Confession Absolves Us Of Any Guilt
Episode 2 of Gloria starts with two men arriving at Ursula’s house, under orders to take her back to RARET. She’s suspect number 1 here, given she was the operator in charge of translating the tape. Given it’s now missing, replaced with the fake by Joao of course, it puts her squarely in the firing line. James Wilson and agent Bill watch everything she’s doing as she’s questioned, including her shaky hands when mentioning she was alone. The maid, Carolina, corroborates Ursula’s story though. However, Ursula does mention going to the bathroom for several minutes. This, combined with interviews involving Ramiro and Goncalo, allow Wilson to deduce that it’s either in the studio or some time between the hand-off that the tape has been tampered with. Joao is also a possible suspect here too. Interestingly though, Ursula feeds back to Joao what’s happening out in the hallway, worried that she’s going to be incriminated for not keeping a better watch on the tapes. Joao tries to reassure her but he too is walking a fine line with the authorities. While Ursula struggles to keep it together, so too does Joao as he’s reminded of his time in the war. Between flashes of explosions in the heat of battle to explaining to the other operators what his time in Africa was like, he’s been through a tough time. Henrique even shows up in the morning, checking up on Joao. He’s concerned, making sure he doesn’t make a fool of himself at RARET, and needing to attend a funeral back home. Henrique uses this as an opportunity to gently probe his son over his tour in Angola but Joao is cagey, refusing to open up much. Back at RARET, Joao heads in for his usual coffee. There, he gets talking to Carolina who previously said goodbye to her partner Fernando. He’s a soldier and bound to war, heading for the front lines. There’ a pretty creepy moment after this though, when Carolina heads into the street. Ramiro approaches and is a little too handsy, telling her she shouldn’t be sad and will not be alone. Ramiro’s creepiness extends back home though where he ends up assaulting his wife, Sofia, and raping her on the sofa. It’s a horrible scene and her pained, turned face, followed by sobbing, makes for a pretty uncomfortable viewing. The subject of the tape is still a hot topic though and Goncalo is convinced that it’s Ursula. These “foreign translators” are not looked at fondly by the workers, but Goncalo claims he never actually knew Mia. Now, this is an outright lie, as we find out later in the episode when Joao sees pictures of them together. Ursula begins to break down, and phones Joao looking for guidance. While they talk, she asks outright about the tape, believing Joao may be the one responsible. Joao shrugs it off but the conversation is awkward at best, leading to Ursula hanging up after deciding not to risk her life for him anymore. When Joao reports Ursula’s cold feet to his superiors, they promise to take care of her. Joao’s pleas not to harm her fall on deaf ears, as he’s told to focus on events at RARET instead. Through another espionage scheme, a fake passport is planted in Ursula’s desk thanks to an “anonymous tip”, which puts the blame squarely on Ursula. Ursula knows she’s in hot water and has already packed her things with her partner, Cesar, determined to get away and make a fresh start. Only, this doesn’t exactly look great when she’s snatched up on the side of the street by agents claiming to be with PIDE. They bag her head, bundle her in the car and take off. Now, the real kidnappers are actually the KGB, with undercover agent Irina and Alexandre both there to oversee proceedings. It doesn’t take long for her to talk, incriminating Joao. As soon as she does, Irina casually slits her throat and lets the young woman bleed out right there.
The Episode Review
Alas, the plot thickens. The second episode of Gloria starts to tighten things up at RARET, as James Wilson and the others remain determined to track down who’s responsible for the tape switch and bring them to justice. The only trouble is, it’s actually Joao, who flies largely under the radar thanks to the obvious red herring in Ursula. Ursula is an unfortunate casualty in this war; the classic case of a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her death is pretty shocking and although necessary for the KGB, remains a harsh reminder that no one should cross these people – no matter what. The ending once again leaves things balanced on a precarious knife edge too, with questions raised over exactly what’s going to happen next. Either way, this is another solid episode for what’s otherwise been an enjoyable thriller thus far
