Heartless S01E03 "Episode 3" Recap

In 1666, Ane is pursued through Ottman's Forest and caught by the religious zealots that believe her to be a witch. Gertrud and Sebastian's relationship is still strained from his infidelity and Gertrud makes a comment in passing insinuating that Ane won't be alive for much longer. Ane is tortured by her captors who repeatedly dunk her in a tub of water for extended periods of time. They demand that she confess to being a witch but she refuses. When she pleads for her baby to be spared, one captor claims that the baby will be spared if she confesses.

In the present, Sofie tells Sebastian about her encounter with the ghost (of Gertrud), who had told her to find the gold heart. Sebastian agrees that their next task will be to do just that. They head to fencing class where Sofie challenges Ditlev. She lands a point against him but Headmaster Just is called away by his eldest daughter Ida and puts Pieter in charge of calling the match. He begins to cheat and wrongfully awards Ditlev points. Emilie is impressed by how Sofie has improved by training. Sofie grows increasingly arranged in fighting against Ditlev and angrily storms out into the hallway. Emilie follows her out to check on her but the bonding moment is interrupted by Headmaster Just coming over to ask about Sofie's outburst but Emilie defends her, saying that Pieter cheated.

The prefects begin to scheme against Emilie, being angry about her headstrong ways and refusal to submit to their hierarchy.

Nadja and Sebastian chat and he asks about where there might be paintings of old counts and countesses related to the school's history. She says there may be some in the attic but only the prefects have keys to get up there. Sebastian heads back to his room and finds the keys in Pieter's drawer and quickly hides them in his jacket before Pieter walks in. Pieter is angry about Sebastian violating his rule about staying on his own side of the room so Sebastian apologises and covers his tracks. He later heads to the attic with Sofie and they find a painting of Gertrud Ottman whom Sofie identifies as the ghost she encountered.

Sebastian and Sofie ask a teacher about Gertrud, claiming to be writing a paper on her. The teacher explain that Gertrud was the last of the original Ottmans and married Christian. She was a mean woman who would frequently accuse women of being witches and have them executed for it. She was also very religious and eventually lost her mind and drowned herself in the moor. She apparently didn't have any heirs and so the land and property was passed on to the king, who gave it to an officer, Thorkild Just, whom we can assume is the ancestor of the Just family.

Emilie shows her younger sister Clara her strengthening ability by moving a glass of orange juice across the table. Ida spies on this from inside the house and leaves to rat Emilie out to their father. Still outside, Clara shows Emilie her own supernatural ability by making a raven drop out of the sky onto the table. Headmaster Just tells Emilie that the girls in their family have special abilities that manifest upon reaching a certain age. He claims that he'll tell her more about it when she's ready to hear it, angering Emilie who further lashes out at Ida when she claims Emilie should trust their father. He tells Emilie she is too much like her mother in how she causes strife, and Emilie retaliates by saying that she now understands why her mother was unfaithful to him.

Sebastian and Sofie are out when Sebastian spots Josefine. Wanting to go off and spend time with her, he tasks Sofie with sneaking the keys back into Pieter's bedroom drawer. Sebastian and Josefine go walking together before picking a spot to lay down on. Josefine flirts and is affectionate with Sebastian but he avoids any kissing on the mouth. She asks if he's seeing anyone and he assures her he's only interested in her. Josefine climbs on top of him and tries to undo his trousers and Sebastian struggles to stop her and walks off without an explanation, having been overwhelmed by the temptation of his hunger.

The prefects spot Sofie as she's walking back up to the school. They hide while she heads up to Sebastian and Pieter's room and returns the key's to Pieter's drawer. They enter the rooms as she's putting them back and capture her, bringing her to an empty room. Ditlev begins interrogating her about what she wanted the keys for and orders the other two prefects to drunk Sofie in a tank of water prepared specially to interrogate her, as Ditlev had picked up on her fear of water during the moor christening. Headmaster Just walks in on them torturing Sofie and reprimands them. He brings Ditlev back to his office and removes him from the position of head prefect, threatening to expel him if he does anything like that again. Just tells Ditlev to apologise to Sofie.

Nadja sneaks into Seastian's room and sits provocatively on his bed, waiting for him to return. When Sebastian gets back, she claims to have information on the paintings he had earlier been asking about, having put them on his table. She then makes a move on him which he begins to discourage. She removes her underwear from under her skirt and climbs on top of him. He begins to give in to her advances and gets on top of her, though he avoids letting her kiss him. He tells her to close her eyes and begins to perform oral sex on her. Before she can finish, he moves up and kisses her to feed and stops after a bit, leaving her panting and drained.

Sebastian visits Sofie, intent on sharing the information he has received but is alarmed to find that Sofie is visibly shaken and has been crying. He asks what's wrong and she demands to leave the school. He insists that they need to stay to find the answers they're after. She demands to receive some of what he's fed and he provides her with some. She asks if it was the kitchen maid and he says no before showing her the information on the counts and countesses of the school. After the Justs inherited the property, one of the images of an older Just is shown to have a heart necklace.

Ditlev tells the other prefects not to bother Sofie and they agree to follow his orders.

Nadja returns to her room and tells Sofie she had just been messing around with someone and that it was an incredible, albeit different experience from anyone else she'd ever been with. Sofie asks who it was and Nadja doesn't want to tell her. Sofie leaves to take a shower but is intercepted by Ditlev who kidnaps her... again.

When Sofie wakes up, having been chloroformed, she is in a chair and Ditlev has tied her hands behind her back. He tells her no one can hear her up where they're at. He tears her short open, exposing her bra and underwear. He hits her, causing her to fall over in the chair, when she doesn't answer him. He tells her it's her own fault and she nods in agreement. He repeatedly pets and strokes her face and she kisses his palm, apologising. He unties her hands in response and she begins to feign affection for him. They kiss and Sofie begins to feed on him to the fullest extent so her bursts into flames.

Nadja wakes and searches for Sofie, who isn't back in their room yet. Nadja encounters a student who spots Ditlev's burning body that's fallen down into the courtyard. They're joined by more students, including Sofie, who is only in a towel after showering. Sebastian also arrives and upon seeing the tell-tale sign of a person dead from being fed on, looks at Sofie and they stare at each other knowingly.

Heartless is available for streaming on Netflix.