Tags: Horror, 30 Coins, Demons
We recently watched and reviewed the first season of Spanish horror streaming series 30 Coins, and now we’ve watched the second season. Season 1 had issues but was still good, Season 2 was… not. Warning: SPOILERS.
There’s a new group looking for the Judas coins so they can use them in their mad, world-endangering plan that also involves a mysterious book, and the only ones who can stop them are Elena, Paco, zombies Manuel and Santoro, Antonio, Laguna, Maria Salcedo, YouTuber Haruka, and others, because unlike Season 1, which was mostly focused on Pedrazia and the main trio with a couple of more prominent secondary characters, Season 2 is all over the place.
FRANTIC MESS
The heading above is pretty much what it felt like. In Season 1, the series kept throwing crazy shit at its audience, but there was method to the madness. Here, it just looks like it’s trying too hard to gross out viewers and drag the plot. So, you get Elena giving birth to an insect-like creature, zombie Manuel sticking his hand in a hole on his torso, several action sequences with lots of running, shootouts, fights, and more. Honestly, much of this felt like filler. A good example is that supposedly funny sequence where zombie Manuel and zombie Santoro are on a plane, dropping bugs and maggots, and everyone starts complaining about their smell. As soon as they’re off the plane, no one else mentions it and there are no more bugs. Manuel’s fight to steal the bike was dumb, too. Just get on with it! The 1 year time jump presented an opportunity for the series to introduce new characters and dump old ones. Instead, it introduced new characters while keeping the old ones. The focus is initially split between: Paco and Elena; Manuel, Santoro, and Angelo; Laguna and Antonio; Salcedo and Haruka; Christian Barbrow, the new villain; and Merche and Lagrange. Some of these characters will eventually connect with each other, but not right away, and in the end, most of the storylines end up being superfluous. For instance, what was the point of Laguna at the psychiatric hospital, or even of the hospital itself? Just so the series could bring back some of the villagers, and show Sole’s new powers? And why does she even have powers after the Cainitas’ possession ended? At first, we thought it was so they could get a character that was supposed to be important, but then he did nothing. Antonio, Laguna, Salcedo, and Haruka’s biggest contribution was telling Elena and Paco about the arcane symbol needed to protect them from Barbrow’s minions; however, since Angelo wanted to use Elena and Paco to thwart Barbrow’s plans, he could’ve given them all the necessary information. Even Haruka’s supporters turning up to help them wasn’t really needed as Paco and Elena could’ve just drawn the symbol on themselves. In the end, the Antonio/Laguna/Salcedo/Haruka plot felt like a waste of time that was made worse by a totally random death. Usually, sudden, unexpected deaths are shocking, but this one was just lame. Really, why do that? Also, for such an accomplished villain, Barbrow made some weird mistakes that were very convenient for Elena and Paco. We could’ve ignored toppling one of the figurines he was using to control his minion when he was fighting Paco, but suddenly asking his security guard to take over from him when he was in the middle of tricking Paco and Elena to give his avatar their copy of the book made zero sense. Was that the only way the series found to allow the 2 lovebirds to succeed? We also don’t get why Angelo did so little this season when the fate of the whole world was at stake. Surely that was more important than taking over the Vatican? The Cainitas being just greedy jerks doesn’t quite match Santoro’s speech to the Pope, and they disbanded way too quickly for an ancient cult. The series clearly just wanted them out of the way to focus on the new villain, but having Barbrow picking them off one by one to steal their coins would’ve been better.
