No One Saw Us Leave’s ending was about Valeria regaining custody of her children, Isaac and Tamara, after her husband, Leo, absconded with them and kept them away from her for 2 years. Why? Well, because Leo found out that Valeria was having an affair with his brother-in-law, Carlos. He talked about it with his sister, Gabriela, and she helped him take his children away from their adulterous mother. Leo’s final destination was Israel, but instead of taking a straightforward path, he took the kids on a bizarre world tour where they first landed in France, then they went to Italy, after that they stayed in South Africa, before finally reaching their “homeland.” Valeria decided to pursue them, and Carlos abandoned Gabriela and their children to accompany his newfound love. They were always one step behind Leo and the kids, but it’s only after they settled down in a “kibbutz” that Valeria got ahold of her ex-husband and kids. She said that there’ll be a trial in Jerusalem against Leo because what he had done was clearly illegal. However, since Leo had spent the last couple of years filling Isaac and Tamara’s minds with anti-Valeria propaganda, even if she won the case against Leo, it’d be an uphill task to get the kids to come away with her. Well, did Valeria succeed or fail? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Valeria Took Leo to Court
In the finale of No One Saw Us Leave, a lawyer working at the high court of Jerusalem explained to Valeria and Elias, an associate of Valeria’s who had been incredibly helpful in the search for Leo and the kids, that he had drafted a highly detailed document about Leo’s escapades so far. It addressed the numerous ways in which Leo had put Tamara and Isaac in harm’s way, how he went on the run despite knowing that Interpol was after him, and that he was an alcoholic. Valeria considered that last point to not just be false, but also a low blow, because Leo was many things, but not an alcoholic. Elias tried to convince Valeria that it was fine to paint Leo as an alcoholic because he and his father, Samuel, had exploited the power of the press to portray Valeria as a crazy woman. However, Valeria refused to stoop to his level. In addition to all that, the lawyer recommended Valeria tell Carlos to return to Mexico, because the judges wouldn’t side with her if they saw the man with whom she was having an extramarital affair. Valeria conveyed all this information to Carlos.
Meanwhile, Leo confessed to Isaac and Tamara that he had lied to them about the fact that their mother hated them, and that he would have to stand trial for essentially kidnapping the kids, at the end of which the judges would decide who would get custody of Isaac and Tamara. Isaac said that he wanted to live with Leo, and Tamara said that she wanted to go with Valeria. Leo said that, regardless of the court’s final order, he’ll come for his children, because he loves them more than anything else in the world. On the day of the trial, before walking into the courtroom, Leo told Valeria that he had told the kids the truth about her and admitted to them that he had lied about her love for her children. In response to that, Valeria revealed that, even though she knew that Leo wasn’t an alcoholic, she had testified that he was a victim of alcoholism to strengthen her case. Leo’s retaliation to that revelation was that he was sorry about the fact that Valeria had suffered a miscarriage after getting pregnant with Carlos’ child. On that note, they entered the courtroom, and the trial wasn’t a very long one.
Valeria Got The Kids
The judges presiding over the case filed by Valeria against Leo simply said that both parties will have to present themselves before a court in Mexico—since both of them were Mexicans—and stand trial over there. In order to protect the kids from the trauma of the process, they’d be allowed to stay at the Ein Tamar kibbutz until the end of the scholastic year. But then the kids went with Leo to Mexico anyway, which was a breach of the judges’ orders. After Valeria, her parents, and Carlos came back home, Elias conveyed that information to Valeria. Given the fact that he wasn’t able to track Leo and the kids after they landed in Mexico, Valeria began to freak out because she assumed that Leo had kidnapped the children again. Where were they, though? They were at Gabriela’s house. Why? Because Samuel had told them to be there, thereby allowing Leo to stay with the kids until the trial took place.
