The Netflix thriller, Thursday’s Widows, tells us about what happens when the aspiration of extreme opulence gets combined with pretentiousness and unparalleled peer pressure. Directed by Claudia Pineiro, it makes us privy to a kind of social structure that wasn’t sustainable at all, but the characters tried their best to make it work somehow, reminding themselves time and again that the kind of luxuries they enjoyed there wouldn’t be available to them in the outside world. Most of the residents of “Los Altos de las Cascadas” inherited ancestral wealth, and they didn’t know what it meant to work hard and make a living. The conflicts arose because they were addicted to their opulence and too oblivious to the struggles of the real world. They were all scared that one day they wouldn’t be able to afford the lifestyle they had, but that didn’t stop them from biting off more than they could chew. So let’s find out what happened in the lives of the various families and if they were able to find a solution to their problems.
Spoiler Alert
What happened with the Scaglia family?
Tere was the one who was the most active in Thursday’s Widows Club, and she took part in the proceedings with a lot of enthusiasm. On the face of it, she had a beautiful relationship with her husband, Tano, but she was unaware of the troubles he was facing in his professional life. I believe that a relationship in which a person is not able to be the way he is, does not hold any value. Tano had this idea in mind of how he should be, and he always acted in accordance with that. He wanted others, too, to perceive him in that manner, and that is what made him fall into trouble in the first place. Tano always told everyone how a man of class and reputation wears expensive watches and always provides for his family. But the relationship does not become strong only if you buy expensive gifts for your wife; had that been the case, every privileged man would have had a great family life.
A relationship strengthens when you stand together in times of crisis and don’t leave each other’s side just because things are not convenient for you. When Tano was fired from his job, he didn’t have the courage to tell his wife about it, and that, for us, depicted how failed their marriage was. They had everything, yet they didn’t give each other the liberty to expose their ugliest sides. Tano hid this fact and made some sort of excuse that he was going to start his own thing and was done working for others. It made Teresa worried, as all she was concerned about was moving to Miami and starting a new life. Tano wasn’t able to tell her that he didn’t have the money to make the shift, and that’s what started eating him from within. There came a time when he thought of ending his life, but something or other kept happening, and he wasn’t able to do it.
Why was Mariana unhappy with Ernesto?
Mavi said that Mariana was born a second time when her husband, Ernesto, conducted cosmetic surgery on her and changed the way she looked and the way the world looked at her. Ernesto kept to himself most of the time, and even after the family moved to Los Altos de las Cascadas, he didn’t socialize much. Mariana had a lot of problems with that because she wanted to be a part of the community, and that couldn’t happen until Ernesto started hanging out with Tano and others. Ernesto, after being pestered by Mariana, did try to go once, but with the kind of senseless talk others did, he just couldn’t bear it. They asked him vulgar questions about his private life, and Ernesto told them upfront that he was not the kind of man who was going to entertain those kinds of talks.
Also, Mariana was having a lot of problems dealing with her adoptive daughter, Ramona. Mariana criticized the way she looked, and often, she passed remarks, unknowingly, that were very hurtful. Mariana loved her daughter, but her worldview was very one-dimensional, and her thinking, for lack of a better world, was quite discriminatory. Ernesto was doing great in his career, and probably, he was the most sensible male present in that community who was doing well for himself and who always behaved in a very rational manner.
How did Martin end up losing everything?
Martin and his wife, Lala, were born in Los Altos de Las Cascadas, and they had been living there before all the other families started buying property there. The exclusive country club was built when Martin’s grandfather was serving as a governor, and that is why, for a period of time, the family had a great reputation in and around the area. But it was all ruined when Martin’s father’s name was associated with corruption, and he not only ruined the legacy left by his father but also made Martin’s life very difficult. Martin wanted to run for governor, but nobody from his party was ready to fund his campaign. Tano had assured him that he would talk to some private players and get his campaign up and running, but nothing of that sort could happen. Martin’s party decided to chuck him out, and that’s when he decided to fight elections independently.
Martin harbored all his delusions until, one day, he realized that he would have to sell his house and go live with his father. Lala didn’t want to move out of Los Altos de las Cascadas, but she realized that she didn’t have any options. She went to great lengths to make her kids believe that they were not poor, but the truth did not remain hidden for long, and when they had to sell each and every belonging, their kids and others in the community got to know about their financial condition. Martin was desperate, and he felt helpless seeing his family suffer so much. He didn’t know what he could do to gain back the lost honor and get a ticket to fight in the elections. Lala was an understanding wife, but things were getting too much for her to handle. She had lived a privileged life up until then, and now it felt like her whole world was going to crash in front of her own eyes, and she would stand there helplessly, not being able to help her cause.
Why did Carla leave Gustavo?
