‘Pact of Silence’ (Original title: Pactor De Silencio) is an 18-episode-long Mexican melodramatic mystery thriller series streaming on Netflix. Starring Camila Valero in the lead, this Spanish-language show tells a revenge tale in the style of telenovelas. It follows popular social media influencer Brenda searching for a woman who abandoned her right after she was born. Brenda was told that some girls left her behind to fend for herself. Because of this, she decides to infiltrate their lives to learn the truth about her past. Besides Valero, it stars Marimar Vega, Adriana Louvier, Kika Edgar, Litzy, and José Manuel Rincón in main roles. Carlos Villegas Rosales has directed it.
*Spoilers ahead*
Pact of Silence (Season 1) Recap:
What is the Mexican Netflix show ‘Pact of Silence’ about?
Pact of Silence (Original title: Pactor De Silencio) follows Brenda’s (Camila Valero) journey of finding her biological mother. When she was just a baby, her teenage mother abandoned her. The woman who took care of her all those years told her about four girls who abandoned her during their school trip. That’s why Brenda makes it her life’s purpose to find them. As her first step, she decides to meet their accomplice – their boarding school headmistress, Ramona Castro (Chantal Andere). She enters an event and confronts Ramona about the past incident.
Brenda threatens to ruin Ramona’s reputation if she does not share the names. So, Ramona tells the names of three girls – Martina Robles (Marimar Vega), Fernanda Alarcon (Adriana Louvier), and Sofia Estrada (Litzy). Right before she could tell the fourth name, Ramona’s partner – Gloria, arrives to save her. With her assistant Alex, she finds details about these three women. Fernanda is a married, wealthy woman with two kids. Martina took over her family business and is also extremely rich. She is unmarried. Sofia had written a book years ago and hasn’t written anything since its publication. She is married to an artist and has a daughter.
What does Brenda plan to do with the four women?
Brenda does not just want to confront the four women. She decides to infiltrate their lives and cause some trouble. For that, she gets Fernanda’s dog stolen and then returns it back to her place. That’s where she also meets Martina and learns about her dating life. She decides to use a male escort, Omar (Rodolfo Salas), to woo her. By doing so, she hopes to find more details about her life. By then, Ramona informs the four women that someone is looking for them.
When Brenda goes to meet Ramona, she finds her dead. At Ramona’s funeral, Brenda learns who the fourth woman is – politician Irene Bustamante (Kika Edgar). Her husband got her elected, and her stepson Adriano (Jose Manuel Rincon) is her right-hand man.
What exactly happened in the past of four girls?
In the boarding school, Martina, Fernanda, Sofia & Irene had different types of romantic experiences. Irene was in a relationship with someone who wanted them to get married. But she refused to let this bond limit her ambitions. Sofia was lured by a perverted teacher, who made her feel that she was also in love with him. On the other hand, Martina suffered a tragic experience when the school’s male guard raped her. Irene, Fernanda, and Sofia arrived there to attack the monstrous man. In their attempt at self-defense, he ended up falling down a bridge into a river.
Later, the girls found his body and decided to get rid of it. So, they dug a hole nearby and buried him inside. They made Ramona agree not to reveal this dark secret to others by threatening to disclose her secret relationship with Gloria. Later on, Ramona told these four girls that the baby they abandoned during their trip had died.
How does Brenda infiltrate the lives of four women?
Gloria firmly believes that Ramona’s death is a murder and not a suicide. So, Brenda seeks her help to learn about the murderer. To work on her mission, Brenda infiltrates Sofia’s life. Brenda presents herself as a fan of Sofia’s only book and asks Sofia to write her biography. Sofia gets happy since the commission can help with her financial struggles. On the other hand, she offers to help Fernanda connect with her daughter. Upon meeting Sam, she realizes Sam’s discomfort. Their mother keeps forcing her thoughts of femininity upon them. Brenda feels genuine concern for them and plans to help. Meanwhile, she also makes Fernanda feel that her husband is cheating on her with Martina.
