The Lost Children
Episode 3 of The Barrier begins with the tunnel underground as police swarm the area and arrest all involved. Julia however, manages to escape capture and hides from the authorities as they swarm the tunnel. Believing she’s in the clear, an officer suddenly appears with a pistol pointed straight at Julia’s head. Pleading with the guards not to fire, they ignore her request but she’s stopped when Hugo arrives and saves her at the last second. With Carlos presumed dead, Hugo breaks the news to his daughter and embraces her as she grieves his loss. News of Jiminez’s big night hits mainstream news while the family struggle to make sense of the nightmare they now face. When Julia heads home, they all agree to call her Sara from now on for her own protection. After a close call with Begona, the family breathe a sigh of relief. With the curfew in full swing, Julia struggles to get any sleep. Worse, Emilia fusses over her and tries to make sure she looks more like Sara. Alex heads out for his mission while Julia starts to lose faith, getting cold feet that this isn’t going to work. She agrees to stick around until Marta returns and keep up her work facade. Elsewhere, up at the mansion Daniela learns first-hand that her son was at the club the night the Captain was killed. Heading upstairs, she speaks to Luisa who confirms that she made a deal with the devil. As they laugh together, the duo make love. Felipe awakens in the middle of the night and is taken away by two of the nurses. The experiments continue but Felipe struggles to wake up in the morning. Marta notices this and immediately starts to sense something is wrong in the facility. When the doctors find out Felipe hasn’t shown up for his scheduled shot, they race off to find out what’s happened. Julia and Hugo keep their façade, working at the Health Minister’s mansion in the kitchen. Luisa asks for Hugo’s expertise for a separate matter though later on in the day. Julia meanwhile struggles to bite her tongue in the wake of Ivan bad-mouthing Carlos. After spilling hot tea on Ivan, Julia is given one more chance otherwise they’ll both be losing their jobs up in the mansion. Alex is called out from the crowd surrounding documents for his brother. Carlos however, is still alive but being tortured by the police. He vehemently declines to answer their questions until one of them mentions his girlfriend. Unfortunately it’s just the slip up they need to pounce on like a shark that smells blood. Now they’re closing in on Carlos’ girlfriend. For now, Carlos is kept alive. Meanwhile, Luisa shows off his car to Hugo. He wants him to fix it up given his engineering background. Just before he does, one of the security guards arrives and threatens Hugo. Hugo’s having none of it though and holds his own. As he fixes up the car, Julia returns from her day out and realizes that Alma may have Marta. They also, crucially, have a location now with a big clue to follow. Despite having the correct paperwork, Alex is told to leave at the facility. Biting his tongue, Alex keeps his cool until one of the nurses encourages him to keep quiet or face arrest. He joins her up on the roof and they share a cigarette together. Sucking in the smoke, she hands over a leaflet with the words “Join us”. This seems to be a resistance. She gives him an address and plenty to think about. On the back of the incident with Felipe, Alma receives news that the scientists are getting closer to a cure. Happy with the results, she reminds Tomas that these children are “her angels” and essentially guinea pigs. With a clipboard in hand, Alma greets the children and takes her place before them. It’s here she learns Felipe is missing. However, she continues on and reads them a story…which results in all the children collapsing on the ground and falling asleep. It turns out the yoghurts they’ve all had were laced with sedatives. If these children are the angels then Alma is most certainly the devil. Alex returns home from his eventful day to find a nosy Begona outside. She mentions how there are many people out there trying to upset the system. Thankfully, Alex keeps his composure and heads inside the house. When Emilia finds out what he’s been up to, she immediately burns the leaflet. This doesn’t stop Alex though, who heads out and meets the nurse. She’s barely dressed though and it doesn’t take long before the two get busy. Only, she suddenly brandishes a gun and points it at his head. Thankfully Emilia arrives and shoots the girl dead before she can do the same to him. Deciding to stage a break in, the duo work together and manage to find the whistleblower’s diary. Stashing it in their jacket, the family rush away. While they leave danger, Hugo and Julia drive toward it. They find the medical facility and realize Marta may well be inside. As they sneak in and find a dead body, they prepare for the worst as they unravel the sheet.
The Episode Review
As this week’s episode of The Barrier draws to a close, everything starts to settle down now into a more methodical pace. The family all get different things to do which allows for more of the world to be presented. It’s pretty interesting but the show is also starting to slow on the overarching plot. It’s not necessarily a bad series but it’s also not quite as exciting as something like Man In The High Castle or The Handmaid’s Tale. Hopefully this one can pick up in the weeks to come but for now, The Barrier bows out with another pretty good slice of drama.
