100 Years of Solitude is back for season 2, which debuted on August 5, 2026. Adapted from the renowned magical realism novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, it covers the seven generations of the Buendia family in the town of Macondo. In episode 6, tragedy befalls almost every speck of Macondo, from separated lovers to persecuted laborers.
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Following the physical attack of the workers in town, they convene in a secret location. The physical attack has only aroused their determination to take a stand, and now, their numbers have grown. The men don't propose violent action. Instead, they decide to pursue a legal route and approach Mr. Brown and the company with a list of demands. The demands must be met for them to return to work. Jose Arcadio Segundo plays the role of scribe, taking notes. The men shout out what they want, and they settle on a list of eight.
Back at the Buendia house, Meme is in lockdown. Fernanda is determined to keep her and Mauricio Babilonia apart, but they find sneaky ways to be together. Aureliano Segundo tries to talk to Meme and get her to confide in him, but she won't even tell him about her newfound passion for Mauricio Babilonia.
The workers, lead by Jose Arcadio Segundo march into the United Fruit Company Office to present their list of demands. Mr. Brown has gone MIA, and some bureaucrats in suits won't accept the list of demands without his signature. The stonewalling has begun. They then walk as a unit to his residence. The group is met by soldiers, who inform him that Mr. Brown is not at home and is traveling.
As the soldiers begin pushing the group away from the house, Jose Arcadio Segundo sneaks in the back to talk to Mr, Brown's housemaid, Cesa. Reluctantly, she tells him that Mr. Brown is with the French women. Cesa may prefer to keep her nose down, but she works for Mr. Brown and has probably seen some things. She knows Jose Arcadio Segundo is a good man who treats her with respect. She may not see the same thing from Mr. Brown.
After some finagling, Jose Arcadio and Lorenzo Gavilan talk Françoise into helping them perpetrate a scam. As Mr. Brown spends time with the French sex workers, they trick him into signing the list of demands the workers have compiled. Vive la France!
Thinking this will satisfy the bureaucrats, the men present the signed statement and are told their signatures don't count since they are not truly employed with the United Fruit Company. Essentially, these men have no interest in reading the list of demands. They have already decided that their thoughts and opinions are irrelevant.
Mr. Brown and his UFC posse may be under the impression that the workers will give up. But their dismissal only triggers more feelings of rage and determination to hold fast to the course. They break into the commissary and steal hams and other products. Jose Arcadio resigns as foreman and goes all in. He gives a rousing speech, and soldier come to drag him away to prison.
At the Buendia house, Francesca enjoys some sacred music as she writes letters to Jose Arcadio II. She spins her usual lies about how wonderful life is and paints a rosy picture of life as a wife and mother. Meanwhile Meme has her own version of a rave and tears up her textbooks, dancing in her underwear. The sound of glass breaking interrupts Francesca. When Frances goes to investigate, she finds a broken vase near a broken window, along with all the paper bits. After Fernanda exist, it's revealed that Meme has confiscated the rock thrown through the window, holding a love note. Love has found a way once again.
Back at the prison, Jose Arcadio and his fellow workers are joined by other workers. They begin to purposefully get arrested in solidarity. Soon, the prisons are full of the undocumented workers of UFC. They sing songs and encourage each other to stay firm.
Meme decides to take a mid-day bath. Mysteriously, the boards begin to move above her head. This is an odd repeat of storyline, as Remedio the Beauty once had a suitor come through the roof. In that case, she was not a willing recipient of the attention she was being given. We don't see who is there, but by Meme's face, we can only guess at who is coming through the roof in a fit of passion.
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| Amaranta embroiders her funeral shroud |
The prison warden decides that they cannot hold all of the workers any longer. The UFC bureaucrats report that Mr. Brown will not be happy. The workers lay down their bananas and won't work until the demands are met. Those that join the protest sign and report on their family members, maybe to make sure they get fed?
Mr. Brown appears in a car one afternoon and signals for Jose Arcadio Segundo to get in. If I was Jose Arcadio, I don't know that I would be comfortable going off like this. Now he is isolated and without support.
Mr. Brown drives out to the middle of the banana fields. He asks the drivers to get out so it's just the two of them. He tells Jose Arcadio that if he will get the union to stop, he will make a few concessions. He concedes to pay increases, rest days, putting workers under contract . . . but only for Jose Arcadio and the "most rebellious." So, he is trying to manipulate the leaders of the movement into stepping back, thinking if he appeases those few, the other weaker people will follow. Jose Arcadio refuses to be bought off with meager compensations. He wants full compliance.
