Recap: ‘Land of Women’ Finds Its Groove In Episode 3

So, the Land of Women premiere wasn’t very good, but luckily Episode 3 is quite a bit better. As predicted, the show needed to settle in a little, letting the setting and the characters develop. By the end of “Chapter 3” we’ve got multiple conflicting romances to worry about, thugs on the hunt for the leads, a mystery about Gala’s parentage, and a clue about what Fred is getting up to back in New York.

That’s plenty to be getting on with, so let’s break it all down.

The Wine Conundrum

A lot of Land of Women Episode 3 is about wine, which stands to reason since La Muga is an all-female cooperative vineyard and Gala’s arrangement with Amat is predicated on helping to improve the quality of the wine, which at present isn’t very good.

There are a couple of obstacles in the way. One is a certificate of origin that proves the wine was made in a certain way. Another is old-fashioned, stubborn ideals. The women of La Muga don’t like Gala already, so they’re not keen on the idea of changing their process to suit her.

But they need to do something, since Gala and Amat spend all day tasting the wine and find it all rather lacking. The possible solution Gala hits on is mixing it with a previous year, which would void the certificate of origin. She has a solution for that too, though — she reckons they can sell the wine in bulk to her contact Edna, who pays in advance.

Gala gets Amat to call Edna and hint that he’s going to sell to her rival. She agrees to come out for a taste test in two weeks, which is positive news, but it seems a very flimsy business proposition with a lot of associated risk.

Gala and Amat Get Closer Than Ever

The wine tasting is a good opportunity for Gala and Amat to get very drunk and flirt with each other all day. As expected, this is building into a romance very quickly, especially when Gala finally guesses the password to Fred’s email — it’s
Katrina, for Katrina and the Waves of “Walking on Sunshine” fame — and discovers what seems to be evidence of an affair.

Amat seizes the opportunity to tell Gala that Fred’s an idiot, which it’s easy to agree with, but Amat has some secrets of his own. One of them — very subtly hinted in a five-years-earlier cold open which shows him buying the Xanat house — is that he’s seeing Montse.

At this point, it isn’t totally clear how serious their relationship is, but it’s certainly serious enough for Montse to turn up out of the blue and the two of them to go to bed together.

Andreu Isn’t Gala’s Father

Julia, believing that Andreu is Gala’s biological father, goes to him to essentially blackmail him for money. However, it turns out that Andreu isn’t Gala’s father, and the implication that he might be causes all sorts of drama.

For one thing, Mariona slaps Julia right around the face. She’s married to Andreu, so she’s mad about the fact her sister slept with him all those years ago, and the fact that he’s now being extorted for overdue child support when it’s impossible for him to be Gala’s father — he’s sterile.

This is news to Julia, who had come to terms with the idea. Now she’s faced with the very real possibility that Gala’s father could be anyone in town. Perhaps the local priest? Her waking up in the middle of the night realizing that they had a tryst back in the day seems to suggest so.

Land of Women | Image via Apple TV+

Land of Women Finds Its Most Compelling Drama In Kate

The highlight of Land of Women Episode 3 is a subplot involving Kate which amounts to the most heartfelt exchanges between all three generations of the Xanat family that we’ve seen thus far.

Since Kate has decided to stay in La Muga, she’s running out of hormones so asks the local doctor, Xavi, to procure some for her. Instead, he tells everyone in town that she’s trans, leading to a terribly awkward moment in Montse’s bar.

Kate is dismayed that her being trans is the only aspect of her life that anyone seems to care about, and unburdens herself of this to Gala and Julia. The latter introduces her to an old spot she used to frequent as a young woman; a rise overlooking the vineyard, where she would scream obscenities at the top of her lungs to make herself feel better.

It still works, as it turns out.

One More Thing…

Two men arrive in Catalonia to look for the women in this episode, including Kevin, played by Amaury Nolasco of Prison Break fame.

After enduring an all-day wine tour to try and find the vineyard, the two eventually receive a phone call directing them right to La Muga. The episode ends with them arriving there, so that’s another thing to worry about beyond the quality of the wine.

Told you things were getting more interesting.