The Mallorca Files season 3 is now available on Amazon Prime, and we get to see Detective Blake and Max in action once again. They’re on another wild chase after criminals, all while dealing with their complicated friendship, flirtation, and maybe even a bit of romance in the air. In the last season, Max was in a tough spot with his girlfriend Carmen, and things haven’t changed in this season. She hasn’t accepted his proposal, and she’s thinking about moving to Madrid for a new job. Will Max go with her and give their relationship another shot, or will he stay for Blake? Even if they both do not want to accept it, we, the audience, know the tension is palpable between them! Also, there are eight episodes in this season, each featuring interesting cases they crack. Let’s discover together how they do it all in this season 3 recap of The Mallorca Files.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 1: All That GlistersÂ
In the first episode of Season 3, we were introduced to Alberto Alvarez, a geography professor in Palma, who created a golden compass worth millions and hid it in a specific location on the island. The entire island got swept up in the treasure hunt, known as the Golden Legacy, and, of course, Max was thrilled. You all know by now how he is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to these kinds of adventures. However, things took a dark turn when Alvarez was abducted right after an interview where he hinted at how challenging it would be to crack the clues and find the compass. Max and Blake were assigned to solve the case and figure out where Alvarez might have gone. They visited Alvarez’s children, his daughter and son, who were both clearly disgraces in their father’s eyes. His daughter was a failed actress, and his son spent all his time playing video games. Alvarez had suspected they were after his money, and didn’t think much of them. Despite their strained relationship with their father, the children wanted him found. The son provided Max and Blake with a secret location where Alvarez had said he would hide the compass if he ever went missing, as he had said that he trusted only his son with this information.
As they followed the clues, Max and Blake discovered Alvarez’s body on the shore. It was a shocking and devastating find, but the investigation took an even darker turn when they uncovered the truth: Alvarez’s daughter was the real killer. It turned out that Alvarez had staged his own kidnapping to test his children’s reactions. He wanted to see who would try to save him. While his son took help from the police, his daughter was solely focused on getting the compass. When Alvarez confronted her about her lack of concern, she lost her temper and killed him. I don’t know if it was justified or not, because she said that she had lost it as she felt betrayed and transformed into a monster of her father’s constant criticism. In the end, Max and Blake found the real compass and took Alvarez’s daughter into custody. Another key moment in this episode is when we meet Max’s father here and see the strained relationship between them. He visited his son after six long years, and it was clear how he was disappointed in Max. He called Max a mediocre detective working on a trivial treasure hunt on a crappy island. But it was interesting to watch how Blake stood up for Max and boasted about his successes and the valuable contributions he had made as a detective. It was clear that Blake had grown to deeply admire and respect Max and started seeing him as a dedicated and effective partner.
Episode 2: Clandestino
In this episode, we met the Fuster family, known for their charitable work and impressive wealth, but underneath their public image, they were deeply corrupt and involved with the mafia and drug lords. Seneor Antonio Fuster was the prominent figure in the family, and during one of his workshops, his wife, Brandi, was murdered. The only witness was Antonio’s sister, who claimed that an immigrant named Sadio had killed Brandi and then fled. Blake and Max went after Sadio and even took the help of Sadio’s brother to find him. Once they located Sadio, they arrested him. However, Sadio and his brother insisted that Sadio would not kill an innocent woman and there was another man on the scene who actually killed Brandi, and Sadio only went there to save her. This leads Max and Blake to reconsider the case. Eventually, they uncovered the true motive. Brandi had grown to know of the Fuster family’s fake philanthropy and was about to expose their corruption. Antonio’s sister feared that Brandi was going to expose her family’s criminal activities and saw it as her duty to silence Brandi. With the help of Filipe, one of the servant’s sons, she orchestrated Brandi’s murder to protect her brother and the family’s reputation. In the end, Antonio’s sister and Filipe are arrested, and Blake and Max once again save the day by clearing Sadio’s name and preventing an innocent man from being wrongfully convicted.
Episode 3: The Spanish Prisoner
In this episode, Max and Blake almost got played, but Ines came in as their savior. An Inspector Bianco came to them for help capturing a notorious conman known as the Chameleon, whose real name was Ramon Silva. Silva had a reputation for outsmarting the police, having done so multiple times, so Max and Blake were advised to adopt different personas to pretend to be a wealthy couple interested in buying a luxurious house on the island. They had to buy the property from a new property manager, a new identity Silva had taken on. Bianco followed them with a microphone to monitor whether they could gain Silva’s trust. When Max and Blake handed over a substantial sum of money to purchase the house, Silva fled the scene. Bianco swooped in, took the bag of money, and arrested Silva by claiming it was all part of the operation. It seemed suspicious, and Max and Blake soon realized that Bianco was a false cop and had orchestrated the entire scheme to get away with the million-dollar sum. Bianco was the real Chameleon. Fortunately, Ines had anticipated this and arrived in time to arrest both Silva and Bianco. It turned out that the money Max and Blake had used was counterfeit. Ines’ intervention led to a successful operation in the end.
