. This means he’s not entirely in charge. On the other hand, Oh Gyeong-Cheol, Hye-Won’s boss, wants to use her relationship with In-Ha for political gain. His plan is a secret to the congressman they work for. Additionally, he claims this is a personal investment in Hye-Won to become a perfect political aide. She discusses it with Tae-Oh, who thinks it’s a good idea. Hye-Won tells him she doesn’t need his help and she can make her own decisions now. This is obviously a call back to her asking him to help her all those years ago. She’s come a long way, yet she keeps wanting to turn back to him because, romantically, she’s more inclined towards him (none of these romantic plotlines involving Tae-Oh makes sense, but sure). When they’re having their little chat, someone’s also taking pictures of Tae-Oh from the opposite building. He has a few enemies, so this could honestly be anyone at this point. But could it be that In-Ha is having someone spy on him? Or it could be one of the brothers, my eyes are on In-Ju. 

In the beginning, the negotiation doesn’t go very well. Ko Hui-Chan wants to buy off the company at a low price; however, In-Ha has a secret weapon that not even Tae-Oh knows of. Tae-Oh notices that one of the employees he had added to their team used his phone during the meeting and tells him to go home for not taking the assignment seriously. However, this rubs In-Ha the wrong way. It’s just that the employee was trying to keep the real plan a secret from Tae-Oh. In-Ha plans on using an old company secret, where a group called IM Group wanted to buy Kangoh Tech One. A manipulation tactic that Tae-Oh doesn’t approve of. The plan ultimately works, and the company is sold with a 13% price hike and employment succession; however, the chairman is furious. 

Apparently, In-Ha is too much like him, and so he wants to use manipulative tactics to get what he wants. But Joong-Mo wants someone who thinks differently; that’s why he has Tae-Oh by his side. Joong-Mo is mad because Tae-Oh didn’t do the dirty work for In-Ha, leaving him in a dangerous position for the future. Tae-Oh advises the chairman to tell his son that he’s just like him, which will motivate him to do a better job and stay under his wing. Tae-Oh then visits In-Ha, who physically pushes him while playing basketball, seemingly on purpose. I guess it’s a response to Tae-Oh’s “I told you so” expression. I guess In-Ha is somewhat jealous of the relationship Tae-Oh has with the chairman. Anyway, it turns out the chairman did call him, which means he’s less angry now. On the other hand, In-Ju has plans to use Hui-Chan in his master plan to get rid of Tae-Oh and In-Ha. 

At the end of The Impossible Heir episode 5, Tae-Oh is playing basketball alone to cool off when a man hits him on the back of his head with a wooden stick. Tae-Oh is in the middle of trying to make a call to Hye-Won when this happens, and the episode ends with him trying to pick up her call while bleeding from his head. 

Constellation episode 6, is arguably one of the most interesting episodes in this season of AppleTV+’s psychological space thriller series, as it turns the perspective around completely. While the existence of alternate realities had only been teased or shown in limited phases in the earlier episodes, we get to completely experience the other side of reality this week, with very little of the protagonist, Jo Ericsson, seen. Episode 6 now directly takes us to the world where Jo was the one to be affected by the accident on the ISS, while Paul Lancaster survived and returned to Earth.

Spoiler Alert

What happens in the reality where Paul has survived?

Constellation episode 6 begins aboard the International Space Station, a few days earlier than the present time, where protagonist Jo Ericsson is seen on a video call with her daughter, Alice. While Jo is busy on the call, fellow American astronaut Paul Lancaster is working on the CAL device, recalibrating its lasers as per the orders from Earth. Since the CAL device is part of an experiment conducted by the Rocket Propulsion System (RPS) organization, it is Henry Caldera who has been overseeing the matter from the ground. As soon as Paul plugs a cord into the device, essentially turning it on, the alarms on the ISS go off, catching the attention of everyone, and Alice loses all contact with her mother. It is important to note that Alice had been speaking with Jo in Swedish, and now that she is concerned for her safety, Alice speaks the language with her father as well, who is clearly dejected by love. On the ISS, something has obviously crashed against the structure, causing a massive jolt and also some serious damage to the facility. However, unlike earlier, it is Jo who is struck by debris and not Paul, who we saw earlier pinned to a wall on the ship. It becomes evident that this is not the reality we had been shown in the previous episodes but is genuinely an alternate timeline.