Gustavo and Carla were the newest members of the community, and though they seemed like a happy couple, deep down, Carla bore scars that nobody was able to see. Carla was in denial for the longest, but once she met Rosa and Carmen, she realized that she was in an abusive and toxic relationship, and the only way out of it was to leave Gustavo and go away. Gustavo was probably a very insecure man who had no trust whatsoever in his wife. He always doubted her intentions when Carla was just trying to do her bit and make him happy. Carla had started assisting Mavi because she wanted to distract herself from what was happening in her personal life, and she had not informed Gustavo about it because he knew that it was not such a big deal. But when Gustavo found out about it, he lost his cool and ended up assaulting Carla.
At that moment in Thursday’s Widows, Carla made up her mind that she no longer wanted to stay with her husband. She got an abortion and left without even telling her husband. Gustavo was distraught, as he hadn’t expected that Carla could ever take such a step. He lost his mind, but he should have thought about that when he hit Carla so badly that her entire eye became swollen. Though Gustavo made it sound like he had moved to Los Altos de las Cascadas for his family, Carla never wanted that life. She was pretty content with what she had, and it was Gustavo who wanted to be around the elites of society. Carla had the courage to do what others didn’t. She moved out because she wanted to live her life on her own terms, and she would have tried to adjust had Gustavo been of a sane mind, but after being abused, she decided that she had enough.
Why was Mavi angry at Ronie?
Mavi was disappointed in Ronie because all he did the entire time was sit idly and procrastinate about what he would do in life. But he was not taking any action, and their household was totally dependent on what Mavi earned. Mavi had not signed up for that, and she was on the verge of losing her patience after telling Ronie time and again that he was not showing any signs of progress. Ronie was under the influence of marijuana constantly and he kept on wasting his time. He had been growing marijuana in his backyard and he thought that one day he would earn big profits through it. Ronie took his wife for granted and he wasn’t emotionally present for her ever.
Whenever Mavi wanted to have a conversation with him, he always told her that his parents would support them for a few months, but Mavi wasn’t ready to do that. Mavi wanted to end their relationship and ask him to leave, but she didn’t have the courage to say it out loud. But that frustration and dissatisfaction kept growing inside her, and she knew that one day, it would all explode altogether. Mavi got intimate with the head of security, Wagner, as she craved attention and wanted to feel wanted. Tere had seen her with Wagner, but she hadn’t told anybody about it. That was the kind of community they lived in; everybody knew their own vices, and they also had an idea of what was happening in others’ lives, but they were so scared to face the truth that they lied to themselves and pretended that everything was perfect in front of the whole world.
Why did the husbands kill themselves?
In Thursday’s Widows Episode 6, Tano had made up his mind to take his life and make it look like an accident so that their family could get the insurance money. He knew that Gustavo, Martin, and Ronie were facing similar troubles, and he asked them too to join him and give their lives so that their families wouldn’t suffer like they were now. Obviously, Ernesto wasn’t a part of this because he was the most financially stable of the lot, and he didn’t spend his hard-earned money on senseless things but rather planned his life so that he or his family wouldn’t ever have to go through what the others did. Ernesto was a prudent man, and he also didn’t have any expensive hobbies that he was addicted to; he lived a simple life, and he loved what he did.
Tano had to do a lot of convincing, but finally, he was able to coerce Gustavo and Martin to join him in his bizarre plan. Ronie backed out at the last moment because he was scared and just couldn’t make up his mind.
During Thursday’s Widows‘s ending, Gustavo, Tano, and Martin electrocuted themselves in the swimming pool so that it looked like an accident, while Ronie sat on his terrace, and just when the light went out, he jumped from there, making a half-hearted attempt to take his life, though he knew that a fall from there wouldn’t kill him. Tano’s madness had been recorded by Ramona and Juandi, and from the video, it looked like Tano had murdered Gustavo. Juandi sent that video from his mother’s phone to every woman in Thursday’s Widows Club, and that’s when they got to know about what had happened. Tano had acted on Alfredo’s advice, who was Carmen’s husband and one who didn’t hang out in the community a lot. He was the one who had told Tano how he could get the insurance money and secure the future of his family. When Alfredo came to know that the wives had the video, he came and explained everything to them, and the wives went about their business without saying anything, and they promised each other to never talk about the incident again.
Though Tere and Lala loved their husbands, something about their behavior told us that they were also kind of relieved that they wouldn’t have to worry about their financial status any longer and that they had enough to at least live out their lives. Mavi told Ronie that she was happy that he hadn’t accompanied the other men in their madness, but it was just a matter of time before, once again, she had issues with his behavior. Nothing changed inside Los Altos de Las Cascadas, and people kept on living their pretentious lives, shying away from reality and making sure that nothing disturbed the delicate balance of their society.
