The ending of Two Graves revolved around Isabel preventing Rafael Salazar from killing his granddaughter, Veronica, and her lover, Jamila Abdallah. What drove Salazar to commit such a murder? Well, two years before the events of this Netflix miniseries, Veronica and Salazar's daughter, Marta, had gone out partying. They were supposed to return home at 3 a.m., but neither of them returned. An exhaustive search was launched, and authorities found Marta's body in the waters off Frigiliana, Spain.
But there was no trace of Veronica. Eventually, Miguel Zaera, the judicial police, Veronica's father, Antonio, and even her sister, Lupe, gave up. Of the two suspects, Jonas Herrera was released due to lack of evidence, and Johannes Witzke, known for his sexual offenses but unrelated to the case, took his own life. That said, just when the case seemed to be going cold, Isabel took a major step forward when she discovered that Beltrán, a mutual friend of the girls, had taken them to a sordid party.
Stars: Nonna Cardoner, Álvaro Morte, Hovik Keuchkerian
Following the lead, Isabel discovered that news anchor Carlos Jaén was involved. Upon further investigation, Isabel discovered that the last person to see the girls was Jamila Abdallah. As Isabel continued to share these details with Salazar, a notorious gangster, he went on a killing spree. But when Isabel learned from Antonio that Verónica and Jamila were alive and living in Almería, San José, Isabel knew that Salazar would stop at nothing to avenge Marta by murdering Verónica and Jamila.
According to Antonio, this is the factual account of the events that occurred two years ago in Two Graves. After spending some time at the local fair, Marta and Verónica asked Jonas to take them to Los Penones Recreational Park. Marta and Verónica then walked to the house where Beltrán had invited them. They both drank and, as the kids say, took acid. While Veronica was quite adept at drugs and alcohol, Marta couldn't control herself and got lost at the party. Carlos, who was also present, cornered her and raped her. When Veronica saw that Marta had been out of her line of sight for a long time, she tracked her down with Jamila's help and found her in this compromising situation. Marta wanted to go to the police, but Veronica and Jamila felt it would harm her and her friends. The three of them, despite being barely adults, were at that party doing all kinds of illegal things of their own free will. Beltran had invited them, and they had agreed.
Yes, it's true that consent can and should be revoked when one feels uncomfortable. But in Veronica's opinion, the police wouldn't approach the situation with nuance and would portray the three of them as prostitutes, which in turn would reflect badly on their respective families. Marta didn't care about any of that. She wanted Carlos to pay for what he had done— Afterward, if Salazar killed her and Carlos, it would be her responsibility. She had to do what she believed was right. However, that sense of righteousness quickly turned to anger and self-reproach, and those feelings soon gave way to suicidal thoughts. When Veronica tried to stop Marta from slitting her wrists, Marta punched her and slit her throat. In retaliation, Veronica pushed her.
This caused Marta to stumble and hit her head on the cement bench behind her. She died instantly, and instead of calling an ambulance or the police, the girls fled the scene. Veronica went to Antonio, and instead of reporting her for the accidental murder of a gangster's son, he took Marta's body and dumped it in the Mediterranean. He then sent Veronica to Morocco to stay with his friend Farhid until the situation calmed down, and faked her disappearance to make it look like she had died. For the next two years, Antonio lied to everyone about Verónica's life, keeping in touch with her through his work phone at his restaurant.
However, six months after Antonio said goodbye to Verónica, she left Morocco and settled with Jamila at the address Salazar mentioned. Since no one was looking for them, they enjoyed a long period of peace and romance. Fortunately or unfortunately, Isabela's search for her granddaughter revealed the location of her and her girlfriend to Salazar, endangering their lives. For a moment, it seemed that Isabela had decided to sacrifice Jamila by taking Salazar to the hostel in San Pedro where she had hidden her. Salazar didn't know Verónica was still alive. Thus, after killing Jamila, Salazar would think he had avenged Marta and then return to Frigiliana.
