Chapter 04: Submarine
Two Years Ago
Episode 4 of The 3% season 4 is all about the action. In particular, showcasing a pressure pot of tension that eventually spills over in the most dramatic way possible. Following her sister’s death, Natalia is strapped up with a bomb by Silas. As they talk, she finds out the painting behind them was created by Tania, one of the founders.
Present Day
Michele is released from the Process and looks across the horizon. The smoldering ruins of the Shell prompt Andre to stand beside her. The Shell is gone. Andre reveals that “her people” started the fire. With Michele still unwilling to accept the Process, she’s taken back inside. Meanwhile, Natalia looks over a tablet holding a virtual library of books. Joana is in no mood to celebrate though given the situation with her Mother. Unfortunately Veronica and the others burst into the house and hold them up at gunpoint. Having found out about the pulse, Veronica leads the guards in and arrests all the Shell members. Rafael seizes his opportunity though and manages to press a button to disrupt their communications. This causes them to go for Plan B.
Plan B
As we soon see from the past, the group do have an alternate plan if everything goes wrong. A submarine hidden underground will allow them to leave the island. Marco however, is not happy that they have to leave empty-handed. Meanwhile, Gloria reveals to Ariel that she passed the Process. Only, obviously she paid a heavy price to do so. She admits to betraying her friends and burning down the shell. Given Ariel’s admission last episode about the button, she knows all too well about sacrifice. The group make it to down the hatch and set up their defences. Within the Founding Trio’s submarine, Natalia watches security footage of the Founding Trio discussing the project. While she does, the rest of the group break through the defences and find the submarine. Only it has no power. As fate would have it though, Marco obviously holds a lot of Plasma in his leg. Joana comes up with another plan. They may have lost the turbine but the submarine’s generator could be used as the electromagnetic pulse after all. This inevitably splits the group as they become conflicted over the best way of moving forward. Using the computers, they manage to patch through to Commander Marcela who gives them an ultimatum. They have 10 minutes to surrender or they’ll burst in. As they sift through the camera footage, they find the smoldering ruins of the Shell.
Revenge
Veronica closes in, using a blowtorch to break free from the hatch. With everything hanging in the balance, the group take a vote to see whether they destroy the Offshore or not. Eventually they all agree to do just that. With the Plasma attached to the submarine, their celebrations are short-lived when soldiers arrive. Natalia uses the computer to move the submarine while the soldiers shoot sporadically around the hallway to shut down the signal blocker. Eventually Veronica hits it. As they all square off, the submarine makes it to shore as the Offshore residents watch in shock. The high-pitch screams ring out and eventually leads to a brilliant neon-lit explosion that destroys everything in the Offshore.
The Episode Review
With a shorter episode at 36 minutes, The 3% wastes little time and nails its frenetic energy. The whole situation with the submarine is pretty tense and seeing the group decide together is a nice symbol of unity. The future of the Offshore hangs in the balance now and all of this rests on the final act for this Brazilian series. What will the fate of the Offshore be? I’m sure we won’t have long to find out!