LOVE GEOMETRY
Thanks to that useless 1 year time jump, we never saw how Merche got used to her coin, just that somehow she ended up in a mansion surrounded by security guards. All of this was a gift from Lagrange and his very small group to convince her to hand over her coin. So, they’ve been waiting for her decision for a whole year? That’s hard to believe, even after seeing the security guards search her room when she went outside to meet Lagrange in the second episode. Still, Merche has powers now, has developed a taste for defenestration, and navigates this new environment by switching alliances to achieve greater power. Unfortunately, the series seems committed to giving her the most cliched motivations. So, not only is she still fixated on Paco, but she also gets to become a mother when Lagrange offers her a toddler as part of his quest to convince her to work with him. In Season 1, during an argument with Paco, she said he already knew she couldn’t have children when they married, but not that she actually wanted to have children. After all, there was no indication that they had ever tried to adopt. Well, according to Season 2, having children is what she wants, and so she becomes a mother to a little boy who’s immediately used by Lagrange’s group to force her to do their bidding. Oh, FFS. Seriously? That’s the best the writers could come up with? Considering how ambitious and career-minded she was last season, why couldn’t she just have wanted to succeed in her new world? The thing with Paco is just pathetic and the fact that we have no idea why anyone would be obsessed with him doesn’t help. When she had him handcuffed and insisted they belonged together like a crazy stalker, we gave up on the character. Not even the ending, when it looked like she and Santoro might’ve teamed up in a third season that will likely never happen, got us interested again. It’s a shame, because she had some great moments, like when she dealt with the Mexican priest, and finally turned down Lagrange’s proposal.
While Merche spent that 1 year enjoying a live of luxury, Paco was working at a fish market, and Elena’s body was in a coma at a hospital and her soul stuck in Hell. She only wakes up in Episode 2, right in time to deal with an unnatural pregnancy. The birthing scene was gross, and there was something unpleasant about the way her body was used so that Manuel could give them the key to the ark where the other copy of that mysterious book was locked. We liked Paco and Elena’s interactions in Season 1, before the love triangle reared its ugly head, but here they’re annoyingly bland. Their constant running around and Elena’s wide eyes got boring fast. She also comes across as an idiot, wanting to open the book, and nearly giving herself and Santoro away when she saw Paco while they were surrounded by Barbrow’s people. None of this stops Manuel from being in love with her, though. And he loves her so much that even though he knows the fate of the world is at stake, he risks everything to try to apologize to her for the creepy spider baby. He also says that the way to break free of God’s predetermined script is love, because no one can control it. Of course, anyone who’s experienced irrational hatred or annoyance at someone/something knows that this isn’t quite true. The emphasis on romantic love and this new love triangle doesn’t make us eager to watch an hypothetical third season, especially as they all end up in an alternate universe where he and Elena are a couple.
EYE OF GOD
To the titular coins, Season 2 adds the Eye of Blood, a vial containing the blood of Christ collected by Mary Magdalene after Longinus stabbed him with his spear and which is now part of the Pope’s staff; there’s also a ritual to summon God, and some characters spend a lot of time in Hell. However, Christianity feels more like a plot device this time around. We’re not saying that we wanted religious talk, but it was weird hearing Manuel casually mention how Judas saved Humanity when the Pope complains about him teaming up with Santoro. Then, in the end, the alternate version of Laguna, who is that universe’s Antonio, outright calls him Judas. Manuel coming to realize that there was some truth in the Cainitas’ view of Judas and being forced to take up a similar role, could’ve been an interesting development for the character, but that would necessitate the audience actually seeing him go through it. Instead, the series just declares it. Another change is that, while Manuel had told Paco that evil’s existence was needed to allow for Humanity’s free will after he had already heard Angelo’s version, here he repeats that everything is already written and even admires Barbrow for his ability to go off-script. This, by the way, is part of the whole love can’t be controlled talk with Elena. We’re also not quite sure how his explanation of God matches what had been previously said. Angelo told him and Santoro that the fallen angels had rebelled because they had wanted their role in Creation acknowledged and that the Devil had hidden inside God, which made it sound like they all started as separate beings. Here, Manuel tells Elena God and Satan are pseudonyms of the same entity. That Angelo is referred to as Lucifer, doesn’t help. So, are these independent entities or not? And who or what is Angelo supposed to be? Of course, it’s quite possible the series answered all this and we just missed it, though it’s also possible that it was just laying the ground for the importance of Manuel’s feelings for Elena in the next season.
