Summary
The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” sees Pawel learning the truth from that fateful night in an eventful penultimate chapter.
This recap of Netflix series The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” contains significant spoilers.
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How does The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” open?
Episode 5 begins with Pawel’s sister-in-law Malgorzata getting hounded by the press as she’s taken from her home. Pawel starts getting calls from journalists. He rings Kuba and leaves a voicemail saying he knows who is framing Malgorzata. On the news, Kryzstof Dunaj-Szafranski is suggesting Pawel knew about the embezzlement of the public funds. Leon tells Laura that Pawel won’t get away with this because the judgment has already been made.
A complaint
In the past, Pawel sees his father digging something up in the middle of the night. His father knows he is following him. In the present day, Pawel is getting sued for intimidating a witness. His boss says she has to follow procedures and shreds the complaint. Back in the past, Pawel asks where his mother is and his father goes silent. On the radio, reports of Malczak getting arrested are on the news. The father tells Pawel that his mother has abandoned them — “It’s just you and me now”. Meanwhile, the lead investigator is interrogating Malczak and wants to know where the bodies are. The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” shows that exact date Pawel lost his mother.
Meeting Malczak
In the present day, Pawel meets Malczak in prison and wants to know what happened in the woods. Malczak tells Pawel that Karol visited and explained they are digging up dirt on him — Malczak explained that he didn’t kill anyone in the woods. Pawel asks again what happened to his sister and then the meeting turns aggressive. Laura tells Pawel that Malczak knew that Artur did not die that night; Pawel wonders if Artur and Malczak worked together. Laura says there must be someone else.
Money mule
Pawel met Kuba to discuss how to help his sister-in-law; Kuba tells Pawel that he must explain she got the money from him. Kuba then explains that Malgorzata wanted to buy land to invest and increase assets and Pawel’s wife’s foundation would have profited from it. Kuba explains further; that an offer came up, short term, great price — buy low, sell high; this girl was selling off her father’s estate. He used to have a factory in Poland, a rich Chinese man. Pawel asks who this Chinese girl was and Kuba explains she is pretty like a model. Pawel shows Kuba a photo of Ming Li — Kuba confirms it is her and Pawel gets angry, stating she’s a money mule. Pawel tries looking for Ming Li but she’s disappeared. The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” shows how Pawel’s reputation may be in tatters in the media if this escalates.
Hypothetically speaking
Artur’s father Bogdan wants to speak to Pawel in his office — he explains how the families sued and compensation was paid and if they had lied (he’s speaking hypothetically apparently), it would turn out to be extortion and charged with obstruction of justice. Pawel states that hypothetically speaking, one person out of four in the woods might have killed the other three. Bogdan says his son didn’t do it and that if he came out of the woods alive, he wasn’t the only one — “That’s all I know”.
Pawel wants to meet Laura’s father; Pawel and Laura drink wine and talk about it — there’s clearly chemistry still between them. Laura states that Bogdan told him exactly what he wants to hear.
Bones of an older woman
The forensic scientist shows Pawel something. She explains that the bones belong to a woman but there was also a hyoid bone — part of the larynx which is shaped like a horseshoe. It was broken in two; a murder has been committed, the victim was strangled but she explains further that a young person’s hyoid bone is more like cartilage, flexible: “It wouldn’t snap in two. It would be crushed”. She says there is no doubt this skeleton belonged to a woman in her forties, “Certainly not a girl your sister’s age”. This means Bogdan wasn’t lying. The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” sees Pawel getting closer to the truth.
Update on the rape case
Iza updates Pawel over the Klaudia rape case and states there were three men involved — the third man was close and had access to Klaudia. He must have been recording. The reason why Klaudia hasn’t mentioned the third man, Janek Falkowski, is because she loves him and is subconsciously covering for him. Pawel looks at CCTV footage from the ship junkyard and sees a body getting transferred into a car. Jork has access to the same footage now and he states he will look into it.
Meeting Dawid
Pawel makes his way to the nursing home to meet Laura’s father Dawid Goldsztajn. Laura says she’s afraid that he will ask the wrong questions. When they arrive, Laura and Pawel kiss, and Laura tells him she loves him. The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” confirms what we already knew — these two are still in love.
Pawel meets Dawid about that summer and asks what his mother told him before she left. Pawel tells Dawid that Artur and his sister did not die in the woods and Artur under the name of Marek visited him recently. Laura gets out of her car and her father’s vehicle. Meanwhile, Buczkowski tells Jork that they have found the owner of that car from the video — Dawid Goldsztajn. Laura gets in the car and reminisces and sees blood on the back seat and urgently gets out. Laura rushes to find Pawel and her father.
How does The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” end?
Dawid tells Pawel “that it was a bad thing that you saw us back then in the woods with Malczak”. Flashbacks to the past show Pawel running through the woods. Pawel sees Malczak giving Dawid a blowj*b. In the present day, Dawid says he wondered when he’d spill the beans but Pawel didn’t say anything. Flashbacks show Dawid threatening Pawel.
In the present day, Dawid says he was trying to protect his daughter — Pawel says he loved his daughter and then asks Dawid if he killed them. Dawid gets out a gun and Laura hears gunshots. Pawel is on the floor hurt and Dawid points the gun at him again. Laura manages to stop her father from shooting. Dawid says, “Your sister is dead,” and then shoots himself in the head. Pawel collapses on the floor from a gun wound. The Woods season 1, episode 5, “Your Sister Is Dead” sees Pawel learning the truth from that fateful night in an eventful penultimate chapter.
