When we first start watching the series “The Accident,” we already know that something terrible is going to happen. But what actually unfolds is more than just a tragedy. On the day of Emiliano and Daniela’s son Rodri’s birthday, three children tragically lose their lives while playing in a bounce house. However, one little girl, Paula—Fabian’s daughter—gets swept away in the bounce house into the air and disappears for three long days. Miraculously, she is found alive. How she survived remains a mystery, and people start to believe she might be a gift from God, that perhaps the Virgin Mary protected her through it all. What truly happened to that innocent child? That’s the journey we’re about to dive into and uncover.
Spoilers Ahead
What might have happened to Paula when she got lost?
Paula was the daughter of Fabian, a psychiatrist, and Roxana Gallardo, a theater artist. Her parents had separated, and Paula lived with her father. Roxana had chosen her passion for the theater and her fame over her family, which caused them to drift apart. Paula was the lucky little girl, the only one who survived that terrible accident. The very accident that happened because of Emiliano’s mistake, and caused the bounce house to lift into the air. Sadly, Paula’s three friends died in the process. But when the bounce house started to rise, it also carried Paula with it. The poor girl screamed and screamed, but no one found her for three days. Even though Rodri had died, Fabian and Daniela still went searching for Paula in the jungle by the river. A whole search team was out there looking for her too. Everyone believed there was a good chance Paula didn’t make it—she could have fallen into the river, or maybe she got lost in the jungle. But one day, while Daniela, Fabian, and the search team were scouring the river area, they finally found her. Paula was under a den by the waterfall. She was alive but unconscious, so they rushed her to the hospital.
When Paula woke up, everything changed. She started talking about seeing the Virgin Mary, and soon, everyone was after her – from curious people to the media. All thought that maybe it was the Virgin Mary who had protected her. But when we watched the series we saw how, in that den by the river fountain, there was a sculpture of the Virgin Mary. So, would it be too far-fetched to believe that what Paula saw was nothing more than the sculpture, and in her half-conscious state, she might have hallucinated about it as she was food and sleep-deprived for three days? It’s also possible that Paula, during those terrifying days, had imagined the Virgin Mary talking to her. After all, children often create imaginary characters to comfort themselves.
Maybe Paula was so scared and lonely that she made herself believe that a higher power was watching over her. Or perhaps, with the river water around her and the strength she somehow found in herself, she believed that talking to the Virgin Mary gave her the will to survive. Either way, Paula truly believed that she had seen the Virgin Mary and that she had been blessed by her presence. She became known as the miracle child. Everyone started to believe that maybe she survived because of the blessings of the Virgin Mary. But if you think about it logically, it was probably the water in the river that kept her alive—no miracle or divine blessing involved. Soon, the tabloids were filled with stories about Paula, and people swarmed around her house. She started feeling different, feeling special. You can imagine how a little girl might feel in that situation. She truly believed that she was blessed by the Virgin Mary and that she even had the power to heal others’ pain.
How did this affect Paula?
Paula was treated like an outsider at school when her classmates started laughing at her. To get attention, she would sometimes go out and tell stories about being the “miracle child.” But her father, Fabian, who was a psychiatrist, wasn’t okay with this at all. He knew this was messing with her mind. Things got worse when her mother, Roxana, came back into her life. As I told you earlier, Roxana, being a theater actress, loved attention and wanted the spotlight on Paula to boost her own fame. She took Paula to interviews, and the poor child started feeling the pressure. Paula hated it—she didn’t want to feel special or different; she just wanted to be treated like every other kid. When her parents started fighting over custody of her custody again, Paula realized it was her father who truly cared for her, not just the fame. She knew staying with him would protect her from the media and let her have a normal life, rather than being used for attention like she would with her mother.
At the end of the series, Paula told her father that she didn’t want to talk about seeing the Virgin Mary anymore. She knew no one would believe her—not her father, her friends, or the world. It was something deeply personal, and she wanted to keep it that way. She is like a little child who has imaginary friends. If she truly believes that she has seen the Virgin Mary, we as a viewer, just like her logical psychiatrist father, should let the kid be a kid, rather than trying to rationalize it. As she grows older, she’ll likely outgrow it, but for now, if believing in this helps her cope after such a terrible accident, then it’s what’s best for her. She deserved that comfort.
