Episode 5 of *The Dead Girls* unfolds in September 1963. Ten months have passed since the girls were confined to the defunct casino, and tensions are simmering as they languish in their cramped quarters. Only Rosa and Lupe are permitted to accompany Skull to the market, a privilege that sets them apart from the rest.
Aurora, driven by desperation and defiance, persuades three of her fellow captives to flee with her across the rooftop. Yet, on the night of their planned escape, the ladder they intended to use vanishes without a trace. Suspicion immediately falls on Rosa, whom they accuse of betraying them. In a fit of rage, they brutally assault her. When Skull discovers Rosa's battered form, no one dares to step forward and admit their involvement.
The sisters, alarmed by the potential for mutiny, realize they must assert their dominance. Bedoya, ever the enforcer, offers to restore order. His methods are ruthless; he metes out punishment to the entire group until the four culprits step forward. To compound their misery, he forces the four girls to beat each other senseless before locking them up. Their rations are slashed to the bare minimum, a stark reminder of their powerlessness.
In his prison interview, Bedoya maintains that he was merely aiding the sisters in maintaining control. It's evident that he enjoys a relatively comfortable existence behind bars, a stark contrast to the plight of the others.
The narrative then shifts to Teofilo and his string of misfortunes. Arcangela's financial support dwindles with each passing week, leaving him unable to pay his workers. Frustrated and resentful, they sabotage the project's progress and abandon ship. Teofilo himself yearns to leave, but Eulalia pleads with him to stay, arguing that it would be an insult to her sisters. In his own prison interview, Teofilo laments that he was once a man of honor, but the ranch and its inhabitants have corrupted him.
Arcangela, meanwhile, is convinced that Teofilo is siphoning off the funds. In response, Bedoya dispatches Nicolas, the same man who torched Simon's bakery, to keep a watchful eye on the girls. The rest of the captives find themselves on the brink of starvation, their already meager rations further reduced. In a desperate act of retaliation, four of them conspire to harm Lupe, who is tasked with procuring their groceries, blaming her for their plight.
To mete out punishment, the four girls are hauled off to the ranch. Teofilo stands at his wit's end, for all Arcangela has offered in the way of assistance is Ticho, the burly bouncer.
Inside the barn where they are confined, the girls find themselves frozen with fear. There is a dire scarcity of food to sustain them. It isn't until November that Ticho is finally dispatched to offer some semblance of help. But the girls, having endured enough, resolve to make a break for freedom. In a desperate bid to thwart their escape, Teofilo unleashes a hail of bullets, killing two of the girls on the spot.
Arcangela is left reeling in shock, insisting that she had only provided the rifle for the purpose of dealing with the cattle. Serafina is then dispatched to manage the fallout. They hastily bury the slain girls and transport the remaining ones back to the casino.
To ensure that news of these fresh deaths remains concealed, Arcangela decides to implement a constant rotation of the girls' arrangements. In an attempt to alleviate the palpable tension, she releases Aurora's group from their confinement. However, their fury is misdirected, and they launch a furious assault on Skull.
Bedoya, ever the mediator, steps in once again and orders the girls to turn on each other. In a frenzy of frustration, they come perilously close to inflicting fatal harm upon one another. By this point, the sisters are utterly exhausted by the endless turmoil, suffering, and loss of life.
In December, Bedoya manages to persuade Arcangela to grant Serafina a reprieve. The couple checks into the most luxurious hotel in town, dining at a fancy restaurant where live music fills the air. Yet, Serafina's mood is swiftly soured when she catches sight of a poster featuring an actor who bears a striking resemblance to Simon. Suddenly, he seems to be everywhere she looks, and she is consumed by the agony he once inflicted upon her. Bedoya discovers her weeping in their room.
She pours out her heart to him about Simon and the vengeance she had long forgotten. He proclaims that betrayal is the gravest of sins and vows to stand by her side in her quest for retribution.
During an interview, Bedoya expresses regret, wishing he had intervened to prevent the events from spiraling out of control. He claims that their intentions were merely to frighten Simon. Meanwhile, in Nicolas' prison interview, he reveals that he wreaked havoc at the bakery because he had not been given the order to kill Simon. In truth, as we witness, Nicolas is a poor marksman. As for Serafina, she admits that her intent was indeed to take Simon's life, but in the heat of the moment, her fury clouded her aim and she forgot how to shoot true.
