We Were The Lucky Ones – Episode 5 “Ilha Das Flores” Recap & Review

Ilha Das Flores

Episode 5 of We Were The Lucky Ones begins with Sol’s explanation of Rosh Hashanah – “Rosh Hashanah is a time for reflection. A time when we ask for forgiveness and seek to forgive others. Though, frankly I’m not sure of how we do that right now. I pray that in this darkness, we let our family be our light”. And, Mila runs.

Mila runs through the German gunfire and reach the truck where Felicia is in. She barters her wedding ring and is allowed to climb inside. Back with her parents, Isaac – the Kurcs friend – apologises for what happened with Mila. We understand from their conversation that Isaac is part of  the Judenrat, an administrative body set up by the Nazis with Jewish members as mediators between the Jewish people and the Nazi government in the European ghettos. Sol emphasises that the Judenrat are complicit.

What happened is that the lists made by the Judenrat for safe passage to Palestine is possibly a hoax and the lists are being used by the Germans against the Jewish people. After a few days, Mila visits Isaac, who is on patrolling duty and learns that his family is possible dead. She offers him a home with her but he is uncertain. 

Back in Siberia, Herta is volunteering to breastfeed other children whose mothers are struggling with the same. Genec comes to know about the German attack on the Soviets – meaning that their captors have no reason to keep them in the prison camp anymore.

After a few days, all the prisoners are taken to Uzbekistan. They are informed, midway, that they will be serving in the Polish army for the Polish cause, much to the delight of Genec, and are served hot bread and coffee after what seems to be ages of not having a decent meal. While staying at Uzbekistan, Genec tries to apply for the Polish infantry but is disheartened to see a man rejected since “the Polish army is not accepting Jews.”

After he returns to Herta, they have a disagreement and Herta reiterates that Genec needs to serve in the army so that the family can survive. She asks him to drop his pride and toughen up. Genec, then, asks a fellow resident to teach him how to be a catholic –  because it’s the only way he can join the army. 

Meanwhile, in Lvov, Halina, Jakob and Bella finally get out of the basement after several days. Halina goes over to Adam’s since she had been told that Adam returned to find her whereas Jakob and Bella reach Anna’s house (Bella’s sister). They a find a note that signifies that Anna and her husband were taken to be killed. Bella is shattered and wants to search the forests but Jakob and Halina emphasise that they need to leave Lvov. They plan to leave the city for Radom discreetly with the Underground’s help.

While grouping with the Underground members, Halina finds a prisoner who escaped the labour camp. She inquires him about Adam and he seems to recognise his fake name: Adam Brzoza. Later, while Jakub and Bella are leaving, Halina decides to stay to find Adam. Halina, then, forges papers with the help of a boiled egg to transfer the official seal. She visits the labour camp, hands over her papers and pretends to be an anti-semitic whose husband was mistaken for a Jew, and taken to the labour camp. She offers her family’s silver as a bribe.

In the meantime, Jakob and Bella safely reach Radom. While Sol and Nechuma are elated, Bella and her family are in despair on the news of Anna’s death. 2 months later, Jakob invites them for Rosh Hashanah but they refuse. However, Bella’s mother encourages her to go. At the Kurc’s, Sol receives Halina’s message that she and Adam are safe. As the family rejoice, Bella is heartbroken over her sister’s death and decides to leave. She tells Jakob that she wants to live near the AVL factory, one outside the town and leaves amidst Jakob’s efforts to dissuade her. 

Elsewhere, Addy, Eliska and her mother arrive at a different island, instead of the port of Rio. They are detained with their visa extension denied. Addy learns that even the ambassador cannot help them since he has been forced to retire. Eliska is severely affected by yet another detention. After 2 months of living as prisoners, Eliska relays the happy news that they have been granted amnesty. The three are the last of the Jewish people who have been allowed to enter Rio amidst Brazil’s ban on Jewish refugees.

Addy is devastated to hear the news because his plan was to settle in Rio and smuggle his family out of Europe. Eliska and Addy get into an argument over this where Eliska thinks that Addy is living in the past and not celebrating the present wins. Later, Addy, Eliska and her mother enter Rio where Eliska’s family meet her uncle’s. Addy emphasises that he has money and that he will be fine when Eliska offers him to stay with them. In truth, he has nowhere to go. Giorgio, the representative of the Jewish Benevolent Association of Rio offers to give him shelter and takes him in to spend the Rosh Hashanah with his family.

By the end of the episode, we discover that Halina successfully got Adam out of the labour camp. They went to live in the woods with the Underground members until Adam recuperated, and then relocated to Warsaw where they officialised their union by themselves. Halina asks her family to try and make their way to Warsaw to them. Reading Halina’s letter, Mila decides to leave. 

The Episode Review

Episode 5 of We Were The Lucky Ones was more bittersweet as we witnessed at least one complete happy ending, at least for now. The episode was more stable as the Kurcs, scattered over to different regions, try to make their way towards some sort of stability. 

The one thing that seemed a bit unrealistic and out of the place was when Mila ran towards the truck amidst German gunfire, and was successful in bartering her ring for her life. With German soldiers everywhere, pointing guns from all directions, it seems like an unlikely and miraculous scene in an otherwise well thought-out plot.