While driving Salazar to San Pedro, Isabela told him the truth about that night, hoping he'd understand it had all been an accident and that she had simply left Veronica and Jamila alive. However, as soon as Isabela realized Salazar didn't have the strength to forgive, at the end of Two Graves, she threw them off a cliff into the Mediterranean Sea. Salazar's head hit the windshield, and he died instantly. Although the impact didn't kill Isabela, she chose to drown. Before making this drastic decision, Isabela had asked Antonio to pick up Veronica at the port of San José and keep her in Tangier for the time being. As for Jamila, she was safe at a friend's hostel in San Pedro. Whether the lovers will ever be able to see each other again is a big question. It's unclear whether Veronica, Antonio, and Lupe will be able to live normal lives in São Paulo, Brazil. But yes, that's how this film disguised as a miniseries decided to close this out. I can only judge it right now.
Let's start with the parental aspect of the narrative. Apparently, when Antonio was just a child, Isabela abandoned him to "live it up" with the hippies and didn't appear in his life until he was fifteen. That undoubtedly impacted him. After the birth of Lupe and Veronica, and Antonio's wife's cancer diagnosis, Isabela continued to be an absent mother, as well as an absent grandmother. And, in her later years, although Isabela tried to be there for the three of them, the damage had been done. Now, although Veronica drew a direct line between Isabela's behavior, her mother's death, Antonio's ever-increasing debts, and his need to make money by selling his body to rich people, do I believe it? Well, yes and no. Yes, a person's desire to take a break from their life doesn't just come out of nowhere.
Antonio was a very supportive father. Lupe was a lovely sister. Despite the mistakes Isabela had made in the past, she was always there for Veronica. She had friends like Marta. So, where did this feeling of loneliness really come from? I can speculate that social media, capitalism, the proliferation of hyperfemininity, and the incessant glorification of the patriarchy might have diminished her self-esteem and motivated her to seek validation through sex work. However, since we didn't see any of that, I can't say with certainty that these were the real reasons Veronica decided to enter that world of debauchery and exploitation.
What about the way Veronica dealt with the consequences of her actions? Did she make the right decision by preventing Marta from going to the police? Was Marta's death really an accident? To be honest, no matter what Veronica's intention was, everything she did after learning that Marta had been raped was a complete mistake. She foresaw what the police and society would do and let a rapist make millions as a news anchor for two years straight. Yes, a patriarchal society tends to blame the victim, especially when the rapist is famous. That does lead to a decrease in the number of women reporting being raped. However, when you have a supportive family or a family full of gangsters, if you've been harmed, you shouldn't think about what strangers or the authorities will think of you, and at least report the crime.
Marta wasn't cool-headed and was on the verge of suicide. Sure, she hurt Veronica a little, but it was just a scratch that would have healed in a few days. It would have taken Marta centuries to get over what had happened, and Veronica couldn't stay calm for a second and decided to push the girl, who wasn't stable, either physically or psychologically? Yes, Veronica can claim all she wants that she didn't want to kill Marta, but for a few seconds, she might have. As for Antonio's decision to dispose of Marta's body and fake Veronica's death, and Isabel's decision to die taking Rafael with her, I understand. I mean, I could sit here all day and judge Antonio for not taking Veronica to the police for killing Marta and berate Isabela for killing a father who only wanted to do the right thing for his daughter. However, if I had been in their shoes, I think I would have acted the same way. If it had been a family member I didn't like who committed the crime, then maybe I would have acted righteously. But if it had been my daughter or my granddaughter, I don't think my actions would have been rational, and I would have done everything I could to protect my family.
Sure, you could say that's what he deserved after building his empire by committing several crimes. Sure, he didn't understand that revenge was futile and that he had already avenged his daughter by killing Carlos. And sure, in that moment in the car with Isabela, he didn't understand that the only way out for him was to forgive Veronica for the accident that killed his daughter, and maybe even accept her as his daughter. But I think Isabela dragged him into the depths of the Mediterranean too soon. Maybe she should have talked to Salazar a little more, and he would have calmed down over time.
Maybe she should have taken him to Veronica, and she would have realized that it was okay to let her live. In short, Isabela didn't give Salazar the chance to see things from her perspective. She gave him a download of information, saw him react aggressively, and killed him. You don't do that. In short, the whole situation was chaotic. If you don't want to find yourself in a situation similar to these characters, be a good parent to your children. If you're a kid growing up in these strange times, try to avoid sex parties. And if you're a cop or a gangster with any kind of power, you should spend your entire life jailing or killing pedophiles, instead of extorting innocent people. That's just my opinion. If you have any thoughts about Two Graves you'd like to share with me, the comments section is open to you.
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