Katla – Season 1 Episode 7 “The Rock” Recap & Review

The Rock

Episode 7 of Katla Season 1 begins with Rakel arriving at the crash site. There, she meets up with Einar and Grima who both talk about her story. They learn about Mikael dying 3 years ago but with no sight of Mikael, it’s still unknown where he is. However, Grima does open up about Asa and what she’s dealing with regarding the doppelgangers, prompting her to eventually meet Darri. He believes everything is connected to Katla.

At the hospital, Tor sits with Gunhild while she’s recovering. Asa shows up though and speaks English to Gunhild, learning that she’s in love with her Father. They’re not the only ones at the hospital though. Gisli finds out his wife has between a month and a year to live; it’s not long but enough for Gisli to leave Magnea’s fate “in God’s hands.” And part of that comes from swapping her meds.

Back home, Grima finds the other Grima inside decorating and preparing to paint. She immediately heads out to see Kjartan, who tells Grima she needs to see a specialist. Things are tense between them – and even more so when Grima receives word that she needs to head to the church. It turns out the forensics have come back on the dead body – it’s Asa.

Darri clings to this idea of changelings and decides to see if there’s any science behind the glacier doppelgangers. Whatever’s happening seems to be linked to Katla and he’s dead-set on finding out what. In doing so, Darri rappels right down the crevasse and finds a tunnel there.

This tunnel leads deep underground where ash-covered bodies seem to be consumed in the rock. When Darri makes his way back to the surface, he takes the samples he’s found and notices some strange, almost-sentient reactions in the petri dish.

He finally tells the team what’s happening. It’s a meteorite, as it turns out, and it seems it’s been buried for hundreds of thousands of years. With the glaciers melting from the eruption, the rock is now more active and could well be linked directly to the volcano. In essence, this rock is responsible for everything that’s happening with the changeling. How? No idea, there’s not really much of an explanation. While the team believe they need to leave, Darri is not so sure and decides to stick around.

Bjorn eventually finds Tor at his farm and the pair talk. Tor realizes this child is his own, backed up by older Gunhild who confirms as much. After the truth is finally revealed, they head back to the apartment together but there’s definite tension between them.

Meanwhile, Gisli heads home and heads down to the basement. Only, other Magnea has smashed through the window and she’s managed to slip away.

Grima eventually catches up with her sister though and reveals the truth. She tells her that the autopsy report has come back and the dead body they found is actually Asa. This causes an existential crisis with this version of Asa. She doesn’t know who she is and eventually walks into the water; a symbolic gesture that links back to Grima and Asa’s past when their Mother did the same thing.

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode of Katla ends with a few questions answered – but even more raised in doing so. If a meteorite is responsible for all this, how is it linked to the ash? How are the changelings connected to all this? Does this meteorite have healing powers? Is it some form of alien AI tech? And what really happened to Asa in the past? How did she ends up under the cabin?

There’s a lot of unresolved drama here but there’s no doubting that the atmosphere in this show is fantastic. There’s a really moody undertone to a lot of the drama and this helps to drive the show forward during its slower moments.

That’s just as well because Katla is one slow burn. You need a lot of patience with this and it’s not one to just blast through and binge. However, the mystery is enticing enough to keep you watching.