The Truth About Olivia
Episode 5 of The Innocent Season 1 is fantastic. It’s easily the best episode of the season and here we actually get some substantial answers to the burning questions this season. For the purposes of this recap and going forward, we’ll just refer to Candance as Olivia. Anyway, meeting Mat happens to be a chance encounter, especially given he’s furloughed from prison at the time. The two hit it off too, at least to begin with. Anibal arriving at the bar is what sparked Olivia into proactively asking Mat to leave. Sleeping with Mat is a natural extension of this. It’s here we head back in time and actually learn more about Olivia’s upbringing. She actually stayed in a Spanish orphanage too (what is it about orphanages in this show?) after her junkie Mother left her. Unfortunately the orphanage Olivia grew up in is not the place for her. She ended up on the streets and in trouble with the authorities. Anibal seized his opportunity and decided to take Olivia in under his wing. Anibal made her believe she had a home and a future. In reality, her debt is one that will never be paid back – regardless of how many clients she has. This is why her persona of Olivia slumped away, becoming hardened Candance which serves as a mask to hide her true pain. It’s not until Mat looks at her with genuine affection that the mask starts to come off. In fact, this meeting actually saved her life, and in a way it saved Mat’s too. Anibal’s downfall came from bringing his prized girls in to a warehouse down by the docks. Among the women in attendance watching this is Emma. Anibal briefs them all, claiming they’re his “squires” to the underage clients he has. His “merchandise.” These parties became well-known among the rich and famous, and for months these girls were abused. One particularly nasty client used to beat and physically abuse one of the girls. This all became too much for squire Lavanda, who saved the girl. She head in herself and ended up dead. Anibal is quick to replace her though with a girl called Cassandra. This tragedy is a step too far for Kimmy, who refuses to allow these orgies to continue on her watch. Unfortunately Kimmy is beaten down for this insolence, with Anibal kicking her repeatedly in the stomach. Cassandra watches on nonchalantly while the other girls manage to stop Anibal from hurting their friend too badly. Emma is obviously enraged, especially when she sees Kimmy spitting up blood. Caught in the middle of all this is Olivia, who realizes just what she’s got herself mixed up in. This is the turning point for the girls. With Cassandra acting as Anibal’s golden girl, the other girls all decide to start stealing money from the boss. Cassandra is a rat though and tells Anibal that Kimmy and Olivia are both stealing money from her. This sees them immediately confront the two girls and beat them down. In fact, they’re beaten so badly they can barely work that night on the poles. Emma is forced to watch all of this take place, eventually concocting a plan to run away. Well, Teo at least got some of his story last episode right. Anibal’s real business comes from blackmailing all the different clients from these orgies. The tapes hold all the dirty secrets against every client. Tape 27 is the one Emma is most interested in. This is the one that shows Lavanda’s death – and would be enough to use as leverage against Anibal. That night at the club, the plan goes awry. Anibal figures out that Tape 27 is missing and confronts Cassandra about it. His paranoia gets the best of him and he kills her. When Emma and Olivia show up, they present the tape to him. In order to appease all this, they ask him for 100,000 euros, Kimmy and their passports. Then, and only then, will they hand the tapes back. Unfortunately Anibal is too cunning for them and manages to bag himself a handgun. He shoots Olivia in the stomach and starts choking Kimmy out. Olivia hits back though and manages to shoot Anibal, presumably killing him too. Unsure what else to do, the girls decide to switch their clothes around and make it look like Cassandra is actually Olivia. Emma and Olivia decide to leave, while using Kimmy as collateral and their alibi to confirm the clothes belong to them. Together, they take Anibal’s body and dump it out at sea. Gallardo happens to be the officer in charge of the investigation. The voicemail left by Emma confirms what’s happened. Kimmy is left behind, where she finds the photo of Olivia and Emma together. The “forgive me” now makes more sense given it’s directed at Kimmy on behalf of the two girls. She may well have ripped this photo in half in frustration at reading this. Meanwhile, Olivia and Kimmy made their way to the orphanage where Sister Irene helped them out and agreed to take them on. She gave them fake birth certificates, with Candance now officially known as Olivia and Emma now Sister Maria. The item locked inside the safety deposit box? The incriminating tapes we’ve bee hearing about. It seems Emma was killed because of the tapes. One thing still hasn’t been accounted for though – Olivia’s trip to Berlin. Well, it turns out Olivia has a daughter there called Paula. She wanted an abortion but Anibal wouldn’t allow it. Eventually she grew to love the child, wanting desperately to be a happy family with Kimmy. Believing that would be too selfish and dangerous, Olivia decided to give the child up. The call from Berlin was actually in regards to her daughter, which explains why she left. In exchange for 50,000 euros she agreed to help her daughter. When Olivia showed up, Gallardo and Saez are there to greet her. They figured out she’s been faking her identity all this time. The situation with her daughter is what gave her up, given she’s supposed to have AIS. Only, how can she be sure the girl is her daughter? This is something Mat himself asks, as the thin slivers of doubt start to show up in Mat’s mind. We’ve got some serious I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes going on guys, could Anibal still be alive? With an arrest warrant out and police looking to tap Mat’s phone, the duo run out of time. Mat is being framed for these murders and right now it’s still unknown exactly why. With the officers surrounding the house, the pair are left with a difficult choice to make. Olivia gives herself up and implores Mat head to Marbella for her. He slips away from the officers, as Olivia is taken before Teo. Only, something is up. He cracks his knuckles and… oh my god, it’s him. It’s the guy!
The Episode Review
The Innocent delivers a fantastic episode, shedding light on everything that happened to Olivia and revealing how all our different characters slot into this. Seeing Olivia’s backstory and how the strip club ties into this story definitely gives off some serious Sky Rojo vibes. However, the entire plan is now starting to take shape, with numerous answers to the questions we’ve had all season. Olivia’s backstory is now laid out for all to see, having been mixed up with Mat by chance. Ironically though, the two managed to save each other in a way. It seems like the nightclub fight early on is jut a big red herring to everything else that’s bee going on. Of course, there’s still time for that to change and it could well be that everything is intrinsically linked to the two timelines. We’ll have to wait and see. One thing that is certain though, is that Teo is one dirty cop. This SCU agent has been acting shady all season long and that knuckle crack late on confirms that he’s one of the clients who frequented the club. He’s also a cold-blooded killer. Given the slight change in character perspective each episode, hopefully we get more answers on what happened to Teo and quite what’s driven him to be this way. This Spanish thriller continues to twist and turn its way through the season. This has been an excellent watch so far though!
