Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Maledictions’ begins with the kidnapping of a girl named Zoe. Her father is Fernando Rovira, the Governor of an Argentine province, who is in the middle of working on a bill that will change the trajectory of his political career. However, his trusted confidante, Roman, kidnaps her, and this leads to an unravelling of secrets that changes the dynamics between the trio forever. A major question in the first episode is why Roman kidnaps Zoe, and the answer to it is given in the second episode, where a flashback reveals a deeper connection between Roman and Zoe. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Roman is Zoe’s Biological Father in Maledictions
In the first episode of ‘Maledictions,’ Roman and Zoe seem to have only one connection. He is her father’s employee-turned-kidnapper whose intention is to make Fernando stop opposing the water bill. However, despite kidnapping her, Roman treats Zoe with care and doesn’t want her to get hurt. At the same time, she also seems to have a soft spot for him. Even though she knows he has kidnapped her, when Vargas, her grandmother’s right-hand man, finds them, she shoots him in order to save Roman, even though Vargas was there to take her back home. The reason behind this is revealed in the second episode, where a flashback takes us about twelve years into the past. This is when Fernando was still a judge and Roman was a newbie trying to get a job in the hopes of learning the ropes of law and politics under him.
At first, Roman believes that he has been chosen to assist and shadow Fernando because of his qualifications. While his credentials do play a role, the real reason he is chosen for the job is that Fernando and his wife, Lucrecia, want a favor from him. They reveal that they cannot have kids because Fernando is not able to impregnate his wife. While they could have gone for sperm donation, they don’t want to do that because it could make him seem weak in public, especially now that he is gearing up for elections to become the Governor. They could adopt, but Lucrecia wants the experience of pregnancy, and so does Fernando. This means that someone else will have to impregnate her, and that’s where Roman comes in.
At first, Roman doesn’t understand what they are asking of him, and even when he does, he refuses. They assure him that his choice will have no influence on his job, and they respect it. However, they also don’t seem to have given up. Fernando is convinced that he will come around and that he just needs some time to process the request while also making up his mind. Eventually, at Fernando’s mother’s birthday party, Roman looks at Lucrecia holding someone else’s child and he sees her desire to hold her own child. This convinces him that he must help them, and he agrees to sleep with her. Their union leads Lucrecia to become pregnant and she gives birth to a girl, Zoe.
Roman and Zoe Get a Chance to Explore Their Bond
One of the reasons behind Roman being hesitant to have a child was that he knew he wasn’t ready to be a father. His own father had been an abusive man, which made Roman cautious of bringing a child into the world where he couldn’t give them the love and care they needed. Even when he agrees to sleep with Lucrecia, he knows that the child will be hers and Fernando’s, and he will have no obligation or the right over the child as their father. When Zoe is born, Roman keeps his distance from her. He treats her like Fernando’s daughter. While he may care for her, he doesn’t care enough to tell her the truth and face up to his responsibilities as her biological father.
When he kidnaps her, he has no intention of suddenly becoming her father. He thinks that there is no need to tell her the truth and he plans to leave her safely in Fernando’s care once his plan succeeds. However, he discovers that Zoe already knows he is her biological father. Lucrecia told her the truth before she died six years ago, and the girl has been holding on to this secret by herself. Now that she finally has alone time with him, she starts to wonder what it would be like to know him rather than going back to Fernando, and this is what leads her to choose to stay with him in the end.
The realisation that Zoe knows the truth leads Roman to reconsider his plans regarding fatherhood, and he, too, decides to spend time with her and get to know her as his daughter, rather than Fernando’s. When the series ends, Fernando reveals that Zoe will be staying with Roman indefinitely, and as the duo drives away together, it seems that they are ready to explore this new chapter in their lives, making up for the time they lost in the past twelve years, and be the father and daughter they should have been all this time.
Read More: Maledictions Ending Explained: Will Fernando Become President?
