Heartless S01E04 "Episode 4" Recap

Back in 1666, Ane is convicted as guilty by the court holding her hostage and accusing her of being a witch. Despite promises to spare her baby, she is to be burned at the stake. Christian later visits her in her cell, holding her close and trying to comfort her but they are separated by guards. Later, Ane is dragged outside and tied to a stake on top of a pile of branches that are promptly set aflame. Christian, Gertrud, and all the townsfolk gather round and watch as she begins to burn while screaming out in pain. During the burning, Gertrud doubles over in pain from her own pregnant abdomen.

The staff at Ottman's boarding school are tasked with cleaning up the area where Ditlev's body fell. Headmaster Just covers up the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death when official law enforcement make their enquiries, and the official story is that Ditlev committed suicide. Pieter tells him about their harassment of Sofie and is insistent that Ditlev wasn't suicidal.

Headmaster Just summons Sofie to his office to ask about the conflict with Ditlev as well as the incident at the moor. She downplays the tension she had with him, claiming that Ditlev realised he was going too far and backed off afterward. Sofie later tells Sebastian about the questioning and that she felt like Headmaster Just seemed like he was testing her and trying to bait her into sucking him.

Sebastian makes plans to 'study' with Nadja later on but becomes alarmed when he sees Josefine has a black eye. He goes outside and confronts her on-again/off-again abusive (ex-)boyfriend Pede. Things escalate until he breaks a bottle on Pede's head. Nadja spots Sebastian from upstairs holding Josefine intimately in his arms. Though Sebastian tells Josefine he wants to look after her, she berates him for his inability to even kiss her. Sebastian drives off angry.

Sofie and Emilie study together and Emilie begins to flirt with her. Sofie asks about the heart pendant and Emilie doesn't recall seeing it. Sofie opens up about her and Sebastian being orphans and in turn, Emilie shares about how she discovered her own mother with a man she was having an affair with not long before she committed suicide.

Sebastian pulls over in the woods to avoid hitting a mysterious young girl and begins to follow her deeper through the trees.

Emilie overheard her father having a conversation with another man about catching something. She mentions it to her older sister Ida and the two get into an argument over Emilie's desire to be free while Ida is determined to stay put out of loyalty to her father. She claims that their family has a job to do so they can't just leave. Emilie asks what the job is and Ida says to ask their father. Later, Emilie uses her powers in the library and her father calls her into his office and the two fight about her doing so. The confrontation escalates to the point of him slapping her.

Nadja tells Sofie that a female janitor had asked her about Sofie's whereabouts on the day and time Ditlev died. Sofie meets up with Sebastian, intent on telling him about the enquiries regarding her alibi for Ditlev's murder but he is shaken from discovering a cave covered in dead animals that the little girl lead him to. Sofie then tells Sebastian she lost one of her shoes when Ditlev grabbed her and she is concerned it may still be in the attic. She will need to pick the lock and retrieve the shoe to keep her cover. Sebastian heads to meet with Nadja for their date but she's not there. He eventually finds her in the library. She wants to end things with him because she saw how tender he was with Josefine and he's not that way with her. She no longer wants to be an object for his perverse desires and storms out of the library. Sebastian tries to go after her but becomes distracted when he looks out a window and sees some of the school staff roughly dragging a young girl with them while trying to avoid being seen.

Sofie sneaks into the attic to search for her shoe but Headmaster Just notices that the tape blocking the entrance to the attic has been disturbed. She finds the shoe and hides when she hears him coming up the steps. She is able to stay hidden and Headmaster Just is called away by the same woman janitor that Sebastian saw earlier, who claims that they "found one". Headmaster Just heads out with her to look at the young girl they caught and chained up. It's the same girl that Sebastian encountered in the woods. She appears to be ravenous with hunger and animal-like in her behaviour. Headmaster Just baits her into feeding on him to confirm that she is the supernatural being he suspects her to be. The male staff member holds her steady while the woman hands Just a hammer which he uses to kill her with a blow to the head.

Sebastian visits Sofie, hungry as ever. He tells her he believes he saw the girl again but Sofie heads out to meet with Emilie. They sit together and Sofie attempts to study but Emilie attempts to kiss her instead. Sofie resists at first but eventually gives in to both kissing and feeding on Emilie.

Heartless is available for streaming on Netflix.