This article contains spoilers for Anthracite episode 2, "The 13th Disciple". Anthracite is a French Netflix thriller miniseries that takes viewers to a fictional town in the French Alps, one which was once rocked by news of cult activity in the local area. Thirty years on, the murder of a woman wreaks havoc in the community all over again, and two young people, Ida and Jaro, end up getting entangled in the new cast.
In Anthracite episode 2, things continue to heat up in Lévionna. As Ida and Jaro try to find out who killed Emma and kidnapped Solal, Giovanna pursues more leads (but still harbors suspicions about Jaro. Here's what happened in Anthracite episode 2.
Uncovering new information
Before we find out if Ida and Jaro make it out of the burning hotel room, the episode begins with a 1994 flashback showing the disciples of the Écrins cult performing a ritual in a cave. It involves pounding their chest, someone wearing a scary goat mask, and beating a person to death. Classic cult stuff.
Back to the present, Ida kisses Jaro to snap him out of his torpor and they escape the fire raging in her room. Outside, viewers can see a troubling figure watching them: someone wearing a goat mask, but they're oblivious to that dark presence. Ida and Jaro are soon joined by Romeo, who reveals Giovanna is his sister.
Skipping a trip to the hospital, Ida, Jaro and Romeo head to Solal’s storage box. Ida believes the hotel fire was no accident and suspects she and Jaro were targeted for looking into the cult case. They review the dozens of videos Solal has gathered, which includes interviews with Juliette. It also contains shocking footage of the GIGN raid that shows not everyone died in the cult's mass suicide: a young child was rescued from the house by police officers.
Giovanna goes to Arcacia
As Ida, Jaro and Romeo do their own thing, Lieutenant Giovanna continues to look into Emma’s murder. During the autopsy, the examiner confirms Emma drowned and was most likely thrown into the lake. He also discovers a biometric chip in her neck. As soon as he removes it, Emma’s phone goes off and when Giovanna checks it, she sees it wiping itself out and recognizes on the screen the logo of a local laboratory, Arcacia.
Giovanna then sets off for the lab, and has a chat with the protesters camping outside of it. One of them, Vincent, explains they have no plan on going anywhere, believing the lab is responsible for several health issues plaguing the inhabitants of Lévionna.
In the well-guarded lab, Giovanna receives a cold welcome from the receptionist and doesn’t get to talk to anyone else. To make her point before leaving, she makes sure whoever is there, watching through the security cameras, knows she has Emma’s chip.
When she returns home that night, Giovanna is confronted by her mother, who is another anti-Arcacia person. She thinks the lab’s activities played a part in Giovanna’s miscarriage and subsequent depression, but neither her daughter or her husband, Erwan, want to hear it.
Enter: Denis Monnier
At the storage unit, Ida and co watch a video about the young boy found at the cult, Mani. They look at an interview with Captain Monnier, who led the police investigation at the time. Jaro wants to seek him out but Romeo warns it will be hard to get any useful information from him, revealing Monnier has developed dementia.
Before they can do anything, Ida starts having trouble breathing and has to be taken to the hospital. There, Jaro and Romeo talk to a young doctor named Hari (Romeo’s ex), who is unable to tell them specific details about Ida’s condition. Nevertheless, Ida's stabilised. While Jaro waits to see her, he receives a phone call from his daughter, Malia, who says she hopes to see him soon.
Afterwards, Claude comes to pick up Jaro from the hospital and on their way home, he tells him about how Juliette was not the only person from Lévionna to spend time at the cult house. He explains that back then, people didn’t see the harm in partying with Caleb and his disciples. When they arrive at the farm, Claude’s wife Marie is outside screaming for help as someone's in the house. When he looks around, Jaro catches a glance of the mysterious, goat mask wearing figure we saw earlier.
The next day, Jaro and Romeo seek out Monnier anyway. Before they get there, the elder man has an episode where he sees goat-mask guy outside his house attacking his nurse. Jaro and Romeo find the nurse out cold on the doorstep with Denis firing his gun at anything that moves. Giovanna is called for help, and a conversation between her, Denis and Jaro reveals the identity of his attacker.
In between delirious dreams at the hospital, Ida identified Mani’s parents. His father was Caleb's 13th Disciple, Vassili Derevko and he didn't die during the cult's mass suicide. She now believes Derevko is the one terorizing the town. She shares her findings with Giovanna, who isn’t pleased the trio is doing all this investigating.
The winter festival
With Derevko's identity established, the group plans to lure him to the Lévionna festival. During the street party, Jaro and Romeo keep an eye out for the goat-masked figure whilst Ida steps on stage to bait Derevko to get her. Unfortunately, she's interrupted by Vincent the protester, who uses this opportunity to call for Arcacia’s closure.
Anais and Malia show up at the festival. Jaro's happy to see his daughter but is also eager to get them both away from imminent danger. His instincts are on point: moments later, Vincent and a number of attendees start choking on blood. Giovanna and Jaro spot the goat-masked figure and manage to catch him…only to find out it’s not Derevko, it’s Denis. The latter manages to run away but leaves behind a bottle of rat poison.
While all of this was going on for the main characters, viewers witnessed a couple of interesting extra plot beats. One was a brief scene in the woods wherein Solal can bee seen running from gunshots; he's not fast enough, and gets hit. The other scene takes place at the asylum. Caleb starts pounding his chest, just like in the ritual. Worse, the other patients all start doing the same, and smear their faces with whatever they have to hand. Why did Denis kill all these people? What else is he responsible for?
Anthracite is now streaming on Netflix. If you've already streamed it, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best Netflix shows and the best French shows on Netflix to find your next fix.
