Amazon’s The Romanoffs tells the stories of people who believe they are descendants of the Romanovs. Each episode tells a new story in a different part of the world. The Romanoffs season 1 episode 6 was about journalist Abel Erickson, and his investigation of a medical clinic in Mexico City that offered experimental treatments.
Sugar Pill
Abel arrived at the clinic as “Javier Morazan”. He faked having leukemia with purchased blood and help from a nurse on the inside. The clinic offered experimental treatments for $250,000, which he believed was a scam. The patients were largely immoral billionaires who were dying. Dr. Siqueiros knew Abel wasn’t dying and that he was being recorded.
Lourdes, the nurse who helped him, got fired. She had helped him because the clinic’s practices disgusted her. Lourdes told Abel that they got the stem cells from an abortion clinic that mainly served indigenous people.
The History of Mexico
Outside of the clinic, Abel saw Victoria Hayward with her son Nick in a wheelchair as she struggled to speak with her driver. He helped her, and Victoria assumed he was terminally ill. She offered to give Abel a ride, and since the Haywards’ hotel was near the Zócalo, he showed them the cathedral. Nick, who has hemophilia, was excited to explore, but Victoria worried he would get hurt. She gave in eventually so she could light a candle. Inside, she lit two.
The next day, he took them to see The History of Mexico, a Diego Rivera mural. He described each stage and the people represented in the mural, highlighting the history of oppression. Victoria disappeared for a bit, and Nick panicked until he reached her on Abel’s phone. She came back, and it was clear to Abel that she had heard bad news. Victoria told him away from Nick that the treatments hadn’t worked.
One night, Victoria called Abel to help her get marijuana. He brought some over to her hotel, and they went outside to a balcony overlooking the Zócalo. She confessed she felt guilty for giving her son hemophilia. Victoria was a Romanov descendant and a carrier for the disorder. On their way back inside, she ran into Nick’s father, Philip. He had tracked them down after Nick posted photos of the mural online. Philip and Victoria were separated, and she hadn’t told him she had taken Nick to Mexico City for experimental treatments.
City of the Gods
Abel went back to the clinic to give Dr. Siqueiros an opportunity to respond to his story. They turned him away without a comment. Abel picked up Victoria and took her to Teotihuacan, an ancient city of pyramids. They climbed to the top of one and talked. He was in love with her, and though she wanted to be with him, Victoria felt the circumstances weren’t right.
When he brought her back to the hotel, he confessed to her that he wasn’t sick. She hugged him goodbye, expressing relief that he was fine. He showed the piece he had written to his editor, who declared it wasn’t a story. Abel would quit his career and start over. As he walked through the Zócalo, people dressed like the images from the mural surrounded him in the square.
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