Since 30 Coins began, there has been a dark power steadily rising in the town of Pedraza that has been fermenting and curdling like bad milk with every strange occurrence and once its rage reaches its bitter, destructive zenith, it will no doubt spell doom for the heroic trio of Elena, Paco and Father Vergara.
Oh what? Did you think I was describing the unholy conspiracy that’s taken root at the Vatican and that has plans to disrupt all of humanity in their search of the all-powerful coins?
No, I’m obviously talking about the poisonous jealousy and frustration that’s been welling up within the breast of Paco’s shrew-like wife, Mercedes who, since the first episode, has been slowly simmering like a smoldering firework, ready to finally explode at the worst possible time. After six episodes of seeing her husband neglect their businesses and his civic duties as mayor in order to rush to the aid of Elena like a smitten puppy, its finally time for the first lady of Pedraza to shine and the results will no doubt play like hell has swept into the realms of a spanish soap opera.
As Vergara waits patiently in a Syrian hole for his inevitable execution, he’s visited by a vision of Giacomo who tells him that faith comes to those who want to believe and after that spot of supernatural advice, the battered priest’s luck suddenly begins to turn. Rescued from his captors on route to his final resting place, Vergara and two fellow captives are given a car and after panicked and brutal chase, the priest is finally free to return to Pedraza and face his fears.
He’d better hurry up and get a fucking move on because the devil seems to have literally walked into this town that’s been repeatedly blighted by unholy issues for months. Vergara’s replacement ends up being Angel, the demon that kickstarted all this shit off in the first place when he seduced Vergara’s friend, Santoro, into selling his souland he immediately gets to work, drafting in the Witch from earlier episodes to pour a special type of maggotty dirt into Pedraza’s drainage system which causes an unnatural fog to envelop the town while he pours a black viscous fluid around the outskirts in order to create an inpenetrable barrier. With this done, he starts the relatively easy task of corrupting Merche against her now-estranged husband Paco, using her frustration and pain at his obvious love for Elena to fuel her already sizable grudge. Further goading her into slipping a cursed card into his jacket which causes a debilitating fever, Angel has all but sealed off the town as he waits for the last two players to arrive.
Elena arrives first, fresh from her traumatic Paris trip which saw her lover Roque gunned down moments after reuniting her with the cursed coin she tried so desperately to discard and she seeks out Paco only to find Merche waiting for her. Will this cat fight for the ages be the battle that desides the final fate of the entire world?
While the previous episode was oddly static for a show that’s mastered juggling numerous moving parts while constantly being on the move, the penultimate episode of 30 Coins’ first season gets back on form with style as the sinister final play for the last remaining coin gets well underway. This is due to two characters finally making their push through the crowded plotlines to finally bask in the light with the first being Cosimo Fusco’s charismatic Angel who strode into town last episode like he was already victorious and now gets down to the task of dividing and conquering like he’s being paid for it. It also helps that hes a genuinely unnerving presence, either revealing the imposing, rune-like tattoos he wears on his skin or idly slurping down some viscous black tar he’s brought in a bunch of golden tins – but the most worrying thing about him is his charming, convincing attitude . While creating a choking mist and sealing off the town is a good start, his major play is to finally let a jealous, scorned Merche off the leash once and for all and while we’ve been waiting for this since we first laid eyes on Macarena Gomez’s magnificently socially obsessed shrew, watching her get in touch with her dark side at last is fucking worth it.
The long awaited show down between her and Elena feels like the sort of face slapping face/off you’d get in a Spanish soap if it has somehow been directed by the John Wick guys as the two brawl down a flight of stairs and ends with Elena nearly getting her brains repeatedly beaten out on the bottom step. Its juicy stuff that expertly blends apocalyptic horror with over the fence gossip and its tremendously satisfying now that 30 Coins’ villains are fully on the move.
Also getting some needed screen time before the shit well and truly hits the biblical fan are the townsfolk themselves as this motley group of villagers find that their mob mentality in the face of the unknown has left them sealed within their own town and the sight of them all, uttey terrified and beating uselessly on an invisible force field is a helluva image to close with.
While there is a noticable amount of piece moving here – both Elena and Vergara both conveniently and suddenly show up from other countries much like Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises – the fact that the three leads are mostly absent or downed by a sickening spell means that we get a chance to build that threat level nice and high before the bullet fly and the brimstone falls. The visual beats of this episode are magnificent, raising dread levels by either tipping its hat to murky frighteners like The Fog or The Mist, or riffing on the invisible barrier idea brought up by such things as Demon Knight, Under The Dome and… The Simpsons Movie, I guess, but once again, Akex de la Iglesia takes numerous stock horror concepts, mixes ’em up and makes them his own as the dense plot continues to rocket along.
By the time the end credits hit and the blaring theme tune highlights just how fucked we all are at the sight of Angel triumphantly brandishing the last coin, Iglesia gets one last moment in to really get the blood pumping as a dusty Vergara shows up (all the way from freaking Syria), marches into town, enters his burning church and proceeds to tool up, Rambo style, from the hidden and expansive armoury located behind a secret passage. While I’m not sure how much damage dual uzis will have on a demon waving around a cursed coin, I can’t fucking wait to find out and as the episode ended, I was pumped for a season finale in a way I haven’t been for years.
Let he who is without sin, kick some ass with an automatic machine gun – I guess…
Heavenly.
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