Los Espookys season 1, episode 4 recap: El espejo maldito (The Cursed Mirror)

In episode 4 of HBO’s Los Espookys, the spooksters attempt to fake a magic abduction in exchange for work visas, but things go awry.

Previously on Los Espookys, Andrés (Julio Torres) had declined a marriage proposal from Juan Carlos (José Pablo Minor). Andrés’ family wants the marriage to happen, as it would meld their chocolate business empire with Juan Carlos’ cookie empire. Andrés also had a strange encounter with a mermaid/siren-like creature. It is apparently called “water’s shadow,” and it apparently knows his origins (while working in a movie recommendation of The King’s Speech).

Meanwhile, Uncle Tico (Fred Armisen) arranged for Los Espookys to work on a horror film with Bianca Nova (Carol Kane). However, they need to find a way to legally get to L.A. Also, Tati (Ana Fabrega) got ensnared in a pyramid scheme for selling “Hierbalite.” As this episode begins, she spends more time drinking than selling them (she seems to have a huge backlot supply). In this episode, she shifts from Hierbalite to Red Bull, while having an odd side job of being a human clock.

The visa scheme

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As promised by an earlier episode, Los Espookys get back in touch with US Ambassador Gibbons (Greta Titelman), who fortunately has a translating gem to overcome the language barrier. She agrees to get them visas if they’ll help fake her abduction, so she can get an extra week of vacation (hey, we all have struggles). Rather than engage in standard trickery, Andrés wants to pull a cursed mirror trick, wherein Gibbons will magically disappear while looking at her reflection. While planning this, Andrés agrees to marry Juan Carlos if he can stay working with Los Espookys.

To up the stakes, Bianca Nova is threatening to commit suicide if they don’t get started on the film project soon. There’s drama for Tati, too, who is viciously threatened by Hierbalite for not making her sales quota. Meanwhile, Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco) is being set up with a lady named Carmensita (Juanita Ringeling). However, his commitment to spooking sees her as a mere distraction (it’s all about the spooks!). On that note, Los Espookys do find a mirror that could work, and they coordinate with Gibbons.

Weird events

This episode takes a number of oddball turns, as one might expect. Tati expresses a desire to be
Cirque du Soleil — not to join the entertainment company, but to actually be it. Bianca Nova and Tico spitball ideas for their script, including the idea of a valet who is a werewolf (Uncle Tico is a world-class valet, so it makes sense that he’d write what he knows). We also see that Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti) doesn’t reject Carmencita as Renaldo had.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador Gibbons plan suffers a minor setback, as the magic mirror actually is magic, and genuinely does trap her in a mirror void. On top of that, Los Espookys accidentally break the mirror and trap her! Can they free her and get their visas?

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