‘The Last Night At Tremore Beach’ Recap & Ending Explained

The term premonition basically refers to a very strong feeling that something bad is gonna happen in the foreseeable future. The Last Night at Tremore Beach, Netflix’s latest Spanish import, can be described as an almost nine-hour exposition of premonition. All the eight episodes of it are directed by Oriol Paulo, a man who has made a career out of stories where premonition often plays a very important part. Paulo is no auteur, but he has a very distinctive style and handles genre filmmaking in a very pulpy but polished manner. And most of his stuff is very watchable, and I must say entertaining. The Last Night at Tremore Beach is no exception either. In fact, I would even say it’s the most Oriol Paulo joint of all Oriol Paulo joints, if that makes any sense to you. I am going to simplify the series the best I can in this article. If you haven’t watched it yet and are somehow still reading it, then this is your spoiler warning. 

What Happens in the Series?

Renowned pianist and composer Alex has a strange accident and suffers a finger injury. The bothersome part here is that Alex has the accident while sleepwalking and playing his piano at his home in London, effectively freaking out his wife Paula and children Bea and Bruno. A year later, Alex is living in the coastal town of Tremore. He has not worked after the accident, and his agent Alan is breathing down his neck to come up with something. Paula and Alex have separated and are in the middle of a divorce. The kids are with their mother, who’s now with another man, Niels, and they all live in Amsterdam. Alex also has someone new in life, a woman named Judy who runs a hostel in Tremore. Judy and Alex’s relationship isn’t much deeper than friends with benefits, but they genuinely seem to care about each other. Alex is friends with his neighbors, Leo and Maria, an elderly couple who have taken him in as one of their own. The whole town pretty much loves the composer and wants to get a piece of him, but they also never hamper the man’s peace.

On a night when Tremore is about to face an electrical storm, Alex has a dinner invite to Leo and Maria’s. Their house is visible from his place, and it’s only a minute’s drive. With the storm alert, Judy asks Alex to drop the dinner plan, but Alex goes anyway. Just when he’s about to leave, something very strange happens. Judy asks him not to leave the house, as it’s two in the middle of the night. When he looks back, he finds Judy sleeping on the couch, and it’s only late evening. Suddenly, the chandelier in his living room starts to move and flicker, the windows start rattling, and a scared crow from outside forces his way in. At Leo’s, Alex meets two other towners, Viviana and her husband Peio, who are understandably starstruck. Viviana requests him to play at a local festival, which is coming in a few days. During dinner, everyone talks about safety and security issues. Leo and Maria are very relaxed given nothing ever happens in Tremore, while Viviana and Peio don’t want to risk anything and plan to install a security system at their house. The storm kicks in, but that (and a powercut) fails to ruin the dinner. When the power comes back, Alex leaves for home. While driving to his house, which he can see from the car, a tree falls in front of him, blocking the service road. There’s another way, though, where all he has to do is take a little detour through the road that passes the lighthouse. But since Alex is an Oriol Paulo character (the show is adapted from a book having the same name by author Michael Santiago), he has to get out of the car with the intention of removing the tree by himself and then get struck by lightning.

He does survive, thanks to Leo and Maria, who rush him to the hospital. Upon waking up, Alex notices this strange mark spread all over his body that almost looks like he has a thunder tattoo on him. The doctor lets him know that it is something called a Lichtenberg figure, which happens to people after they get struck by lightning. It is going to trouble Alex for a while, but eventually it will go away. After dropping Alex home, Leo gives him a radio through which they can communicate, as the landlines are not going to work for the time being, thanks to the storm. Leo also fixes Alex’s fence before leaving. That night, Alex finds himself playing the piano when another storm breaks out. He notices there’s no fire in the fireplace, just like what he saw the night before. And then he witnesses something that he has never seen before—a raging rain of fish. When he comes out, he sees dead fish all over his lawn. Perplexed and confused, he goes inside and then notices a deep scar on his right arm that can only happen from a fresh injury. Within a minute, he hears a violent knock on his door. He opens and finds a wounded Maria who can only utter the word ‘Leo…’ before collapsing on the floor. Alex drags her inside and then runs to Leo’s house. Hearing Alex screaming Maria’s name from outside, Leo comes down immediately. But Alex is shocked to find out Maria is right there, unharmed and fine. There is no fish rain either, and from afar, he can see that the fences are okay. Quite naturally, there is no deep scar in his right arm. Alex rushes home and looks in the mirror and finds himself bone dry from head to toe, which confirms whatever he has experienced is not real. 