Mr. Brown then decides to insult Colonel Aureliano. He calls the Colonel naive and pathetic, showing his full disregard for the man. Jose Arcadio pauses a few seconds and then gets Mr. Brown in a chokehold, saying, "You won't buy us off with crumbs. We will kneel before no one. You got that? Just like my Uncle Colonel Aureliano Buendia." His reaction is savage and channels his connection to Aureliano like never before. This is a full circle moment as it reveals that the spirit of Colonel Aureliano is still alive in his bloodline. Jose Arcadio has always been hard working but gentle. Not someone who raises his voice or gets involved with conflicts. So seeing him turn is shocking, but cool. Mr. Brown is shook.
Back at the house, Mauricio visits for bathtime again. This time we see it's him for sure. We might wonder why the show is spending so much time seeing these two and their sexual interaction. I'm going to repeat something I wrote from episode 5. We have seen many couples sleep together in this show. Up until now, most of them have come across comedic, animalistic, or purely physical. The first couple to sleep together was Ursula and Jose Arcadio, but their sex life was tainted by the fear that their union would create a child with a pig's tail. Every sexual relationship in this family has been intertwined with some vice: age-gap relationships, hedonism, infidelity, incest. This is maybe the first couple have seen come together that seems pure. They are fearless, young, attractive, in love, and unafraid to experience pleasure. Their sex is in sharp contrast to any other we have seen on this show. Meme is someone that has potential for breaking the Buendia curse.
On the way home, Jose Arcadio is shot at. One bullet finds its target, but he makes it back to the Buendia house. There is a sign on his door: Death to Anarchists. He is given TLC by Santa Sofia. Fernanda wants none of this trouble at her house, so she orders Aureliano to make him leave. The two almost come to blows, but Jose Arcadio Segundo announces he was thinking about leaving anyway for a bit. And he does just that.
Fast forward and it's now time for Fernanda to give birth to her new baby. Aureliano isn't helping much, so they ask him to get water to get him out of the room. Amaranta is working on some embroidery in her room. She keeps company with death, dressed as an old woman, who compliments her on her needlework. She has been told that the day she finishes this embroidery work, she will die without pain. As she walks toward the house to share this news with the family, she sees a vision of Jose Arcadio Buendia (the first) in the courtyard.
The family gathers around the baby, who they have decided to name Amaranta Ursula. Even Remedios comes out of her room to join the family. Amaranta tells the family that she will die tomorrow. And that she can deliver any letters that anyone wants to send to the dead.
People come to the house with letters. And among them is Mauricio Babilonia. Meme looks surprised to see him, but he just laughs and says that it's the only way he can come through the front door. Fernanda notices their smiles and looks like she could kill him with the daggers in her eyes.
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| The crowd at the train station |
Amaranta open her pocketwatch, which has a picture of a young boy. I'm guessing it's Aureliano Jose. Gerineldo passes her a letter for the Colonel. She is sewn into her embroidered shroud. Fernanda makes a remark that her shame must be so great since she wants to avoid a confession. Amaranta smugly reports that she has nothing to confess. Ursula agrees and announces that her daughter is a virgin. Aside: being a virgin does not make you sinless. I can think of quite a few sins that Amaranta has committed.
Still it's a pretty operatic death. As she passes into the next life, she has thoughts of Rebeca and wanting to ease her loneliness. As we see Rebeca eating dirt, a shovelful hits Amaranta in the face. A very cinematic complement of events.
Meme walks to the bathhouse to take yet another bath. She enters to find Fernanda inside the room. Fernanda quickly exits, looking satisfied. The boards are removed, and Meme eagerly waits. Suddenly gunshots ring out and a body falls – an eerie callback to the man who stalked Remedios.
Meme walks outside, shaking and wet in her flimsy rob. She walks through the crowds that have gathered to find the shattered, bloody body of Mauricio Bailonia. He has fallen and is badly injured. The crowds whisper that he was trying to steal some chickens. Fernanda stands close by, looking unbothered. Meme tries to scream but she doesn't have enough oxygen to do so, and makes noise that don't seem human.
We find out that Mauricio survives this fall, but that he is paralyzed for the rest of his life. He lives to be an old man who dies in solitude. The butterflies around him are still active until his death. I suppose he never sees Meme again. I think it's the saddest event in the whole show. Meme was a girl full of life who was the only spark of hope left. Her spark has been extinguished. She is escorted tenderly into the house by Ursula and Santa Sofia, with Fernanda closing the door behind all of them primly.
Across town, Aureliano Segundo plays sad sack dad music at Petra Cotes'. He's using that accordion. He is oblivious to what has happened to his daughter and her love. There are balloons and streamers. Is this a party for the baby?
