Rooftop Tumble
Episode 5 of The Longest Night starts with Cherokee questioning Sara. She opens up about Simon’s importance, and how the others don’t want him talking to the judge. Cherokee tries to convince Sara to play ball, pointing out he has a way out and they could go together if she cooperates. When Manuela whispers something inaudible to him (which we later find out is in relation to Dr Espada having abused her) Cherokee grabs Doctor Espada and holds him captive. Cherokee takes Sara with him, whom we see from flashbacks isn’t exactly a saint. In fact, Sara has killed several people and has been working with Cherokee all this time. She’s done time in Baruca, and was picked up by Ruso outside. Just incase anyone was interested in the mystery of the graffitied sign, it was Sara all along. Anyway, with her alongside Cherokee and his gang, Cherokee looks set to blow Espada’s brains out, until Elisa shows up at the door and tries to explain what’s going on. It turns out Manuela is a little crazy, given she can actually see Emma, her deceased beloved, by her side. No one else can see her of course, but Cherokee’s men question whether Manuela is telling the truth or if the “voices” are making her say this. Elsewhere, Elisa breaks Hugo free from his binds, where he immediately tries to talk Macarena out of handing over Simon to Lennon. It’s a precarious situation, something made all the worse by the fact these inmates now have guns in their possession following the successful prison defence. Ruso is questioned by Bastos, who reveals that someone has sold them out from the inside. Not only that but everything the guards have been up to – including all the camera footage – has been going straight into the hands of the judge. Given Bastos put an inmate in a coma during that time, it doesn’t look good for him. Ruso uses this leverage to try and strike a deal. Elsewhere, Simon tells Macarena that he needs to make a call to his contact outside the prison and if he doesn’t, then Hugo’s daughter is going to die. Macarena shrugs off these threats and heads up to the rooftop to make the trade. Hugo realizes where she’s off to (given the keys are missing from the office) and chases her. Hugo eventually catches up and pleads with her not to hand Simon over. With Hugo’s daughter caught up in the middle of all this, Macarena speaks to Simon who simply antagonizes the woman and claims “it’s complicated.” Cherokee eventually heads back in to the lab, where Espada admits the truth. He did touch Manuela inappropriately after all. With the doctor’s life hanging in the balance, Elisa’s pleas amount for nothing as Cherokee fires several times… just next to the doctor. He doesn’t kill the guy but makes Manuela believe that he has. At the same time, Bastos decides to work with Ruso after all, while Sara tries to strike up a deal of her own with Javi. As the episode closes out, we cut back to Hugo and Macarena who end up at a stand-off. As shots are fired, Simon tries to get the upper-hand and choke Macarena out. She manages to regain control of the situation and takes him up onto the rooftop. However, Hugo follows soon after and shoves Macarena over the top, saving his own skin but killing his fellow guard in the process. With 30 minutes to make the call, and more lives lost, will Hugo survive?
The Episode Review
There’s a lot of deals going down in the penultimate episode to The Longest Night and even now, 5 episodes in, we’re no clearer over why Laura has been kidnapped, who’s keeping her captive and quite what this means for the rest of the group. The drama inside the prison has been enjoyable but it’s also rather messy too. As I’ve said before, it all feels too sporadically paced and frantic to really allow us to get inside the psyche of these different characters. Hopefully the finale can round things out on a high.