However, unlike these two, Brenda’s strategy with Irene does not work as she expected. So, Brenda tries to get close to Adriano as a way to infiltrate Irene’s life. That’s how she becomes a part of Irene’s election team. One day, she sneaks out information from her hard drive to check Irene’s past. But she cannot find any dirt on her. Soon after, she gets into an accident and gets hospitalized. Meanwhile, Omar saves Martina from a terrible incident, which brings them even closer to each other. Sam confesses their gender dysphoria to their older brother Tomas and then to Brenda.
What do Irene, Fernanda, Martina & Sofia learn about Brenda?
Enrique Hernández was Sofia’s boarding school teacher, who made her feel as if she was also in love with him. Brenda finds some details about their present relationship. So, she goes up to meet him. But he denies any such connection with Sofia. However, Sofia’s marriage suffers its blow. Meanwhile, Irene realizes that Brenda and Adriano are getting romantically involved in each other’s lives. So, she gets Brenda fired from the team. Still, Adriano decides not to break up with Brenda. Instead, he makes the relationship public.
Fernanda forces Sam into wearing a dress for her quinceanera. But Alex and Brenda help Sam in presenting their identity the way they want. It hurts Fernanda that Sam does not follow her desires. But her husband – Rodrigo, firmly supports Sam in their decisions. On the other hand, Irene figures out that Brenda arrived in all their lives at about the same time. So, the four women meet her at a construction site to confront her. She almost loses her life but gets saved at the last minute.
Who drugs Brenda at Irene’s election event?
Adriano invites Brenda to her mother’s election event. Irene pretends that she is fine with Brenda’s presence. After the drinks, Brenda feels dizzy and falls to the ground. We learn that Tomas drugged Brenda and took her to a forest. He dug a hole, removed her clothes, and threw her body inside. Hours later, she wakes up and proceeds to leave the forest. An old couple helps her to get to the hospital. Meanwhile, Itzel (the daughter of Brenda’s stepmother Carmen) decides to help Alex find the culprit. Amidst this, Tomas keeps getting texts from his Boss.
Who is Pedro, and how is he related to the four girls?
While looking for dirt on the four women, Alex and Brenda learn about the boarding school guard Pedro’s disappearance. They break into his house to find some information. That’s when Pedro’s younger brother – Cesar, walks in and fights with Alex. Eventually, he realizes why they broke in. Upon hearing that, they try to find the reason behind Pedro’s disappearance. After some research, he reveals an incident from his childhood. He recalls seeing Pedro raping Martina when she was a boarding school student. As a result, Brenda starts feeling sympathy for these women.
Meanwhile, Itzel enters Fernanda’s house to find some details to help in their investigation. Tomas, who had been following Brenda, remembers seeing Itzel with her. While trying to confront her, he ends up taking her life. As he struggles with the guilt of this murder, he also struggles to pay off his dues for drugs. Subsequently, Enrique files a case against Sofia for using his story for her published book. Adding to that, Brenda also stops responding to Sofia about their book deal. So, Sofia is left with only one option – to convince Brenda to let her write the biography.
Who was Tomas’ boss, and why did he make him drug Brenda?
Adriano was Tomas’ boss, who made him drug Brenda at Irene’s election event. He kept using Tomas by saying they were doing so to save their mothers from any blame for abandoning a baby. Adriano wasn’t sure that Brenda was the kid that his mother and her friends left behind. So, he also tried to check if Brenda was being truthful. Turns out, there was another mastermind behind this mission – Adriano’s father. He made Adriano do this to protect their family’s reputation. However, Brenda learns this only after hospitalized Tomas regains his consciousness.
Meanwhile, Irene faces an issue in her political campaign when people assume she used her husband’s political growth to her advantage. Soon after, Irene’s husband decides to reveal the secret – his Parkinson’s diagnosis. On the other hand, Cesar learns about his brother’s skeleton found underneath the ground. With Brenda’s help, he discovers its connection with Irene and the other girls. They figure it out after seeing a button on Irene’s top from their group photo – similar to what he noticed before. Meanwhile, Alex’s relationship with his partner suffers because of Brenda’s investigation. Martina decides to marry Omar to save him from getting deported. But, on their wedding day, Omar calls off the wedding.
