Aayush Sharma
Netflix drama ‘In The Mud‘ (Originally Titled: ‘En El Barro’) is a gripping tale of five women navigating their lives in a women’s penitentiary in Argentina. The Spanish-language series follows the lives of Gladys Borges (Ana Garibaldi), Marina Delorsi (Valentina Zanere), Yael Rubial (Carolina Ramírez), Olga Giuliani (Erika de Sautu Riestra), and Selodad Rodriguez (Camila Peralta), who find themselves in a terrifying situation during their transfer to the La Quebrada prison. However, once they enter the prison walls, their bond deepens as they watch each other’s backs in an environment ready to break them down. As their story progresses, they come face-to-face with different tribes running the facility and asserting dominance over one another. Consequently, they learn that the prison director is running a horrifying scheme that exploits the inmates. Now, it is up to Gladys and the group to unravel the director’s bizarre plans while navigating the threats arising within the walls of the correctional institution. SPOILERS AHEAD.
In The Mud Recap
The series begins with the police capturing seven women for different crimes. The police are taking these seven women to the La Quebrada prison, where they will serve their respective sentences. The women – Gladys Borges, Olga Giulani, Marina Delorsi, Amparo Vilches (Ana Rujas), Yael Rubial, Romina Duarte, and Soledad Rodriguez – get inside the van and start to think about why they find themselves in such a situation. However, things take a drastic turn when a group of assailants ambushes their van, prompting it to fall into a water body. The assailants return on a lifeboat and open the van’s back door. Soon, everyone realizes that the group is led by Amparo’s boyfriend, who wants to pull her out of the prison vehicle. He succeeds in doing so, while the remaining women try to save their lives as the van slowly sinks beneath the murky water. Thankfully, Gladys gets the keys to their handcuffs and starts to free the women so they can swim out of the water.
Gladys manages to save four women and tries to save Romina as well, but she is unable to open the latter’s handcuffs in time. As a result, Romina dies. All the remaining women somehow make it to the shore, and the police take them to prison. As they arrive in the penitentiary, they realize they will have to stick together and help each other for survival. None of these women has ever been to prison and come from different factions of life. However, Gladys knows the criminal world because she is the wife of Marito Borges, a renowned criminal in Argentina, and has some idea about how she should navigate this phase of her life. Nevertheless, the group learns that two tribes run the prison, and both want to assert dominance over prison resources. Maria leads one, and Zurda leads the other. Maria and Zurda are close to the prison director, Cecilia Moranzón (Rita Cortese), and that’s why their groups get most of the resources. However, when Maria learns that her niece, Romina, died in the prison van accident, she wants to teach Gladys and the group a lesson.
Meanwhile, Zurda and her group produce adult content within the prison, which gives them a chance to use phones and wi-fi. As the group continues its journey, it encounters dangerous situations as it tries to place itself in the prison hierarchy. Meanwhile, the prison director is orchestrating a deadly scheme within the prison walls, exploiting young pregnant mothers as part of her twisted operation. Elsewhere, the police finally get hold of Amparo and bring her to La Quebrada after killing her boyfriend. Her arrival in the prison stirs everything, and Maria feels that Amparo needs to die, blaming her for the chain of events that led to her niece’s death. Meanwhile, Zurda promises to keep Amparo alive because her partner knew Cuervo. By the end of the season, Maria seeks Gladys’ help to remove Amparo from the scene. On the other hand, Gladys learns about the director’s conspiracy and wants to expose her. As things become increasingly perilous, the group must find a way to protect itself while staying one step ahead of its enemies. They must decide who they can trust before something terrible happens.
In The Mud Ending: Did Moranzón and Soriano Get Arrested For Human Trafficking?
Even though the story primarily focuses on Gladys and the group that arrives in the prison after the accident, it also explores a terrifying scheme orchestrated by the prison director, Cecilia Moranzón. The jailhouse has three parts, and one of them is the family wing. In that wing, young and old mothers can live with their children. Moreover, soon-to-be mothers share the space as they wait to give birth. Moranzón takes the soon-to-be mothers to a nice dinner, telling them how they should be taking care of themselves and showing them love. However, it turns out that she takes advantage of these young mothers and gives their babies to affluent couples desperate to have a child. But she is not alone in this plan; the prison doctor Soriano is also a part of this ploy. Shockingly, the authorities never tell the mothers what happened to their babies; instead, they claim that the child’s health is delicate and that a team of doctors is taking care of the young one.
In reality, the babies never return to their mothers. Her plans come to light when two new mothers, Noelia and Patricia, die while giving birth. Before giving birth, Noelia gets paranoid that she doesn’t want to have the baby. She feels that “they” (Moranzón and Soriano) will take the baby away from her. However, her condition is getting worse and she needs to give birth. After the birth, Moranzón takes the baby with her, leaving the mother in great distress. A few moments later, when Noelia opens her eyes, she argues with Soriano and reveals that he raped her. Moreover, she accuses him of doing this exactly as he had planned. To calm her down, he gives an injection. However, Noelia dies, creating more problems for the prison director. Amidst everything, Governor Faccia calls the head of the prison to his office and confronts her about running an illegal adoption ring. However, he promises her that nothing will come out if she helps him and his wife adopt a child from one of the inmates.
