Netflix’s new French series, Under a Dark Sun, is centered around Alba, a young mother desperately trying to start a new life with her son, Leo, at a rose farm. Her parents wanted custody of Leo because they believed Alba was not capable of looking after him. She used to be an addict and was a suspect in the death of her druggie boyfriend, Dimitri. But she was determined to prove them wrong, and she had decided to move to Barcelona for a fresh start. But she didn’t have enough money to turn her dreams into reality; she needed a job just to make enough to move to a new country. She’d received an email from the Lasserre Estate inviting her for an interview. She enthusiastically showed up at the property, but to her surprise the owner, Arnaud Lasserre, told her that he didn’t have any positions to offer her. She begged Arnaud, expressing her desperate need for a job; he ultimately decided to hire her as a flower girl and had her work on his rose farm. Alba was overjoyed; she got a designated cabin where she could finally live in peace with her son, and she felt she was working her way towards the life she’d envisioned for herself and her son. But things changed dramatically the very next day—Arnaud had asked Alba to meet him at the farm early in the morning, and by the time she reached there, she found Arnaud’s dead body in the distillation room. She freaked out and ran for her life, but the cops showed up at her doorstep before she could escape.
Spoiler Alert
Was Beatrice involved in Arnaud’s murder?
The cops arrested Alba, and after they discovered that she was Arnaud’s estranged daughter, they were all the more convinced that she’d killed him. Alba was adopted as a child, and she was never told the truth. The cops believed, after finding out that she would inherit a portion of Arnaud’s wealth, that she had murdered him to get her hands on the money. Manon Simoni, Arnaud’s granddaughter, came to Alba’s rescue. She explained to the cops that a significant event had occurred the day before Arnaud’s murder: the family had agreed to sign an agreement with Maison Oris, one of the most popular perfumers. They were ready to buy the estate to get exclusive access to their roses and had agreed to let the Lasserre family look after the farm. But Arnaud refused to sign the agreement at the very last minute, stating that someone in his family was trying to play him. Manon had overheard the entire conversation, and her testimony helped Alba return to her son. But she was yet to be proved innocent.
Alba figured that someone in the family was trying to frame her, and she assumed it was Beatrice, Arnaud’s wife. She was the one who most deeply affected by Arnaud’s decision. She was extremely frustrated after her husband refused to sign the deal. It could’ve relieved them of the debt, but because of him, they were caught up in a challenging situation. After going through the notary’s (Jaques) phone, Alba’s suspicion was further strengthened. She discovered that he’d contacted Beatrice immediately after Arnaud had changed his will. The notary had been a secret admirer of Beatrice’s, and he felt he would be in her good books if he passed the information to her. Since Beatrice already knew about Alba and the will, it was not too far-fetched to assume she had framed Alba to prove her guilty; that would automatically disinherit her. But it was obvious that she was not working alone. Someone tried to bury Alba alive, but thankfully she was rescued on time. She wondered if Arnaud’s son, Mathieu, had also been conspiring with his mother. He had failed to play the part of a responsible son, and his desperation to prove himself as the new head of the estate made him a suspect.
Beatrice came up with a confidential agreement, promising to look after Leo until he came of age, and she guaranteed him a secure future, but in exchange, Alba had to sign a document confessing that she’d murdered Arnaud. Closing the case was crucial for Beatrice, because only then would Oris consider the deal once again. But Alba refused to go ahead with it. Beatrice ultimately decided to marry Jaques to keep up appearances and convince Oris that everything was under control. But her plan didn’t work, and she refused to spend the rest of her life with Jaques. Meanwhile, the one who’d conspired against Alba had kidnapped her son and instructed her over text to kill Jaques at a party. That was the only way she could bring her son home. Alba closely watched everyone at the party to figure out who was behind the text messages, but it was impossible for her to tell. Alba had spiked Jaques’s drink and was ready to serve it to him when Beatrice caught her in the act. Beatrice was surprised, and her cluelessness indicated that she was not the one who’d been texting Alba. In a desperate attempt to free her son, Alba was ready to kill Jaques, but she was later taken by surprise when she noticed the spiked drink in Jaques’ hand anyway. Beatrice chose to kill him because she couldn’t bear to spend the rest of her life with him. Unknowingly, she’d helped Alba. Jaques died of cardiac arrest, and his dream of marrying Beatrice remained unfulfilled.
