Mortel Recap: Young Love and Gods

This recap of Netflix series Mortel Season 1, Episode 4, “Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic” contains significant spoilers. You can read the recap of the previous episode by clicking these words.

Mortel Episode 4 immediately follows on from the previous, with Sofiane (Carl Malapa) shutting the counsellor’s office door to clear his name. He puts Mrs Jourdan to sleep and asks Victor to go inside Rodrigue’s head for evidence. Memories pop up of Laurine and Reda arguing with one of the wrestlers. Victor sees Rodrigue using his phone so Sofiane suggests taking the footage out of Rodrigue’s phone and leaving it with Mrs Jourdan for when she wakes up. I’m pretty sure they could have figured that footage was on his phone without Victor reading his mind.

While Victor stays over at Sofiane’s home, Luisa speaks to another girl about her recent experiences forcing her to stay inside. She claims it was Ousmane who spoke to her. Obe visits Victor and Sofiane and asks if they are ready to finish the job. I sometimes forget the pair have a blood oath.

Victor and Sofiane return to school now that they are cleared. They join Luisa and Melanie at Mrs. Jourdan’s office. Luisa apologizes to Victor, but Sofiane is angry and claims Victor does not accept the apology.

Luisa confronts Ousmane, but Sofiane shows up and forces Luisa to choke him while asking Victor to read his mind to see if he killed his brother Reda. Obe turns up and tries encouraging Sofiane to kill Ousmane. Sofiane tries to get Ousmane to kill himself using his powers, but Victor manages to knock Sofiane out in time. They both see a flashback of Reda and Sofiane on Reda’s birthday. Laurine turns up at their house. She asks Reda what happened at the party and says she cannot leave her house anymore. She is visibly upset.

By the way, after being quiet for the first three episodes, Obe shows up frequently now.

Victor wakes up at Luisa’s house. He tells Luisa’s grandmother about Obe and she insists she needs to help him before it is too late. Obe tells Reda not to doubt his brother after he saw the flashback involving Laurine. Obe clearly has selfish intentions as he needs Sofiane to kill someone so he is not trapped.

At Victor’s house, Luisa looks at Victor’s drawings. She sees the drawing of her and looks touched by it. Sofiane visits Melanie and they sleep together. Sofiane finds out Melanie is looking into joining the army which leads to a short-fused argument. Melanie calls Sofiane toxic, so he leaves.

Episode 4, “Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic” sees Sofiane accusing of Victor changing his mind about the blood oath because Luisa has shown an interest in him. Victor claims it is because the powers are toxic.

But there is a romance blossoming, so Sofiane was not far off with his accusations. Luisa meets Victor in the hallway. They raid the counselor’s office. She finds drawings and descriptions from other pupils. One of Sofiane’s friends accuses Luisa of being with Victor and Luisa reacts by kissing him. He runs off and states he does not like people touching him. Luisa gently holds his hand.

Back at home, Obe tries to get inside Sofiane’s head. The God says he can do it without Victor. While acting in frustration and smashing Reda’s scooter helmet, he finds a USB inside the casing.

Mortel Season 1, Episode 4, “Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic” ends with Luisa cutting Victor’s hair, which appears intimate between them. Victor looks like an entirely different man, and the two kiss. Sofiane looks at the footage on the USB. It shows Reda going to a house with Mordibo, who talks to an unknown man that speaks about Obe.

There always seems to be footage to prove anything in Mortel. 

Additional Notes

• Mrs. Jourdan goes to speak to Luisa’s grandma about Mordibo. She wants to know if could have helped Laurine.
• Luisa asks if Reda is dead. His silence confirms it.
• Mrs. Jourdan visits Laurine. She calls her rotten to the core — it was a bad dream

You can read the recap of the fifth episode by clicking these words.