The Leak
In the early hours of the morning, Irina is on the autopsy table after being found dead in her home. Bill feeds back the night’s events to James Wilson, claiming the death was self-defence. Henrique shows up to oversee the damage and tells Wilson he should really think about his next actions, hinting at letting the agent in question go.
Irina was working with Joao. Anne arrived and decided to set to work figuring out who the rogue agent was, going over those absent from work. ..
Carolina admits that Mia was at the 4th of July party. Apparently, she was arguing with Miguel there but beyond this juicy bit of gossip, she doesn’t have much more information. With Joao under massive scrutiny now, and a gunshot wound in his shoulder that could give him away, Carolina suggests he run away. ..
Joao does not head back to his apartment to get the blood stains out of his clothes. Bill shows up on-site claiming there’s a gas leak and he needs to leave.
Bill is trying to figure out if Joao is dirty by looking around the front of the building. Joao keeps his cool and drives to headquarters, leaving Bill searching fruitlessly for clues. ..
Wilson confronts Joao about his absences, late starts, and numerous late nights. Joao splashes blood over the floor from his wound while talking, and his blood loss is definitely something that’s causing him physical distress. Wilson even calls him out for looking ill but Joao smiles and weakly works his way through the questioning.
He makes it through the day without getting killed or hurt, but he has to leave his bloody clothes in the toilet basin at home.
In his absence, the maid over at RARET mops up the blood spatter in Wilson’s office without thinking twice about it. With Joao seemingly in the clear, Carolina heads over to check on her lover. His wound is infected, and in need of a doctor, but Joao refuses. So naturally the pair make love instead, as you do.
Wilson shifts up the command hierarchy at RARET the following day, tasking Ramiro with teaming up alongside Engineer Parker when building a new antenna. At the same time, Bill shows to look around Miguel’s office under orders. Only, he immediately finds the doctor’s stash of photos and begins beating answers out of him.
Mia, the woman Miguel has a history with, tells the story of how she and her friend Wilson came up with the plan to poison both James and Anne. Wilson is not actually aware of this fact, apparently, but Bill does learn about the blow to the back of Mia’s head that killed her. He deduces that it may well have been a hammer.
Miguel also throws Wilson under the bus here, mentioning indirectly to Bill that he’s been forced to keep his mouth shut. “If the report is excluding these details it’s because I’ve been told to do so.”
Fernando, the man who was supposed to have died in the battle, shows up at the barracks with a haunted look in his eyes. He tells the story of how he killed a child out by the river and how it haunts him still.
Joao meets up with Alexandre in Gloria and mentions a get-together with James and all his buddies. Alexandre doesn’t think he should go, reminding Joao that this is too risky. If he’s compromised or found out – especially while sporting this wound – then it will mess up the whole operation. ..
Joao watches in horror as Otilia heads into the lake with her baby. Alexandre reminds him as she walks into the water silently that their objective is bigger, they’re at war. ..
Joao is the weak link at the party. Anne, like a shark that smells blood, casually grills Carolina about the extra-curricular activities she’s been up to. Carolina promises to keep her secret about sleeping with Joao but it certainly rattles her. ..
When Joao leaves out the front, he decides to sabotage the whole party – and the Wilson residence – turning on the gas stove and lighting a match to go off. As he does the rounds, Joao learns that Sofia is still inside the house, upstairs in her room. Joao rushes into the burning building, just as it explodes. ..
The Episode Review
It’s fair to say that Joao is going to survive this but episode 7 also highlights a much larger problem with Gloria that’s just starting to come to the foreground here. The line between espionage drama and soapy shenanigans have been well-tempered but this chapter pushes it over the edge. We go full-on melodrama here, which leads to some plot contrivances.
The first half of this espionage thriller was well balanced, but the soapy romance angle takes away from the focus.
In a dramatic turn of events, Joao comes out of the burning house unscathed. This sets the stage for a tense and exciting climax as Joao tries to figure out what happened and why.
Gloria’s final episode takes a step back from the more serialized storytelling we’ve seen before. ..