Now this is his first of many episodes (unless we count the one that happened the night before, when he was leaving for dinner), or that’s what the show wants you to believe. But we know for a fact that it isn’t, thanks to the jaw-dropping twist in the end. We’re going to talk about that, of course, but before that, let us touch on all the other essential pieces of this Oriol Paulo puzzle. 

Judy and her traumatic past

It wouldn’t be wrong if I said Judy is the beating heart of The Last Night at Tremore Beach, albeit that’s very cliched. It is evident from the very beginning that she and Alex are in love with each other, but both are skeptical about getting into a committed relationship for past experiences. While I considered the possibility of Judy’s traumatic past—of being gang-raped in Toulouse and then going through the whole ordeal of reliving the whole thing during the trial—having a connection with the show’s main narrative, there wasn’t any. Except during one of his visions, Alex witnesses a battered and bruised Judy in fetal position, her hands and leg tied up, begging for her life. That prompts her to finally tell him all about her life and how she recovered from it, thanks to this therapist, Dr. Kauffman, who helps Alex later as well. The cynic in me did think the whole arc of Judy was a bit too preachy and formulaic, but I also got teary eyes upon seeing her finally taking charge of the hostel in Tremore. This is a character that deserves nothing but the best, and the show made sure that we keep rooting (and caring) for her. 

What Happened to Estrella? 

Estrella’s name is dropped pretty early on in the show when Bea finds the composition notes of her father’s (for Estrella) and starts playing it. In case you missed it, this is the same piece Alex is also playing in the very beginning of the show, right before the accident happens.

Anyway, through Kauffman’s clinical hypnosis, we find out all about Alex’ past and the two most important women of his life—his mother Elvira and his first great love (Judy is the only other), Estrella. Alex having all these premonitions is not at all a random thing; his mother also used to have the same. In fact, Elvira literally saw Alex’s whole life unfold—becoming a successful musician, his wife, kids, and everything. She also saw her own fate, ending up within the confinement of white walls and so much light (Sanatorium), where she sees her son with this woman (Judy, which we find out eventually) who’s not Alex’s wife. Elvira saw a darkness around Judy, and considering what happened to Judy, Alex’s mother did see the right thing. Of course, she thought of any other women in Alex’s life, other than his future wife, as hindrances on his preset path. 

Thanks to Elvira and her obsession with him, Alex didn’t have a great childhood. His father Isaac couldn’t save him from his mother. After suffering a road accident at eighteen, Alex’s life became even more miserable as Elvira kept controlling it. He experienced true happiness for the first time in his life only after meeting Estrella in the music school. It was the same for her, though the quality of her life was much better thanks to her loving and supportive father, Ramon. Alex and Estrella’s love bloomed, but he kept it hidden from his mother for the longest period of time. But hell had to break loose for Elvira when she found out Alex would even lose the all-important concert for a scholarship at the prestigious music school in London for Estrella. She had already seen her son winning it and studying in London, which was the first step to Alex making it big. Estrella was doomed the moment she won the concert. Well, she was doomed the moment she met Alex, given Elvira would go any length to keep her son on the right path. That of course led to her getting murdered by this woman, who I considered to be a bigger villain than Souza—if you know what I meant. Alex did become famous, but thanks to his mother, he never got to be happy. Not that he didn’t try to have a life with Paula and the kids, but it was never meant to be, given what already happened. For his entire life, Alex kept rebelling against his mother—from sneaking out of the house to deliberately playing the wrong note during the concert. The show uses the wrong note as a trigger for Alex getting visions, by the way, which I thought to be a very smart thing. 

I am not sure what would have happened if Alex had known the truth about Estrella’s death, but Isaac hid it to protect his son only. After finally knowing it, Alex could only hate his mother, and the hatred here is totally justified. It is not always about loving your parents, you know. Sometimes, it is important to cut them completely off; that’s one of the takeaways from this show, I suppose. 

