“Motel Valkirias” is a new series created by Ghaleb Jaber Martinez and stars Maria Mera, Maria Joao Bostos, and Marina Mota, among others. The plot revolves around the lives of three women who are in different stages of their lives and battling distinct problems, but they serendipitously meet at “Motel Valkirias” and become entangled in a chain of events that, on the one hand, increase solidarity among the three but, on the other, gravely endanger their lives.
Spoilers Ahead
A Stranger Arrives At Motel Valkirias
The story begins, and we are introduced to the three women, who are all on the verge of losing something they hold dear. First, there is Lucia Vega, who is being harassed by her abusive ex-husband and might lose custody of the one person she truly loves: her daughter, Alicia. Secondly, there is the actress Eva Santana, who has crossed the inflection point of her career and is on the decline owing to the biased and ageist attitude of the industry. Coming to terms with her declining career is hard enough for her as it is, but to top it all off, she is also being extorted by a worker who has her indecent photographs ready to be exposed to the media. Lastly, there is the elderly yet sturdy Carolina, who is the owner of the rundown Motel Valkirias. Her main worry is the mortgage and debt she is under, and a failure to pay those in time will mean her eviction from her only source of income: the motel. Carolina is no rookie when it comes to dealing with hard times. She lost her husband to suicide, who died after he couldn’t bear the disappearance of their junkie daughter, 18 years ago.
Lucia ends up at the motel after running away from her ex-husband, taking her daughter Alicia with her. She knows he is capable of wrecking her life, so she plans to lay low for some time. Right on the border of Galicia and Portugal, she sees Motel Valkirias and requests Carolina to let her stay for a few days. Carolina, seeing a young Alicia, agrees to let Lucia stay, but on the condition that she works for her to take care of the motel.
Eva comes to Motel Valkirias after being asked to arrive there by her blackmailer, who turns out to be a co-worker. He threatens her to pay a hefty sum if she doesn’t want her compromising photographs to be aired on the prime-time news.
The situation is exacerbated at the motel by the arrival of a venerable-looking Huphrey Bogart fanatic, who also happens to be a hitman named Eligio. He enters the motel with a cute dog he found on the way and asks Carolina for accommodation. Carolina, unaware of the fact that the man she has let in is on a deadly job and is involved in a cross-war between the Mendoza gang (headed by Severo Mendoza and his nephew Marcelo Mendoza) and their money-launderer Ferran.
Carolina and Lucia are both in need of money: Lucia for looking after Alicia, and Carolina for paying back her debts. Lucia tries to seduce Eligio and arrives in his room, not knowing Carolina is already hiding in the bathroom because she tried to rob Eligio while he was getting drunk at the bar. Carolina finds a gun in Eligio’s briefcase, and when Lucia enters the room’s bathroom, she calmly asks her to make Eligio leave the motel, fearing he is someone dangerous. Eligio catches both of them conspiring against him, and shots are fired. Eva is disturbed by the commotion and enters the room, only to find Lucia and Carolina trying to save their lives from Eligio. She gets hold of his gun to stop Eligio, but she fires it in a state of panic when Eligio charges toward her, killing him on the spot.
Lucia and Eva plan to cross the border and dispose of Eligio’s body while Carolina tries to clean up the crime scene. On their way, they meet the Galicia cop Helder, who turns out to be Eva’s fan, which helps as it does not occur to him to check the trunk of the car, which was hiding Eligio’s body. Scared but determined, they take care of the dead body. They don’t do an impeccable job, as the body is soon discovered by Portugal’s cop Salgado. It turns out Eligio was working for Ferran, who in turn was being arm-twisted by Salgado. Eligio, before his untimely demise, had hidden a truck that hid something extremely important, both for Salgado and Ferran.
Back at Motel Valkirias, Carolina finds the key to the truck and, with Lucia’s help, tracks it down. They thoroughly check it but find nothing except a few beer bottles. It is only later that they find that the stickers on the beer bottles contain a lottery code, and this is Ferran’s way of laundering money for the Mendoza gang.
With Eligio dead, the truck never reaches its destination. Ferran senses trouble, but before he can take another step, Marcelo Mendoza sets up Luis Castro to track the truck down. Castro disguises himself as a bookseller and reaches Motel Valkirias. He gains the upper hand at first, killing a local undertaker (who moved the truck away from the motel at Carolina’s request), but ultimately is outdone by the trio of Carolina, Lucia, and Eva. With Saldoga and Helder investigating the murder intensely, they decide to make a deal with Castro and try to find the valuable ‘item’ that was hidden in the lorry.