As Jo is struck by debris, there is also a serious leak in the space station’s body, leading to her getting sucked towards the tiny fracture in the glass, which is creating a vacuum. Jo suffers a deadly fall, and her left eye smashes into the glass, killing her immediately. Right before she got pulled down into the chamber, though, there was a very evident split in realities, meaning that a second version of Jo actually saw herself falling to death without any harm to her since there was no such leak in her reality. It can be guessed that this is Jo from the reality we have been following, as she is seen holding her iPad, on which she had been speaking with her daughter. But episode 6 sticks to this different reality, in which Paul suffers no injury and survives along with the other astronauts. Once everyone is sure that they have lost Jo, a similar situation plays out, as only one Soyuz capsule can be used at the time, and Paul is the one who volunteers to stay back. When he went to check on the CAL device after the accident, though, there was no sign of it, and Paul now instructs his colleagues to inform the authorities at NASA and the RPS about the failure of his mission. However, none of the fellow astronauts know anything about the CAL experiment, and they are rather bewildered to hear Paul speak of it or of the RPS boss, Henry Caldera.

This is because there have been multiple splits in reality during the accident, and it is not just about different versions of Jo, as Paul’s reality has also altered. In fact, the Paul we follow throughout the episode finds himself in a different reality, just like Jo had after her return to Earth. But in this case, Paul’s reality is altered right after the accident, as the one he finds himself in at present never had the CAL device or the experiment. In fact, there is no existence of the RPS or of Henry Caldera, and this is why his colleagues do not understand what he is saying during their evacuation. Once Paul returns to Earth, there are subtle changes that he notices as well, just like Jo in the previous episodes. He remembers his wife’s name to be Frida, but although her appearance and personality are the same, she corrects him, saying that she has always been named Erica. Paul also remembers his daughter’s name to be Wendy, but this too has changed, confusingly to the same name, Erica. Over the next few weeks, Paul has to face a similar kind of interrogation by the authorities, just like Jo, but nobody believes his claims about the CAL device or his personal mission for the RPS. He also had to leave Jo’s dead body back in space, a decision that now haunts him and makes him grow terribly guilty, and those around Paul generally perceive him to be losing his mind. Interestingly, he is also prescribed the same Lithium 7 capsules as Jo and the others earlier, clearly to cover-up the claims he is making. 

How did Jo survive the Soyuz capsule malfunction?

If we recall the first couple of episodes of Constellation, when Jo Ericsson had to go through terribly scary procedures and moments before she could leave the ISS aboard a repaired Soyuz capsule, then a certain situation would certainly stick out in memory. After fixing the evacuation capsule, Jo suddenly realized that there was a severe bolt malfunction that would not let her leave the space station unless repaired. The situation turned out to be even more dire, and actually totally out of her control, since the bolt malfunction required a minimum of two people, and it had to be done from the outside of the capsule, from the space station. It was almost certain that Jo would not be able to solve the issue since she was all alone on the station and would, therefore, die until something miraculous and seemingly supernatural happened. A shadow was seen approaching the terminal, following which the malfunction errors completely disappeared, and Jo was able to evacuate safely.

Incidentally, in this alternate reality, Paul Lancaster also faces the same bolt malfunction error in the capsule, realizes that he will be unable to fix it alone, and then suddenly has the same shadow approach the error and allow him to leave. This is closely tied to the fact that Paul keeps feeling the presence of someone else while repairing the Soyuz capsule, just like Jo felt in her reality. Paul hears the voices of Jo, feels like the dead body is sighing, and then even sees a flash of the woman alive and well. This is the very same moment in which Jo grasped Paul’s hand and saw him appear suddenly, despite him being dead, in her reality. It is clear from these scenes that although the CAL device had possibly split reality into multiple possibilities, the base or main situations remained the same, as indicated by the bolt malfunction, for example. Along with this, the many different realities had also co-existed at the same time and space, and the actions of individuals in one such reality affected the others as well.

