In A Girl and an Astronaut, Marta’s married life turns upside down when her ex-boyfriend, Niko, who disappeared 30 years ago, suddenly returns, forcing her to make a difficult choice once again. Marta is played by Magdalena Cielecka and Vanessa Aleksander.
When Marta returns from the UK with her friend, Karolina, for her father’s sake, she meets and falls in love with two pilots — Niko and Bogdan. Niko is Karolina’s brother, and Bogdan is Niko’s long-term friend, rival, and colleague.
While Marta initially rejects Niko’s advances, who is a known womanizer, she develops a liking towards Bogdan from the very beginning. However, Niko does not give up, and Marta soon falls in love with him.
Tensions rise between the two friends because of their mutual interest in Marta, who is forced to choose between the two. The choice hurts her, no matter whom she chooses, not once but twice in her life.
The man who took the leap
Niko does not get discouraged when he sees Marta and Bogdan together. He pursues her relentlessly, even though she makes it clear that she does not want a relationship, especially with him.
She takes the two men to a bridge at night and asks them if they would be willing to jump in the water with her. She jumps even when none of them volunteers. However, she sees Niko reaching out to her underwater; he jumped after her.
Marta is depicted as a carefree girl who lives in the moment and enjoys life. Niko, on the other hand, loves adventure even when risks are involved. Bogdan, who makes reckless choices when he is competing with Niko, does not make that choice for Marta.
Later, Marta tells Bogdan, despite having feelings for him as well, that she is dating Niko. When she sees Niko kissing another woman, she gets upset and sleeps with Bogdan, but eventually comes back to Niko and forgives him.
When Niko leaves, she confesses her love to him and tells Bogdan that she is choosing Niko. In the future, her daughter does not take long to conclude that Marta loved Bogdan, but she loved Niko more than him.
The show depicts Marta and Niko’s connection through a recurring underwater scene where Niko reaches out to her. Marta has been chasing after and waiting for the man she loves the most, her father, but he always ends up in prison, making it impossible for her to reach him.
Niko can be seen as the first man who took the leap for Marta and pursued her until she agreed to give him a chance. Perhaps she loved him more because he was willing to do what Bogdan would not do for her.
A different choice
When Marta is told that Niko died in space in an explosion, Bodgan is there to support and comfort her. She ends up marrying him and having a daughter with him. However, their marriage soon loses its spark.
When Niko returns, Marta realizes that she never got over him. Bogdan tries to stop her from going back to him, but she refuses to leave Niko alone in his current state.
She even tells Bogdan that his problem with Niko had nothing to do with her; he just does not want to lose to Niko again, who has always been better than him at everything, including being a better pilot in Bogdan’s father’s eyes.
Niko is still as young as the day they parted 30 years ago, but Marta has aged. While he claims that it does not affect his love for her, Marta is not completely unaffected by it. Keeping the difference between their bodies in mind, Marta decides that she cannot be with him; it is too late for them.
Unlike the last time, she is not going to go to Bodgan if she cannot be with Niko. She leaves the two men and is seen on a bridge once again. However, this time she is alone.
Marta chooses to be with herself. Even if she is making a mistake, she claims it is her mistake. This is her beginning, and she believes beginnings are always the best. A younger Marta is seen underwater, but without Niko for the first time.
Also Read: A Girl and an Astronaut ending explained: Do Marta and Niko end up together?