Groundswell
Searching The Room
Episode 3 of High Seas Season 3 begins with Eva searching Viktor’s apartment. There, she finds newspaper articles regarding Viktor. These prove that he’s not Katona and actually a Bulgarian violinist who was in Argentina for a year. Determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening, she continues to search until someone arrives at the door. Viktor’s partner steps in with her child and confirms that she and Viktor were sleeping in separate cabins. It turns out she’s still legally married to another man. Eva approaches Fabio in the wake of this and questions him over the blood and whether he’s involved. Fabio vehemently reveals that he’s not. Begrudgingly, he agrees to let her talk to the Captain about what’s going on but encourages her not to reveal the truth. Back in their cabin, Fernando notices a scar on Diana’s shoulder (who still looks like Carolina of course) but thinks nothing of it. For now, they have bigger fish to fry as Eva approaches the Captain and admits that Viktor has gone missing.
Eva Is A Suspect
When Varela finds out, he immediately casts suspicions on Eva given she was there for both incidents. As we soon find out, Viktor’s dead body is found down in the hull of the ship. There, the Captain questions where Hector is but as we see, he’s in Natalia’s cabin sifting through documents. Only, Natalia susses out what he’s doing and questions him. He simply brushes it off though, admitting that he’s concerned about the captain’s well-being and competency leading the ship forward. On his way out of Natalia’s cabin, he runs into Varela who comments on how Hector seems to get around the ship a lot. For now though, he bids the man goodnight.
The Real Killer
Doctor Ayala polishes up his tools and also has a syringe full of blood. He and Carmen are the ones responsible for killing Viktor. It turns out Ayala was torturing him in a bid to find out whether he was Katona or not. After leaving him to die, Ayala feeds back that he’s definitely not the one they’re after. Carmen confronts him over the innocent death but he simply brushes it aside as “collateral damage.” Carmen and Doctor Ayala continues to stir up matters at lunch as they sit with Pedro and Chantal. There, they admit Eva was trying to break into the infirmary with a “strange man.” As we know, that “strange man” is actually Fabio and they bust into the infirmary to check the body. There, they notices what we already know, that whoever killed Viktor is an experienced torturer. Varela suspects Eva is involved in some way and decides they should keep tabs on her. With Varela and the Captain on their way, Carolina quickly scrambles to phone the infirmary. It acts as an alarm for Eva and Fabio who sneak out just in time before the duo can arrive. As they head back to Fabio’s cabin, Fabio wisely continues to distrust Carolina (who’s still Diana) and hides a telegram from her. When Carolina leaves the scene, Eva and Fabio look over the letter and notice that his bosses want to get in touch. The letter is a code and together, they start to decipher what it means. As Fabio sits back he realizes the truth. They don’t need to go after Untermann after all; he’s been apprehended. However, that doesn’t mean the virus isn’t still on-board and some extreme close-ups prove as much, as a green vial of liquid is securely placed inside a suitcase.
The Lighter
The Captain returns to his cabin and finds part of it burnt and smoldering. While the officers onboard tell him it’s started from a candle, the Captain brushes this aside. Natalia tells him to bear some responsibility for what happened though and walks away. On the back of this, Fernando and Natalia meet and discuss the Captain’s confusion and the well-being of the passengers. Carolina tells him not to worry but Pedro starts to exhibit concerns over Eva. Back in the cabin, Veronica finds herself alone with Carolina (the real one, disguised as Diana) and tries to get through to her. She gives her the lighter and encourages the girl to leave. Given what we know about this, it could prove to be the clues needed to solve the case. She heads to the cafeteria and sits with Dimas, fingering the lighter. Eventually, asks him to look after it for her. Up on the bridge, Hector continues to plot his coup as First Officer and upset the balance of things. He tells the others everything is coming to plan, just as Varela overhears him. The investigator challenges the man, telling Hector he’ll remember how he came onboard the ship. Meanwhile, Chantal and Eva speak plainly about Nicolas and how he searched for her for a long time. She doesn’t blame him though, as they talk about the duo falling in love. Midway through talking, Doctor Ayala passes and it immediately causes Chantal to start panicking. It turns out, he happens to have the same voice as one of the doctors from her time in the camps. She immediately feeds this back to Fabio but he becomes distracted when he notices Dimas holding the lighter. Steve’s lighter. As he questions Dimas over where he obtained this, he reveals that Diana (obviously still Carolina) was the one who originally had it. He asks to borrow it for now as it turns out Steve’s lighter actually hides a camera within.
A Race Against Time
Fabio races off to get the pictures developed as this may be what Steve was trying to tell them. Eva immediately races to Diana’s room and manages to break in with a hairpin. Inside, she tries to get through to Diana but Carmen shows up at the last second. Eva is forced to leave but clearly senses something afoul. When Eva leaves, Carolina (who’s actually Diana) reveals that the lighter may have pictures of Katona on it. As the episode closes out, Fabio checks the film roll in the dark room. As he starts to get the pictures developed, Doctor Ayala and Carmen sneak into the room. They blindside him and knock the man out. As the picture starts to develop, the scene fades out agonizingly before we can find out who Katona is.
The Episode Review
As the plot continues to thicken, we’re given lots of interesting character work for the supporting players. What is Hector’s plan? What is Fabio’s real name? And who is the killer? There’s lots of intriguing questions and apart from the doppelganger situation (which still hasn’t been explained!) the series taps into those murder mystery vibes in a compelling way. Whoever the killer happens to be at the end, one thing’s for sure – this ship has been far from smooth sailings this year.
