In the 3rd episode of Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, Carlos, Kevin, and Sonja trekked up a treacherous hill to plant the ELT on top of it and signal a rescue helicopter to the location of the survivors of the plane crash. But the mystery killer who had been circling them stabbed Carlos during one of his nocturnal workout sessions and even unplugged the ELT from the antenna it was connected to. While the identity of the murderer continued to be a big question mark, the reason behind the murders became apparent: there were drugs inside the body of the plane. So, someone was clearly killing off the survivors so that nobody would learn about those drugs, which were worth millions of dollars, and try to earn off of them, thereby eating into the mystery person’s share. Now, we learned about these drugs because of a wild gecko. However, did the survivors come across the drugs in the 4th episode of Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue? If so, what did they decide to do with it? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Claire Meets Cora
Episode 4 of Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue opens in Reynosa, Mexico, where the managing director of Aero Alux (the crashed plane that the show is centered around belongs to this airline), Cora, and her associate, Emilio, are visited by 2 officers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Claire and Frank. Cora had apparently reported to the AFAC (Agencia Federal de Aviacion Civil) because the incident had happened in Mexican airspace, but since Aero Alux is owned by an American company in Miami, the FAA has been brought in. Claire says that they are going to investigate the circumstances under which the flight went down, starting with the reason behind why Octavio, someone who had been “suspended” after allegations of substance abuse, was hired by Aero Alux.
Cora answered that her company thought that Octavio deserved a second chance, and hence, he was put in the cockpit. However, I think that the real reason was that it was easy to get Octavio to do this dangerous task because, if he didn’t comply, he would’ve been thrown back in jail. Since traveling from Guatemala to Houston (probably for a very low fee) seemed like a better option, Octavio took it and paid for it with his life. Anyway, Claire and Frank start asking questions about the criminally low ticket prices, the company’s background, and more, which agitates Cora quite a lot, and she essentially tells the two to leave. Claire and Frank know that she is hiding something, but they decide to leave Aero Alux’s office for the time being. Cora tells Emilio to not entertain people like them ever again, and then she proceeds to use her satellite phone to get in touch with whoever is at the other end to no avail.
Kevin and Dan Get Into a Fight
Back at the crash site, Kevin and Dan get into a fist fight when the former questions Dan about his prison tattoos. Meanwhile, Sonja and Zack are having a conversation about whether Kevin could’ve pulled the plug on the ELT—no, Zack hasn’t seen that someone has disconnected the ELT; he is just theorizing—but they are forced to put a pause on their discussion to go and stop Kevin and Dan from hurting each other. Since Amy arrives there too, Dan doesn’t immediately come clean about why they were fighting. It’s only after she is out of earshot that Dan tells Kevin, Sonja, and Zack that he was arrested for pretending to be an attorney.
Sonja, who has been documenting the plight of immigrants in and around the USA, immediately gets offended by Dan’s unethical behavior. He defends his activities by scoffing at desperate people trying to lie their way into a first-world country in the hopes of a better life, while saying that he isn’t with Amy for her dad’s money and that he genuinely loves her. He even goes so far as to say that people like Sonja, Kevin, and Zack wouldn’t understand his and Amy’s “bond.” Yeah, sure, Dan. Adding to all this confusion and paranoia, Lisa reveals that somebody has stolen the bullets from her hunting rifle and left only one in the chamber for reasons known only to the person who has done such a thing. So, when she gets the opportunity, she goes into the jungle to look for those missing bullets. Sonja somehow finds her snooping and assures Lisa that she can trust her with the details of her personal mission. I don’t know if Lisa actually trusts Sonja, but she does reveal the fact that she has been keeping track of Zack’s activities, and she thinks that he has been doing something when everyone’s not looking. Before they can get to the bottom of this, rain starts pouring in, which forces the survivors to take refuge inside the plane.
Lisa is dead
While Kevin complains about being confined in this smelly space with people who don’t get along with each other, Sonja notices that the roof has started to leak. As Zack inspects the reason behind why the roof took some time to leak instead of leaking instantly, he finds the drugs that were teased in last week’s episode. Given how quickly Zack assesses the cost of the drugs that are stashed in there, it raises everyone’s suspicions regarding the actual nature of his job. And, as if it wasn’t clear after the ending of episode 3, it’s now apparent that Aero Alux is a front, and they are peddling drugs between Guatemala and the United States of America.
Whoever was in charge of making sure that the payload reaches the destination is the one killing off the survivors so that they don’t learn about the drugs, steal the drugs, or negotiate with the drug peddler about getting a slice of the pie. Before the group can make head or tail of the situation they are in, Lisa realizes that Amy has exited the plane and headed off into the forest. Zack thinks they should stick together, but he is outvoted, thereby forcing him to brave the rains along with the rest and rescue Amy before she puts herself in grave danger. Lisa locates the poor girl, who is standing face-to-face with the knife-wielding killer, and holds them at gunpoint. The killer wearing a poncho raincoat and Carlos’ luchador mask is clearly a nod to the Scream films, since those are whodunnits as well. When Amy goes to get the others so that they can nab the killer, the mystery person chokes Lisa to death by pressing her own gun against her throat.
