3% season 4, episode 5 recap – “Chapter 05: Painting”

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: August 15, 2020 (Last updated: last month)
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3% season 4, episode 5 recap - "Chapter 05: Painting"
3.5

Summary

With everything beginning to crash and burn, “Chapter 05: Painting” finds some thematic poignancy as the fate of Brazil hangs in the balance.

This recap of 3% season 4, episode 5, “Chapter 05: Painting”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.

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“Chapter 05: Painting” begins in the immediate aftermath of the previous episode’s cliffhanger, from the perspective of Marcela, who awakens to find the Offshore in ruin and disarray. The residents are going bonkers, electronics are down, and with so much animus in the atmosphere, Marcela takes the opportunity to deliver an impassioned speech about finding the terrorists responsible. She’ll have to be quick, though, since smoke is pouring from everywhere and radiation is in the atmosphere.

Why not, then, with Marcela at the forefront, explore her past a little? That’s what 3% season 4, episode 5 elects to do, as we see her arrive at the Offshore for the first time, and see her interactions with her no-nonsense father, whom she asks if she can be a painter. Turns out that, at least according to him, there are too many artists on the island already. He shuns her and tells her to leave, but that doesn’t quell her artistic spirit, as we see.

In the light of what has happened, Marcela begins to blame herself for trying to negotiate with the Shell. She and Nair discuss their paradise having now been lost, with only two scant weeks left during which the Offshore will be liveable. After that, it’ll be a ruin, and the Shell seems pretty easy to blame for this, at least if you’re Marcela.

Breaking away from the others, Marco heads into the jungle and is left to roam by Veronica. He eventually grabs a gun and makes his way to Leonardo’s house, where tension abounds. As Ariel elects to send submarines to check on the Offshore, the state of things over there are no better, as the residents desperately try to find a way off.

When Marcela gets home, she finds Marco and Leonardo together, telling her father they need to leave because of the spreading radiation. She also tells Marco that Gloria is pregnant. The conversation predictably deteriorates, and before long Marcela is holding a gun to Marco’s face, who demands that she fires. She doesn’t, though, instead walking away. Marco walks down to the shore, where he starts coughing up blood thanks to radiation poisoning.

This provides a fitting end to “Chapter 05: Painting”, with the Offshore, having been built in large part by Marcela and Leonardo, eventually being toppled by Marco. Talk about keeping it in the family.

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