I’m always amused to hear about various Eastern European superstitions and traditions, because they all have a quality of being made up in the moment. They always leave me wondering, are these actual widely shared beliefs common to region or just a family neurosis passed down through the ages? Or something created spontaneously that I would have no idea of its validity?

The final segment of episode 3 begins with a clock turning from 7:02 a.m. to 7:03. We’re still in the train station, but now that she’s aware of the time, Ewa shares that photo (black and white) of Edward with Janusz. He asks who is this? The photo includes Edward — who, by the way, does have a beard in it and kind of looks like Lech Walesa — with a woman and two small children. She tells Janusz that this is Edward with his wife and those are their kids, that he left Ewa about three years ago. She then says that she told a lot of lies that day and he asks (with surprising tenderness) why.

Ewa replies that she doesn’t know, but then explains: you know that game, if the next person who comes around the corner is a man you will have good luck? Well, I’ve been playing that kind of game tonight. When I saw you, I decided that if I can have you spend the entire night with me, until 7 a.m., whatever happened, then I know life would carry on as normal. And if not? Ewa displays a small pill that she pulled out of her pocket and she lets fall to the ground. She said she was prepared for anything and lives alone.

Before I continue, I want to point out that I’ve never heard about this “coming around the corner” superstition, but I assume it’s known in Polish culture. The rest is Ewa’s personal folklore, and perhaps this is the way such traditions begin. Her success in keeping Janusz with her for the full night saved her life. She explains why she did it, that Christmas night is unbearable to spend alone. He adds that people lock themselves in and shut the curtains, and she says “exactly.”

But then we get one last piece of dialogue from Ewa that, while it doesn’t exactly contradict anything, makes us question if she’s telling the truth. She says that on her way to midnight mass she saw a little boy. She hesitates at this point and looks out towards the tracks. There is a man (not a little boy) walking the edge of the train track. He appears to be in his pajamas. Two policemen approach. She continues with her story “he’d escaped from the hospital, he was in his pajamas.” Janusz asks “what happened?” She says, “they caught him.” It all gives the sense that Ewa, who has been improvising all night, is still improvising. It’s impossible to know what is real and what is lore.

We next see Janusz drive up to the thoroughfare where Ewa’s car is parked. She gets out of the car in a long shot, we do not get a closeup goodbye. It then cuts to Janusz looking out the car as she walks towards hers. She turns back and tells him that she knows he didn’t make the phone call to her husband. He nods and says “see you around.” She walks to her car. They flash their lights at one another and drive on.

In the final scene, Janusz arrives home, The apartment looks like nothing dramatic has happened overnight. We still see a champagne bottle on the table. Janusz’s wife’s ski poles are rested against a wall, and then we see her asleep on the couch. Janusz says that everyone is asleep, she nods. He says that they found the car — she says, I know, I called the police.

Janusz senses that she knows the whole story and she then asks Ewa? And he responds … Ewa. She asks if he’ll be going out on evenings again now … and he emphatically says no. The episode fades to black. As the episode closes, I believe Janusz, I don’t think he will ever seek out Ewa. But there is something deep in his heart that is lying — he wants to have something else in his life. He will likely remember this Christmas fondly.

It’s hard to imagine this story turning out well for Ewa in the long run, although she has survived another night. Something is terribly wrong in her life and her grasp of reality seems fragile. The best we can hope for Ewa is that she finds someone else equally enchanted by her personal folklore.