When does Martina learn Omar’s truth?
Before the wedding, Cesar confronts Omar for stealing money from Martina. He makes Omar call off the wedding. But Martina is so in love with Omar that she cannot cope with this betrayal. So, later, she suddenly shows up at his doorstep. That’s when she learns that Brenda hired him to keep a watch on her. Meanwhile, on the day of the wedding, Brenda confronts Irene about her involvement in burying Pedro’s body. She hires a man to attack Brenda. Meanwhile, Irene’s husband learns about her connection to Pedro’s disappearance. On the other hand, Brenda finds proof of Adriana’s involvement in the attack on her and on Ramona.
Pact of Silence (Season 1) Ending Explained:
Who is Brenda’s mother?
After her issue with the book deal, Sofia meets Brenda and says that she is her mother. She asks for Brenda’s help in signing the book deal so that she won’t lose her daughter’s custody. However, it was a lie. Sofia used it so that she wouldn’t suffer from financial troubles. Later, we see her husband fight Enrique to stay away from his wife. The four women try to bury their connection with Pedro’s disappearance. Their personal lives are also affected by the recent changes. Rodrigo suddenly decides to meet Martina to rekindle their past relationship since he and Fernanda plan to separate. Martina does not accept his proposal.
Adriano plans an attack on Brenda to save his family’s reputation. Brenda tries to make him realize that his father is only using him. In the heat of the moment, Adriano ends up killing his father. Meanwhile, Irene wins her big election, and Alex seeks Sofia’s help to find Brenda. Back in an abandoned basement, Brenda tries to change Adriano’s mind. Adriano soon leaves and breaks the false news of his father’s death. Overcome by shock and grief, Irene starts sobbing. Eventually, she and the other women meet Brenda at the place where she was raised. That’s when Irene finally shares the truth that she is Brenda’s biological mother.
Pact of Silence (Season 1) Review:
‘Pact of Silence’ is an incredibly soapy and needlessly stretched mystery thriller that is more interested in showing steamy sexual encounters and implausible and/or inorganic plot twists – than actually telling a humane tale. Actually, the premise isn’t bad in itself, despite being a little overdone by now. Who wouldn’t want an abandoned child to seek justice and feel a sense of redemption? Unfortunately, the showrunners would rather keep the narrative going on and on and on to the point you lose interest in even knowing who Brenda’s mother is.
If you take a shot every time the writing shows a logical flaw, you will be sloshed by the end of it! This is both because of the excruciating stretch of 18 episodes that rewards us with nothing – unless you only want to see people falling in and out of love – betraying and feeling betrayed – or to see steamy, repetitive sex scenes. I’m not against having a long season. Moving, a recent K-drama, had 16 episodes. But the writer-director (also actors) were so good that I looked forward to every new episode. ‘Pact of Silence’ is incredibly bland in comparison. It is rather insulting to compare this show with that excellent, thoroughly engaging K-drama.
The Dreadful Soapy Melodrama
Also, there are great filmmakers, from Todd Haynes to Pedro Almodóvar, who can sketch out a melodrama with rich subtext and emotional maturity, Pact of Silence is just a tedious melodrama that only tries to tick boxes that probably Netflix executives asked from them. We see different types of characters being represented – be it a trans/non-binary/queer character or a flawed woman.
The problem isn’t with having these characters. Strong, female, unapologetic characters are always welcome and need to be shown more and more. The problem is in their pointless presence, i.e., their qualities adding very little to a believable character development. In this show, their dialogues seem like lectures, almost like a ChatGPT reiteration of all that we read on social media. The moral of the story – don’t just be progressive to project an image – know what you are preaching. Besides that, the narrative twists do the opposite of creating an immersive experience – where you wish it to end the season as soon as possible.
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Pact of Silence (Season 1) Trailer
Pact of Silence (Season 1) Links: IMDb
Pact of Silence (Season 1) Cast: Daniel Medina, Adriana Louvier, Litzy
