The Final Twist
Season 2 of High Seas has been quite the bumpy ride up until this point. While the latter half of this season feels like the wind has been taken out of the sails somewhat, the drama has still been good enough to keep you sticking around for the finale. With most of the big plot points resolved and plenty of compelling answers to the big questions, the inclusion of an actual ghost at the end is one of the most bizarre choices this show could have thrown at us after 8 episodes of mystery and tension. Rio de Janeiro beckons and as the ship looks set to dock, the finale begins with Fernando approached and told the gold has gone missing. As a lieutenant boards the ship and tells them he needs to verify the newcomers’ identities, he goes on to tell them no one can leave the ship until they find the gold. Meanwhile Carlos passes away in the infirmary but as he does, he tells the girls to get rid of the gold as it’ll only cause misfortune for them. Eva heads to Casandra’s cabin soon after and tells her she’s confident her Father wasn’t the one responsible for her sister’s death. As the plot thickens, Carolina is captured by Erich while Simon works with him. He hides her in a trunk and locks the lid, while on deck Sebastian appears to have changed for the better after his difficult ordeal last episode. However, while talking to Veronica she takes offence to him presuming she’ll be in a relationship with Dimas in the near future. While the lieutenant searches through the cabins, including Uncle Pedeo’s, Casandra returns to hers where she finds Erich has Carolina tied up to a chair – it turns out he believes she’s the one responsible for killing Rosa. This message gets across to Eva too who refuses to believe Carolina had any part of the killing, but remains in the dark about her sister’s capture. Eva approaches Uncle Pedro and figures out he still has his sight back. As it happens, he was also the one who had the gold bars in his possession all along. Giving it back to the lieutenant, he gives the order and the crew and passengers are free to disembark in Brazil. As he leaves, it turns out he was posing as an officer all along, and was working with Sofia, who both escape with the gold bars in their possession. Back on-board, Carolina tries to escape from her captors but her rash move prompts Erich to put a gun to her head. Casandra refuses to allow him to kill her, and as Fernando walks down the hallways trying to find his partner, Erich stuffs her back in the trunk and takes her away. However, Eva and Nicolas spot the trunk from the balcony and immediately free her, as Casandra points a gun at Carolina’s head and asks if she killed Rosa. She didn’t, as it happens and this stand-off ends with Casandra dropping the gun to the ground. With everything seemingly resolved for now, the three women sign the ledgers by the reception but Francisca’s calligraphy, with its extravagant twirls and neat lines, throws up a massive red flag for Carolina who realizes it was her who forged the letter all along. While Casandra is taken away into custody, Carolina confronts Francisca, whom we see in a flashback shooting Rosa all along. As she looks up at the balcony of the ship, she sees Rosa’s ghost infront of her and runs away. When the girls catch up with her outside, she admits to killing Rosa but it was an accident. Clutching the balcony, she apologises to the spirit before seemingly being pushed off the boat to the deck below by it. As Francisca is taken away with a head injury, Sebastian walks away from the boat alone while Eva hangs back and watches Nicolas reconvene with his wife. Ending where we began all those episodes ago, Eva and Carolina both sit in the car together and contemplate their futures as the car drives away into the distance. Despite wrapping things up nicely, an ominous final message at the end teases another voyage ahead and a possible a third season. High Seas’ second season has been an interesting ride to say the least. The nods toward the supernatural are a welcome inclusion but after 7 episodes, throwing in the ghost at the end feels very tonally inconsistent and an utterly bizarre stylistic choice too. Was Rosa’s ghost there all along? I get that this is supposed to leave things feeling ambiguous and throw numerous question marks around the validity of everything that’s happened up until this point but for me, it just didn’t quite work. I like that Casandra staged the whole supernatural coup early on and that plot twist is arguably the smartest of the season but here it feels like it was all for nothing as we learn the ship does indeed have a ghost. A lot of the characters do receive a satisfying conclusion to their arcs though, but there’s enough left open for a possible third season too. Although I personally preferred the first season in terms of scope and the contained mystery, season 2 does well to juggle a multitude of different characters in a way that never feels convoluted or contrived. High Seas bows out its second season with a neat little bow at the end, one that does just enough to see you over the finish line.
