Cuca Will Come After You
Episode 4 of Invisible City begins with Ines feeding a pig, which inexplicably turns into a child. As we soon find out by the end of the episode, this is an origin story for one of our key characters. Anyway, we then jump back to the present as Tutu rushes into the room to tend to Ines. Camila grabs Eric and takes him outside, snatching up his keys. With Ines still alive, Tutu promises to go after Eric and hurries purposefully to track him down. This chase ends with Eric heading back home again, where Camila follows and questions how he managed to overpower Ines. Camila claims that Ines is the Cuca and helping Eric means she’s put herself in danger too. Their conversation is cut short by Luna, who awakens and tells her Father she doesn’t want him to be friends with Camila. With Tutu unable to find Eric, we cut back to Isac who entertains some street kids. Camila arrives and decides to crash with him for the time being, unable to return home after what’s happened with Ines. Back in the village, Cico continues to wander off alone. He finds strange, charred marks on the ground, which immediately brings back memories of the past involving these very same marks. The dead body lying in this spot happened to be the hunter we saw in episode 1, as it’s now clear that everything is connected. Cico shows up before Ines and tells her the tomb is open. Whatever this thing is, the curse has been released. The real question here though lies in quite how Eric is connected to all this. Ines mentions to Cico that she’s seen flashes of a ritual and candles but beyond that, very little that hints at what’s going on. While Eric calls a sick day, claiming something personal has come up, Ivo and Marcia close up the case file. Despite it being wrapped up, curiosity gets the better of Marcia who arrives to see Ines. Only, she continues to sow seeds of doubt in her mind over Eric and what he’s been up to. Eric meanwhile, continues to dig up the past. He’s curious over his birth parents and how they could be connected to what happened to Manaus. Eric visits the clinic his Mother frequented and finds numerous sketches of Manaus in her file. The realization hits him like a wave, sending a shocked Eric back home where he learns the truth. Manaus is his Father. His grandmother kept this from him all this time too, unwilling to let Eric lose another loved one. Eric immediately heads back to the village with the sketches, confronting Cico and breaking the news to him that Manaus was his Dad. Now able to trust the officer, Cico brings Eric deep into the jungle and shows him the charred burn marks; the same spot where he and Ines buried the hunter all those years ago. This seems to be the Dry Body which killed Manaus and, presumably, Gabriela too. It’s here Cico reveals the truth about Eric. It turns out he could be a ‘channel’, a being with both human and entity blood. In order to be sure though, Cico will need to do a ritual. However, Eric is not so sure it’s a good idea and rejects the notion. As he walks away, he bumps into Fabiana who asks about Manaus. Eric tells her to forget everything about him and walks away. When Eric returns home, a snarling Tutu lies waiting for him out the front door. Transformed into a monstrous hog, he pounces on Eric and in midair, transforms back into a human and pins him up against the car. Luna appears though, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as Tutu and her Father both collapse on the floor.
The Episode Review
Episode 4 finally sees the truth about Eric come out and how he’s been able to thwart the powers of these different legends. It’s clear now that he’s this ‘Channel’ which Cico was mentioning before. This adds a nice dynamic to the story, with some nods toward American Gods in the way the story is unfolding and revealing the central protagonist has ties to both worlds. With Tutu and Ines closing in on Eric, it seems like only a mater of time before their end goal becomes clear. And what of this curse too? It seems like it’s been released by someone, could that someone be Ines? We’ll have to wait and see but this Brazilian fantasy series has been quite the intriguing and exciting watch.
