It tells a crime story set in the 16th century Seville during an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
- REVIEW: The Plague (S1 E1&2/6) – The Killing Times
Mateo makes Valerio a deal – they will both escape their pasts and seek out the New World. A quick deal with Luis’s contacts gets them both passage on the next boat to America – but unfortunately for Mateo also raises the interest of the Inquisition, who lie in wait to arrest him as a heretic whilst Valerio escapes back to the city.
For the second time in as many days Mateo is offered an ultimatum to save his soul – help the Inquisition find the killer of a prominent merchant.
Celso confirms the man is Ignacio Azuaga, one of the wealthiest merchants in Spain, and simply states Mateo’s freedom can be won by bringing his killer to justice.
...there’s the more curious story of Germàn’s widow and her hidden career as a famous European painter.
Death and money rule everything in this city; we’ve yet to see little of any light in this otherwise dark and foreboding world that’s been well crafted by the production team.
- REVIEW: The Plague (S1 E3&4/6) – The Killing Times
Seville is shut down this week in historical crime drama The Plague when the illness forces the council to close its borders as La Peste rages through the city like a wildfire; amidst the dead and dying a serial killer is still on the loose and unlikely duo Mateo and Valerio must find the murderer before they strike too close to home.
Meanwhile, Teresa’s obsession with Eugenia has disastrous consequences for the widower whilst Luis’s quest for power knows no bounds as he sinks ever lower to reach higher on the social ladder.
The reason Mateo was deemed a heretic in the first place was because he was helping protestants publish books banned by the Inquisition – and it’s his printer that’s being used again to produce blasphemous works.
- REVIEW: The Plague (S1 E5&6/6) – The Killing Times
Shaking off his doubts, Mateo and Valerio crack the code in Ledesma’s ‘bear bible’ that reveals all his Protestant co-conspirators names – not only all the murder victims but those still living – including one Luis de Zúñiga.
Ah Luis. Twinkle-eyed Luis and his obsessive quest for fame and fortune – his downfall was always going to be the most spectacular. After switching places on the council with the now very deceased Morata, he plots a home invasion on the council leader to engender the fear that riots and a people’s revolt are not far behind. Winning the council’s backing to release the large stockpiles of wheat he owns to the general public to quell any dissent, he secretly trades this to have the embargo lifted on the port for two days to enact his final plan.
But it’s all for naught – armed with the names of Ledesma’s conspirators, the Inquisition swoops in and arrests Luis, Azuaga’s son, Captain Utrera and others. Their plot was to ship forged silver bars to Flanders to fund the Protestant Dutch’s efforts to take over Spain.
The sleuthing pair return to Carmen’s shack and under some pressure she reveals she told the Grand Inquisitor something that she kept from Mateo – that the remaining Protestants were plotting something very big – a national coup.
Armed with this knowledge Mateo recounts his previously blindfolded steps back to the infamous “chamber of secrets” only to discover it empty as it was a setup – instead he finds Grand Inquisitor Celso de Guevara and the real Nubla, a huge monolith of a man, who promptly stabs him within an inch of his life.
De Guevara explains his plan – it was the Inquisition behind the murders and they used Mateo to flush the remaining co-conspirators out and expose the plot to fund the Dutch. They dump Mateo in the gutter and leave it to God to decide if “he lives or dies”. Luckily, Valerio finds him and whisks him off to Monardes – who after slapping on some “egg and turpentine” saves the beleaguered sleuth.
Knowing he is no match for the might of the Inquisition, Mateo makes sail for the Americas in the search of a new life.
Valerio stays behind to become the heir apparent to his father’s factory, after Teresa is stonewalled by the odious sexism of the Guild Council that she cannot run it herself.
Eugenia completes modelling for the painting – Teresa’s first under her own name and a rallying cry against the violence of men – and returns to her old life of prostitution.
White flags appear over dwellings across Seville to signify the plague is abating – people take to the streets in drunken revelry.
But as Monardes warns : “It’s a cycle. The plague will never be gone. It will remain dormant in our furniture, in our clothes.
Patiently awaiting to be awakened by man.”
- With a second series already in pre-production it will be interesting to see where they take the show, but it will be a welcome return none the less.
- Spanish actor detained after ridiculing 'God and the Virgin Mary' | World news | The Guardian
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