How was Valentin involved in the murder?
Alba was reunited with her son, along with Noor, a flower girl, who’d also recently gone missing. Noor thought she knew who’d killed Arnaud, and she’d wanted to share the information with Alba, but she was kidnapped immediately after. As soon as Alba assumed the worst was over, her trusted companion showed his true colors. Valentin, who worked at the farm, was initially not too keen on helping Alba, but gradually he started to side with her. He was kicked out of his job by Mathieu, and that was when he decided to help Alba. They had been working together to find the person who’d conspired against Alba, but it turned out he’d been pretending all this while. Valentin had been working for someone in the family. He was the one who’d knocked Alba out and buried her in Arnaud’s coffin. But she continued to live, and he ultimately devised a plan to bring together Alba, Leo, and Noor to get rid of them. But once again, his plan didn’t work.
Noor attacked him, and Alba managed to overpower him. Noor had a penknife, and she used it to repeatedly stab Valentin. Alba was under the assumption that Mathieu had a secret cabin where he brought the flower girls and sedated them before sexually assaulting them. But she was later told by the cops that Valentin used to abuse the girls and video record it to later sell it to his clients. Each year he would target vulnerable women and act as their protector. His targets were mostly illegal immigrants who were desperate, and he promised to help them with their paperwork, but in exchange they had to agree to be heavily sedated on the night he visited them. Valentin had served two years for procuring, and after his release, he’d changed his identity. While Alba believed the cops, she knew that someone from the family was involved; after all, it was impossible for Valentin to put surveillance cameras in all the cabins without the knowledge of the family. After Valentin’s death, the flower girls who worked on the estate left; they no longer felt safe there. The family’s financial situation only got worse, and to add to their troubles, Beatrice’s daughter, Lucie, had her mother admitted to a psych ward, claiming that her behavior had been hysterical. Lucie despised her mother because she always ignored her, and Beatrice made it very obvious that she loved Mathieu way more than her. Lucie also suspected Beatrice of murdering her father, and she believed sidelining her was the right thing to do. Lucie had been waiting to seek revenge on her mother, and she finally did.
Who was Alba’s mother?
Alba decided to gather information about her mother; she went through the old files of the employees at the estate. She assumed that if her mother was a flower girl at the estate, then she must have been an employee during the year 2000. She found a photograph, and she discovered a bunch of files with information on each of the employees in the photograph except one woman. She later stumbled upon a bunch of photographs that led her to believe that Mathieu was her mother’s lover, and he could never forgive his father when he found out that he had a child with the woman he loved. She assumed Mathieu killed Arnaud for revenge, and she decided to confront him.
Mathieu begged her to listen, and Alba was shocked when she learned that he’d conducted a DNA test, because from the minute he’d met Alba, he felt she was just like the woman he’d once loved. His instincts turned out to be accurate—Alba was his daughter. Mathieu was married to Josephine when he fell in love with Nadia. He was ready to divorce Josephine, but Nadia disappeared suddenly without any explanation, and Mathieu had no idea at the time that she was pregnant with his child. After the confrontation, Alba received a call from Beatrice asking her to meet her at the psych ward, promising that she’d have information about Alba’s mother. By the time Alba reached the institution, someone had stabbed Beatrice. Alba called for help, and when the cops arrived, she attempted to escape. She was surprised to find Josephine’s name on the list of patients, and she decided to have a word with her. She learned from Josephine that she’d already known about Nadia and the baby. She had decided to leave Mathieu, but Arnaud was against her decision. Arnaud had convinced Josephine to invest money into the estate, and the divorce would’ve left the family with more debt, or worse, they would’ve lost the estate. So, after Nadia gave birth to her child on the farm and Josephine went along with her to the hospital, she told Arnaud that she was done acting as if everything was alright with Mathieu and she had decided to divorce him. Arnaud realized that the only way to stop her now was to prove that she was not mentally stable. He repeatedly told her that he was the one who’d gotten Nadia pregnant and Mathieu was innocent. Josephine started to lose touch with reality, and she was ultimately admitted to the institute.
