Snowfall – Trauma

By starrymag | August 2, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

Gustavo ‘El Oso’ Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) reaches past the dead body in the trunk for the keys at Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios) and Pedro Nava’s (Filipe Valle Costa) request.  Back at the house, Lucia pulls a blood-covered object out of her hair.  Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) practices shooting his newly acquired gun at toys in the desert.  Leon Simmons (Isaiah John) approaches him and tells Franklin that he needs to aim at something real.  Franklin yells at him and asks if he wants him to shoot him instead.  Leon tries to take the gun and they struggle over it.  It hits Franklin in the leg and he yells at Leon to be careful with the loaded gun.  Leon steps back and Franklin takes aim at his target.

 

In the jungle, Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) makes his way through the trees.  A kid, Popeye (Marcel Ruiz), jumps out of a tree and Teddy tries to talk to him.  Popeye yells that there is an intruder and Teddy chases him to a camp.  Armed soldiers surround him and Teddy insists that he comes in peace.  He puts his weapon on the ground and asks to talk to Alejandro Usteves (Juan Javier Cardenas).  Approaching him from behind, Alejandro asks how he got there.  Teddy doesn’t give a lot of details, but mentions that it was very difficult.  He tells Alejandro that the serial numbers on the weapons are coming off and to tell his men to get to work.

 

As he is working, a woman (Zabryna Guevara) approaches Teddy and tells him that he should put an iodine tablet in his water.  After he asks if it’s been thirty minutes, she tells him to just drink it.  A soldier curses at Teddy as he walks back and he retorts back at him.  Teddy asks the woman who Popeye is and she explains that he wandered into camp one day after his father died.  Teddy compliments the radio attached to his hip and asks him to play music.  Popeye tells him that the only station they get is news and asks Teddy if he likes baseball based on his Kansas City Royals cap.  As he walks away, the woman asks if he has any kids of his own.  He says no and then quickly corrects himself and tells her about his son.  A plane flies overhead and the woman remarks that they’ve been circling for weeks.  Alejandro walks by and the woman states that Teddy doesn’t like him.  She tells him that he wasn’t always so difficult and reveals that he is her husband.

 

Franklin and Leon go to Karvel’s (Sheaun McKinney) house to get Franklin’s money back.  They find a brand new car in the driveway and realize that he spent his money already.  Franklin pulls out his gun and they go into the house.  He tells Leon to stick with him and they go through the house to find Karvel sitting in a chair.  Franklin points a gun at him as Karvel approaches him, but Karvel collapses before he reaches the door.  Pedro asks Gustavo how long they have to wait before they can dump the body and Gustavo says that they have to wait until midnight.  Lucia comes in and announces that her hands are dirty before going to wash them.  Pedro asks Gustavo to keep an eye on her since she’s not handling this well.  Lucia comments on a poster in Enrique’s house before she stitches Gustavo’s back wound.  He cries out in pain and she pours some cocaine on his wound, explaining that it’s also an anesthetic.

 

Franklin and Leon attempt to hand over the car to Avi Drexler (Alon Aboutboul), but he is not happy about not getting his money.  Leon tries to smooth things over, but Drexler asks why he is talking to him.  Drexler asks if Franklin thinks this is a barter system, and tells them to bring him his money.  Hardbody (Ashleigh Morghan) comes out and asks Drexler if they’re going to finish their tennis match, and he introduces Franklin and Leon as his children, claiming that he adopted them to raise them to be men.  When she leaves, Drexler tells them to leave before handing him a shovel and telling him that the Mojave Desert is a good place to bury people.

 

Teddy walks through the workers hut and tries to make conversation with the women.  He approaches Granny (Peggy Blow) and asks her how long it takes for the coca leaves to arrive at the camp.  She doesn’t answer him and he hands her money.  She then answers his questions.  Popeye remarks that Granny likes Teddy and then tells him that he wants to show him something.  He shows Teddy a baseball card and then makes fun of the Royals.  Popeye asks him about his job in the CIA and several soldiers walk by and threaten to eat his pet monkey.  He remarks that he hates those soldiers and Teddy asks him where he’s from and what happened to his dad.  Popeye remarks that he’s no fun before walking away.

