Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Gardener
The Gardener, Netflix’s new Spanish psychological thriller packs plenty of intensity into just six episodes. The story follows Elmer (Álvaro Rico), a quiet man who works at his mother’s gardening center, run by La China Jurado (Cecilia Suárez). But behind the plants and flower pots, there’s a dark secret: China runs a murder-for-hire business and Elmer, left emotionally numb following an accident in his past, is the one who carries out the killings with cold precision.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Everything changes when Elmer is assigned to kill Violeta (Catalina Sopelana), a sweet and kind preschool teacher. For the first time, he feels something: love. And that unexpected feeling becomes a threat to his mother’s empire. The Gardener is a gripping story about violence, manipulation, and the chance for redemption—even when you live surrounded by death.
Behind Elmer’s emotional emptiness
Elmer Jurado is the quiet and disturbing main character of The Gardener. Since childhood, he’s carried the scars of a deep trauma. At six years old, he was in a serious car accident with his mother. The crash damaged a part of his brain, the right frontal lobe, which affected his ability to feel emotions. As a result, he has lived his life on autopilot: no joy, no sadness, no love.
In the show, Elmer’s “emptiness” becomes his greatest tool. While it would be a burden for most, for Elmer, not feeling means he can act with efficiency. As a hitman for his mother’s business, he completes missions with almost surgical precision—and never feels guilty. The gardening center his mother runs as a front for her real job is Elmer’s safe space, a world that makes sense. Plants don’t ask for emotions, just care and patience—something Elmer knows how to give.
Who is Violeta, the woman marked for death?
Violeta, a nursery school teacher, is blamed for the death of Xoan Costera, son of the powerful Sabela Costera. Sabela hires the Jurados to “take care” of Violeta. But as Elmer gets close to her, he starts to feel something new, an affection that grows into love.
Even with pressure from his mother, who sees Violeta as a threat to the world she has built, Elmer hesitates. He disobeys orders, kills impulsively (like when he murdered Mon, Xoan’s friend, for calling Violeta a killer), and begins having emotional breakdowns. He starts questioning if this cycle of violence is worth it.
There’s a reason behind these changes: Elmer is diagnosed with a brain tumor, which is making him feel emotions again. Surgery could “fix” him—make him go back to who he was before—but Elmer doesn’t want that. He wants to love Violeta.
Is Violeta guilty of Xoan’s death?
Yes—and she has lied about it from the start.
Throughout the series, Violeta tells two different stories. To the police, she says she didn’t even see Xoan that night. Later, she tells Sabela that she was with him, but he slipped and fell off a bridge. Neither is true.
The twist comes when we learn what really happened: Xoan was acting erratically. After a heated argument, he stood near the edge of the bridge. Violeta, in a moment of anger, pushed him. It wasn’t planned—but it was a choice. She knew what she was doing.
This changes everything. Violeta isn’t just a victim. She’s also someone trying to hide a huge mistake. Her guilt comes not just from what happened, but from the lies she told to cover it up.
The death of Sabela Costera and Violeta’s discovery
Elmer wants to fix everything so he can have a real future with Violeta. He goes to Sabela’s house to confront her and ask her to leave Violeta alone. Despite his mother’s orders, he refuses to go through with the job of killing their mark.
Sabela, trying to escape the situation, reaches for her phone and then runs to the kitchen to grab a knife. But her plan fails and Elmer stabs her. Unbeknownst to Elmer, he’s been seen near Sabela’s house by Violeta’s friend, Catuxa. When Violeta hears a message from Catuxa about seeing Elmer and learns of Sabela’s death, she starts to panic.
Realizing who Elmer really is, she tries to run—but it’s too late. She’s hunted down, and China Jurado decides that if her son won’t do the job, someone else will.
She hires Orson, another killer, to finish the task. But Violeta is not helpless—she kills Orson by hitting him in the head with a rock, multiple times.
Her first call? Elmer. He is, after all, the only one she can still trust. And he helps her, hiding Orson’s body and making sure she avoids getting into trouble.
Life after the surgery
After killing Orson, Elmer comes home completely shaken. He finally confronts his mother. He says he knows she’s been manipulating him all his life, and that the mission to kill Violeta was more about control than business. For the first time, he expresses real emotions: anger, sadness, frustration. He tells her he’ll never forgive her.
But China can’t let go. She hits him on the head and takes him to the hospital.
There, she pressures the doctor to do the surgery that was suggested earlier in the series — to remove the tumor and “fix” Elmer. Even though the doctor wanted Elmer’s consent, China decides for him. The surgery is done. For her, it’s the only way to bring back the obedient, emotionless son she once had. A perfect gardener—without feelings.
How does The Gardener end?
Weeks after the surgery, life seems to go back to normal. But not in the way China hoped. Elmer remembers everything—even that she hit him.
He continues working in the garden, quietly, with the memories of how he felt when he was with Violeta.
In the final moments of the series, Violeta shows up. Not just to see Elmer—but to make a deadly request: she wants someone killed.
Will The Gardener have another season?
Based on the ending, which doesn’t reveal who Violeta is targeting, there’s a chance The Gardener could return for a second season with a few more episodes. But for now, Netflix hasn’t confirmed anything.
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