Black Snow season 2 episode 3 ending explained: What do James and Samara find at Xanadu?

Black Snow season 2 episode 3 arrived on AMC+ at 3 am ET on Thursday, May 1, 2025. The show's creator, Lucas Taylor, wrote the episode titled Ghost. The crime drama series centers on the investigation of 21-year-old Zoe Jacobs, who has been missing since 2003. Detective James Cormack and Senior Constable Samara Kahlil reopened her case in 2024 after finding new evidence.

The search for Zoe reaches a turning point in Black Snow season 2 episode 3, when James and Samara discover that she visited Joseph at Xanadu a few hours before disappearing. They get a search warrant to investigate the private property. By the episode's end, the search team finds a car submerged in the dam and retrieves it to find something mysterious in the trunk.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Black Snow season 2 episode 3.

James and Samara's search focuses on Xanadu in Black Snow season 2 episode 3

Black Snow season 2 episode 3 begins with Samara and James going through Zoe's backpack. They find the word 'Sapphire' written across a flyer for Mont Vista Estate, a real estate business run by Zoe's father. Samara wonders if it's related to the Sapphire Beach she visited with Zoe's family years ago. James urges her to follow the lead and check if Zoe settled there after leaving Moorevale.

Samara contacts the Sapphire Beach police station with a recreated image of what Zoe might look like today. By the end of the episode, she hears back from them and learns that someone had spotted Zoe at the beach years ago.

James and Samara speak to Brad about his last meeting with Zoe. She had torched his vehicle after Cody's death as Zoe believed Brad's abusive behavior played a role in Cody's decision to take his own life.

While watching the CCTV footage of the convenience store Zoe visited her last night, James notices that she drove in the direction leading to Xanadu and concludes that she went to see Joseph. Moreover, forensic reports confirm Joseph's fingerprints on the ecstasy packet found in Zoe's backpack. Hence, James decides to thoroughly search Xanadu, a private property owned by Melody Forster.

He visits Melody at her upscale Brisbane home to get her permission, but she connects him to Xanadu's new owner, to whom she sold the place years ago. During their conversation, Melody mentions that she slept with Joseph the night Zoe disappeared. She adds that he was missing for a few hours at night and said that he went swimming in the dam upon returning.

While inspecting Xanadu, the search team finds a car submerged in the water. They open the trunk of the car to reveal something that leaves Samara horrified at the end of Black Snow season 2 episode 3.

What does Black Snow season 2 episode 3 reveal about Zoe's past?

In 2003, Zoe attended the Mont Vista Estate launch party with Samara. However, she is upset that the company is set up at the very place where Cody killed himself. Sean is also present at the party, with Zoe telling Samara that he helped her father restructure the company's finances.

Later, Zoe confides in Joseph about her struggles following her friend's death, and the two end up having s*x in the radio station office. She helps Samara prepare for her first date with Alex and promises to cover for her with her parents, who have become strict after Cody's death.

Brad confronts Zoe about wrecking his vehicle and demands she pay him $20,000. After he threatens to go after Samara, she agrees to pay him from the inheritance money she is set to receive a week later on her 21st birthday.

Zoe heads to Xanadu to spend time with Joseph but is shocked to see him having s*x with Melody. She meets Sean at the bottle shop and goes home with him. The next morning, Zoe wakes up to find Sean taking pictures of her na*ed body and storms off in anger. Before leaving, she calls him out for creepily leaving roses in her car and calling the radio station frequently.

When she returns home, Zoe finds that Samara's mother is furious with her daughter for spending the night with Alex. Samara gets mad at her friend for forgetting to cover for her as promised. Frustrated by the series of events, Zoe speeds off to Xanadu and goes skinny dipping in the lake.

What happens to Nadja in Black Snow season 2 episode 3?

In Black Snow season 2 episode 3, Zoe's mother, Nadja, is seen helping Daisy as she experiences Braxton Hicks contractions. Nadja has been staying at a caravan park with Val since Leo took away her share of the family business, leaving her homeless.

Nadja tells James that she threw herself into searching for Zoe after her disappearance, which put a strain on her marriage and led to her divorce from Leo. She confesses that she neglected her young son, Seb, during this time. The two gradually became estranged and haven't spoken in almost a year. When she runs into Leo, Nadja questions why he never urged Seb to forgive her.

Furthermore, Nadja informs Samara that someone claimed to have seen Zoe at Coffs Harbor, not far from Sapphire Beach, in 2005. They reported it to the hotline set up after her disappearance. However, she could not speak to the informer directly as the police withheld their identity from her.

Nadja meets her former brother-in-law, Will, at the police station. He offers her a comfortable place to stay, but she rebukes him for abandoning her in her time of need. In another scene from Black Snow season 2 episode 3, Sean reveals to James that he had seen Nadja and Will kiss at Zoe's 21st birthday party. He had initially wondered if Zoe had caught them making out and left Moorevale because of it.

James learns about Richie in Black Snow season 2 episode 3

In the midst of the investigation, James's father, Tommy, urges him to keep looking for his younger brother, Richie. Their encounter forces James to punch his thigh with a stapler at work to numb the emotional pain brought on by Richie's memories.

He heads to the local bar and finds that his psychiatrist, Nina Hirsh, is on a date a few feet away from him. She catches up with him later, and sparks fly between the two. As James walks back home, Nina shares that her grandmother raised her since age five and hints that she is not close with her parents, just like James.

At Xanadu, James receives a call stating that he can find a file on his brother (who uses the alias Richard Vogel) at Kenmore's Department of Corrections office. In the archive room, James pulls out his brother's file and is left stunned by the information inside it.

Fans in the United States can watch the latest episodes of Black Snow season 2 exclusively on AMC+.

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