Zack Is A Suspect
As the rain dies down and the sun rises again, the group assembles for a meeting over the events that have just transpired. While everyone goes on and on stating the obvious, Sonja brings up the topic of Lisa’s investigation into Zack’s secret hiding spot. Based on her allegations, Sonja has found a gun, a satellite phone, and Zack’s wallet there. Sonja thinks that Zack is the drug peddler, and the one killing off the survivors in order to secure the drugs in the plane. Zack admits that he is the one who took out the bullets from Lisa’s gun because he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but he promises that he isn’t a killer. He claims that he is a DEA agent who has been investigating Aero Alux for transporting drugs between Guatemala and the USA.
Zack tries to prove that he is telling the truth by asking Sonja and the others to look at the ID card in his wallet. But since there’s no ID card in it, he has nothing to back his claim. He says that the actual perpetrator, the one who is actually peddling the drugs, is trying to frame Zack because they know that he is a threat to Aero Alux’s illegal operations. That’s why, according to Zack, they’ve planted the gun, which does belong to Zack, right beside the satellite phone, and have stolen his ID card to make it look like he is the killer. Unfortunately, since none of these survivors really know each other that well and they are really on the edge after Lisa’s death, Zack’s words ring hollow, and he is knocked out by Dan when he either refuses to or fails to unlock the phone. Eric McCormack’s (Kevin) line delivery as he sarcastically congratulates Adam Long (Dan) for incapacitating the only person who allegedly has the code to the satellite phone is hilarious; also, and I’ve been meaning to say this for a long time, McCormack sounds and behaves a lot like Rob Lowe.
Kevin Tortures Zack
The survivors tie up Zack and decide who is getting to beat the code out of him—so that they can establish contact with the outside world and ask for help—and who is going to trek up the hill and ensure that the ELT is working. The responsibility for torturing Zack falls on Kevin, while the rest head for the ELT. Kevin’s interrogation of Zack goes pretty badly, because Kevin is convinced that Zack is the bad guy, and Zack either really doesn’t know the code or is really good at keeping a secret. Meanwhile, Sonja, Amy, and Dan find out that the antenna has been disconnected from the ELT. So, she reconnects it and gets the signal up and running again.
Dan is suspicious of Kevin and Sonja, and insinuates that either of them could’ve disconnected it to delay the rescue when the rest weren’t looking, thereby giving one of them enough time to kill the survivors. I can’t say for sure if Dan is right or not, but I’m confused about one thing: why didn’t the mystery killer completely destroy the ELT? This individual, whoever it is, already has the satellite phone. Then why not wreck the ELT so that there’s no chance for the survivors to fix it? Does this person intend to use the ELT after they’re done killing the survivors? Is the phone not working anymore? If that last part is true, then Kevin is whaling on Zack for no reason.
Claire Is Zack’s Wife
The focus shifts to the DEA headquarters, where we see Claire and Frank sharing their findings with their boss, David Malik. Given how Malik says that the ELT signal from the flight that Zack was on came in 26 minutes ago, I am assuming that, unlike the scenes with Vega and Lopez, this scene at the DEA is not a flash-forward and is happening parallel to the events in the forest. Claire is relieved to know that Zack is alive (because he is her husband and they have a daughter called Lucy together), and she wants to get on top of the search-and-rescue mission that’s being conducted from Los Trios. Malik not only explains the complications of zeroing in on the location where Zack is at, but also underscores the fact that the DEA is not on good terms with Mexico. Hence, Claire can’t go there in an official capacity, but it seems like she intends to do the same unofficially. Yes, the way Malik, Claire, and Frank talk about Zack pretty much confirm that he is a DEA agent. However, can I say for sure that he isn’t a corrupt DEA agent who has been using his resources and power to peddle drugs? No, I can’t, and that’s kind of fun.
At the end of Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue episode 4, we see Claire fail to retain her babysitter, Mariana, and struggle to answer Lucy’s questions regarding her father’s whereabouts. Right before cutting to the credits, we also see someone approaching Zack with a broken piece of glass to either kill or free him. I suppose the show wants us to think that the person coming towards Zack is the mystery killer, but I don’t know why, I have a feeling that it’s actually Sonja. No, I’m not saying that Sonja is the mystery killer. I think she has changed her mind about Zack after seeing all the torture he has endured, and she is convinced that he isn’t the perpetrator. That’s why she has made the decision to free him. But does this mean he’ll get to reunite with his family? I don’t know. In the morgue scenes (which are happening in the present day), we don’t see Claire around. Has she already infiltrated the operation and is checking whether Zack’s body is in one of those body bags or if he is the missing 10th person who has pulled off an insane drug heist? Both of those things are possible. Let’s see if we get some more answers next week.