Lucia and Castro take a trip to inspect the truck but find the scene infested with cops. They decide to take a detour and look for the gas station that Eligio last visited. They surprisingly formed a bond during this small expedition. Lucia is surprised to find out that Eligio’s shopping list consists of lots of food and concludes that the valuable item in the truck was not a ‘thing’ but a ‘person’ for whom Eligio packed the food.
Carolina’s eviction date gets closer, and Eva’s biggest fear comes true. Even though Helder tries to extrajudicially stop it from happening, his plan to save Eva from embarrassment doesn’t work, and her pictures get leaked online. This strains Eva and Helder’s blossoming relationship. It turns out she wasn’t worried about the nudity but didn’t want the TV screens swarming with the image of her botched-up breasts that resulted from a failed breast enhancement surgery. She takes the challenge head-on and finally faces her fear. She goes to a popular TV show and calls out the toxic culture of the entertainment industry that pressures women into taking such drastic steps.
Meanwhile, Marcelo finds out that Ferran had a deal with Saldoga. He intercepts their plan and calls Saldoga, telling him to forget about Ferran and make a deal with him instead.
Back at Motel Valkirias, Carolina spends her days with Lucia’s daughter, Alicia. She tries to find the dog’s owner that Eligio had brought with him. With Eligio gone, she decides to have a day out with Alicia. She tracks down the owner, who is a middle-aged circus owner. They give the dog away, and Carolina is happy to see Alicia delighted.
Ferran, being hounded by both Saldoga and Marcelo, decides to flee the country with the gang’s unlaundered money but is caught by Marcelo before he does so. Ferran is made to spill all his secrets at gunpoint. He finally reveals that Eligio had kidnapped Severo Mendoza at his behest and was escorting him in his truck to be delivered to Saldoga, who had tried to catch the drug kingpin for decades.
Carolina Tracks Down Severo
Carolina tracks Severo, beating everyone else to the chase, after she identifies him from a photo a local journalist showed her. Severo was the circus owner whose dog she came to return with Alicia. Harboring an intense animus against drug dealers, because of whom her daughter became an addict and her husband committed suicide, Carolina makes up her mind to kill Severo. She fails in her attempt and is caught by Severo’s men and then tortured.
Marcelo, in order to know her uncle Severo’s location, ropes Lucia and Eva into the mix. With Carolina gone, he suspects the remaining two women know about his uncle’s hideout as he finds his and his uncle’s photos in the motel, the same ones that were left there by the local journalist. Marcelo acts as if he cares about his uncle, but in fact, he is trying to execute his own plans to become the dreaded kingpin.
Severo proves to be no dummy. He calls Marcelo, making him think he wants to deal with Ferran but, in fact, wants to murder Marcelo for his betrayal. Severo kills Marcelo and proceeds to eliminate Castro but is stopped by Eva and Lucia. Severo, as a last measure, takes Carolina hostage but is shot by Eva.
Lucia, Eva, Carolina, Ferran, and Castro are the only ones that remain alive. Ferran plans to dispose of Marcelo’s body and pin Severo’s murder on him, making it look like he killed Severo and ran away with the drug money. As a token of a deal made with Castro for saving his life earlier, he offers to launder the drug money by buying Carolina’s Motel Valkirias and turning it into Valkirias Casino. Lucia begins a new life with Castro, and Eva finds she is pregnant with Helder’s baby. Carolina, in the end, receives the joy of a lifetime as her long-lost daughter returns after 18 years.
‘Motel Valkirias’ Season 1: Ending – How Did Severo Manage To Masquerade As The Circus Owner?
Eligio had kidnapped Severo to be handed over to Salgado. On his way, he decides to hold Severo captive in what he thought was a desolate house beside a dilapidated circus tent. It turned out it was home to a middle-aged woman whom Eligio kills and goes to relax at the Motel Valkirias with her dog.
Severo manages to escape after a local cop comes to check on the desolate circus and is persuaded by Severo to become his informer. After learning about Eligio’s murder, he plans to stay disguised as the circus owner and find out about the betraying forces in his gang. As Eligio has already killed the house’s owner, he fears nobody will find him there, but eventually, his cover is busted after Carolina recognizes him.
“Motel Valkirias” is thus a show about the solidarity that can spring among seemingly unrelated people. It celebrates the friendship the three women shared and how they could survive catastrophic events precisely because they looked after each other, even in the toughest of times. The show is a template for showing flawed women who are neither saints nor devils but are simply trying to find a way to live, laugh, and love even in a world of violence.