Grand Hotel Review: Art of Darkness (Season 1 Episode 11)

Grand Hotel Season 1 Episode 11, “Art of Darkness,” amps up the horror and brings us sprinting towards the central mystery’s conclusion. 

Mateo’s decision to take matters into his own hands is a final gasp-inducing moment on an episode brimming with shocking turns.

We are left to wonder how he is going to wash the blood off of those hands in the two episodes we have left this season. 

Clearly, we need a second season to do these stories justice. 

Take it to the Mateo

I want to start with Mateo because he gets the biggest bang for his buck in terms of character development, and actual bang! bang!, on the episode. 

We’ve known from the very beginning that Mateo has, at a minimum, bad guy tendencies. He dismisses Ingrid, their relationship, and their baby. Then we learn that he is in cahoots with some seriously sketchy folks. 

As we learned, in teaspoon-sized portions, about Mateo’s past, his character became less clearly villainous. 

“Art of Darkness,” successfully hones in on Mateo’s murky morality and gives it a clearer shape. All it takes is a couple of lines in a couple of scenes.

After Gigi and Santiago realize that paying off their debt hasn’t relieved them of their indebtedness in Teresa’s eyes, Mateo implores them to just give up. 

He admits, with wild eyes, that he has been trying to escape her control for twenty years. 

It is just a quick little flash of dialogue on this episode but it gives us limitless insight into the interiority of Mateo’s character.

Shalim Ortiz’s excellent performance has allowed it to go unnoticed this whole season; Mateo is terrified. All of his choices have been burdened by his knowledge of his servitude, including how he treats Ingrid and bringing a child into the world. 

The fact is, Mateo is as enslaved to Teresa as the young girls she is trafficking, albeit in a different way. It has been this way since he was a child, so he has learned fear.

He longs for freedom, but every step he takes as an individual is met with punishment. 

Once it is revealed that Teresa is the leader of a trafficking ring, Mateo’s actions make sense. Even his rather blase response to Nelson’s crushing death takes on more meaning. 

He was a kid when he was coerced to work for her. So, his understanding of loyalty, love, and goodness is damaged.

This really gets me. I long to see portrayals of the psychological impacts of the gangster hierarchies we too often see sexualized. 

Grand Hotel is certainly a sexy show. But, Mateo has not been shown as an example of sexy masculinity.

Javi, Jason, Danny, and Santiago fill that role. Notably, each of them has been on a path to more honesty. As they become more honest and vulnerable, the show characterizes them as more attractive and bangable. 

When compared with Mateo, the other men on the show are far more sexualized. 

This matters because now we can see that, although Mateo is incredibly attractive, his victimization and his complicity in violent and criminal behavior is not hot. 

I am a shipper. A hardcore shipper. I was ready to see a sexual element between Teresa and Mateo. 

I am beyond thrilled Grand Hotel doesn’t feel the need to make every character a shippable person. 

Mateo’s arc becomes a pursuit of freedom and I dare say that in one short episode, it has become my favorite B-story on the show. 

When Mateo pulls the trigger and kills his oppressor Teresa, I don’t cheer. I am horrified. 

What will this mean for poor Mateo?

I mean the murder, but also what will this do to him?

How will he get over the guilt of killing someone and not doing it soon enough to save countless women from rape? How will he deal with his life when he misses Teresa? Who does he have now? How will he carry the weight of his violently earned freedom?

All of these questions cascade down on me as I watch the credits roll. 

Is it Monday yet?

Trafficking

Human trafficking is such a vital issue to understand and confront. The purchasing party on “Art of Darkness,” is a needed glimpse into the ugliness of the billion-dollar industry. 

I hope it goes further.

Gigi does the right thing to isolate the victim away from her pimp, but that is not usually enough. The psychological scars from the terrible abuse of trafficking, and the complicated relationship victims have with their perpetrators is a story worth telling. 

For survivors of human trafficking, it is less about the rescue and more about the recovery. 

It would be just incredible, truly stunning if we could see Sky return as a survivor of trafficking and be able to follow her recovery. This could parallel Javi’s recovery.

I ache with hope for more on this subject.

Grand Hotel needs another season to do it. So, once again, ABC we implore you to renew this fabulous series. 

In Defense of Carolina 

Yoli points out to her sister what a good relationship looks like. Marisa knows Yoli and anticipates her needs.

Carolina takes some of this to heart and demands that Byron know her better. 

I am surprised to say, I am actually fully Team Carolina on this one. 

Yoli is judgemental and dismissive of Byron, but I can’t find what he actually did wrong. 

True, he is very focused on her looks. But, so is she!

She is a vain extrovert and you know what? If she was a man, she wouldn’t be so hated on for those qualities. 

Carolina cheated on Byron before their wedding, and that is something that if Yoli did it would mean that she is with the wrong person. I’m not so sure that’s what it means for Carolina, who is a different person entirely.

I think we should take Carolina seriously. 

Period. 

If we do that, it means that we take her insecurities, her desire to be noticed for her beauty, and her assertion that she was scared and nervous before her wedding seriously. 

Carolina is never going to the type of person that I would want to be besties with. But, that doesn’t mean that she isn’t a good person. 

I am officially rooting for Byron and Carolina because vain extroverts deserve love too. 

Room 606

The secrets hidden behind the door of Room 606 are clearly the key to understanding what happened to Sky and to Alicia and Javi’s mom. 

What I like most about this mystery and its very exciting pacing, is that we get to see depth and richness in the involved parties’ characters. 

Javi is a man who has been keeping secrets since he was a boy. It started with the sweet slumber parties with his mom and then it became more nefarious. 

Alicia’s trust in people and her feeling of safety is rocked on the episode. Good. 

The way she handles crisis and strife, with a still steady optimism, illustrates that she is strong in a very different way than her brother. 

The central conflict should shape the main characters and allow us to care about what happens. Grand Hotel nails it on this episode. 

I am beside myself with anticipation for the final two episodes of the season. The perfect way to end the summer. 

Room Service

• Jason can get it. Vanessa gets it. Ingrid is a great wing woman. Let’s stay here forever!
• Mrs. P’s enthusiasm for a woman who is getting her graduate degree can do the splits AND loves Jesus gives me four extra years of life. 
• I have been Team Gigi for a long while now and this episode deepens my loyalty. I trust her. Even when she’s tearing apart that room, I trust her. 
• I don’t understand why Javi and Alicia treat Gigi so poorly. She has been in their lives for so long and it seems all that she ahs really does is loved their father while smoking hot. Their anger and animosity is the real mystery!
• I am very, very, very, thirsty for more Javi and Ingrid screen time. PARCHED.
• Danny shaking that piece of art is just too much. He’s such a country boy. 
• I dig the literary allusion in the episode title. 

 

What did you think of this episode of Grand Hotel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Grand Hotel airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

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