Episode: Season 1, Episode 6
Episode title: My Heart
Year: 2026
Country: Poland
Setting: Warsaw and Galicia
Based on: The Doll by Bolesław Prus
Stanisław Wokulski: Tomasz Schuchardt
Izabela Łęcka: Sandra Drzymalska
Ignacy Rzecki: Dariusz Chojnacki
Streaming: Netflix
The finale of The Doll brings Wokulski and Izabela’s destructive relationship to breaking point, while the mystery surrounding the fire that ruined the Łęcki family finally begins to unravel.
Izabela prepares for marriage
A week before the wedding, Izabela is still waiting for Wokulski to honour his promise to purchase The Ivy. The magazine has survived with her support and its women celebrate their opportunity to continue campaigning for female self-determination. Wokulski has a serious problem though. His oil investment has failed: geological surveys reveal that the deposits are too small to be profitable. He is effectively bankrupt.
Izabela discovers the truth
Izabela visits Marianna, hoping to discover whether Wokulski has deceived her again. The resulting confrontation between Izabela and Wokulski is explosive. She accuses him of manipulating her family, spying on her and even arranging the fire that destroyed her father’s business. Wokulski denies burning the barges. Then he admits the truth about his finances. There is no oil. His fortune is gone.
The fire mystery unravels
Izabela begins reconsidering the disaster that ruined her father. The apparently valuable cargo on the barges didn not make commercial sense, and Baron Krzeszowski had mysteriously come into money soon after the fire. Investigators identify Krzeszowski’s butler, Ksawery, as an important witness. Wokulski has another desperate scheme. He promotes his worthless oil company to wealthy investors, promising enormous returns and issuing promissory notes.
On the wedding day, Wokulski announces before the assembled guests that there will be no wedding. Rzecki later reflects that Wokulski never truly understood what he wanted from Izabela. His obsession was born from despair, and no amount of money or social advancement could make the fantasy he had created real.
Wokulski apparently dies in an explosion.
Izabela announces that she is entering a cloistered convent, but this too proves to be a deception. She gives money to The Ivy and leaves Poland. The final scenes reveal her destination: New York. There, Wokulski is alive. Izabela writes to him as she begins her new life, finally abandoning the belief that lineage determines who she must become.
Watch the trailer
Historical background
Polish emigration to America
Izabela’s journey to New York places her at the beginning of a much larger movement. Polish migration to the United States accelerated dramatically during the late 19th century, driven by economic hardship and the political circumstances of partitioned Poland.
Early motor cars and petroleum
The “horseless carriage” Wokulski uses to sell his oil scheme reflects genuine technological developments. During the late 1870s, inventors were experimenting with alternatives to horse-drawn transport, although practical petrol-powered automobiles would emerge during the following decade.
Promissory notes
Wokulski’s promises to investors are not merely gentleman’s agreements. Promissory notes were established financial instruments: written commitments to pay a specified sum. His willingness to guarantee extraordinary returns therefore places him personally at enormous financial risk.
Languages (availability may vary by region):
The Doll is available on Netflix with the original Polish audio and English, German, French, Spanish and Ukrainian dubbing. Subtitle options include English, German, French, Spanish, Polish and Ukrainian.
Previous: The Doll Season 1 Episode 5 recap
