There are several disaster films and shows that cover the events leading up to the catastrophe. It only adds to the tension, as it is interesting to find out who’s going to survive. La Palma, the Norwegian Netflix Original, is about an island in Spain that is known to be seismologically volatile. The Norwegian tourists on the island face the disaster head-on and try to get out as soon as possible. The tension build up is mainly about who will make it out alive.
Spoilers Ahead
Who detected the change in the tectonic plates?
La Palma began with a boat accident that involved a local guide and several tourists. All of them died when the volcanic gases started emitting from the sea water, causing it to heat up and wreck the boat. A while after the accident, Marie, a Norwegian geologist working in La Palma tracked the same volcano’s movements. She and her colleague Haukur visited the cave inside the volcano on seeing some changes in the meter on their system. They found a large crack inside the cave that went up to the surface of the volcano and realised this could cause a landslide followed by a tsunami that would devastate the islands including La Palma as well.
Marie asked Alvaro, her boss, to inform the authorities and start evacuating the island. Alvaro refused because had issued the same warning a few years back, and it had created chaos. Alvaro, on the other hand, found out that the tourists who’d died in the boat accident had tons of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in their bodies. Alvaro presented the matter to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge on Marie’s insistence. Marie herself had been a witness to her parents being swept away by the sea in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.
Were Jennifer and Fredrik having trouble in their marriage?
Jennifer and Fredrik were a married couple with two children, Sara and Tobais, and were visiting La Palma for Christmas. Sara was Jennifer’s daughter from her previous marriage and Tobias was her son with Fredrik. Fredrik was insecure about the fact that his wife was in much better shape than him, and sensed men in the resort were flirting with her. Jennifer and him had a conversation about their crumbling marriage when she learnt that Tobias had gone missing for a few minutes. It was during that conversation it was revealed that Tobias was on the spectrum. An angry Fredrik also let her know that Sara was probably depressed and Jennifer may have been ignoring it.
Why was Sara upset?
On reaching the resort at La Palma, Sara was attracted to a girl of her age who introduced herself as Charlie. The girl later on during a conversation snapped at Sara. Adding to her agony was Sara hearing her parents arguing. Out of distress, Sara left La Palma and headed to catch a flight back home to Madrid. She informed her uncle Jens, who worked at the Norwegian embassy, about needing money once she lands in Madrid. Jens politely refused and asked her to go back to her parents but she boarded the flight anyway. Just minutes before the take off, she received a message from Charlie apologizing for her behavior.
Did Sara die in the plane crash?
The volcano on La Palma Island erupted, and soon Jennifer learned from her brother Jens that Sara had flown back to Madrid. The flight Sara had boarded crashed because of the volcanic ash in the air after the eruption. Jennifer and Fredrik panicked and headed to the hospital but could not find Sara there. A devastated Jennifer and Fredrik came back to their room to find Sara alive and healthy. Sara had deboarded the flight on receiving a message from Charlie. She’d confessed her love to Charlie on reaching the resort and came out to her mother as a lesbian the next day.Â
Who informed Jennifer about the impending natural disaster?
Jens was informed about the impending tsunami that was going to hit La Palma and Tenerife. He was aware that his sister and her family were at La Palma, but protocol required him to not inform anyone to avoid chaos. Jens informed his sister about the tsunami and asked her to take her family to Tenerife. Jennifer quickly understood what was going on and asked everyone to leave the resort with only their passport. Sara was desperate to find out what was the reason behind the sudden exit, and Jennifer had to let her know. Since Sara was in love with Charlie, she tried to inform her, but to no avail. The family quickly reached the ferry on the stolen resort car, but Fredrik was detained for the theft. He begged his wife and children to go to Tenerife without him.Â
How did Fredrik meet Marie and Eric?
Marie’s brother Eric was interested in her nature and geology as well. A long while before the volcano erupted, his diving expedition helped him conclude that the turtles in the sea were swimming away from the rocks and the cliffs and he let Marie know about it. Marie wanted him to leave for Norway after informing him about the tsunami, but the same evening, in her bid to save her brother from an arrest, she accidentally hit a policeman and was detained instead. The second volcanic eruption happened, leading to warning sirens going off across the islands. Fredrik was still stuck on the island and had his final goodbye call with Jennifer.
Eric was able to get Marie and another prisoner out of the jail and met Fredrik outside the station. Eric let Marie and Fredrik know of a boat he used frequently and they found it to be intact on reaching the shore. The three were held at gunpoint by the criminal Eric had released, who forced them to give him the boat. Eric decided to tackle him, but the criminal ended up shooting him. Eric died instantly but Fredrik killed the criminal and took off with the boat.
Was Jens apprehended?
Jens was apprehended for leaking classified information to his family. He was keen to meet someone named Hugo who could calculate wave sizes and where the tsunami could hit. He had data and models to prove his expertise, which Jens’ boss was not interested in. Jens wanted to know about a safe spot on Tenerife island, and thanks to Hugo, learned that there was one. His boss was not interested in this data, and in rage Jens spoke to the media about the place in Tenerife where the chances of the large waves hitting the shore was less. Fredrik learnt about the safe spot on reaching Tenerife Island and got back in the boat with Marie in the hope the map would guide them to the right place. The landslide happened, and there were only moments left before the wave would hit Tenerife island with full force.
Did Alvaro and Haukur die?