Leo And Maria Are Not Who They Seem To Be

Are things ever simple in the world of Oriol Paulo? Despite how nice they seem, you can sense from the start that Leo and Maria can’t just be a retired lawyer and an expressionist painter. It doesn’t take long for Alex to know the truth when Leo tells all of it by himself, except only part of that is truth. The fact that he himself is the faceless Souza, one of the most notorious criminals the Interpol is looking for, is something he hides from both Maria and Alex. Maria, whose real name is Alicia Blanchard—which we find out from that eponymous painting of herself and her dead infant son—used to be a mole in Souza’s organization. Like everyone, she never saw Souza either. He came into her life as Alviro, the lawyer, who was only trying to protect her from getting caught. He did fall in love with her, considering he chose to live a life on the run with her. In Tremore, the couple was indeed living that quiet, peaceful life. Once a year, Leo/Souza’s people used to come and give him his cut, which was more than enough to sail through. The former tenant of Alex’s house, ornithologist Ivan Saz, spied on them and got to know the real names, which he tells Alex when they meet. It doesn’t actually matter, given Leo, aka Souza, is not even telling the truth to the woman he loves.

The entirety of Alex’s vision

Through the show, Alex gets different fragments of the vision from the fateful night that he keeps trying to put together. We finally get to see how it goes in the penultimate episode. After dragging Maria into his house, Alex sees and hears gunshots at Leo’s, assuming the group of assassins who arrive in the red car, killing him. He still runs to their house, and by the time he is there, it is swarmed with police. Remember it is a vision within a vision thing; otherwise, Maria’s dead body cannot end up there as well (given she’s in Alex’s house). Leo is of course lying beside Maria, with his face mutilated completely from a gunshot. 

In the primary vision (yeah, I know it is super complicated, but you do get it if you’ve been watching carefully)—where Maria is still fighting for her life at Alex’s house—he sees Bea, Bruno, and Judy hurriedly getting to the truck with Maria in the back. The important thing you need to remember is that earlier Alex himself had tried to put Judy, Bea, and Bruno in the truck during one of the episodes. The only reason for that was to save them from the lone masked assassin coming to kill them. However, Alex has to witness that happening as well—his kids and the woman he loves getting shot by this unknown assassin. His vision then takes him to a dead Paula right in front of his house, who appears out of nowhere. Next up, Alex wakes up the next morning, still inside his vision, with dead fish lying all around him. He walks up to the beach, only to find a group of people, all wearing black masks, burying the dead bodies in a freshly dug pit. The dead ones are Judy, Bea, Bruno, Paula, Leo, Maria, a woman with a red scar on her face, a bald man with a beard that Alex has never seen before, and last but not least, Alex himself. 

Does Alex survive? 

Right after waking up, Alex remembers that his mother also had a vision of the same thing years ago and asked him to get out of the house. The first thing he does is go to his house and take the passports of his children out. Coming out, he starts the car and frantically puts it into reverse gear, resulting in the fences breaking. That only confirms that whatever he has already seen has started happening. He drives off and starts calling people from the car. Leo is unreachable, but he connects to Judy, who’s in the hostel along with Bea and Bruno, and he begs her to go to the airport along with the kids and buy plane tickets to Amsterdam. One might wonder why Alex would not go to the hostel by himself to pick them up, but in a story like this, we can let these things slide (it might as well be he was trying to save some time). He soon meets an accident, resulting in his right arm injury, and him waking up at the hospital. Alex wants to get out immediately, but the doctor doesn’t allow that. Very soon, he has two visitors: police officer Calabria, aka the woman with the scar on her face, and Ricciardo, aka the bald man with the beard. They’re here to investigate him about the sudden disappearance of his kid upon finding a recording he made. We’re talking about Alex documenting his vision in the recorder here, which the police duo only hear in pieces, coming to idiotic conclusions. Given how psychotic Alex behaves, you can’t really blame them, although it is extremely frustrating to watch. I would call that good filmmaking as you, as the audience, feel Alex’s agony and frustration. Thanks to the police duo, Judy is brought back to the hospital from the airport, and Paula is also on her way. Leo and Maria are also here, and they all look very worried about Alex, who has clearly lost it (if you see him from anyone else’s perspective other than Bruno’s). Ending up at the psych word and hallucinating meeting Ramiro only makes it worse for Alex. However, the vision cannot come true if Alex is stuck at the hospital. So he does get out, sneaking past the security, all thanks to chaos breaking out. Outside, he does find the red van with the bespectacled man driving it. Alex has already seen the man before, during the festival, where he was pretending to be the cameraman. He is now certain that this man is here to kill Leo and Maria on behalf of Souza, while he, Judy, the kids, and Paula are going to be collateral damage. The suspicion only gets confirmed after Alex has no other option but to get inside the red van. The bespectacled man threatens him and lets him know there’s no way to stop what’s coming to him. 

