Los Espookys season 1, episode 2 recap: El espanto de la herencia (The inheritance scare)

Episode 2 of HBO’s Los Espookys has the gang attempting a haunted mansion to scare off an unwanted inheritor. Can they do it?

In the previous episode of Los Espookys, the group of spooksters successfully staged an exorcism. Their good work landed them a gig, although Juan Carlos (José Pablo Minor) didn’t like his boyfriend Andrés (Julio Torres) being involved in such weird activities. In fact, he even called their leader Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco) a “greasy guy!”  In any case, their next gig involves scaring off a pesky son, so he doesn’t win his inheritance by staying the night in a haunted mansion. Yes, it’s that old horror trope!

What’s at stake? 18.9 billion pesos. Who stands to win the inheritance? Well, in addition to the son of Ignacio Ferracuti, there’s ambassador Melanie Gibbons (Greta Titelman), a nun named Sister Racquel, nurse Esperanza and a random guy named Pepito (though the guests quickly vote to kick him out and he leaves without a fuss). Los Espookys are hired to make it scarier to survive a night in the Ferracuti mansion. Renaldo wants to impress, ignoring a neighbor girl who’s interested in him to draft his plans (horror isn’t just his hobby).

There’s a little contention at first, as Renaldo rejects Andrés’ (Julio Torres) plan for a bed to swallow Ferracuti, Jr. There’s a sense that Andrés is divided between the group and Juan Carlos, who wants him to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony instead (Andrés’ family has a successful chocolate business).

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It begins!

When the festivities begin, Renaldo is disappointed that their “mysterious woman” host (Tatiana Molina) isn’t setting a scary enough mood. He’s also disappointed that Andrés didn’t hire anyone to play a scary butler, so Renaldo himself does the job. Unlike the host, Renaldo tries too hard to be scary, even telling Ferracuti, Jr. to “Prepare to die.” Although fellow spooker Tati (Ana Fabrega) likes Renaldo’s acting, Andrés says he overdid it and claims Renaldo already had a hunched back before donning the uniform.

The first one to leave is Sister Racquel, after the host suggests she use her hypothetical winnings for orphans, rather than buying anything fancy for herself. Interestingly, Andrés surprises her in her car, asking her what she knows about his real parents, adding that he’s “trapped in a chocolate prison.” However, in one of Los Espookys funniest scenes so far, it’s revealed that, when Andrés was dropped off at her doorstep as a baby, Racquel was too entranced by a TV soap opera to identify any birth parent.

Head on a platter/other strange events

For the next scare, Tati does something weird: She walks in on the guests, pretending her head is their meal. It’s a zany send-up of the “head on a platter” gag, and it definitely doesn’t land well with the rest of Los Espookys. Andrés leaves to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony (as planned), leaving the rest of the group to their own devices (literally). However, they are in luck, as the guests just aren’t committed to winning the inheritance, or don’t require much work. The nurse scares herself by looking into a mirror! Similarly, Ambassador Melanie leaves for a nearby party.

Although they haven’t worked too hard, Renaldo realizes that the mood could be better, and emphasizes that they need to have fun. In fact, the bed swallowing gag works on Ignacio’s son, who also leaves promptly afterward. Thus, Nurse Esperanza wins the inheritance. Oddly, though, she confesses that she poisoned Ignacio Ferracuti, for the crime of not giving her a teddy bear as he did the other nurses! It’s a weird twist, and no one seems to challenge her right to inherit.

Shortly after that, the mysterious woman reveals her name as Dinora Jueves. Also strangely, Ambassador Melanie shows up to Renaldo’s, apparently identifying the operation through inside intel. She gets cards from them for a possible future gig. However, she drops them, says they’ve “gone bad” by touching the ground, then takes off on helicopter airlift. It’s definitely an odd scene, and the character’s reminiscent of Reese Witherspoon’s character in “Legally Blonde.”

Tico

Finally, let’s focus a bit on Tico (Fred Armisen), the best valet in the world. Lately, he’s been leading a double life, as a lookalike of a famous artist named Ulbrecht. At an art show, he is asked questions about “his” work, and with each question, he seems to always answer “Yes.” There’s also a dinner scene where, apparently, Tico’s daughter hates him. Then, near the episode’s end, the real Ulbrecht shows up and threatens to sue him if he keeps impersonating him.

Basically, this episode has plenty of plot holes and things that are hard to explain, but it’s nevertheless on the entertaining side. Still, even aside from the bilingual nature of Los Espookys, there are moments where you’ll probably need to hit the rewind button after saying “Wait? What?” Still, it’s all in good fun!

What are your thoughts on Los Espookys? Let us know in the comments!