WARNING: The following contains spoilers for 30 Coins Episode 6, "Holy War," now airing on HBO.
HBO's 30 Coins has truly done a number on Elena and Paco as they try to protect their small Spanish town of Pedraza. Thanks to Father Vergara's carelessness with the Judas coin, evil forces have descended as the cult known as the Cainites wants the relic to bring about the apocalypse and reshape the world.
Still, Elena soldiered on as a vet who really wanted to save her people, while Paco, as mayor, also tried to help the priest ward off the malevolent spirits. But with Vergara missing in action and their domestic problems coming home to roost, both Elena and Paco have now been brutally destroyed by the pain and tragedy surrounding them.
Elena has nightmares about spirits coming for her and as it turns out, she's in Paris with Roque. She left town and a potential relationship with Paco to start a new life after an evil double of her husband, Mario, tried to kill her. Now, she's hellbent on a fresh start with the playboy. However, at a romantic dinner, Roque presents the coin thinking she lost it.
He found it in a restaurant a few days ago, after she threw it into a dam and it was eaten by a cod. He thinks it'll be a nice gesture, but Elena's horrified as she was warned that the coin would return to bring her more anguish. And the warning comes to pass — as she calls Paco in the washroom, one of the Vatican's demonic agents enters and starts shooting up the place to get the coin. Sadly, despite the agent being killed, Roque gets hit in the chest and dies.
Paco hears Elena over the phone crying out, and he also breaks down as he really does love her and just wanted her to be happy. He's majorly suffering as he's finally left Merche, wanting to leave the meat business and politics behind too. Paco can't cope with losing Elena and now, seeing as she went to Roque after "Mario" and lost yet another man in her life, he can't fathom how to work his way up in her eyes and prove that he can be her rock. All she knows is loss and given that she's chosen other guys repeatedly over him — granted he's married — it just feels like their romance will forever be doomed.
Merche's also pretty pissed and could be set to ruin Paco as she's always hated Elena, which means when they reunite in Pedraza, she'll come with a vengeance. And she'll have that moment sooner rather than later, because amid the fracas in Paris, Elena finds the coin on the restaurant floor.
The coin is drawn to her like a magnet and she knows she has to return home to deal with it. She's been having nightmares with Vergara as well, so she thinks he's there to help her out, not realizing she's going to be taking the coin back to the enemy that's now infiltrated the town. And seeing as both her and Paco are desperate, broken and at their lowest point, the cult may not find resistance as strong as before.
Starring Eduard Fernández, Megan Montaner, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Macarena Gómez, Pepón Nieto and Manolo Solo, 30 Coins airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is also streaming on HBO Max.