From there on, things go exactly the same as he saw before. Maria knocks on the door, injured, and Alex drags her inside. One thing that eluded his past visions is the police duo being present there. Not to mention Judy and the kids are here too, and she immediately rushes to aid Maria. Upon hearing the gunshots that ensure Leo is now dead, Alex pleads with the police duo to take him seriously. But things take a one-eighty-degree turn when they all hear Leo’s voice on the radio. He lets them know that he’s okay, all thanks to Alex leaving a message earlier (after he got out of the hospital) and him finally deciding to listen to the pianist. 

Alex is shocked and surprised, to say the least, but also relieved that Leo is okay. But what is bothering him is the sight of Leo and Maria lying dead at Leo’s house. The bespectacled man is also dead, inside the red van, which practically eliminates all the threats (or so Alex thought!). However, when Alex and the police duo reach Leo’s house, Leo doesn’t hesitate to instantly shoot the police and Alex as well. The duo is dead in a moment, but Alex is still alive to see the horror that is to come. Quite obviously, it is Leo, aka Souza, going to Alex’s house, killing Judy, the kids, Maria, and Paula, who are unfortunate enough to come here from her peaceful gateway in Greece.

All that is left for Souza is killing Alex and putting everyone in the grave. His team is here to help him, with everyone maintaining anonymity. Before taking the bullet, Alex tells Souza that his vision is still not fully complete and this cannot be the end. Well, he is right after all, as The Last Night at Tremore Beach finally brings us the grandest of the twists. Rain falls on Alex’s dead body, and he wakes up, to the moment when he is struck by lightning and Leo is checking if he is okay, looking visibly worried. This obviously makes everything that we have seen (from the point of Alex getting thundered) happen inside Alex’s head, but no way does that mean they are not real. 

Does Alex manage to change everything?

The Last Night at Tremore Beach has no point if it fails to give Alex a happy ending. In a fitting epilogue to the show that is full of torment (for the lead character), we finally see that happening. Now that Alex has seen it all, he knows what to do exactly. He calls Paula, who has not yet gone on that trip to Greece, makes amends, and offers to come to Amsterdam to look after the kids. Paula is happy to see the change in her ex-husband, who also lets her know that he is with someone now. Asking Judy to accompany him to Amsterdam was a given, but so was Judy refusing the proposal (keep in mind, she hasn’t gone through the whole experience yet and she never will). So the only way Alex can convince her is by telling her he knows about her past and has seen it all. I am not sure why Judy doesn’t question how this man she met some months ago is suddenly telling the future so accurately, but since she does love Alex, it is acceptable for me.

Alex does what is needed to be done for Leo and Maria as well. He tips off the police about Leo, aka Souza, which is enough for the bespectacled Interpol officer to catch them. Alex doesn’t forget to mention that Maria is not aware of her husband’s truth. The Last Night at Tremore Beach ends with Alex, now at peace, playing ‘For Estrella’, with a very old and frail Elvira looking at him. That’s a vision, I suppose, and Alex finally knows that his mother did see it all. That doesn’t justify what she did to Estrella, and I do not think Alex will ever forgive her. But now he has enough to finally move on and be happy with a person that he genuinely loves, Judy.

And Some Notes

• Bruno’s vision of the monster (Souza, who else) and having the same issues as his father and grandmother is a nice touch. 
• So is Bea playing ‘For Estrella’ on piano.
• The show using ‘For Judy’ as the central theme makes a lot of sense since that character comes as the ‘hope’ for Alex. 
• The use of Beethoven’s ‘Fur Elise’ is really great here and enhances the experience of the viewers. 
• It would be a blasphemy on my part to not say anything about the very adorable Socks, the cat that goes in and out of Alex’s house. Also, very glad that he is not dead. Same goes for Sultan the dog.