Women in Blue – Episode 1 “Maria” Recap & Review

Maria 

In this recap for Women in Blue episode 1 starts with a group of women working at the clothing factory. One of the girls accidentally ruins the fabric, and the owner comes for her.

Thankfully, another worker steps up and takes the blame. The owner orders her to work overtime for five hours with no pay. After finishing the punishment, she is picked up by a Cadillac with a white rooftop and never to be seen alive again.  It turns out there is a serial killer in the city who has been killing women and leaving them naked. For this reason, the media has named him, The Undresser. 

Elsewhere, we are introduced to Maria, a wife and mother of two. She is also the sister to Valentina, a fiery human rights activist currently protesting against the police’s slow measures to deal with the serial killer.

We also have Gabina, the daughter of the local police captain. All her brothers are cops and Gabina desperately wishes she could be a cop. Sadly, she is expected to stay home and help their mom.

Lastly, we have Angeles, who lives with her grandmother and works as a lab technician at the police office. She has worked there for the past three years but has yet to get a pay raise.

All these women are battling their issues. Maria feels her husband is working too much and decides to surprise him at work for his birthday. She ends up discovering that her husband is having a torrid affair and using his business travels to entertain his mistress. Still, Maria is scared to confront him and tries to act like everything is fine. 

Meanwhile, the new police chief, Escobedo, goes on air and announces that he will reform the police force. He announces that they will be starring a programme to train women who desire to be cops.

The plan is to use these reforms to take attention from the President and the police for failing to capture the Undresser. It is a political strategy, but many people doubt that women can be police officers. Of course, Escobedo markets the idea to the media as if it is a groundbreaking, historical moment that will empower women.

After the announcement, many people argue about whether women should be police officers. Maria has a birthday dinner with her husband and their friends and they talk exhaustively about this. Their friends find it funny that Maria wanted to be a detective when she was young. 

In the meantime, Valentina calls her ex-boyfriend to bail her out. He insists that they are done and he is dating someone else. Valentina dares him to leave her and he does. She is forced to call Maria to bail her out. Maria confesses that she has been stressed since learning about her husband’s infidelity. Valentina encourages her to stand up for herself and confront Aldo.

However, Maria tries to convince Aldo to take a work break and go on a vacation. Aldo refuses and leaves for his trip, saying he needs to check on the ongoing project. Maria is enraged by this and decides to join the police force along with her sister Valentina.

On the other hand, Escobedo recruits a former cop, Romandia, to lead the training. Romandia was initially kicked out of the force due to his anger issues and his colleagues still mock him about it. Nonetheless, Romandia is determined to do right by the women and train them hard.

The following morning, the women meet each other at the police camp. Although Maria’s mom is against her daughters’ decisions, she is still supportive. She promises to watch the kids and keep Aldo in the dark until he returns from his trip.

However, Gabina is on her own as she lies to her dad and sneaks into the camp. Her brother tries to take her from the camp but Gabina stands her ground and the other women support her. The training starts on a serious note under Romandia’s guide. After two weeks, the women end their training by free-falling from a plane. 

At first, Maria hesitates, but Romandia encourages her to jump and shows her how empowering it feels. Just before their graduation, Aldo returns and visits Maria at the camp. He apologises and asks her to return home. Maria is ecstatic to hear Aldo will hand over the Alpuco project to his colleague and work on their marriage. However, she tells him that she still wants to be a police officer and he promises to support her. 

At the same time, the Undresser continues to terrorise the city, killing more women. Escobedo uses the women’s graduation ceremony to take attention from the latest victim. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, the Undresser takes another victim, Paola. This time, the victim’s sister sees the Cadillac but doesn’t think much about it. 

The Episode Review

It is interesting to look back on history and realise that women went through a lot to earn a seat at the table. Escobedo wanted to start the programme for selfish reasons but he unknowingly helped so many women get their voice. Gabina finally stood up for herself and followed her dreams.

Maria felt empowered enough to be honest with her husband. Angeles did what she felt necessary to help take care of the bills, and Valentina found the resources she needed to change the system from the inside-out. 

It is a bold and empowering move that these women desperately need. However, they are just done with their training, the real work starts when they get to their respective police station. Will they be able to withstand the toxic patriarchal system and fight back?