Regina continues to take care of Roger’s wife, confessing concerns for Hugo and claiming his innocence. She admits her love for Hugo, adding that her husband is a bad man who enjoys making her suffer. Regina hopes to be baptized, have her marriage annulled, and be free to marry Hugo. ..
That evening, the king dines at Roger’s palace. He remarks that he’s never tasted such good wine. Roger says the cellarman is a traitor, but his wife has been convinced by Regina. She remarks that Hugo can’t read or write.
This is good enough for King Martin. He orders Roger to pardon and release the cellarman at once. Roger is talented and rare, so this is a good enough solution.
After Hugo is released, Regina is baptized. She tells Hugo she’ll soon be rid of her husband. Roger’s wife has even offered her a position in the palace. She still doesn’t know of Hugo’s engagement, so she voices her assumption that Hugo will marry her now that she’s a Christian. Hugo doesn’t reply. ..
Eulália’s father visits Hugo to talk about wedding plans between him and his daughter. Hugo wants to postpone. He reminds him that he signed an agreement. If he doesn’t marry Eulália, he’ll have to give up his vineyard, as agreed.
Regina next sees Hugo, and she brings with her Mateo’s slave, Caterina. When Hugo calls her by her name, Regina becomes suspicious of his feelings toward the woman.
She later comes to him again, furious. She found out from the priest that Hugo is already engaged. He apologizes, but he can’t break the betrothal. ..
Regina demands that he break up with Eulália, or she will tell her sister about how he slept with a Jew for so many years. She’ll tell Roger that she wrote the letters to Bernat for him. And she’ll tell Mercé that he’s not her true father. ..
She’s convinced he’ll be happy with her. She leaves him with a choice–marrying her or death–then kisses him.
Hugo leaves his vineyard and grants his slaves their freedom. Barcha refuses her freedom papers, wanting to stay and help take care of Mercé. Hugo, unsmiling, marries Regina in a Christian church.
Roger brings Hugo to King Martin’s palace, where Hugo serves some of his most expensive wine. Genis Puig is now dead, but he wasn’t significant to any of the recent plot. But Roger is now the Count of Navarcles. ..
Mercé is now a young woman, and Hugo is still married to Regina. She is at the palace as well, to treat the new queen.
The entire court witnesses the awkward consummation of the king’s and queen’s marriage. The king just married Margaret of Prades and hopes for an heir. All four of his children with his first wife died.
Roger, the king’s advisor, takes notice of Regina, the palace’s maidservant. They begin an affair, which Hugo discovers when he hears them together while walking past their room. ..
Mercé wants to follow in Regina’s footsteps and become a doctor, but this makes Hugo angry. He wants Mercé to stop calling Regina mother, and to marry someone who respects him rather than follow in her footsteps. ..
Hugo accuses Regina of acting shamelessly, but she says he doesn’t understand. Roger has promised to make her a baroness. He will also let her and Mercé live at the palace. Mercé can learn her trade. But Hugo won’t have it. ..
Hugo later finds Caterina hiding in his cellar, bleeding from her lip. He asks where she’s from. Caterina says she was captured by Turks and made a slave. She doesn’t remember her homeland. ..
She tells him that he is a good father, with a big heart. Since she fell from grace, he’s the only one who has treated her kindly. Hugo stares longingly after her as she leaves.
Roger constantly asks for wine from Hugo, and he’s in a rage. The king is dead, and there is no heir, which means war. He says the king tried to acknowledge his illegitimate grandson as the heir before he died, but the Cortes of Aragon prevented him.
Roger says that they will have to win the crown for the Count of Urgell or lose everything. He has not forgotten Hugo’s treason, but he can redeem himself by spying for him. He warns him that his daughter will still be at his palace. If Hugo fails in this task, she will die.
He then passes out from his excessive drinking. Hugo remembers his promise to kill the Puigs. He looks at the unconscious Roger and picks up his dagger. After a few seconds of contemplating it, he throws the dagger away and storms out of the room. ..
