Summary
A rapidly escalating sense of chaos defines this second chapter as tensions mount inside and outside the prison.
This recap of The Longest Night season 1, episode 2 contains spoilers.
After the murder of the inmates in the previous episode, things aren’t looking too good in Baruca. Tensions are mounting, there is disagreement over what to do with Simon, certain areas of the facility are blocked off due to the cut power, and riots are threatening to break out in Red Block. Even with all the armed men and women outside, there might very well be more danger already within the walls.
The Longest Night season 1, episode 2 recap
Speaking of which, this second episode sheds a little light on Manuela, the inmate we met briefly in the premiere who has just received a work release. The twist, so to speak, is that the inmate we saw her conspiring with earlier isn’t actually an inmate at all, but an imaginary friend or dark alternate personality named Emma, who is violent and murderous. Manuela is pretending that she hasn’t spoken to Emma since she has been incarcerated in Baruca, but we know that isn’t true, and she inevitably has some violence in her future as well as her past.
With the particulars established in the premiere, this episode does the smart thing and begins to portion the cast off into smaller groups and subplots. Outside the prison, Ruso and his group are trying to find a way in, while he berates his men for being a little too heavy-handed with innocents. Inside, Hugo is trying to keep his cards close to his chest while also compelling the staff who aren’t in the know to help him activate the generator and restore power, especially to the cameras. The prisoners know they’re being lied to, while Alicia and Guille, realizing that this is serious, begin trying to navigate their way back to Hugo on their own.
We get our first proper taste of action in this episode too. A lot of the specific details are lost in the chaos, intentionally. Ruso’s men try to enter and get thwarted by a combination of the inmates and Montes’s elite trigger finger. Fights break out among other inmates. There are still important details to consider there, too. Along with whatever Manuela is plotting, our attention is also drawn to Nuria, a particularly unstable prisoner who has figured out that Simon, who is disguised as a prison guard so as not to cause panic, is an imposter.
Simon is smart. This was raised in dialogue earlier, but we see it first-hand here in how he recognizes that he has been recognized and pushes to force the prisoners back into their cells; he knows they outnumber the guards, and that they’ll cause a great deal of trouble if they expose the deception. Of course, given he’s a notorious, psychopathic serial killer, nobody is inclined to listen to him, but there’s every chance he’s going to be proved right.
That feeling of escalating chaos really defines this episode, and indeed its ending, which sees emergency services turning up as Guille and Alicia are both separated and snatched. There are prisoners in guard uniforms, Cherokee — who has no lower legs, it turns out — still plotting his own escape, and various other interweaving subplots to worry about as well. I’d like to see the show slow down just a touch over the next couple of episodes to really build the stakes in certain areas, but thus far but you couldn’t fault The Longest Night for pace.
You can stream The Longest Night season 1, episode 2 exclusively on Netflix.
