Episode 2 of Santo starts with Agent Cardona waking up in the hospital. He is shocked to see his appearance in the mirror, especially because he has Santo’s marks on his eyelids. He doesn’t take this well and tries to escape. On the way out, he’s stopped and sedated.
After he calms down, Cardona is taken in for questioning by Agent Millán’s team. It is revealed that he entered Spain on a fake passport and has been missing for six months. Even though he was allegedly taken hostage by Santo, he never got to see his face and Barbara is missing. Cardona is unable to remember the events after his kidnapping.
Agent Millán is frustrated by the fact that Cardona’s memory is unreliable. During the questioning, they show Cardona a wall with bloody writing taken from the place he was held hostage. Cardona remembers the meaning of the writing. It is a celebration by an African king in ancient Dahomey. The king chose victims to sacrifice, decapitated them, and made his people drink the blood for victory.
Agent Millán is still chasing the Norwegians and believes they had Juan killed. His team works on finding Santo’s true identity but they have been unable to get a picture of him. They are also tracking Barbara but they have not been able to find her.
Agent Cardona’s memories are slowly returning to him while he is sleeping. He clearly remembers the moments leading up to his kidnapping and immediately after he was kidnapped. The memories traumatize him and he wakes up before remembering more.
Agent Millán gets a new lead about the Norwegian gang and things seem to look up when the second bike is found. He’s suspicious about why and where the bike was found. He’s about to get some answers but it turns out the bike is a trap; it had a bomb in it and blows up when the forensic team head over to check it.
Agent Millán still has a clue and decides to chase it on his own. His investigations lead him to a hotel downtown and he thinks he has found the Norwegians. He calls Susi for backup but is spotted by a masked man outside the hotel. The man opens fire and Agent Millán runs for his life as he is overpowered.
Agent Cardona chose to go back to Brazil and turned down the offer to work with the Spanish police. He is not sure who he can trust as Santo is well connected and powerful enough to bribe police officers. His instinct may be right as seen in the next flashback. It turns out Barbara was the one who told Santo that they were in Madrid, which led to him being kidnapped.
Agent Cardona overlooked Barbara’s dedication to Santo. He thought he was saving her life but it appears that Barbara is on Santo’s team. He should have known better than to give her a long leash when they were in hiding. It can also be that he was hoping for Barbara to contact Santo so that they can finally identify him. Hopefully, he will recover his memories soon and get new clues.
Agent Millán is walking on a tightrope and he might soon find himself in deeper trouble. He is taking a lot of risks pursuing the Norwegians by himself. He clearly can’t be straightforward with Susi as she will find out that he is on the take with Juan’s gang. It might come to a point where he will have to choose between his shady secrets and his life.
Episode 3
Episode 3 of Santo starts with Agent Cardona remembering a ritual he did a few years back. He also remembers his time while working undercover as part of Santo’s gang. This was before their first operation failed and he was working his way up the ranks in the gang.
Agent Millán is frustrated with Chinche who keeps calling him to solve his problems. At work, they have a lead on Santo. A man killed two civil guards during a random routine traffic stop. He is arrested and they grill him to see if he will spill new information on Santo. They also bring his photo to Agent Cardona who is adamant he doesn’t know the man. I thought Cardona had gone back home but it seems he is still in Madrid… what changed his mind?
Agent Millán brings Agent Cardona with him to join the house search of the suspect and to also get a chance to talk to him. The inspector in charge agrees and the suspect is startled upon seeing Cardona. He keeps asking what he wants from him and who sent him. He seems worried that O Pai sent Cardona and immediately starts apologizing. Cardona is also shaken as he can’t remember the man and wants to know how the man knows him. As Agent Millán takes Cardona away, the suspect is seen flying out of a window and dropping to his death. Did he commit suicide or was he pushed? At the end of the day, dead men tell no tales and we won’t be getting answers from him.
Agent Millán takes Cardona back to the station and starts interrogating him again. They are trying to put pressure on him but Cardona is not barging an inch. He says he can’t remember and won’t give in to their threats. While at the police station, Cardona sees a picture of the place he was held hostage and the location pinned on it.
