Cable Girls is the story of four women who are hired as operators by a phone company. They all have different backgrounds, different stories and different lives but its their job that keeps them together. The strong female characters prove that they deserve a place in a society where women didn’t have much power.
However, not everything has a happy ending in 1920s Madrid and each character has her own complications. Here’s our top five most heartbreaking scenes from Cable Girls.
Mario’s brutal attack on Ángeles
The saddest thing about this scene, other than the fact that abusing someone is wrong, is that Mario doesn’t know about his unborn child. When he repeatedly hits Ángeles, he is effectively killing his own baby. Ángeles didn’t deserve to be beaten. She is honest about how hurt she feels over Mario cheating on her over and over again. The women are powerless over men and this scene really portrays the hurt that they went through in that time period. It is so visual and that’s what makes it real and hard to watch.
Francisco watching Carlos propose to Lidia
Francisco and Lidia (Alba) were lovers ten years before and it’s obvious throughout the series that there’s a part of Francisco that cannot forget the past. You’d expect long lost lovers to be the ones to get together, but within those eight episodes currently available on Netflix we see them on a rollercoaster ride and Lidia eventually falls in love with Carlos, Francisco’s best friend. The camera shots make it seem like Lidia is making an important decision, with her looking back and forth between the two men. It’s clear that Francisco finds this difficult to watch, as we see from his gloomy face.
Carlos finding out Lidia’s true identity
At the end of episode eight, when Carlos has shown his great invention to everyone, he witnesses Francisco calling Lidia by her real name. The show ends with Carlos asking: “Alba? Why did he call you Alba?”. It’s sad because we can see how Lidia has changed Carlos as a man and how happy he is with her but everything changes for him at that moment. Many of us viewers will want Alba to finally be happy but her continuous lies create an inevitable chaotic ending.
Carlota gives up her freedom to go home
Women are ‘owned’ by their fathers or by their husbands. The men are in control. In Carlota’s case, she runs away for freedom and the right to have a job. Unfortunately, her father doesn’t agree with this. After several attempts to get her back home, the only way he could was by doing Carlota a favour. She gives up her freedom to get her friend out of jail but now she’s the one imprisoned.
Alba betrayed by Victoria
Early on in the series, we see a young Alba who is imprisoned for stealing. Only problem is, she wasn’t the thief. Someone had stolen her possessions and she was only trying to get them back. After being in prison for a while, a wise Victoria bails her out and helps her grow up as an independent young woman. She isn’t the best influence, though. Later in the series we learn that Francisco had come looking for her all that time ago but Victoria told him she didn’t know her. Frustrating complications, eh?
There you have it – our top five most heartbreaking scenes from the series. We’re looking forward to when the next lot of episodes come to Netflix later on in the year! Do you agree?
