Black Sands Season 2 Episodes 3 & 4 Expose Davíðs Dark Legacy as Buried Secrets Turn Deadly

Critic’s Rating: 4.3 / 5.0

4.3

So many revelations just happened on Black Sands, and my head is spinning.

The third and fourth episodes of Black Sands Season 2 cover an impressive amount of ground. Before the latest drop of installments is over, we get confirmation that Davíð is Salómon’s father, learn the full extent of who all he abused 40 years ago, and may have just watched one of those women murder him.

See what I mean about covering a lot of ground?

If the first season was more of a slow burn, this one is going at a breakneck pace, but it’s a speed that suits the nature of this investigation.

If we have too much time to simmer over some of the things happening, the heaviness would probably be too overwhelming.

Fríða keeps emerging as the MVP of the season because she’s cool, calm, and collected, and diligent in her work.

She’s tending to everyone in her own way as much as she can. And she’s taking Helena’s allegations seriously, juggling the investigation into her “accident” and what happened at Gullsander with equal fervor.

For the most part, she’s a one-woman show in the foster home portion of the investigation. Fortunately, Gústi has given her a pretty long leash, and she’s taken it and run with it.

And she’s been successful. One of her most notable moments was actually obtaining DNA evidence from Davíð. It was a tense scene in which Davíð gave off full-on creepy vibes.

And it definitely seemed he was plotting against her or ready to resist at a moment’s notice. Although his behavior around Jonna was the creepiest of all. Ick!

Now that we have Davíð’s DNA in the system, there are two things that they can focus on and potentially tie him to: Helena’s murder and Salómon’s paternity.

Offhand, it was surprising how quickly Salómon called Aníta over to tell her the truth about himself. He wasted no time after hearing the lawyer explain that Salómon left most of his estate to Aníta and that the only other close relative was a distant cousin.

For Salómon’s entire life, Davíð didn’t claim him, help raise him, or even see him. The second it was convenient for him, and he could get some financial advantage out of it, he was ready to use that as a gauntlet to fight against his own niece.

There’s a never-ending depth of lows that Davíð keeps hitting, and he’s the slimiest character we’ve had yet.

What’s disturbing is that Davíð really has always been this way. They treated us to a flash of him as a kid standing at the top of the stairs. We’re to assume that he killed his own mother.

The family tree on Black Sands is getting so convoluted. Davíð was adopted, right? So was that his pregnant mom lying at the bottom of those stairs or someone else entirely?

Nevertheless, he had the propensity to kill from an early age. He went on to terrorize everyone around him from that point forward.

Seeing the woman gather together and reminisce about their awful experiences and Helena’s death was heartbreaking. What was worse was seeing that they’re still struggling in all these ways, decades later.

Ragnheiður is still beating herself up about how she left things with Helena. Hildur has apparently been a “hot mess” for her entire life. It’s not because she’s some irresponsible woman who can’t get it together, but because of trauma.

And Auður is just so angry. She hates herself for the trauma bond she clearly had with Davíð. She hates the other women for being “weak” and for basically reflecting on her, serving as reminders.

Auður has deluded herself into believing that she’s somehow overcome all of this, that she’s “fine,” and that she can’t understand why the other women couldn’t achieve what she has, but that’s not exactly true.

Auður’s angry and a heavy drinker, and mean, and distrustful and guarded.

It was obvious that she wasn’t over it when she showed up at Davíð’s place the first time, lost her nerve, and left. But it was clear that she was still scarred and battling with trauma when she was torn between having sex with him and trying to kill him.

And then she did, maybe.

This cold case that Fríða has been so focused on has now become an active investigation. And the series succeeds in having Aníta approach the case from her own path.

She has no idea what’s going on on Fríða’s end because they, namely Gústi, are still keeping her at arm’s length as she eases back into work.

But after Davíð’s shocking revelation and the threats he made, she had to find out more and dig into her past.

She can’t process all the information here, all the darkness. Salómon, a man she loved and still does, even when she feels guilty about that, was her cousin.

Davíð is a serial abuser who sexually violated all of the girls he claimed he was taking care of at Gullsander. There were so many aborted babies, with the town’s doctor mostly turning a blind eye to what was going on.

The doctor claimed he reported things to the county, but nothing much came from it, and Davíð just stopped taking the women there. So, how many other babies survived and are out there? How many did women lose?

It wasn’t just Davíð’s behavior that Aníta had to reconcile with, but also her mother’s. She had to wonder how much her grandmother knew about what Davíð was doing.

The doctor proposed the notion that with her grandmother going blind and being dependent on Davíð, there were a lot of things she likely didn’t want to “see.”

But then there’s Aníta’s own mother. She’s left reeling from all of this, but knowing that her mother was in the know, surely cognizant of what Davíð was doing the entire time, was too much.

Elín definitely knew who Salómon’s father was, and likely understood the circumstances surrounding his conception.

Just as she knew that her friend was sexually abusing Salómon, but these are just uncomfortable things that you don’t speak about because they’re unseemly.

Aníta also had to process the news that Elín actually sought out an abortion. The only reason that Aníta exists today is that Elín was too far along.

There wasn’t a conscious choice to keep Aníta; it was more of an obligation. No matter how strained and complicated their relationship was or how predictable that revelation actually is, hearing that you were nearly aborted isn’t easy.

It puts so many things into perspective, such as the abuse Aníta faced because of her mother. Her mom didn’t really want her, resented her, and likely dealt with abuse herself.

Black Sands does a great job of exploring the complexities of Aníta’s continued love for these horrible people. As much pain as her mother caused her, surely, there’s a part of her that understands Elín, too.

Just like she understands Salómon, and the fact that with two abusers as parents, the monstrous Davíð, and a mother who was a victim who became an abuser too, Salómon never really stood a chance.

But she felt seen and understood by him. She’s grieving the people who caused her harm, but who also could have had some of the answers to things or the reassurances she needs.

Salómon gets her in a way that Fríða doesn’t, and that’s to no fault of Fríða. And maybe things would’ve been easier for her as far as taking care of Erla.

And her mother would at least understand some of Aníta’s feelings. Ironically, she probably has never understood her mother more than she has now, dealing with her own child and battling depression after trauma.

Everyone speaks about babies like they’re perfect and the whole experience is a blessing. However, Aníta is in her own quiet hell. It was so great that she got to be open and honest with the pastor in a way that she hasn’t been with anyone, not even herself.

For her, it feels like Erla can cooperate and function just fine with everyone else. We’ve seen how easily Fríða and Jonna take to Erla and vice versa.

But sadly, Erla is probably picking up on Aníta’s struggles, which is making the entire experience difficult.

Aníta regrets having this baby. Interestingly, Tómas’ girlfriend has similar reservations and seems to understand what Aníta isn’t saying between the lines.

The more Aníta finds out about everything, the more I wonder if she’ll make an unexpected decision. Maybe she’ll let someone else take care of Erla, do what she can’t.

Mostly, so she doesn’t end up repeating the cycle, taking care of a child she resents and letting that child carry all the weight, shame, hurt, and other things that Aníta herself faced growing up. Break the cycle.

Over to you, Black Sands Fanatics. Which revelation shocked you the most?

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