Episode 2 of "The Mess You Leave Behind" unwinds with a poignant prologue, casting Mauro in a drunken haze as he provokes the police's ire, mere moments after Viruca's tragic suicide. His reckless behavior lands him in handcuffs, but fortunately, he escapes charges unscathed. Yet, as he steps out of the station, a chilling revelation lingers—the police had fleetingly entertained the possibility of murder. With a curt directive to return home, Mauro's ordeal comes to a temporary close.
Shifting to the present, Raquel embarks on a school day shrouded in doubt, her mind clouded by the ominous forewarning. Stepping into her classroom, she finds herself under the scrutinizing gaze of her students, particularly Nerea and Roi, who relentlessly compare her to the late Viruca, lauding her openness and authenticity. They press Raquel to bare her soul, echoing Viruca's daring honesty.
A flashback illuminates a pivotal moment from Viruca's past, where she courageously confessed her struggles—an abortion and a battle with alcoholism—to her students. This intimate secret was shared only with Mauro and now, inadvertently, with the entire class.
In the present tense, Roi's probing intensifies when Raquel declines to mirror Viruca's candor. With a keen insight, he uncovers Raquel's bleak marital reality, rocking her to the core. As she retreats during lunch, Raquel's mind races, grappling with how Roi could possess such intimate knowledge. The truth unravels—every detail he divulged was contained in a draft email, abandoned by Raquel before sending to German.
Later, over drinks at the bar, Raquel's conversation with Mauro yields few answers, but Concha, the sympathetic barmaid, offers a glimpse into Viruca's transformation from an eager learner to a troubled soul, her once-bright enthusiasm dimmed by unseen struggles.
Determined to unravel the truth, Raquel delves deep into Viruca's old work with unwavering resolve. As she meticulously sifts through the materials, Marga inquires about German's wellbeing, unaware that he's harbored the knowledge of Viruca's demise, keeping it a secret from her all along. This revelation casts a suspicious shadow, yet when Raquel confronts German about his silence, he dismisses it as a mere attempt to shield her from distress.
Undeterred, Raquel remains steadfast in her pursuit of Viruca's work, convinced that it holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of the past. Meanwhile, Marga, having stumbled upon Raquel's investigation, is poised to confront her class, but Raquel opts to take matters into her own hands.
With a steely gaze, she confronts the students, brandishing the ominous death note as evidence and dares them to reveal the culprit, threatening to escalate the exam's difficulty should they fail to cooperate. In a clever ploy, she tasks each pupil with anonymously scrawling their suspicions onto sheets of paper, igniting a flurry of accusations and self-doubt among Iago, Roi, and Nerea.
As Raquel scrutinizes the incriminating notes, a pattern emerges: Iago and Roi's names recur like a haunting refrain. A flashback to Viruca's guidance illuminates a painful truth—Roi's crush on Iago, divulged in an essay, backfired spectacularly when Viruca's advice was twisted into a cruel joke, with Iago mocking Roi mercilessly.
At home, German's world is rocked by his mother's bombshell announcement: the restaurant is to be sold in two weeks' time. Faced with this pivotal moment, German grapples with the decision to purchase the establishment, his heart torn between his love for writing and the allure of this new opportunity. Raquel, sensing his turmoil, tries to dissuade him, arguing that his passion lies elsewhere. Yet, German remains stubborn, his erratic behavior leaving one to wonder if it's merely the influence of drugs or something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface.
Amidst Raquel's fearless declaration about failing the students, her colleagues marveled at her courage yet cautioned that her honesty might boomerang. Mauro then stepped in, extending an invitation to her for the burial, a scene that was far from solemn. Their company was not exclusive, as Iago, Roi, and Nerea arrived, their attire at odds with the solemnity, further exacerbating the tension by provoking Mauro to the brink of fury, culminating in a devastating punch to one of their faces. Raquel, a silent observer from afar, witnessed the entire tumultuous scene unfold.
Subsequently, Mauro, driven by a desire to assist Raquel, entrusted her with the task of uncovering any irregularities within Viruca's school records, should she stumble upon them. However, their conversation was abruptly halted by the arrival of Iago's father, Tomas, who accused Mauro of assaulting his son. With fiery determination, he demanded Mauro's dismissal and threatened to expose the matter to the press.
Within the confines of her classroom, Raquel found herself besieged by a barrage of text messages from an anonymous sender, each querying how she could be so cruel to her spouse. Accompanying these messages was a video, a damning piece of evidence capturing her intimate moments with Simon, an old friend of German's. The question lingered heavily in the air: Who could be behind this malicious act? A disgruntled student? Or a more sinister force lurking in the shadows?