Across town, the workers have returned form their short-lived exile. They enter the town with signs, chanting protests. We discover that Mauricio Babilonia has been exiled and that Fernanda del Carpio has devised a plan to hide any disgraceful rumors that will start about her or her daughter. Meme is no longer speaking and looks lifeless. Ursula tells her that she can always come back. We learn that Meme will never speak again. Fernanda marches her to the train station. As the train runs through the town, Meme doesn't notice any of the things that used to bring her joy.
Jose Arcadio is playing pool when he hears an announcement that a civil and military commander has been appointed named General Cortes Vargas. Martial law has been declared, which is crazy since no one has done anything violent yet except people hired by Mr. Brown. Jose Arcadio is struck by the fear he felt when he watched a man get executed as a boy.
The soldiers from the three regiments take up the work of cutting and shipping the bananas. The workers' demands are ignored. The workers have been patient, but with this new turn of events, they are ready to take action. They cut the electricity and begin to sabotage the UFC offices and operation. The old schoolhouse and barracks once again being a center of conflict. They start fires and interrupt the train lines.
Now it's violent. Jose Arcadio stop a violent riot from keeping Mr. Brown's car from being overturned when he notices Patricia in the back. Corporate lackeys suggest that the stakes need to be raised and warships dispatched. The men light the banana fields on fire.
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| A photo with different generations of the Buendia family |
At the Buendia house, Aureliano Buendia finally shows up, bringing "news" of the strike. He asks about the girls and is told that the baby is asleep and that Renata is no longer in Macondo. Fernanda coldly reports that Meme has decided to be a cloistered nun and that it's not her fault that he's been out of the loop. We see a turn now from Aureliano. Just like his brother, Aureliano has had enough with Fernanda's empire. When he hears that Mauricio has been shot, he understands what she has done. Even if his daughter denied it, he understands somewhere that his daughter's light has been extinguished. He screams in her face with all the frustration he has pent up. It's not much. He is a man defeated. Aureliano returns to Petra Cotes.
The workers stand outside Mr. Brown's office, which has now been turned into General Vargas' office. Mr. Brown has left town. He is meeting with Jose Arcadio Buendia, Lorenzo Gavilan, and a third gent. The General says he will bring the government representatives to negotiate if the workers stop the vandalization. Jose Arcadio agrees, stipulating that something needs to actually change. He doesn't want anymore vain promises. The representatives will arrive on Friday. The crowds celebrate their supposed victory.
The day comes, and the crowds gather to greet the train that holds the government representatives. More than 3,000 people are there to greet this train. It's workers, wives, and children. It's quite a sight. Jose Arcadio shows a young boy how to make a top spin. The train seems to be late, but Jose Arcadio encourages the group to stay put until the train arrives. He then begins to notice soldiers outside the holding pens with weapons. These are large firearms.
A large man with a bullhorn begins to read a proclamation. Those who have incited the strike have been declared a gang of criminals. The strike is declared illegal. Public demonstrations are forbidden, and the men are authorized to fire on anyone who doesn't leave the demonstration. They are given 5 minutes to disperse. The workers stop chanting, but they don't move.
Into the silence, Jose Arcadio raises his voice that they won't move. The men begin firing but the crowds stay still. For a minute, it looks like the crowd is bulletproof. Then they begin dropping one by one. The crowds try to leave, but it's too late. Panicked, they run into each other and can't find an exit. We cut to black.
Time passes, and Jose Arcadio wakes up on a moving train, surrounded by dead bodies. They have all been stacked like Lincoln logs. He is the only survivor on board. Somehow he survived. He screams in horror and jumps off a moving train. Waking up on a death train like this would surely be terrifying. In Jose Arcadio's case, he survives, although will anyone believe him when and if he can find his way home again? The narrator references when his great grandfather finally found the ocean and that it was to his ruin. So do you read this moment as hopeful or devastating?
The episode ends with fake found footage of people that were part of the strike, paying homage to the real victims of the Banana Massacre. We hear the sounds of the ocean breaking on the waves.
This was a very heavy and sad episode. The parallel stories of Meme and Mauricio vs. Fernanda and the workers vs. United Fruit Company follow a similar trajectory. Each attempt to thwart something good ends in more rebellion. Fernanda and the UFC don't see that the requests of these oppressed people are quite reasonable. But the person with control has no interest in the other's opinion, eventually needing to do something violent and irreversible to keep the position of power. The writing on this is incredible, even though it's very sad. Where can this story go now?
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