One of 30 Coins’ greatest assets is the unrelenting velocity in which every episode seems to move. Rocketing through every installment like Evel Knieval on the Ghost Rider’s hellcycle, it rarely gives you a moment to breathe which certainly proves advantageous when the show is also prone to flinging utterly insane plot twists or sequences at you that rarely give a shit if they make sense or not.
The first season managed to sustain this breakneck pace all the way up to the season finale which, admittedly, ran out of gas long before the end credits; and yet with The Arcane Symbol, it seems that 30 Coins’ second season has paused to catch its breath weirdly early in an episode that, for once, manages to pace itself a little more conservatively.
However, is this actually a smart move for a show that frequently, and enjoyably, refuses to follow conventional logic?
After nabbing the Black Book of the Mad Arab (love that title), Elena and Paco are finding themselves randomly assaulted by regular civilians who all claim they want to grab the unholy reading material. Safe money is that they’re suddenly being mind controlled, and that’s exactly what Christian Barbrow is doing. Remember that moment a couple of episodes back when he manipulated a librarian into blinding himself by opening the forbidden pages by way of a little, green, action figure? Well, think of them as tiny voodoo dolls that allow Barbrow to move them like pieces around a Dungeons and Dragons board.
While constantly under attack, the pair try to remember the hurried message that a hellbound Vergara managed to pass them via a possessed hobo and realise that they have locate something or someone named “Lombardi”, but have no idea if it’s a place, a person, or something else.
Speaking of Vergara, the put upon priest is beginning to think that aiding the devil in order to thwart Barbrow’s destructive urges may have been unwise (ya think?) and his attempts to control events on earth get him slung into the darkest dungeons of Hell to get mauled by the torture-happy Blind Demons. But locked away, he reunites with his old (and very dead) friend Sandro who gives him a much needed pep talk.
Back on earth and it seems that the plot thread of Antonio and Haruka is finally going somewhere as the the mix of his visions and her large internet following means they have a way to counteract Barbrow’s spells, but back in that sinister psych ward, Laguna discovers that the experiments being done on the residents of Pedraza isn’t just to drain their memories of relevant knowledge; its giving them supernatural powers too.
Turning out to be a more sedate episode than we’re usually used to withstanding, The Arcane Symbol may be the show shifting proceedings down a gear in preparation to launch into the build up for the finale, but a slower, more restrained episode doesn’t particularly do the typically manic show any favours. In comparison, the last episode alone had the autopsy of a hellish spider that came out of Elena’s womb; a bizarre, Indiana Jones sequence involving giant mechanical booby traps; Merche flipping a plane mid-flight with telekinesis and even a sword fight with a mind controlled civilian – in comparison, this episode can barely offer up a man crushed flat and the unexpected return of a very worse for wear Sandro.
While I would hardly call this episode bad, I would arguably proclaim the weakest installment of 30 Coins so far and the issue is that when you finally slow down the pace of the show, you really get a chance to process how silly it all is while you’re watching it, which isn’t a particularly good look.
After their action heavy last episode, Paco and Elena have nothing to do but lay low in a place protected by the titular symbol and it’s somewhat disappointing that they’re once again technically sidelined in order for the gargantuan plot to shift its bulk back into the proper alignment. However, their loss proves to be Haruka’s gain.
Since Najwa Nimri’s blonde, dreadlocked, true crime vlogger showed up at the start of the season, her eccentric goth look and online presence seemed to be a good fit for the famously odd show, however, despite mingling well with the regular cast and bonding in particular with Javier Bódalo’s twitchy Antonio, she hasn’t been allowed to do much save aim her phone at her colleagues portentous rantings. However, with this episode we’re finally seeing her talents pay off because once Antonio figures out how to save Paco and Elena from Barbrow’s mind controlled goons, its Haruka’s sizable online following that allows them to save the day. However, if I’m being honest, having a bunch of Haruka’s online fans show up all wearing T-shirts with the said symbol emblazoned on them is one of the lamer ideas the show has come up with. While every other hellish road block in the show’s history usually has to be overcome in the hardest and bloodiest way possible, just having a mob show up, no questions asked with the appropriate number of t-shirts printed just doesn’t fit in with the aesthetic of the show. Is it because I’m not used to 30 Coins attempting a genuine “feel good” moment? Considering the opening credits have demanded that I watch the crucifixion of Christ and the suicide of Judas no less than thirteen times (with three more to go at least), that’s probably a safe bet and it just doesn’t scan.
What does scan is yet another, frustratingly brief, glimpse at Barbrow’s supernatural abilities and the sight of him orchestrating matter with tiny figures and rolling polyhedral dice like he’s the dungeon master of an apocalyptic role playing game probably is the most accurate representation of how director Alex de la Iglesia and writer Jorge Guerricaechevarria have been putting together this completely mental show from the start.
While this is something of a worrying misstep on the road to the season finale, hopefully this is just the show just pausing to catch its breath because we descend both literally and figuratively into the depths of Hell while patiently wait for these disparate threads to link up fully.
🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 