I Know What You Did Last Night
Episode 3 of Mortel begins with all three teens waking up after their heavy night. Sofiane meets with Victor and tells him he wants to stop as when Sofiane uses his powers, it makes him sick. After touching Sofiane, Victor has a vision of him and Luisa kissing. Just as Victor tries to leave, Sofiane convinces him not to as he believes Bastien is the killer. A concerned Victor’s mum, shows Audrey all the dark drawings her son did on his bedroom wall and just as they are about to kiss, her husband walks in. Back at school, Sofiane wants to confront Bastien about his brother’s disappearance with Victor but the latter reads his mind instead and finds out Sofiane wants to kill him. This then prompts him to walk away as Sofiane gets closer to Bastien. As they start fighting, they’re quickly stopped by Keina. Rumours about Luisa and Sofiane sleeping together spread around the school, causing tension to ensue between him and Melanie. He denies anything ever happened to her, which prompts Melanie to speak with Luisa about that night. She tells her she doesn’t remember anything but knows she would never do anything like that. As they leave the toilet, Luisa receives a shocking text with a video of herself stripping and asking if she wants to see what comes next. Victor and Sofiane decide to visit Bastien in his house to find out the truth about Reda. After reading his mind, Victor reveals that he didn’t kill him but he did make him leave town. Bastien explains that he was jealous as Reda seemed interested in Luisa and blackmailed him to make him leave town using his drug deals. Tensions are present between Sofiane and Victor too as the latter believes he may have raped Luisa after he sees more visions of the two together. Struggling to remember what happened that night, Luisa finds videos from the party on social media and uses them as part of her school art project to make a controversial video which shocks her class. The counselor then decides to confront both boys about that night but while Victor remains silent, Sofiane vehemently denies having done anything. She sends them home as everyone believe they are responsible for her potential rape. Luisa and her Grandma head to see Modibo after his parents ask her for help. She starts her ritual, claiming she’ll make him taste death to bring him back a taste of life. After placing coins on his face and punching his chest, he finally returns to his old self. While painting Luisa on his wall, Victor is visited by Obe who warns him that they need to hurry, as him and Reda won’t last much longer. As it happens, Obe has enhanced them and their power is a reflection of what they are deep down. This prompts Victor to head to Sofiane’s house where he confront him about Luisa. Sofiane lets him read his mind and as he has another vision, he sees that he didn’t hurt her. The next day, they decide to gather everyone in the playground where they creats a commotion using their powers in a bid to read everyone’s mind. As they do, Victor hears Rodrigue admitting to having filmed her. They confront him and chase him down the corridors, using their powers and dragging Victor along. The episode ends with Rodrigue bursting into the counselor’s office begging for help, just as Sofiane forces his head to bash against her desk. As we reach the third episode of Mortel, the show continues with the same tone and pace as before. The methodical pacing does hold this one back from being a more enjoyable thriller and it doesn’t feel like we’re spending enough time around the Voodoo and what is really happening with Obe. One of the show’s biggest problems comes from the increasing number of side character storylines, which deviate from the much more interesting main plot line. It’s a shame too as there’s certainly potential here. Mortel boasts some decent editing throughout though and one shot in particular was quite artistic, the last scene when Sofiane uses his powers to flip Rodrigue to the floor, the camera also turns to the side as he does. As we reach the midway point of Mortel, the show is unfortunately not as thrilling as I hoped it would be, but still offers up some enjoyable moments. Let’s hope the second half increases the pacing and doubles down on the voodoo!
