In the enigmatic opening of Who Killed Sara?, Alex begins to make his move against the Lazcanos, and an anonymous number offers their support.
*Spoilers for Episode 1 Below*
The episode opens with a hazy day at the lake. A group of teens are partying on a boat, drinking, swimming, having a good time. This group is actually the Guzman siblings, the Lazcano brothers, and the assistant to the Lazcano family. The titular Sara Guzman (Ximena Lamadrid), goes parasailing. As she sails high in the sky, her harness, which has clearly been cut in multiple places, begins to fall apart. She screams for help, but the only person who notices is her brother, Alex (Manolo Cardona). Rodolfo (Alejandro Nones), the oldest Lazcano speeds up the boat, and the boys, in horror, watch as Sara falls. There’s an abrupt cut to Alex, as he jolts awake, 18 years later in prison.
We then go through Alex’s mundane prison routine; showers, meals, working out, and reading. Except he’s reading complex things about the deep web. Alex is interrupted by his lawyer visiting, who lets him know that he is being released the next morning for good behavior. And the Lazcano family will know.
Meanwhile, Cesar (Ginés García Millán), the patriarch of the Lazcano family, is taking his step-grandson hunting. Bruno (Iñaki Godoy), doesn’t want to kill the deer or it’s fawn. After some homophobic remarks, Cesar kills the deer and the fawn himself. As the two leave the hunting grounds, Cesar finds out Alex is being released. But he doesn’t care, saying that he’s powerful enough to handle anything.
When Alex is finally released, he sneaks out a key, grabs his things, and heads home. The entire time, he’s having flashbacks of the hospital trip and his court sentence. Once he’s finally home, he remembers the day he was arrested, and how his mom pleaded with him to not turn himself in. He also remembers fond memories of Sara, prompting him to leave flowers at her grave. While there, he remembers something he told his lawyer: he would get revenge on the Lazcano family.
Elisa (Carolina Miranda), the youngest Lazcano child, is introduced as she flys back to Mexico. She’s been studying in Chicago, working on her degree. She’s picked up by the middle child, Chema (Eugenio Siller), and his boyfriend, Lorenzo (Luis Roberto Guzmán).
Alex then goes to the bank and uses the key that someone he knew in prison gave him. It opens a safety deposit box filled with money. He then begins to get things organized, gets a car, cleans his room, gets his computer set up. All of this happens while we see clips of Alex telling his lawyer that Rodolfo killed Sara, and it wasn’t negligence. It happened because the Lazcano’s hated Sara dating him. Therefore, all the Lazcano’s are accomplices.
We then see a super important flashback of Cesar and Mariana (Claudia Ramírez), Cesar’s wife, convincing Alex to take the fall. Rodolfo is set up to inherit the business, and he doesn’t have the guts to take the blame. But Alex is strong, and he owes the family after everything they’ve done for him. Chema is enraged at this, upset that they could do that to Alex. At this point, Alex already says that Rodolfo is to blame.
Meanwhile, Rodolfo is currently trying to have a baby with his wife, Sofia (Ana Lucia Dominguez). But he’s reluctant, stressed out about everything. Instead, he goes on a run, and as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – Summer blares in his ears, he reminisces over being with Sara.
As Cesar arrives at the Casino, he receives a picture of Sara. The rest of the family shows up, and Chema brings Lorenzo, much to the families dismay. After receiving the picture, Cesar begins to worry about Alex being free. But he says that if Alex keeps messing with them, he’ll put him back in prison, or in the grave.
As Alex reads Sara’s diary, he notices secrets relating to Rodolfo, and he sends a picture to him as well, prompting Rodolfo to panic. Alex then hacks into the cameras at the casino, watching as Cesar threatens Lorenzo, and then Alex makes his big reveal.
A video Alex filmed earlier begins to play all throughout the casino. In it, he says that the Lazcano’s are all screwed by forcing him to lie. He also confirms that Sara’s death wasn’t negligence. It was murder. A prerecorded Alex tells them they’ll get what they deserve, while we also see flashbacks of Mrs. Guzman crying, and Cesar telling Alex to take the blame.
An enraged Cesar demands to know how Alex got through security, and vows to retaliate. Rodolfo wants to talk to Alex because they’re friends, but Cesar yells at his son. Instead, he orders his men to find Alex.
As Rodolfo leaves, Chema grabs him. A flashback mirrors this, as Chema punches Rodolfo for making Alex take the blame. A young Elisa interrupts them, just as current Elisa arrives, asking what happened. Feeling nervous, Rodolfo storms away, while Chema says he can’t tell her anything in public.
Rodolfo then shows up to Alex’s home, and while he’s thinking about his past with Sara, Alex looks at the window. And Rodolfo watches as Alex shoots him with a finger gun in both the past and the present. Deeply troubled, Rodolfo drives away. Alex then gets a message from a private number who says that Rodolfo is innocent, and they know who killed Sara.
This revelation shakes Alex, as he thinks about the day of the accident, only to be brought back to reality by Cesar’s men as they shoot at his house.
There was A LOT going on in this episode. From Alex getting out of prison, Cesar’s blatant homophobia, and the private number at the end, everything felt super intense. This episode kicked off the show, as we get background on the characters, and small glimpses into what really happened to Sara.
The majority focused on Alex and his readjustment to society. Manolo gives an intense performance, switching from vulnerability to anger at the drop of a hat. While you can figure out vague archetypes the members of the Lazcano family fall under, we haven’t spent enough time with them individually to get to know them.
This episode left a lot of questions. Alex was absolutely convinced that Rodolfo killed Sara, but the introduction of the private number leads to uncertainty. Who are they? How do they know that? If it’s not Rodoflo, then who killed Sara? Hopefully the next episode will give us some more info.
You can watch Who Killed Sara?, streaming on Netflix.