Meanwhile, Sergio Antin, who knows Gladys and hates Moranzón, wants Gladys’ help to expose the prison director. Antin works for the government and wants to be the next Public Safety Commissioner of Buenos Aires. However, Moranzón is trying to become the same, and if she helps Faccia with the adoption, she will become the new Public Safety Officer. While attempting to gather evidence against Moranzón, Gladys enters her office and takes the files of the mothers whose children Moranzón has taken. However, they are caught by Alan, the correctional officer. She tells him about the conspiracy and shows him a file proving that his birth mother was forced to give him away. Alan supports Gladys and asks his adoptive mother about the same. She doesn’t shy away from telling him the reality, so all the documents make their way to Antin. He confronts Faccia about the conspiracy and threatens him, warning that he will reveal how Faccia also took help from Moranzón.
After hearing this, Faccia gives the orders to arrest Moranzón and her accomplice, Soriano, on the charges of human trafficking and running an illegal adoption ring. The prison director believes that she didn’t do anything wrong because she never wanted the newborn babies to spend their time in the prison. When she was younger, she helped a mother get custody of her child. She told the authorities that the child’s mother has been sober for two years, and by that logic, the child should be with her. However, the mother continues to be a drug addict, and the child dies. This particular incident shocked her and made her realize that kids don’t belong with troubled or criminal parents. While she believes her intentions were for the children’s safety, her actions crossed a moral line, turning her good intentions into exploitation. By taking these young children away from their mothers without consent, she strips them of their rights and creates a system built on fear and control. Ultimately, her perspective reveals a perilous blend of misguided protection and abuse of power.
Who Killed Amparo?
The story of ‘In The Mud’ begins with Amparo getting out of the prison van with the help of her boyfriend. However, she doesn’t help the other women present in the vehicle and leaves them to die in the sinking van. Fortunately, five of the remaining six women escape the dangerous situation unharmed. While all five women go to the prison, Amparo seems to enjoy life with her boyfriend, Cuervo. They are both criminals and have a group. Soon, Amparo learns she is pregnant and can’t wait to give the good news to her partner. However, the police ambush the place they are living in and kill Cuervo before taking her to La Quebrada. She enters the prison, but doesn’t reveal that she is pregnant. Maria learns that Romina drowned because of Amparo and wants to finish her. As a result, she takes the help of Gladys. Marito Borges’ wife talks to Antin about this and tells him that she’ll help him only if he helps her. They stitch a plan to hire a girl from the outside to kill Amparo.
The girl makes her way into the prison, but Gladys knows it won’t be easy to kill Amparo because Zurda is protecting her. So, they create a distraction to single her out. The girl sent to kill the inmate finally finds her and attacks her. But before she could do anything substantial, Amparo killed her. This incident makes her realize that Zurda might be playing with her and wants her dead. As Amparo, who is also known as The Galician, continues to move ahead in the prison hierarchy, she suffers a miscarriage. Now, with nothing left to lose, she decides to become invincible and begins her journey by teaching Maria a lesson. She corners her and buys out one of Maria’s associates, intent on killing Maria and making an example out of her. Ultimately, Amparo kills Maria. Consequently, she seizes control of Zurda’s block, asserts her authority, and quickly establishes herself as an immovable force. After Maria’s death, Gladys takes her position and makes a plan to poison Amparo’s skin with the help of Olga, who worked as a cosmetic surgeon in the outside world.
The correctional officers bring Amparo to the medical facility and tell her that Soriano gave them the orders to bring her in. They will give her a subcutaneous IV. Olga helps the medical staff, and they give Amparo the fluids. However, her skin starts getting bizarre, and she knows who did this to her. So, Amparo and her group capture Olga to punish her. As a punishment, Amparo injures the cosmetic surgeon’s eye, sending a chilling message to her opponents. Now, she believes it is time to take Gladys out and finish this once and for all. While eating in the dining area for prisoners, the Galician tells one of her supporters to shut off the electricity so she can kill Gladys. As soon as the light went out, the dining area became a fighting arena, and Amparo attacked her opponent. She manages to injure Gladys’ left leg and her back before landing brute punches.
However, Gladys didn’t back down and fought her with equal determination. She manages to bring her down and punches her continuously before dragging her body out of the dining area. Antin sees that, but doesn’t say anything. By defeating the Galician, Gladys knows that she has finally gained the upper hand. She feels the weight of every fight and every ally who helped her. Despite the chaos around, she didn’t lose her focus, refusing to let fear control her. At that moment, Gladys understands the actual cost of survival in prison, and she is ready to do whatever it takes to protect herself and others.