Therefore, when Paul is finally able to leave the ISS, he looks back at the terminal to see the floating dead body of Jo, suggesting that it was Jo from some other reality who had fixed the terminal, leading to the survival of both Paul and Jo in their respective alternate realities. Spooked by his experiences on the ISS, Paul had decided to leave Jo’s body in space, and although he seemingly received permission from ground control regarding the matter, NASA did not back up this claim after his return. Paul is also able to see flashes from the other reality, as he sees Jo standing near her grave (just like Jo had seen Paul) and also sees Jo and Alice from a different reality during the colleague’s funeral. Up until now, the main crux of Constellation seems to be that the CAL device had split realities, and this was possible only in outer space, which is why only astronauts who had been close to the object in space could experience this split. However, it might also be that outer space itself has the ability to make certain individuals experience alternate realities since the CAL device was probably not present in every situation when astronauts reported something wrong after their space expedition.

Why does Alice choose to go to her mother’s cabin?

In this alternate reality, Alice is absolutely devastated after being told that her mother has not only died in space, but that Jo’s body has not even been brought back. Over time, Alice is very sure that her mother is actually still alive, and this is mostly because she, too, can experience flashes from different realities. In one of the earlier episodes, Alice had seen someone tear apart her toy doll and thought it to be her friend from school, Wendy. However, it is revealed in this episode that she had actually seen herself in a different reality, in which Alice was extremely frustrated by the loss of her mother and wanted to destroy every memory of her. Later on in the episode, the young girl also sees a similar flash of alternate reality as Paul, as she sees herself and Jo in the altered situation, in which Jo had survived and Paul had died. The only explanation behind Alice suddenly getting this unnatural ability is that she had experienced and witnessed the CAL device accident on the ISS, albeit through video call. 

Eventually, Alice grows convinced that she can still make contact with her mother or that Jo might return to Earth in some way. This is why she tells Magnus to take her to the old cabin, which Jo used to frequently visit, and despite his initial reluctance, Magnus agrees to his daughter’s demand. Alice had already developed a habit of hiding in the cupboard and watching videos about spacecraft crashes on the internet, and this is what she continues doing even at the cabin. Incidentally, Alice repeatedly kicking the side of the cupboard in a rhythmic manner is what Jo heard during her hallucinatory visions aboard the ISS. At the end of the episode, Alice does see Jo drive up to the cabin, which is basically from the other reality, and her calling out to her mother is what ended the previous episode, since Alice of this reality calls Jo “mamma.”. 

What does Paul learn from Henry Caldera?

When Paul starts a personal investigation into finding Henry Caldera, primarily asking his NASA boss about the esteemed astronaut and his CAL experiment, he is met with disbelief and ridicule. The world that Paul now finds himself in did not have Henry Caldera heroically save the Apollo 18 mission and land on the moon. After going through some video footage from the expedition, Paul learns that the Apollo 18 mission had ended in total failure, and instead of Henry being a celebrated Nobel Prize-winning astronaut, as in his original reality, the latter was an insignificant ex-space researcher. Henry Caldera had grown disillusioned with life, especially after failing to convince people that he had actually landed on the moon, and had grown into an alcoholic wastrel.

As is clear from the suggestions, and then also confirmed at the end of the episode, the Henry Caldera of this reality is indeed Bud Caldera, whom Paul tracks down and goes to meet. However, Bud also does not believe that it is Paul Lancaster who has come to meet him, and so he refuses to talk to or entertain the man in any way. Bud seemingly shoots at Paul, but the effect of it is unclear. From this new development, it appears most likely that Henry and Bud also landed up in alternate realities, just like Jo and Paul, after their space travels. Bud had probably saved the Apollo 18 mission in his reality, only to get transferred into the alternate realm, where the mission had failed, and so he is considered a liar and a cheat. On the other side, Henry Caldera seems to be the one who messed up the moon landing mission but then luckily found himself in the fortunate reality in which he had saved the day. Since both of them are essentially split images of the same person, nobody obviously noticed the switch, and Henry went on to claim the Nobel Prize and the following accolades: If this is indeed what is happening in Constellation, then it means that Henry is the actual antagonist, in some sense, and his desperation at retrieving the CAL device is probably to ensure that Bud can never return to his reality. Going by this logic, it was perhaps Henry who pushed Bud’s professional rival to death on the cruise ship, trying to get himself jailed in another reality for murder.