 

Franklin and Leon drive to the desert and Leon suggests leaving his body on the side of the road to the wolves.  Franklin tells him that’s a dumb idea and Leon retorts that he hasn’t thought of anything better.  Karvel starts banging and yelling from inside the trunk and they realize that he isn’t actually dead.  Leon tells him to pull over and deal with it, but Franklin tells him that they’re not out far enough yet.  Lucia checks up on Gustavo and he talks to her about his gym.  They hear gunshots outside and run to find Pedro shooting at a rat.  Gustavo identifies the animal as a possum and Lucia yells at him for drawing attention to them when they have several kilos of cocaine and a dead body.  Lucia tells Pedro to change clothes and tells Gustavo to put the possum in the trunk with the body so that they can bury them together.

 

As they pass through a construction site, Franklin turns up the radio to drown out the banging in the trunk and Leon starts singing along.  After a couple of moments, the construction worker lets them through.  Farther along the road, they notice that the car is now silent.  However, they start panicking when Karvel starts breaking out of the trunk using a crowbar.  Leon takes the gun and shoots at him, but Karvel comes through the backseat and attacks them.  Franklin stops the car and they jump out.  After Karvel jumps out of the trunk, they shoot at him until he falls down the mountain.

 

Alejandro tells Teddy to help him load the jeep, and Teddy says that they need a better way.  He claims that Popeye had a device that allowed anyone with infrared sensors to see the camp.  Alejandro’s wife tells them that they will move the tracker and shoot down the helicopters.  He tells them that Popeye asked a lot of questions and seemed suspicious.  A soldier reports that Popeye confessed to working for FSLN.  Alejandro goes to move the sensor and Teddy asks Alejandro’s wife to spare Popeye, as he is just a kid.

 

Lucia climbs into bed with Gustavo, and they talk about the people that Gustavo has seen die.  He tells her that he saw his mother die and asks if she has seen anyone die before.   She says that she hasn’t, but Pedro receiving an alert about his father interrupts their discussion.  He demands that he take Gustavo’s car, but Gustavo questions it.  Lucia tells him that it will be suspicious if he doesn’t go and Pedro insists that he hand over the keys.  Lucia tells Gustavo to give them a minute and she confronts him for not doing anything when Enrique was strangling her.  She reminds him that she would be dead if it wasn’t for Gustavo.  She tells him to change clothes and then act normal around his father.  She tells Pedro that she will kill him if he messes this up and tells Gustavo to give him the keys.

 

Franklin and Leon search for Karvel and Franklin questions how he can still be alive.  Leon suggests that he’s been zombified and they lose the blood trail.  They find a new trail and find Karvel huddled against a concrete slab.  Facing him, Franklin points the gun at him while Karvel begs for mercy.  Franklin can’t do it and hands the gun to Leon.  Franklin looks away as Leon shoots Karvel.

 

Lucia is haunted by a memory of a Young Girl (Valentina Acosta) telling a younger version of herself (Juliana Restivo) to stay hidden under the bed.  A man comes in and shoots the other girl in front of her.  Gustavo checks up on her and recommends that she get some sleep.  She tells him that he can’t tell her what to do since she is technically his boss.  She then admits that the boss employee relationship ended when she saw him kill a man with his bare hands.  Lucia embraces him and they assure each other that everything will be okay.  Pedro interrupts their moment and tells them that they avoided suspicion and that his father believes Enrique stole the money.

 

Teddy loads up the trunk, and tells Alejandro that he’s changing their plans.  He hears Popeye be executed and Alejandro tells Teddy that he’ll pick him up before he drives away.  Teddy frees Popeye’s monkey and reports the details of the plan to Alejandro’s wife.  She gives him a family photo to give to Alejandro and to tell him not to forget them.  Franklin and Leon take the car to the Garage Owner (Jurnard Burks), who asks about the torn up backseat.  He offers to give Franklin a lesser amount for the car and Leon asks to confer with his business partner.  Leon tells him that it’s not going to be enough, and Franklin decides to sell his motorcycle for the rest of the money.

 

Outside the garage, Franklin says goodbye to Leon before walking away.  Leon asks where he’s going, but Franklin tells him that he’ll talk to him tomorrow.  He gives Drexler his money back, and Drexler suggests that he get his own shovel if he’s in for the long run as well as other supplies he would need.  However, Franklin tells him that he’s out of the drug business and thanks him for the opportunity.  Drexler remarks that he lasted longer than he thought he would and that this business isn’t for everyone.  Franklin walks home, leaving the drug world behind him.