Who Had Killed Arnaud?
The truth finally came to the surface when Alba found a book Manon had gifted her brother in Josephine’s room. She wondered why Hadrien never told Manon that he knew where their mother was. She figured that he had perhaps found out about the will, and when he learned about Alba, he assumed that she was the reason why their mother was sent away. He hated Arnaud and Alba, and he decided to do away with them altogether. Alba was nervous when she discovered that Hadrien was at the estate with Leo. Manon tried to calm her down, and as they drove to the estate, Manon revealed that her brother had not killed Arnaud; she had. Nadia had recently contacted Arnaud. After the incident, she’d started her life afresh and become an established perfumer. It was during her pregnancy that she’d started to think about Alba and regretted abandoning her child. With the information she had, she managed to track down Alba, and she shared the information and images with Arnaud. She expected him to add Alba to his will, since it was the only way they could right the wrong. Manon had come across his exchange, and she decided to seek revenge on behalf of her mother. She also despised her family because none of them had ever tried to find out what had happened to Josephine. Valentin helped her execute her plan, and he worked for her because she had been threatening to report him to the cops (she already knew about his past and was also aware of his secret cabin). Manon tried to get rid of Alba, but it seemed almost impossible. After she spilled the truth, she attempted to attack Alba. They met with an accident, and by the time Alba reached the estate, she found an arrow pierced into Hadrien’s body.
Why did Leo kill Hadrien?
Hadrien had struck up a friendship with Leo, possibly because he knew how difficult it was to grow up as a lonely child. Leo grew fond of him and decided to spend the day with him at the estate. But the minute Leo noticed the tattoo on Hadrien’s back, the same one that he’d seen when he was kidnapped, he was horrified. Leo didn’t know that Hadrien and Manon had matching tattoos on their backs, and it resulted in a deadly confusion. Leo freaked out, and he ended up shooting Hadrien with the bow and arrow that they were using to practice archery. This was not how Manon imagined things would turn out for her. She blamed Alba and herself for Hadrien’s death. Alba decided to give Manon a chance, stating that they could tell the cops that Hadrien was the one who had killed Arnaud. If the cops found out the truth, Leo and Manon would’ve ended up in prison. She was desperate to protect her son, and just like she’d pushed her addict boyfriend from the balcony when he attempted to attack Leo, she decided to look past the woman who’d attempted to kill her for Leo’s sake. She hoped they could move past the incident, but Manon stated she would rather die than portray her brother as the bad guy. But when Alba pointed her gun at Manon, she decided to comply.
Who bought the Lasserre Estate?
Months had passed since the incident, and Alba had found a job at a fast food chain. She surprised Leo by bringing him to the apartment she’d recently purchased. He didn’t know how to feel about it. He had been through a lot, and the trauma continued to haunt him. But Alba promised that they no longer had to worry. She would make sure they never got into trouble again. Later, Alba received a call from the estate lawyer, asking her to be there at the property before it was sold off. She’d always wanted to visit the place one last time, so she decided to show up. Beatrice made it very clear that since Alba was Mathieu’s daughter, she no longer had any claim to the estate. Alba couldn’t care less. Though to her surprise, Beatrice thanked her for saving her life at the psych ward. Alba and Manon continued with the pretense, confirming that they had decided to take the truth to their graves.
In Under a Dark Sun’s final scene, we discover that Nadia had bought the Lasserre Estate. This was the ultimate revenge she could’ve plotted against the family who had once rejected her and was pretty much the reason behind her agony. Since Nadia was already happily married, the chances of her and Mathieu rekindling their romance are very slim. Beatrice definitely felt insulted, but perhaps secretly she was relieved that at least she now had some money in her account. The flower girls will ultimately take over the estate. After being reunited with her daughter, Nadia will possibly help her financially, and who knows, Alba might well join her business! After everything she’d been through, life perhaps finally felt somewhat normal for Alba.
