Moving on is not an option when the scars are so deep that they can alter someone’s life completely, something which the sophomore season of Netflix’s Spanish crime thriller, The Snow Girl, delineates on—as crime journalist Miren Rojo sets on a new investigation. The Soul Game follows Miren and her new journalist partner Jaime Bernal as they try to find a connection between the religious fanaticism that led to the creation of the eponymous game, which might be linked with the brutal murder of a teenage girl, Allison Hernandez—and also with the disappearance of a certain Laura Valdivia. While the central mystery in the second season kind of falls apart by the end, it does raise necessary questions about prevalent dogmatism in the contemporary world, especially when it comes to body politics, and highlights the miserable power abuse by men in every social sphere—effectively challenging the excuse of ‘not all men’ that pops up whenever the decrepit social values are questioned.
Spoilers Ahead
Why did Miren consider both the cases to be connected?
In the first season, protagonist Miren Rojo, journalist of Diario Sur, had successfully brought Amaya Martin back to her parents after a grueling, prolonged investigation, which forced her to face her own sordid past of being a victim of sexual assault. Miren chronicled her experiences in her book “The Snow Girl,” hoping that sharing her agony will allow her some peace of mind, and the book went on to become a national bestseller. As the second season begins, Miren attends a book signing event and receives an envelope left for her by an anonymous individual. A question regarding whether she would like to play a game is written on the envelope, and she finds a Polaroid of a tied-up woman inside with Laura Valdivia written on it. Miren recognizes the name, as several years ago, when a teenager named Laura had mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace, Miren—a cub journalist back then—was attached to the case. Eduardo advises Miren to go to the authorities with the information as he thinks someone might be pulling a prank on her—but Miren refuses to do so.
At the same time, Miren’s boss, Paco, assigns her to investigate and report about the recent brutal murder of a seventeen-year-old teenager, Allison Hernandez, and much to her dismay, he asks Miren to partner up with Jaime Bernal, a journalist who has recently joined Diario Sur. The reason Jaime is assigned to the case is because Allison attended the private school Los Arcos, Jaime’s alma mater. Coincidentally or not, Laura used to be a student of the school as well, and both of them came from a humble, devout religious background—which prompts Miren to consider the possibility that both of the cases might be connected.
Detective Belen is assigned to the case as well, while Miren and Jaime continue their separate investigation by interrogating school authorities and family of the victims. Eduardo realizes that Miren isn’t able to differentiate between her personal and professional life as she starts obsessing over the case, and he warns her not to lose herself like this. Miren finds common ground with the victims as her traumatic memories continue to haunt her, and she lashes out at Eduardo when he asks her to distance herself from these cases. Eduardo passes away after suffering from a heart attack, an incident that mentally breaks Miren and sends her further into the dark recesses of her mind.
At this point in her life, she ends up getting invited to play the Soul Game, as the anonymous sender left a note addressed to her with a link to a secretive website. Miren didn’t share the news with Jaime as she wasn’t in a mental condition to fully trust anyone, and as she accessed the link herself, she learned about this dare-based game. The anonymous sender had mentioned that they will reveal the whereabouts of Laura if Miren agrees to play the game, but any attempt to inform the authorities will result in the game’s termination. Miren had learned that Allison got herself involved in this game as well, and determined to seek justice for the victims Miren continued to participate in the game. It was clear to her that the anonymous sender was aware of her past—which made her all the more resolute to see to the end of this.
What Made Father Garrido A Suspect?
The principal of Los Arcos, Father Garrido, was a fundamentalist whose puritanical religious beliefs were rejected by the church itself. Garrido had decided to indoctrinate his students and their parents into his regressive ideologies which deemed abortion to be a sin. Garrido’s ill counsel was adhered to with utmost reverence by Allison’s grandmother (her only guardian), Juana, and Laura’s guardians—her uncle Cristobal and aunt Mercedes. After it was revealed that Allison went through an abortion months before her death, and her only family—her grandmother—had turned her back on the poor girl, Garrido’s involvement was put into question. Miren suspected Father Garrido from the get-go, and she found Nacho, Laura’s brother, to be sharing a similar belief.
To add more to the conspiracy of the school’s involvement, it is revealed that Laura’s boyfriend, Tomas, is the son of Alberto Mendoza—one of the most influential persons of Malaga. After her disappearance, the Mendoza family—especially Tomas—was suspected to be involved, after which the case was hastily closed as the authorities considered her a runaway. As Jaime and Miren investigate further, they learn that Alberto and Garrido used to be batchmates in Los Arcos, which has a reputation for being a school for elites. During his academic years, Garrido had fashioned this Soul Game to test religious devotion among his peers. Apparently, Garrido’s experimentation with faith had cost a student her life back then—and Miren believes that the old cycle is repeating all over again. To top it all off, Allison’s Bible, smeared with her blood, is found in Garrido’s room—and even though it totally appears to be planted by someone who is trying to incriminate the principal, it is undeniable circumstantial evidence of his involvement with Allison’s murder.
Miren Faces Her Past, Once Again
Laura and Nacho lost their parents in a terrible tragedy at a young age, which resulted in the sibling duo being too dependent on each other while growing up. When Laura went missing, Nacho was an eight-year-old boy, and the loss of someone close mentally broke him, as was evident from instances of self-harm. Laura is able to trust Nacho as she can relate to his pain, and she shares the details about the Soul Game with him. Nacho takes Miren to his batchmate, Borja Pineda, who seemingly took part in such a strange dare game a year earlier, which resulted in his permanent facial disfigurement. Miren isn’t able to learn anything new about the game after questioning Borja, except the fact that Soul Game indeed exists, and she shares all this intel with the police chief of Malaga. Detective Belen feels Miren is taking all these too personally, and like Eduardo, she too advises Miren to stop her mad pursuit—to no avail.