THE APOCALYPSE… MAYBE
At first glance, Barbrow’s plan seems straightforward enough: use a ritual written in a book that drives readers mad + the power of the 30 coins to open a portal to God thus destroying this world and starting a new one. We had several issues with it, though, the biggest of which the fact that it’s very hard to be scared of the titular coins’ power after Santoro was taken out so easily while wearing all of them. Still, Angelo’s concern signals just how dangerous it all is. In fact, it’s so dangerous that he works with Manuel and, through him, Paco and Elena, to stop Barbrow. Oddly, he never bothered with the super computer; maybe because he knew that particular storyline was going nowhere. Barbrow is an acceptable villain - a wealthy cult leader with unlimited resources who can do magic, followed by other powerful, wealthy people. His cult, BEPHAM, sounds a lot like a Scientology, and of course he’s also been taking over the series’ version of the Bilderberg Group, Highclare. His magic is interesting - he can affect the real world by making figurines he moves around on a board covered in symbols - and gives the audience some good moments, like the Lombardi double. That said, as we mentioned earlier, some of his failures felt forced, and it’s obvious he didn’t do everything he could’ve done to stop Elena and Paco from getting the other copy of the book. Yes, near the end he tells Merche he let Elena get closer on purpose, but it sounded like he was just referring to her and the zombies infiltrating their Peruvian lair, not keep the book. The biggest problem, however, was the final part of his plan. Grimoires that teach how to summon God himself to create a new world? Fine. A 3000-year-old UFO whose launch sequence is being deciphered by a super computer and that will serve as the escape vehicle for Barbrow and his chosen ones? That crosses the line into ridiculous. The problem isn’t so much that the series mixed the supernatural and Sci-Fi, but that the latter came out of nowhere. This also doesn’t quite fit in with what was supposed to be the original plan - to bring about the Apocalypse and ‘reset’ this world so Barbrow and his chosen ones can start over - or the summon God bit. So, summoning God opens a passage to an alternate universe populated by alternate versions of this universe’s inhabitants? At least have Barbrow explain how he planned to recover his status, or, if he made a mistake in translating the book, have someone mention it; after all, at least Angelo should’ve known that. It’s not even clear if Barbrow’s actions actually ended the world they left, as the only place we see being affected is the exit point’s surrounding area.
LOVECRAFTIAN INSPIRATION
Well before we started watching 30 Coins, we were aware of a connection with Lovecraft thanks to several social media posts referring to Angelo as Nyarlathotep with an image of one of his many shapes that showed him with a tentacle head. That same shape had already appeared in Season 1, when Manuel demanded to see his true form. By the way, we have no idea how that image became associated with Nyarlathotep, who was always described as human-looking by Lovecraft, except in The Haunter from the Dark, in which an avatar of his has wings and a ‘three-lobed burning eye’. The book everyone is after is referred to as ‘the black book of the mad Arab’, which is a clear reference to the infamous Necronomicon. Unlike Lovecraft’s version, however, this one has the power to cause whoever reads it to self-combust, something that the characters avoid by keeping their backs turned to it and using a mirror to read it. Episode 2 is called Dreamlands and it spends a good amount of time in Angelo’s hellish domains. This is where he turns up with a tentacle head and while it provides some good nightmarish visuals, there’s nothing in common between this assortment of mutilated souls + Hellraiser rejects and Lovecraft’s fantastical, Dunsany-inspired Dreamlands. After the first 3 episodes, we wrote on social media that the series was doing to Lovecraft what it did to The Gospel of Judas - borrow names and nothing more. However, it didn’t even do that. The book and its author remain nameless, Angelo is called more than one thing but never Nyarlathotep, and there’s no use of any Lovecraftian concepts. We understood what the series did to The Gospel of Judas, even if we thought there were better options, but this teasing of Lovecraft references makes no sense. What was the point? The name ‘Necronomicon’ has been used in several non-related fictional works, so why not just say it? Also, setting aside the fact that Angelo is a little too pale to be Nyarlathotep, his relative passivity and lack of personality this time around make him wholly unfit to be the Crawling Chaos.
VERDICT
Season 2 of 30 Coins has some interesting visuals and moments, but sadly devolves into a frantic mess riddled with superfluous storylines and filler. The characters are increasingly one note and feel more like plot devices than people. As much as we like alternate timelines, the ending didn’t make us eager to watch a third season. We’re curious to find out how the story would’ve developed, just as we’d like to know George RR Martin’s ending for A Song of Ice and Fire, but not enough to actually watch it. It’s a shame, because we did like Season 1, and despite all its issues, this one had the potential to be at least enjoyable.
By The Snarky Cats of Ulthar
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