‘The Snow Girl’ is one of the first Netflix series to arrive in 2023 and its ending has left us speechless. Based on the best-seller by Javier Castillo, it adapts its original plot from the New York of the novel to Malaga. The series begins with the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl on Three Kings Day in 2010 . Little Amaya disappears into the crowd and there will start a nightmare for the little girl’s parents that will last for decades.
Throughout its six chapters, the plot will jump between flashbacks and recent history, increasing the drama of this thriller . Because the series, beyond belonging to the police genre, has a high load of drama that is what takes the viewer’s breath away. That is why you will like the series if you are a fan of suspense series, such as suspense and intrigue series on Netflix .
Although each chapter brings (a little) closer to the truth of the case, the tension grows and there is no place to find some relief or consolation. The burden of the drama is undoubtedly carried by the character of Loreto Mauleón (‘Patria’, ‘Los renglones torcidos de Dios’), who here plays the mother of the missing girl. Milena Smit puts on her shoulders the weight of the plot and therefore the anguish, that of going tracing each alley in this maze that does not seem to have an answer and is increasing for years.
There are spoilers for the series below . From chapter 5 we have the answer (with that cliffhanger that shows us at the end of episode 4). In the fifth episode we meet a married couple, coincidentally at the office of Ana (Mauleón), Amaya’s mother, attending to a couple who have failed in their attempt to get pregnant. Santiago (Julián Villagrán) and Iris (Cecilia Freire). Next, that same couple is seen walking through the center of Malaga in that same parade.
Devastated by her frustrated attempt to be a mother, Iris suddenly finds Amaya who is crying. Acting almost without thinking, she decides to take the girl with her in an attempt to “comfort” her, but seeing an opportunity to fulfill her dream of motherhood. Santiago sees his wife so determined that she can hardly act.
According to Iris, that will be the only way to become a mother. For her it is not a kidnapping, but a way to start a family . Thus, a relationship begins between the kidnappers and the kidnapped, which, above all, Iris, will gradually try to turn into parents and daughter: they change her name to Julia, they begin to put certain rules on her to, according to them, protect her, such as the installation of cameras in their room (where the recordings that they will send to their real parents will later come from).
Years go by and Iris continues to be in charge of the girl’s education, who is still scared that there are bad people out there, so that she loses interest in discovering what lies beyond her home. Such is the fear that a life will be claimed, that of the person in charge of taking the mortgage to Santiago and Iris (for her, murder is what any mother would do). Overcome by the situation in which they have lived for nine years, Santiago decides to tell the whole truth. But a run over will prevent it, leaving Iris and Julia-Amaya alone.
Throughout those years, Miren has continued her search for the girl in parallel with the police. That will lead to some run-ins with inspector Belén Millán (Aixa Villagrán). He has had the support of Eduardo (José Coronado), his former writing partner, although it has not been enough to remove some of the burden and tension to find the answers to the case of the disappearance (while also carrying a case of abuse sexual acts that he suffered long ago, and that are hard to leave behind). The case has helped uncover cases of pedophilia in those years, but Amaya has remained a ghost.
When he finally arrives for Iris, with the data from the appliance repair shop, the journalist approaches with the intention of doing a report on houses in isolated places. Look, he begins to have doubts (the bicycle, the VHS video). Iris is nervous, the tension becomes more and more unbearable… until she notices the yellow bow that is the same one the girl is wearing in the videos. Leaving the house, she calls Belén. The journalist decides to stay and watch the woman and chases her when she takes the girl in a van. Desperate, Iris finally pulls the van off a ditch. The girl escapes unharmed, but her mother/her kidnapper passes away.
Although the meeting with the journalist is somewhat difficult, the case is already resolved. Now all that remains is for Miran to close the stage and Amaya’s parents start another with her daughter. Case closed.
Time jumps, tracks that offer script twists, a noir atmosphere in a Malaga stripped of light and seasoned with rain and fog . ‘The Snow Girl’ is a thriller that delivers by offering an intriguing plot to the public.
However, Miren’s work solving investigative cases is not over . At the book signing of ‘The Snow Girl’, supposedly a novel written by her, someone leaves an envelope for her that says “Do you want to play?” Inside it is a photo of a gagged girl, with a name and a date: Laura Valdivia, 2012.
Everything indicates that, in the event that Netflix gives the green light to new chapters, the story of the continuation of the original novel, entitled ‘The game of the soul’ , also written by Javier Castillo, will be told. For now there is no news about this new season, but we will be aware of the news.
