The Carlos López-produced Netflix crime drama “Santo” centers on Miguel Millán and Ernesto Cardona, two police officers from Brazil and Spain, who cross paths while pursuing an unseen drug kingpin named Santo. Cardona travels to Madrid with Santo’s mistress, Bárbara, in order to find Santo and get revenge on him for the murder of his partner Vera. Santo has come to Madrid to establish a new drug empire using occult techniques. With stunning revelations and developments regarding Santo’s identity and goals, the first season of the gripping Spanish TV series comes to an end. Let us share our opinions if you want to take a closer look at the same. Spoilers follow.
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Santo Season 1 Recap
Cristóbal and his son Mario, two local drug dealers, are killed at the start of “Santo”. For the sake of Maria, Cristóbal’s wife, with whom he is having an affair, policeman Miguel Millán, who also works for the local drug gang that includes Cristóbal, sets out to track down the killers with his colleague Susi. Millán and Susi’s investigation leads them to three Norwegians who also attempt to murder the first victim. The Norwegians are revealed by Millán and Susi to be men under the leadership of Santo, a Brazilian drug lord with no recognized face or any details of his identity. Ernesto Cardona, a policeman from Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia, enlists in Santo’s drug operation as an undercover agent.
Cardona’s cover eventually breaks, endangering his objective. Nevertheless, Bárbara, Santo’s mistress, offers her a second opportunity to locate Santo as she needs the help of the police to flee the undetectable drug lord. Cardona and Barbara flee to Spain in search of protection, but Santo kidnaps them. Looking to Santo, Millán ends up rescuing Cardona from a warehouse where the drug lord used to sacrifice people for his safety and benefit. They eventually locate Bárbara, but instead of cooperating with the police, Cardona and Bárbara decide to flee and take refuge in a hideout.
Cardona struggles to recover from the loss of Vera, who introduced her to Exu, a spirit of African descent. He receives the “thread of Exu”, which he wears to protect himself, as a believer. Santo’s occult rituals also cause him to have disturbing thoughts about killing a child for the latter’s human sacrifice. Meanwhile, Millán’s superiors learn of his ties to a nearby drug cartel. Nevertheless, he creates a lie in order to advance Maria’s investigation. A group of children are also kidnapped by Santo’s men at the same time for further sacrifice.
Cardona’s Brazilian colleague Paulo travels to Madrid to help him. He is killed by Santo’s men, who then take Barbara to the warehouse after the confrontation. Since Santo wants Millán to sacrifice a child, the Norwegians kidnap Millán and they all end up in the same warehouse. Cardona steps in and stops the offer. While Cardona and Millán search for Santo, Susi, who has arrived at the warehouse, rescues the kidnapped children.
End of season 1 of Santo: Who is Santo?
Even his closest friends haven’t seen Santo, one of the world’s most notorious drug lords. Police departments in various countries are unable to locate even a single image of the culprit. But because Barbara is Santo, Santo has always been around them. Bárbara created the idea and perception of a strong, powerful, and undetectable drug lord to distract his adversaries, rivals, and law enforcement agents. By being with them and being aware of their every move, Bárbara can appear as Santo’s runaway and turn officers like Millán and Cardona away.
Barbara is aware that, in a world dominated by powerful men, she cannot establish a global drug trade. If it turns out that she is the real boss of her drug business, she must have understood the risk that someone would seek to “dethrone” her from the empire she had built. As a result, she realizes that having a strong, masculine figure is really necessary. Because they would be terrified of such a powerful being, Bárbara’s ability to live among her own men depends on them. She can command and lead her troops under the guise of being Santo’s mistress since she is considered the person most related to the fictional Santo.
Bárbara also capitalizes on the innate human fear of “the invisible” through the fictional Santo. Santo continues to be an authoritative, enigmatic, and frightening figure, even among Bárbara’s rivals and government officials of other nations, as no one in the world can truly assess the power and authority of an imaginary creature. She takes advantage of people’s tendency to be afraid of the mysterious and the invisible. The popularity of Barbara’s creation is evidenced by the inclusion of occult rites and other paranormal acts, which further reinforce the Santo mythos.
Will Santo/Bárbara kill Lucía?
Despite the fact that Millán and Cardona know that Bárbara is Santo, they are unable to apprehend him, allowing him to flee. Millán, who is attacked by the drug lord’s henchmen, is also taken to the hospital. Bárbara sends him a video showing Luca being held at gunpoint as he is admitted to the hospital. Although Bárbara controls Luca’s fate, it is possible that she is in no rush to assassinate him. The fact that Barbara chose to give the footage to the policeman instead of immediately killing her daughter suggests that the drug lord still has plans for Millán. It is possible that Barbara is using Luca as bait to manipulate the policeman.
Millán could be a beneficial addition to Bárbara’s team as she prepares to build her own drug kingdom in Spain, especially given her precarious position. The fact that Millán and Cardona are the first authorities to successfully uncover the truth about Santo suggests that Bárbara is deteriorating physically. At this point, she will benefit from having someone like Millán by her side if she is to continue smuggling drugs into Spain. Thus, it is expected that Bárbara will use Luca to blackmail the policeman.
Since Millán risked his life to defeat Santo, his superiors might consent to him carrying out his investigation and capturing Santo. If so, serving Barbara could be the price Millán must pay to keep his daughter safe. The police officer may not have any moral dilemmas in helping Barbara if he benefits from it, as he has already helped local drug lords in exchange for money.
Why does Cardona save Santo/Bárbara?
Millán intends to kill Bárbara once she reveals that she is Santo in order to fulfill her promise to Maria. Cardona, however, steps in and buys Barbara time. Following his “rescue” of Barbara de Santo, Cardona begins to develop a close bond with her. Times spent hiding from the common adversary and fighting side by side have strengthened this bond. Even after finding out that Bárbara is Santo, Cardona can still feel affection for her. Cardona intends to take revenge on the person who killed his partner Vera when he arrived in Spain.
Cardona’s fury had died down the moment he realized that Santo was Barbara. Cardona has no other motivation to defend the man who called himself a “child killer” after killing Vera, her nephew, and a part of himself. Cardona might prefer to assassinate Bárbara himself rather than entrusting the task to Millán. However, after arresting Millán, the Brazilian does not approach her with the intention of killing her, suggesting that Cardona’s love for Bárbara must have had an impact on her behavior.