Hugo goes to Zaragoza to spy on Count of Urgell, who is planning a major event there. The count has asked for armed supporters to gather in Zaragoza, and Hugo is determined to find out what the count is up to.
Hugo is curious about Sister Beatriz, the nun who sings in Arsenda. The priest tells him that she is the Mother Superior, Sister Beatriz. Hugo asks her if she knows where Arsenda is, but she says it’s the convent in Madrid. Hugo decides to visit Arsenda and see if he can find out more about Sister Beatriz.
Hugo goes to his hiding place, where he hides the letter from the priest behind a loose brick. He has hidden several other letters there as well.
When he reports to Roger, he claims to have destroyed the letter so it couldn’t be used as evidence against him. ..
In the next scene, Hugo spots Bernat at an event in Caspe where an official proclaims the king of Aragorn to be the Prince of Castile, Ferdinand of Trastámara. Bernat is first to pay his respects to the king, soon followed by Regina and Mercé.
Hugo later goes to see Bernat, who has been appointed admiral of the Royal Navy. Bernat glares at Hugo, believing him a traitor for serving a Puig and not killing him.
Hugo maintains that he has served Bernat well by risking his life to collect evidence of Roger’s treason. He has been seeking revenge - his own way. ..
Hugo shows him the letters he’s collected, the ones that show that Roger has been helping the king’s enemies. Now, he can execute Roger, but under the law. In return, Hugo wants Bernat to take his daughter under his protection and find a reputable man for her to marry.
Bernat walks up to Hugo and hugs him, then kisses Merce’s hand. He completely ignores Regina. ..
Mateo is escorted downstairs by his guards when Bernat reveals that Hugo betrayed him. Mateo slips a dagger from his sleeve and rushes at Hugo, but Bernat cuts his throat. As Mateo dies, Hugo reminds him that he was the scared boy who caused him to lose his eye. “Remember me in hell,” he says, before the man draws his last breath.
Bernat decides to hand Roger over to the people of Barcelona. If he was fair to them, they will spare him. Roger grins, knowing how this will turn out.
Roger’s new goddaughter, Mercé, has taken over everything in his palace. Bernat proclaims that she will be the lady of the house and everyone must obey her.
He says that Caterina will be under Hugo’s custody until the king makes a decision about her fate.
Hugo and Caterina approach each other, and Regina spits at their feet. Regina swore Hugo would regret this before storming off. Caterina kneels at Hugo’s feet, but he makes her stand.
In the episode, Barcelona beats up Roger Puig with help from Bernat’s right-hand man. This leaves Puig helpless and allows Bernat to finish him off.
The Episode Review
The episode starts with a bang, as the slaves are freed and start a rebellion. It’s exciting to see how this will play out, and it’s also great to see the development of the characters. The love story is especially sweet, and it’s nice to see them finally get their own story arc.
This episode does not make its characters more interesting or dynamic; it just keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Regina is compared to Dolca and Caterina, but the parallels are too obvious. Regina converts in order to have the life she wants, while Caterina was sexually assaulted. ..
Regina has shown herself to be a truly horrendous person, but some ways the show tries to depict this fall extremely flat. It’s as if Heirs is presenting women as if there are simply two kinds: the angelic (Dolca and Caterina) and the demonic (Regina).
The series also fails Hugo’s character, who has so much wasted potential. It continues to astound me the ways Heirs tries to show us that Hugo is so noble and good. For example, Barcha doesn’t want to leave him. And Caterina lavishes him with praise for being the only person kind to her. So, is he on a pedestal because he is kind to slaves? Is that such a sacrifice? ..
The repeated reinforcement of Hugo’s supposed “perfection” doesn’t just show an utter lack of awareness. To put it simply, it’s boring. ..
Here’s hoping Heirs to Land maintains the level of excitement and intrigue it has thus far, while also improving its character development and offering greater emotional depth in character arcs. ..
