The Barrier – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

No One’s Child

We begin episode 8 of The Barrier in Madrid 25 years ago. Luis packs up his things and drives down a coastal road with Alvaro. He’s on his way to find his child but as he calls out for his friend, we suddenly cut back to the present.

Luis is understandably grieved following the loss of his friend. He heads back to the wake being held at his house, where Julia and Hugo do their best to keep their emotions in check. Luis however does not.

He shows up looking a wreck and marches up to the Commander, taking him aside and demanding a word. Given the open minister position, rumors are circulating that he’s about to get a promotion. Luis is not messing around though and accuses him – in no uncertain terms – of shooting innocent people.

Jiminez brushes these concerns aside but there’s obviously tensions between the two. On the back of this, Luis decides to head back out again but refuses to tell Ivan or his wife where. With Alma struggling to keep it together, she palms Sergio off to Julia and tells her to take him to the pool.

Carlos is given his next assignment – which just so happens to be Emilia. He follows her as Emilia starts searching through Clara’s apartment. She senses someone is near and holds a gun up… to Luis. She admits to finding evidence stashed away but Carlos happens to be listening from the other room.

Luis realizes someone else has been inside the room, prompting the duo to collect up their things and hurry away. Just before they do, they embrace warmly outside.

Julia and Hugo make it past the checkpoint with Sergio. They start dancing outside in the street, encouraging Sergio to do the same. Unfortunately they get way too wrapped up in what they’re doing and lose sight of Sergio.

This young boy is taken away leaving Julia and Hugo scrambling through the streets to try and find him.  Marta finds his glasses on the floor which serves as a vital clue.

Alex eventually finds the boy outside with an old man. He manages to save the child while the old man scurries away.

Meanwhile Ivan returns home and finds the Commander there sniffing around. He doesn’t seem phased though and waves him away. Instead, he speaks to Alma and shows photos of Luis and the Miniser together, calling him a traitor and twisting things to make it seem like he’s having an affair.

Daniela shows up and tells her Mother that she’s going to visit Laura later that day. As the Commander takes his leave, she mentions how he done them a favor.

Luis heads home after an arduous day and finds his son blind drunk. He’s torn up about the minister but the pair have a heart to heart all the same. In the wake of this, Ivan warns that their Mother has been with Enrique and he shouldn’t trust her.

Back at the house, the old man from before shows up with two others, claiming that their son is there. Reluctantly Hugo and Julia let him in and hear their story. It turns out their son was taken off to a hospital when he was younger and they never saw him again. He may well be one of the children taken by Alma for her experiments.

Checking Sergio’s ear, they find the familiar injection marks which seems to hint at this too. It appears that this child is definitely theirs but Hugo breaks up this family reunion; they need to bring the kid back to the minister’s house. If they don’t, all of them will end up in prison.

He implores them to listen to reason and eventually they do. When they bring Sergio back home, Hugo requests to see the minister. He’s not there though and won’t return until Monday.

With that in mind, the pair seize their opportunity and snatch up the child, whisking him away on a “sleepover”. It’s incredibly risky and a plan that puts them all in harms way. For now though, Hugo manages to calm Emilia with a story about her sister.

On the back of what he’s learned, Luis speaks to his wife about the current situation and what he’s found out. Alma begs him to think of the family and pleads with him to keep them out of trouble. Luis refuses though; he’s going to keep looking into the assassination no matter what.

Alma speaks to the Commander again and worries that everything is falling apart for them. At the same time, Luis rings through to Emilia and plays music from his car – something that they both reminisce on about the past.

As the episode closes out, Carlos shows his face and tells Julia that Marta is in danger. He quickly hurries away into the shadows just as Begona arrives. On the pen he hands over to her happens to be evidence from the facility with all the different children – including Sergio and Marta who happen to be important subjects.

The Episode Review

With more of the experiments revealed and Luis looking set to turncoat and try to overthrow this new world order, The Barrier delivers another decent episode. After the pockets of action and various killings we’ve had in the past few episodes, The Barrier settles down slightly to being setting the foundations for the fight ahead.

There’s clear divides growing now though and with Carlos playing both sides – a dangerous game for sure – he may prove to be the defining character here in turning the tide of this upcoming war. Quite who will come out on top though, remains to be seen.