In No One Saw Us Leave’s ending, Carlos got an anonymous call about Isaac and Tamara’s whereabouts. Moishe, Valeria’s father, showed up at Samuel’s house and demanded that he reveal where the kids were. Since Samuel was too scared to confront Moishe, his wife, Galya, met him and simply said that they didn’t have any idea about the kids. And even if Samuel had any info, he was unwilling to share it with Galya. Moments later, Elias, Carlos, Valeria, and the police showed up at Gabriela’s house. All of them expected Leo to do something drastic, but he just gave up the kids to Valeria. The title cards before the end credits revealed that Isaac and Tamara didn’t see Leo for the next 20 years. Valeria and Carlos lived with each other and took care of the kids together. In 1997, Carlos passed away. Tamara went on to be a writer, and in 2020 she published the novel on which this miniseries is based. Well, great. But what was the point of this whole show?
Was Valeria in the right or Leo?
Well, I suppose the biggest point of contention that’ll arise from the conflict between Valeria and Leo is who was in the right. The problem between Valeria and Leo started when they got married. They didn’t love each other. Their parents thought that they were a perfect match. They weren’t old enough to opine against their parents’ will. Hence, they got married and had kids. As the years went by, Valeria and Leo grew apart, and Valeria felt attracted towards Carlos of all people. Instead of understanding that a loveless marriage was no excuse for an extramarital affair, Valeria backstabbed Leo by romancing Carlos. Carlos was equally responsible for the betrayal that Leo faced. In addition to all that, both Valeria and Carlos were guilty of hurting Gabriela and their kids. I don’t care about how “progressive” and “modern” society becomes; I’ll never excuse cheating, especially when you have the option to divorce. In certain regressive countries, divorce or separation isn’t all that common. Hence, having an extramarital affair seems like the only viable option. However, if people are getting hurt in the process, does that love even feel worth it? I don’t know.
Going back to the plot, if Valeria’s reaction to her loveless marriage, which was the affair, can be considered irrational, I suppose Leo’s decision to run away with the kids to teach her a lesson should be seen as an equally irrational decision. I mean, I have been scratching my head over this aspect of the plot for hours, and I can’t seem to make any sense of it. What the hell was the man even thinking? That after a point, Valeria would just give up and he’d be able to bring up the kids any way he wanted? Couldn’t he have stayed in Mexico, used the influence that Samuel had over there, and fought for custody of the kids in a straightforward fashion? What did he gain from that convoluted adventure? Sure, Valeria wasn’t thinking about the kids when she went into that extramarital affair. And it seemed like the only thing that Leo cared about was the kids, which was why he kept them close to him no matter where he went. However, what must’ve been more confusing for Tamara and Isaac? The extramarital affair or the series of culture shocks because of that globe-trotting trip? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Learning Lessons
Now, what’s the learning lesson from all this? What should we, the viewers, get from the story of Tamara Trottner? I don’t know if the point of the novel isn’t conveyed really well in the first place or if the point has been lost while being adapted by Maria Camila Arias, but what I got from it is that people should learn how to act rationally before taking big steps like marriage and having kids. Marriage and having kids is deemed so important to the survival of civilization that every single thing that we do seems to be in service of these 2 acts. People build empires and break their backs to attain the basic necessities of life, but while doing all that, they don’t educate themselves enough to be reasonable people. Even now, people who are in their 20s and 30s are told that they are overthinking marriage and they should just dive headfirst into it and everything will turn out fine. Meanwhile, there’s a mountain of evidence staring them in the face that shows that approach is deeply flawed that they conveniently choose to ignore because the burden of progressing human civilization is apparently on them. A “civilization” needs to be “civilized” first, or else how are we better than rats and rabbits who procreate endlessly?
So, yeah, even if that’s not the point of No One Saw Us Leave, I am going to go ahead and suggest that we look closely at the events presented in the miniseries, introspect if we can be faithful in a marriage, have a discussion with our potential other half that loyalty won’t be an issue, have kids after yet another lengthy discussion, and then ensure that said kids get the life that they deserve. If that’s too complicated for you, you shouldn’t get married, and you shouldn’t have kids. If you think that your legacy can be furthered only if you extend your bloodline and pass on your wealth to them, you are wrong, and the lens through which you are viewing life is incredibly classist and casteist. There are countless orphaned and displaced children out there; give them your wealth, and your legacy will be immortalized. Additionally, the education and upliftment of orphaned and displaced kids will benefit human civilization more than mindlessly adding to the population count just because you can. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the ending of No One Saw Us Leave. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
