Jaguar – Season 1 Episode 3 “The Gran Club” Recap & Review

The Gran Club

Episode 3 of Jaguar starts with Otto bringing Lucena out to a warehouse. He’s completely distrustful of Lucena and is clearly testing the man to see if he’ll break.

This test continues inside the barn, where Otto holds a knife and encourages Lucena to kill a horse with it. Keeping a steady eye – and hand – Lucena looks set to do it too, until Otto snatches the blade from him and kills the animal himself. “Kill or be killed.” He utters nonchalantly, reinforcing just how ruthless this Nazi actually is.

Meanwhile, Ilis takes Isabel back to her house. Nazi statuettes and trophies are out in full view to see, although a handgun is missing from the mantlepiece. Isabel keeps her nerves though, as Ilse recognizes that she’s a fellow survivor. As they hold each other’s hands, Isabel tells her there are no secrets between them from now on.

Although Isabel keeps it together at her house, on the way home she begins having a panic attack. Struggling to breathe, it takes Marse talking about his painful past to calm hr down. He reveals his own horrific secrets from his time in the camps. It dos the trick too, and as her breathing steadies, she heads back to the hideout with the others.

Lucena arrives late but with big news – they’ve gained Bachmann’s trust and they’re in his tight circle now. There’s an upcoming meeting at the Gran Hotel with Bachmann and an influential circle of men and women – most of which military personnel. Lucena and Isabel are among those invited to attend, although Isabel showing up with a concealed gun certainly rings alarm bells for Lucena when he finds out.

The pair enter the hall, where the men all sport armbands with “Espana” written on. This is to pay respects to the fallen soldiers from the Blue Division, with Ilse even sporting a blue dress for the occasion. When Otto is escorted out for a private meeting, Isabel and Lucena seize their opportunity to slip away from the party and eavesdrop.

Given the small vents between rooms, it falls to Isabel to sneak in and try to work out what’s going on. She doesn’t gain much but she does hear the pair talking about sending something to the Archbishop Alois Hudal in Grottaferrata.

Midway through this, Ilse comes knocking and forces them to abandon their plans and return to the hall. It seems this conversation is in relation to Heim, although the fragmented pieces of this conversation remain difficult to decipher.

This cautiousness extends to the evening too, as Otto figures out he’s being tailed. He manages to lose Marse in traffic too, and with Ramos seemingly AWOL, the group begin to turn on one another. Lucena keeps them all together for now, encouraging the gang to keep supporting him in their plan to gain revenge.

That evening, while Lucena begins doubting himself, he receives a call from the front office. It’s Ramos and she’s waiting for him in the mezzanine.

When Lucena speaks to her, she speaks cryptically about Heim and what he’s up to. It turns out the man who left the monastery is actually Heim and Bachmann must have left to meet him, which explains why he disappeared at the party.

It seems like Heim has a right-hand man and his assistant should know who that is – and where Heim’s located. The piece of paper handed to Bachmann during that meeting could well be the clue. Both Isabel and Lucena deduce that this could hold important information about Heim’s escape plan.

With a new target set, Castro and The Deaf Man work together to tail Heim’s assistant out in the open. Castro isn’t exactly subtle, eventually leading to him outsmarted in a theatre by the man.

A well-shot skirmish then ensues as Castro chases the man through the theatre, scrambling up stairs and trading gunshots between rows of chairs. When the assistant tries to dash outside, away from Castro, the Deaf Man hits him with a car and holds the man captive.

Beating him to a pulp, Lucena learns that the paper is in the Gran Central lockers. It’s dangerous and getting in and out of the Gran Club is not going to be easy. Isabel decides to go with him, as the pair remain determined to find the papers before it’s too late.

Isabel is the one who manages to open the locker when they get there, stumbling upon a handwritten note that reads “Santa Tecola P1-1.” Unfortunately Isabel is discovered while snooping around, leading to the pair being forced to fight their way out the building with guns drawn.

Meanwhile, Marse, Castro and the Deaf Man all bring Heim’s assistant out into the woods. Alone, Marse holds the man up at gunpoint and fires. It’s something that certainly disturbs him but it’s a necessary evil to keep their mission intact.

The Episode Review

As we reach the halfway point of this enticing series, Jaguar starts to ramp up the action with lots of gunfighting and foot chasing. This works pretty well to spice things up, while Isabel’s espionage brings important information regarding the Nazis and how they plan to escape. Heim is one slippery customer and it’s going to take a lot for these guys to catch him and bring the man to justice.

With crucial information gained at the Gran Hotel, it’s anyone’s guess exactly what will happen next but this series has certainly been well-produced so far. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next but based on this episode, we’ve got lots more drama to come.