Did Yael Rubial Give Her Daughter Up for Adoption?
Of the five women who survived the van accident, only Yael moved to the family wing because she has a daughter. She has officially told the director of the prison, Cecilia Moranzón, to bring her daughter to her in the prison. After a long wait, Yael’s daughter, Brisa, finally arrives at the prison, and she begins to spend time with her. In the meantime, Governor Faccia and his wife, Eugenia, are sitting at the doctor’s clinic. They receive the news that if they try IVF again, it might turn out to be dangerous for the Governor’s wife. After the clinic visit, the Governor and his wife visit La Quebrada to see the family wing. Eugenia meets Brisa and starts bonding with her. The Governor’s wife liked Brisa and wants to spend more time with her. As a result, she sends gifts to Brisa. Moreover, Eugenia requests to see Brisa and take her out for a few hours.
Yael accepts, and her daughter spends the day with the Governor’s wife. A few days later, Eugenia requests to spend the weekend with Brisa. Although Yael didn’t want that, she ultimately said yes to the request, and the child spent the weekend with her. When Faccia learns about Moranzón’s illegal adoption ring, he blackmails her, demanding that she help him and his wife officially adopt Brisa. The prison doctor says it will not be easy, but the Governor knows she can complete the task. After spending the weekend with Eugenia, Yael sees a difference in her daughter’s behavior, and it seems she likes spending time with Eugenia. Elsewhere, Moranzón talks to Yael about the adoption and tells her that Faccia and his wife can give a good life to her daughter. She refuses to sign the adoption papers. Brisa’s health began to suffer from spending time in prison, and Faccia arrived to take her to the hospital. However, Yael didn’t know that the prison director planned all of this and wanted Yael to sign the adoption papers.
Yael faints, and Soriano takes her to solitary confinement. He and Moranzón plan on making Brisa’s mother disappear before forging her signature on the papers. When Antin gets to know about the illegal adoption ring and Faccia’s involvement, he threatens the Governor to expose the entire scheme. After the authorities arrest Moranzón and Soriano, Yael’s daughter returns to her. However, she realizes that prison is not where she wants to raise her. She meets Eugenia, who tells her she is divorcing Faccia after knowing what she did to Yael. However, by signing the adoption papers, Yael formally asks Eugenia to adopt Brisa. Ultimately, Yael puts her needs aside to protect her daughter’s future, knowing that jail is no place for a kid. She endures fear and pain to ensure Brisa’s safety. By asking Eugenia to adopt her, she gives Brisa a chance to have a regular and loving life. Yael’s sacrifice shows that her love is stronger than her struggles.
Does Marina Get Out of Jail?
Apart from focusing on Gladys and Yael, ‘In The Mud’ also tells the story of Marina with great depth. Marina enters the prison after allegedly killing her boyfriend, Martin. A public defender is fighting her case and filed an appeal for her release. However, the court rejects the appeal because her boyfriend’s family wields wealth and connections. In prison, she meets Coca, who tells her that she will introduce her to a lawyer friend who can help her. During the hearing, she meets her lawyer, Luna Lunati, who asks her if she is doing fine. In the hearing, her boyfriend’s brother, Dario, testifies and tells the court that Marina and he were in love. When Luna meets Marina after the hearing, she asks her to tell her the truth. She reveals that Martin was abusive and had a weird relationship with her brother. They shared everything, including Marina. Luna gives her a pen drive with the recordings from Martin’s house.
After seeing them, she realizes that both brothers were recording her whenever they had sex. It means Martin recorded Dario and Marina having sex, while Martin recorded her girlfriend and Dario having sex, proving that they both were working together. However, Dario had feelings for her, and whenever Martin hurt her, he told his brother that he worried about her health. In the meantime, Luna gathers recordings of the CCTV cameras at Martin’s house and discovers that some crucial evidence is missing. She checks and learns that the mission piece of proof is with Marina’s previous lawyer, Zarate. The female lawyer takes the help of a friend, Miguel, to attain the pen drive. He finally takes control of the pen drive and reaches the court. Luna tells the judges that she has a crucial piece of evidence that would prove her client is innocent. The judges permit her to showcase a video from the night Martin was murdered, hoping it will reveal the truth.
The video exhibits that Dario was present inside the house when the murder took place, and when he saw his brother abusing Marina, he came from the back and killed him. As a result, the judges rule that the video evidence proves that Dario might be the killer, and they want to review the case again. So, they changed Marina’s status to formerly charged, and she finally stepped out of jail. As crucial video evidence reveals the truth, Marina ultimately gains her freedom after a long and harrowing ordeal. Freedom means more than just leaving the prison behind; it’s the chance to live without fear and walk with her head held up high. Every step outside reminds her of resilience and the strength it took to survive.
