A Decision
Episode 8 of Intimacy begins with all the drama we’ve seen thus far compounding into this final chapter. Malen sits with Alicia at the police station, telling her entire story and officially filing a complaint regarding the sex video released several weeks back. This, of course, sparked the unfortunate series of events that have followed across the season.
Do the political party support Malen?
Malen warns Alfredo that things could become heated. Unlike earlier in the season though, he’s much calmer this time, prompting Malen to tease him about his changed demeanour.
In releasing this information, then two possible suspects are named – Cesar (whom we know has had his fair share of problems across the season) and a second individual that’s actually responsible for distributing this. We’ll get to who that is shortly, don’t you worry dear readers!
Maren calls a board meeting together at the mayor’s office and implores her team to support her as their candidate. She reminds the group that nothing she’s done has disqualified her from running. Unfortunately, the sex video has left a sour taste in their mouth and they’re all leaning toward political rival Gorka instead. Malen emotionally curses them out and leaves.
Does Bego get closure?
Meanwhile, Juan Mari speaks to Bego about the upcoming trial. Jon Aldaola’s lawyer has filed a statement of repentance. Basically, it means he’s not going to get the maximum sentence but he will still get charged. This guy was Ane’s ex and Bego is warned to pick her battles carefully by Malen’s father, who continues to support her.
Bego obviously hasn’t made any friends this season, sniffing around the factory and throwing that bouquet of flowers down during their round of applause for Ane, demanding the truth. Off the back of all this, one of the factory worker’s wives confronts Bego at the grocery store. Bego doesn’t lash out or get angry though, she figuratively kills her with kindness. Bego gently reminds the woman that she lost Ana and nothing can bring her back.
What happens with Liere? Does she go to juve?
Meanwhile, Alfredo takes Liere into the courthouse where the young woman learns she could get a conviction and end up in juvenile detention following what she’s done. Juan Mari is there to fight for her case, promising the judge that she’ll take her medication and is open to change, bettering herself so nothing like this will happen again. Thankfully the judge is lenient and Liere is not incriminated.
Who released the video?
As for Alicia, she heads back on the scene and arrests Andoni Segurola, charging him for releasing the images of Maren. It turns out Cesar’s wife discovered that her husband actually had possession of a second phone and it only had one number on it. That belonging to Andoni.
Andoni and Cesar were in on it together, and this could be pieced together thanks to her dropping the phone off at the police station. It’s a pretty abrupt way of dealing with something that’s been a mystery hanging over this show for 8 episodes but there we go.
When he’s interrogated, Andoni nonchalantly admits that it was a partner in Cesar’s former production company who filmed the incident on the beach. He’s not ashamed of it either, believing that he did his duty to show Maren cannot be trusted. He kept quiet about this at the time as he believed he’d be vilified as a white male.
Alicia is smart though. She’s figured out the injuries that Cesar has suffered from and knows this is no mere accident. In other words, she knows Andoni was behind his attack.
When Malen finds out about the outcome of all this, she apologizes for giving Alicia a hard time. On her way outside the station, a whole group of protestors are there, applauding Malen’s efforts for standing up for what’s right. It’s a really beautiful scene, especially as everyone (including Bego) are there to applaud her.
What convinces Malen to go back?
With this wrapped up, Alfredo sits down with Malen back home and apologizes for how he’s acted across the season. He tells Malen that he did “everything a man is supposed to” but in reality he just wanted to be with her at home as a family. He’s decided he’s not a good businessman or politician so he’s going to stay at home and take care of her.
Off the back of this, Malen’s political party phone Malen and apologize for how they handled her situation in the past. They want her to be their candidate after all, giving them their full support. They’ve realized Gorka isn’t a good fit, and he’s even resigned. Malen refuses to entertain them though, seeing this as their desperate plea to get her back now that they don’t have a candidate. “Try harder.” She says, and hangs up.
Miren meets with Malen outside and admits that she was a victim of sexual harassment too. The way the party handled it was less than ideal, given the sexist undertones and how men are treated far more favorably in instances like this. However, despite all of that, she tells Miren that
“you’re not what they deserve, but what they need,” in reference to the party, giving her food for thought.
How does Intimacy end?
Bego finally starts to heal from what happened to Ane, while Alicia heads back with her partner to get more eggs, happily together moving forward. Malen and Alfredo get back together too, and even help Leire with therapy after the abuse she went through.
In the end, Malen decides to step up as the political candidate after all but as she looks at her own poster, the wounds of the past are hard to ignore.
The Episode Review
So Intimacy bows out its 8 episode run with a neat little bow, wrapping up all the subplots and stories we’ve been following across the season. I can’t help but feel this could very easily have been wrapped up in 5 or 6 episodes, with a lot of the past meandering through unnecessarily and padding the run-time out.
However, each of these stories are important in their own ways, highlighting systemic sexism and abuse that women go through in different walks of life. There have been some lovely visual motifs to show this through the episodes, and the stories have been pretty engaging, with a neat montage at the end to tie everything up.
The way the mystery was unveiled and wrapped up though definitely leaves a lot to be desired. It does feel a bit abrupt how Andoni was arrested and brought to justice, while the other subplots – like that involving Bego and Ane – didn’t feel as substantial with long flashbacks to try and drag this one out to the finish line.
This certainly hasn’t been a bad series, but it’s not a particularly great one either. Despite the heavy topics, this one feels drawn out and overlong. Still, at least we didn’t get a cliffhanger ending!
Read More: Intimacy Season 1 Review
Thanks for reading our Ending Explained article! What did you think of Intimacy Season 1’s ending? Do you think everyone had a good ending? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Ending ok…. liked her in money heist as well.