Episode 1 of Anthracite kicks off in Levionna, a setting frozen in time, circa 1994. The grisly murder of Roxane Vial, her lifeless body stoned and cloaked in anthracite, sends shockwaves through the community. A SWAT team swiftly mobilizes, staging a daring raid on the abode of Caleb Johansson, the enigmatic leader of the Ecrins cult.
Unfortunately, they arrive too late to find anything but chaos. Johansson's devoted followers have embarked on a mass suicide, leaving no survivors save their leader himself.
Two decades later, in 2024, Solal Heilman delves into this unsolved mystery. His spunky daughter, Ida, a prodigy in the realm of cyber sleuthing, boasts a loyal online following. During a phone conversation with her father, the unexpected happens: Solal is ambushed, and his frantic warnings to Ida to steer clear ring hollow as he's yanked away into the abyss of abduction.
Ida, defiant as ever, ignores her father's advice and sets out on a mission. She arrives in Levionna, armed with a photo of Jaro tucked away in her father's case file. She tracks him down to a ski resort shop, where he toils alongside his chum, Romeo. Undeterred by his initial reluctance, she unleashes an array of sleuthing techniques, hoping to persuade him that he holds the key to locating her missing dad.
But Jaro remains unimpressed, leaving Ida crestfallen. She heads back to her car, nosebleed staining her face, unaware that she's being watched.
Meanwhile, one of the resort's customers, Emma, sets her sights on Jaro. She lures him into the hills, intent on seducing him. He's flattered but cautious, his parole hanging by a thread, and he fears losing his job. Emma, angered by his rejection, vents to a friend, unaware that danger is closing in on her.
Jaro, originally hailing from Paris, now resides with his uncle, a man haunted by the tragic death of his sister, Juliette, Jaro's mother. His personal life is in tatters as his ex-lover, Anais, seeks sole custody of their child, Malia, convinced that Jaro is unfit to be a father.
Back in her hotel room, Ida sheds her wig, revealing a softer, more vulnerable side. She's a cancer patient, her fight against the disease paralleling her quest to find her father. She stumbles upon a key hidden in the case file and enlists the help of her online community.
Just then, a chilling phone call interrupts her search. Caleb Johansson, the shadowy figure from the past, demands a meeting with Solal – specifically, with Jaro. And in a remote cave, Emma's screams echo in the darkness, her face smeared with anthracite, a grisly foreshadowing of the horrors that lie ahead.
The following day, Detective Gio DeLuca arrived to question Jaro. His past record revealed a favor he did for a nefarious group, resulting in his arrest for possession. Having been in Levionna for merely two days, it was perplexing to Gio that he was the last person to have seen Emma. Suddenly, Ida appeared as Jaro's alibi, revealing that she had been trailing him when he abruptly left Emma. In exchange, she demanded that he meet Caleb, but he steadfastly refused. Their altercation escalated, ending with her tasering him and securing him in her car. She threatened to retract her alibi, and he ultimately relented.
Inside, Gio's suspicions deepened as she believed that all the missing individuals in Levionna were somehow connected to the cult operating in secrecy. Her credibility had been shattered the previous year, leaving no one willing to believe her. She brought in a sniffer dog to search for Emma and stumbled upon a mine entrance hidden in La Valette. Two individuals clad in yellow suits observed her cautiously, but before she could approach them, a tremor rocked the ground, causing them to vanish into the shadows.
At the psychiatric facility, Caleb revealed his acquaintance with Juliette and disclosed that Jaro was the chosen one. His rambling about flames only enraged Jaro further. A flashback revealed a younger Jaro discovering his mother's lifeless body in a burning room. He fled the scene, leaving Caleb to inform Ida that he could no longer heal her, a revelation that left her dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, a woman gracefully glided across the ice, unaware of the chilling discovery beneath her feet. Emma, frozen beneath the glistening ice, lay motionless. Gio's suspicions towards Jaro persisted, but her husband, another detective, offered a plausible explanation for the hillside tremor. It was the Arcacia miners, scouring the earth for coal, that caused the disturbance.
Jaro, shaken to the core, begged Romeo to escort him to the party that evening, held at Caleb's abandoned mansion. As a ritualistic requirement, they smeared anthracite across their faces, a bizarre practice that Jaro found amusing amidst the seriousness of the situation.
Elsewhere, the phone rang, interrupting Ida's solitude. It was her doctor, calling with a sense of urgency as she had abandoned her chemo treatments and refused to reconsider. Memories flooded her mind, taking her back to her childhood spent in hospitals, surrounded by the sterile scent and the constant beep of machines.
During those lonely days, Solal would sit beside her, companionship in the face of illness. Together, they watched crime shows, the plots and mysteries providing a temporary escape from reality. He even gifted her a computer, a window to the world outside her hospital walls, allowing her to maintain connections and a sense of normality.
Finally, her followers pieced together the clues, unlocking the key's purpose. It led them to Solal's storage room, a cavernous space filled with computers and interview footage. It was clear that beneath the guise of a television reporter, he had been conducting his own secret investigation. Suddenly, a stray cat knocked over a tape, and the image of Juliette appeared on the screen.
At the raucous party, Jaro's mind was clouded by the haze of drugs. Caleb's ominous words echoed in his head, warning him that the flame would consume his family. Panic set in as he made his way to the exit, but a group of angry partygoers blocked his path, accusing him of Emma's murder. Romeo intervened, helping him escape the growing chaos.
Desperate and alone, Jaro sought out Ida. She showed him the tape of Juliette, a girl who had once been Roxane's friend. Juliette had been drawn to Caleb's cult, lured by the promise of wild parties. She had formed a bond with Caleb, and both she and Solal had believed in his innocence regarding Roxane's death.
Ida's suspicions deepened as she realized that Solal must have uncovered new information about the true killer. She hypothesized that he was also the one who had killed Juliette, framing it as a suicide due to her depression.
As Anthracite Episode 1 drew to a close, flames suddenly erupted in the hotel room, sending Jaro into a state of frozen horror. Ida lunged forward, trying to pull him to safety, but the smoke choked her throat, making it difficult to breathe.