Episode 4: Water Water
In a Mallorcan village named Fornamosa, there was a severe issue with the water supply, which caused frustration among the people. Mayor Chavez had promised to build a new reservoir to resolve the problem. However, Pedro Tavez, the head of the village, had a different agenda. He wanted to drive all the villagers away and accept the substantial sum the government was willing to pay them to leave the island due to the ongoing water issues. Everyone agreed with Pedro’s plan except Crespo, who refused to leave because it was his mother’s home and he was determined to stay. Emilia, one of Crespo’s friends, believed that the village had the potential to restore its ecosystem and should not be abandoned. Instead of running from the problem, she wanted to work on fixing it. When Crespo’s house was burned down, Max and Blake started investigating. Emilia was later killed, which adds to the mystery. They eventually uncovered the truth: Crespo was Pedro’s illegitimate son, a fact Pedro had never acknowledged. To protect his secret and his family’s name, Pedro wanted to drive Crespo out of the village. Pedro’s wife, aware of this, burned down Crespo’s home in anger. Determined to stay and seek revenge, Crespo decided to not only stay in the village but also buy Pedro’s house with a significant sum of money to drive Pedro away and honor his late mother. In the end, Max and Blake discovered that Crespo was the one who killed Emilia. Crespo had been paid by an organization called Hydroflux to block the construction of the reservoir in order to drive the villagers away. Emilia opposed this plan, which led Crespo to kill her. Ultimately, Crespo was arrested for his crimes.
Episode 5: The Great Escape
In the fifth episode, we saw that not only were Detective Blake and Max involved in solving the case, but a new face this season, Detective Mancuso, also joined the team. Mancuso was brought in to handle a high-profile case involving a prison escapee named Aled Mallory. Aled had worked in finance, where he helped people evade taxes and facilitated billion-dollar scams. One of his clients was Crocodrilo, owned by the Grecs family. Aled had made a deal with Mancuso by agreeing to help him capture the Grecs in exchange for his own safety. Following Aled’s trail to his vacation home on the island, Blake, Mancusso, and Max finally manage to catch Aled and the Grecs and seize millions of dollars along with a crucial chip containing evidence that could imprison the Grecs for life for their shady businesses. After the operation, Aled managed to flee once again. From the very first episode, it was clear that Mancuso and Blake did not see eye to eye. However, in this episode, something unexpected happened: Blake was seen flirting with Mancusso and even kissed him at the end. Max saw this, and it was clear that he was hurt by it. But we know how he is a confused soul and a master of hiding his feelings, so instead of talking about this to Blake, he keeps it bottled up inside.
Episode 6: A Girl’s Best Friend
In this episode, the popular saying “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” proved to be quite fitting. Max and Blake almost lost a diamond smuggler through a failed operation but were soon assigned a new case involving surveillance at Hotel Sagrera. There had been a series of thefts, including bags, sunglasses, iPads, and shampoos. Little did they know, this hotel was connected to the smuggling operation. It turned out that the stolen items were taken by the young son of one of the hotel employees. The boy just wanted to make his mother happy as his father was in jail, so he had been stealing these items. Meanwhile, the real smuggler was right under their noses. They discovered that another worker named Jack and the hotel’s main boss, Gustavo, were involved. Both worked for the diamond smuggler, Faveran Caceres, whom Blake and Max were searching for all along. By following their trail, Max and Blake were able to arrest him in the end.
Episode 7: Madre
In this episode, taking a vacation turned out to be quite fruitful for Blake. A girl named Filo was found washed up on the seashore, and it was clear she hadn’t merely drowned—she had been heavily drugged before being killed. Max wanted to understand how this had happened, so he went to meet Diana, one of the island retreat owners who was known as “Mother” by her disciples. However, it turned out that the “Mother” was not as benevolent as she seemed. Diana was the one who had killed Filo. Filo had gone to the retreat to find her lost sister, only to discover that her sister was living there with Diana, who had manipulated her into believing she was her daughter. Diana, who’d never had children of her own, had taken Filo’s sister under her wing, and when Filo wanted to take her sister away, Diana killed her. To make matters worse, even Filo’s own sister was complicit in the murder. Blake had gone to the island to pretend to relax, but she was secretly working on the case. When she exposed her true identity as a police officer, Diana tried to drug and kill her as well. Fortunately, Max and Mancuso arrive just in time to save Blake, which leads to a dramatic confrontation. In the end, they were able to arrest Filo and Diana’s sister for their involvement in Filo’s death.
Episode 8: The Enemy Within
The last episode of The Mallorca Files season 3 was quite nail-biting. We saw investigative reporter Empar pursuing a man named Alexander Sandberg, an environmentalist. Empar had a hunch that Sandberg was planning to assassinate someone at his upcoming summit as a publicity stunt to attract more viewers and reach a wider audience. She informed Max and Blake about this threat, but unfortunately, Empar was killed before they could act on her warning. Blake was devastated by Empar’s death. She questioned her effectiveness as a detective. Her frustration even led her to lash out at Max, who was also dealing with his own issues, particularly his strained relationship with Carmen and uncertainty about their future. Blake was determined to resolve the case and catch the assassin. She soon realized that they have been after the wrong person; the actual assassin was a female who was pretending to be a waiter. During the summit, where a high-profile celebrity had become the target, Max and Blake rushed to prevent the attack. The situation escalated to the point of gunfire, which caused chaos among the summit attendees. In the confrontation, the assassin’s gun fired and struck Max. Blake was stunned and filled with rage. She engaged in a physical confrontation with the assassin, and it looked more than personal how she took it upon herself to take revenge. Ultimately, the assassin fell from the roof and died. But we see that Max is alive at the end. His bulletproof vest had saved his life. After all, a hero never dies, right?
It was clear that, even though there weren’t any big romantic sparks between Blake and Max in the end, she was incredibly relieved that he was okay. This episode really showed how much their friendship had grown. It felt like the start of something lasting and meaningful between them, but where their relationship goes from here was still uncertain.
