But let's not lose sight of a couple of things.
1) If Nikos really is this rich, if Andrew/Marina are there to ask for money, then they could have just done so at any time. But neither of them ever broach the topic of being compensated. Nikos is the one that casually alludes to it. And neither Marina nor Andrew focus on the monetary side in their reactions to the idea:
In fact, the topic of money is so far from their minds, it doesn't even seem like Andrew asked how much money he'd be rewarded for being feminized. When Nikos brings up the $30,000, Andrew reacts like it's the first time he's heard it:
2) If Andrew still owes money, then this "past" issue isn't really resolved, right? It's one thing if Andrew messed up, got scammed for a bunch of money, and they've lost the money but Marina forgives him, believing it's a one time thing. It's another if they're still in the hole and they're still under pressure. We've seen what that looks like: Andrew under stress ends up fucking Nikos. Marina when feeling betrayed by Andrew grew spiteful. It's hard to reconcile how casual their behavior at the start of this series is if they had some kind of threat looming over them.
Nikos finds out that the Albanians are looking for Andrew before they arrive and comes up with his crazy scheme to hide Andrew.
3) Remember that based on Nikos' inner thoughts, the idea of feminizing Andrew was a spur of the moment thing:
Nikos reacts genuinely as if he's discovering that Andrew would take on "any role" for the first time.
Really, we had some major aspects spelled out to us that we should keep in mind:
Seferi told Elena that Toska was after Andrew, but there's no evidence that's true. Assuming Marina's telling the truth (which I do think she is), then even if she was followed in Crete, it's on Seferi's words that this was done on Toska's orders.
Considering Seferi is working on the same side as Joel, why should we trust his words?
The major story bits we're fed by Joel:
and by Seferi:
Which we find out really is all bullshit:
Looking at the broad picture, I think this flashback revelation is more about answering something we've discussed before: is there any reason for the family to want Andrew out of the picture? Andrew losing Marina's life savings is something I could buy as making him not "worthy" for Marina.
Basically, as far as I can tell, the idea that Albanians are after Andrew is an entire fabrication to gaslight Elena into believing there's a threat to the family, so that she continues to act like Elena. For some reason, Elena being Nikos' wife is key to Seferi and Joel's plan. Either because that's the end goal, or the means to the end goal.
If it's the end goal, then to me, the person that benefits the most is Nikos and it makes the most sense to me that all of this is something that was orchestrated by Nikos once he realized there was an opportunity to feminize Andrew. My working timeline is now:
- Andrew lost a bunch of money, making him look like a loser.
- Nikos wasn't initially planning on doing anything to Andrew, but decided to test the waters and see how Andrew looked as Elena.
- Nikos liked what he saw, and at dinner, he improvised the whole thing about breaking Joel's glasses. (This explains why later on, Joel rather smugly says that the glasses gave him and Seferi this opportunity)
- Nikos paid Joanna (Gjoka's wife if Joel is to believed) to help Elena with the role. I'm assuming Nikos does want to land the deal with Toska, so getting that contract is goal 1. Feminized Andrew is more a cherry on top. Hence why Joanna shows up in a restroom that should have been off limits to guests.
- After Andrew accidentally commits to staying as Elena longer, Nikos pays off Joel, Seferi, and Gjoka to help create this narrative to entrap Andrew. They might not even be aware Elena's connection to Andrew. Maybe they just think Nikos has the money and is controlling of his wife. Regardless, from their perspective they see it as a win-win. Nikos lands his contract by appealing to Toska's old sensibilities by "scaring straight" Elena to being the obedient wife. Nikos pays off these men.
- All the feminizing we've seen since then is just playing into this fictional narrative. When in actuality, there's no real threat here.
