'Bird Box: Barcelona' Has More Questions Than Answers
Remember Bird Box? The viral 2018 Netflix film where Sandra Bullock was blindfolded and vaguely afraid for two hours? Well, it's back! (Sort of.) Get ready to be confused once again as we head to Barcelona, abandoning everyone we knew before—with even more mysteries to figure out. The sequel, aptly titled Bird Box: Barcelona, dropped on Netflix last week, acting both as a spinoff and a continuation of the post-apocalyptic story.
The series, based on Josh Malerman's 2014 book of the same name, does have an official sequel novel, titled Malorie. Put that aside for the moment—because Barcelona is something entirely different. It's full of all-new characters, more unseen monsters, and more blindfolds than ever before. There's even blackout goggles now! Very cool. Still, I can't help but wonder about what exactly I just watched. Are the monsters real? Are they hallucinations? Can you even really cure whatever is happening? Let's break it all down.
What Happens in Bird Box: Barcelona?
After everyone went crazy and started committing suicide in Bird Box, the post-apocalyptic society—which mirrors past horror hits like The Crazies and The Happening—started wearing blindfolds to hide themselves. According to the first film, the monsters can only affect you if you see their horrifying appearance. Much like A Quiet Place before it, it was a horror trend built on attacking the senses. By the end of the first film, Bullock and co. realize that birds may be a temporary solution to stay safe. They can sense the monsters and alert people of their presence, like canaries in a coal mine.
Bird Box: Barcelona says: Forget about the birds! They actually don't matter, despite the whole name of the series. Instead, there's a newly evolved group of people referred to as "Seers." Somehow, they can witness the torturous devil beings—without wanting to end their own lives. It may have something to do with past trauma. They might be immune to whatever hallucinatory virus this is, or the monsters need humans to do their bidding, now that everyone found the blindfold loophole. If you're looking for answers? Barcelona doesn't have 'em.
But the film does follow a "seer" named Sebastian, who believes that he is helping people reach salvation by forcing them to remove their blindfolds and commit suicide by viewing the monsters. He's like a vampire's familiar—and an interesting choice as the film's main character. Toward the end of Barcelona, Sebastian starts to resist their influence. He works to get a psychologist (Claire) and a lost little girl (Sofia) to a safe refuge at Montjuïc Castle. Though Sebastian dies in the process, the two women arrive safely. There, they find a secret army camp where scientist are performing blood tests to try and find a cure. And then... the end?
Will We See a Third Bird Box film?
Netflix has not confirmed a third film in Bird Box franchise, but Barcelona's ending certainly complicated the story. Now you can work for the monsters? Oof. At this point, we may need a lot more Bird Box if we're going to learn anything about what's going on in this world. I'm talking prequels (Bird Box: 1923), sequels (Bird Box: Dead Reckoning—Part One), animated side quests (Bird Box: Lower Decks). Put me in the dang Bird Box myself and let me figure this thing out. I'm ready, Netflix.
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