Alvaro and Haukur knew they would die when the first explosion happened. Haukur got discharged from the hospital and was sad to find out Alvaro was going to face the hit and possibly was ready to die. Alvaro and Haukur spent their last day drinking alcohol and then put on suits that would protect them from the toxic volcanic gases. Both walked up to the top of the active volcano with a bottle of wine. The part of the volcano they were on crumbled and slid away; both went down with it and died within minutes as they fell into the lava.
What happened at the airport?
Jennifer, Sara, and Tobias reached the airport, but they were still hoping Fredrik would catch up to them soon. The chaos at the airport was increasing, and understandably so, because the alarm was set off at the last minute, and the authorities were not ready for an evacuation of this level. This proves that the government ignored Marie and Alvaro’s warning, and since things were out of control, they would have to do their best with whatever they had and blame the rest on the natural disaster. Sara spotted Charlie at the airport and begged her mother to get her to be with them. This was a selfish move by Sara, but since she was young and in love, she wanted to go out of her way to help the person she cared for. Jennifer also had to let her go out of desperation, which was the wrong move. It’s inevitable in a show like this for a family to split up at the height of an emergency. This would heighten the tension as the audience would watch till the end to find out if everyone survived the disaster.
Jennifer and Tobias initially boarded the plane but decided to get out to find Sara. Sara and Charlie boarded the same flight, hoping her mother and brother would be on the flight. This confusion was again added on for the sake of drama as the disaster that was about to hit was inevitable. Sara and Charlie were young women in love and wanted to be with each other as they were minutes away from being either killed or rescued if the flight took off. Sara called her mother, and she was devastated to find out Jennifer had deboarded with Tobias to find her. Sara somehow did not feel any guilt for abandoning her family, who were at the brink of facing the worst nightmare of their lives. Jennifer asked her not to leave the flight, as this was her chance to save herself and leave the island before the wave hit. Jennifer and Tobias began to follow the info being shared by everyone about the safe spot, something her daughter shared as well. Sara and Charlie were not lucky as the plane had stalled due to a crack on the runway, and the wave eventually hit the aircraft.
Who survived the tsunami?
Fredrik and Marie were on the boat again to head to the safe spot, as mentioned in the map. The huge wave was following them, and this could cause PTSD in Marie since she lost her parents in the same fashion. She was at her worst since she lost her brother as well. Fredrik somehow knew they both had to survive and took the chance. There was only a fifty percent chance of them surviving, but Fredrik was a different person now. He wanted to do something to prove that, and saving himself and Marie was one such gallant act that fit the bill. Since Jennifer had asked him to upgrade himself as a person and a husband, this was the chance for him to do that. As the map conked off since Fredrik’s phone died, he took a chance and turned the boat around to enter, waters between, two cliffs. He wasn’t sure if this move was right, but it was a make-or-break, split-second decision. The waves collided, and that reduced the impact which saved Marie and Fredrik from drowning.
Fredrik and Marie reached the shore to find out many people had followed the same info and made it to this part of the island. Fredrik had believed he lost his family since they were separated right from the start. He had lost hope of meeting with them since he knew the island they were at was the most affected. After a small while he was happy to hear Tobias shouting his name. It was a heartfelt reunion until Jennifer let him know that they’d lost Sara as she was on the flight. Back on the flight, Sara was injured, but she somehow survived the disaster. She also found Charlie next to her and assumed she was unconscious. There was a flicker of fear that she may have died, but Sara was unwilling to believe that. The security personnel on board, who also survived the tsunami performed CPR on her. Charlie regained consciousness in no time, but she was grievously injured. This reunion was supposed to be happy since they had just fallen in love but if Charlie had passed, Sara would not have been able to recover from it. It was tacky and clichéd to have the family separated and then have them enjoy their love-filled reunion.
The survivors of the flight were flown down to the beach that was now the safe zone. The government, which was initially against Jens’ plan to use that place, was now utilizing it to rescue the people who survived the tsunami. This was their way of taking the credit from Jens, though he was the first person to inform the world about it. Sara was finally reunited with her family once again. This was her second stint with a plane-related incident, and she survived. Luck was on her side throughout as she was back with her loved ones. Jens was visited by a colleague who congratulated him for spreading the news about the safe space. She wanted to let him know he was the hero here who went against the status quo and helped the people instead of waiting for things to get worse. Jens was proud of himself, and he knew his work would be appreciated eventually.
La Palma ended with Eric’s voiceover that spoke in detail about the turtles he had seen swimming away long before the volcanic eruptions and landslide happened. This was also witnessed by Tobias as well when he was looking into the sea water from a beachside cliff.
Eric, who had mentioned the turtles moving away from the island was peculiar and he could not decipher what it meant back then. Eric revealed that turtles were even older than dinosaurs and it made sense that they were going to another part of the sea for a reason. They sensed the shift in the tectonic plates long before the humans could sense it in real time. Turtles moving away should have been a sign and Marie should have taken her brother’s words seriously. This also indicates that animals like turtles have their way of warning humans who live on the surface about the impending doom. They were quick to run to safety and protect themselves. This indicates that turtles were far smarter than humans. As per the plot, the humans took a long time to react when they knew a calamity was not that far away. Instead of working towards saving their own people, they got hung up on the blame game. Eric wanted to prove that nature and her signs needed to be taken seriously, but sadly it was too late.