Meanwhile, Jaime decides to follow the Mendoza family lead despite facing a number of setbacks while doing so. After speaking with Tomas Mendoza—who has been frantically exploring every possible clue to learn about Laura’s disappearance since all those years ago—Jaime learns of the possible involvement of Foster, Luque, and their infamous “Slide” website, which contained illicit pornographic content recording victims of sexual abuse. Even though later this speculation by Tomas doesn’t actually lead to anything concrete, as it was a misguided trail on this occasion, when Jaime shares his findings with Miren, she relives the worst part of her life all over again. After all, Miren is a victim of this Slide network, as the scoundrel duo of Luque and Foster had leaked the video of her sexual abuse through the site—another incident that scarred Miren forever. Jaime is shaken after learning the extent of Miren’s suffering, although he can’t really do anything to alleviate it. Following the rules of the third stage of Soul Game, Miren is forced to go through the darkest phase of her life as the anonymous blackmailer makes her repeat the incidents of the fateful night.
What Really Happened to Laura?
Garrido is acquitted for the time being as Alberto uses his influence, but when he forces him to step down from his role as principal, Garrido becomes infuriated, as for better or worse, he was completely dedicated to the service of Los Arcos. Alberto threatened Garrido with consequences after realizing he was going out of line, and as a retaliation, Garrido decided to share the truth about Laura’s disappearance with Jaime in secret. Jaime is shocked to learn that Laura had fallen in love with Alberto Mendoza and was pregnant with his child as well—and fearing public shame of being involved in a relationship with his son’s girlfriend, Alberto had taken Laura away—presumably killing her somewhere near his secretive estate, Green House. Jaime revealed the truth to Tomas, who, breaking away from his initial disbelief, shared the location of the estate with Jaime. Before venturing to the estate, Jaime had informed Julio Ramos, the officer who was in charge of Laura’s case, who had sent the cavalry to the location by rightly assessing a possibility of trouble. A desperate Alberto confronted Jaime and was on the verge of killing him when he saw the police arriving, and in fear of repercussion, Alberto shot himself to death. It turns out, Alberto had kept Laura and their son hidden from public eyes in a secluded house in the estate, and surprisingly enough, Laura was unwilling to return to her old life. She had willingly left her family and settled into this life of obscurity for almost a decade.
Why Did Nacho Target Miren?
Miren fully involves Nacho in her investigation, and more clues about Allison’s murder are revealed as she receives a video from the anonymous sender that shows the brutal murder of Allison. To learn the final truth, Miren is asked to reach a particular location, but refusing to do so, she decides to finally involve the authorities in the case. At this point, she realizes all too late that Nacho was the so-called God’s Raven—the anonymous sender who had been tormenting her since the beginning. Nacho and Borja—his accomplice, whom Nacho manipulated by using his loneliness and frail mental state—kidnapped Miren and held her captive to make her suffer as much as possible. By his own admission, Nacho reveals how Laura’s disappearance had affected her psyche, and in his loneliness, he gave in to the baser instincts, which prompted him to restart Garrido’s Soul Game with even darker twists and rules. Nacho held a grudge against Miren, whom he blamed for not being able to find her sister—as his impressionable mind had believed that Miren would find Laura just like how she was able to find Amaya. As a result, he unleashed his pent-up anger and frustration by subjecting Miren to hell—and her past was accessible to him through “The Snow Girl,” the book that chronicled her experiences. Nacho is so petty that he orchestrated Eduardo’s death as well, practically murdering him by sending Borja to inject him with insulin.
Allison, who was distraught after her own family turned their back on her following the abortion, was easily manipulated by Nacho to join the Soul Game, and at the end it was Nacho who brutally murdered her. He had no particular motive to kill Allison, except that it allowed him to trap Miren further with the investigation. However, Nacho’s plan eventually fell apart as Borja got cold feet and decided to quit this madness in fear of repercussion, resulting in a psychotic Nacho stabbing him to death. Borja was previously interrogated by Belen, and upon learning from his mother that he had been missing—Belen tracked his phone’s location and reached the secret hideout where Miren was held captive. By then, after tricking Nacho, a severely exhausted Miren was able to escape as well, but Nacho was able to overpower and stab her. A desperate Miren managed to get an upper hand at last and ended up stabbing Nacho to death. It is a poetic justice that Nacho never learned the truth about his sister’s disappearance, that she willingly abandoned him to begin with.
Did Miren Die At The End?
Belen was able to find a severely injured, physically and mentally broken Miren at last, but as the second season ends, it is unclear whether Miren survived or not. Although indications suggest that she did and went into complete exile after going through such a hellish experience. A year later, Jaime is seen meeting with Laura, who wishes to meet with Miren to express her apology for Nacho’s actions, but Jaime isn’t aware of Miren’s whereabouts except that she has left her job as a journalist.
In the final moments of the second season, a battalion of SWAT operatives raided a laundry in Madrid, which was acting as a front for Slide’s secret physical database. A file mentioning Miren’s name is seen present, which conveys that at least some form of justice will be served to her as the despicable contents of the database will be purged. It is clear that Jaime had pulled a few favors by learning about the Slide database from Tomas, who was obviously grateful towards him for revealing the sordid truth about his family. It doesn’t seem that Miren is going to return for another investigation, given how much she has suffered already. She deserves a life of peace—but there is a vast difference between reality and expectation after all, so she might have to return from her self-imposed exile if a third season is considered.