He decides to secretly visit the location to try and bring back his memories. His memories slowly start to come back. He begins by remembering when he and Barbara were held, hostage. Santo was somewhere in the house screaming and Barbara said that meant he was pleased. She tells him that Santo came to Madrid to see O Pai.
As it turns out, O Pai is Santo’s master and he taught Santo everything he knows. Barbara also confesses that she told Santo their whereabouts and that is why Santo got to them. She refuses to fully explain why she told Santo where to find them.
On the other hand, Agent Millán is having a flashback of the day Mario was kidnapped. He knew Mario and his parents. He was having an affair with Mario’s mother who was married to Juan’s second in command. Mario’s dad had just found out about the affair. He was actually on his way to confront him about having an affair with his wife when he was shot. Did Agent Millán orchestrate the killing?
At present time, Agent Millán’s boss finds out that he threatened a suspect with a gun and forbade him to talk about the Norwegians. The disciplinary committee is opening an investigation on him. In the meantime, he and his partner Susi follow a lead and discover the remains of unknown kids. The forensic team establishes that the remains belonged to at least three children and only two were able to be identified.
Cardona comes to talk to Agent Millán and tells him what he remembers after visiting the place he was held, hostage. He remembers seeing O Pai but he wasn’t alive, Santo had his men bring his body. Santo was performing an ancient Dahomey ritual as the new leader. Agent Millán is convinced that Santo sacrificed the kids to O Pai.
Later, Cardona goes home and receives an anonymous letter with his old necklaces and a message. However, we agonizingly don’t get to see what the message says.
Episode 4
The opening scene of Santo episode 4 starts with a flashback from two years ago; Agent Millán is looking for a suspect on a train. He spots him leaving the train and chases him through the station, and his partner helps him take down the suspect. As they arrest the guy, he manages to grab his partner’s gun and kills him.
The suspect was about to shoot Agent Millán but someone saves him by killing the suspect first. The death of his partner led to him going to therapy. He was spiraling using drugs and eventually, he met Juan. Juan offered him access to cocaine if he worked for him, and that is how he started working for the drug syndicate.
Meanwhile, Cardona is remembering how he first met his lover. He met her when he was doing a family notification. She was an aunt to a victim. They soon started dating and became part of each other’s lives. Cardona tried his best to find her the answers to what happened to her nephew and deal with the grief when she lost her sister.
After that, Cardona set out to find Santo, that was why he chose to go undercover. While undercover he met Barbara and he started a relationship with her. He was also sneaking around the base to try and find out more about Santo but no one was forthcoming with helpful information. To his followers, Santo is like a father, almost a god and they have deep allegiance to him. Even Barbara confessed to Cardona that she wouldn’t know what to do or how to live without Santo.
Cardona also recalls what happened during the intervention when he managed to escape the intervention team. His cover was blown and he insisted on going back but Inspector Luis denies his request. He then went back home to his lover and tried to rest as he was ordered by Inspector Luis.
In the present, Cardona goes to buy a gun on the streets after receiving the anonymous letter. After, he heads to a location where he finds Barbara locked in a car. She gives him a message from Santo but before they are able to escape, the Madrid police show up. They arrest Cardona and take Barbara to the hospital.
Cardona believes that Santo is playing with the police. Agent Millán tells Cardona that he is lucky that he is being set free and he will be sent back to Brazil on Sunday.
Later, Agent Millán goes home and finds internal affairs doing a house search. They are trying to find evidence of his wrongdoings.
Cardona looks at the message he was given by Barbara from Santo. It is a video of the ritualistic torture he underwent when he was kidnapped. He discovers he did some things he is not proud of when he was under duress.
Episode 5
Episode 5 of Santo starts with a flashback of Barbara when she was in Salvador. She went to see a fortune teller and after her reading, the fortune teller offered to help her but Barbara turned her down.
She later met a man and during their encounter, he turned violent and she killed him in self-defence. After leaving jail, she got into drugs and she unknowingly went into Santo’s territory when she was high. It was then that she got into the Santo cult.
At present time, Agent Millán tries to get information from Barbara about Santo and what happened when she went missing. Barbara is unwilling to cooperate and tells Agent Millán that there is no point in looking for Santo. She believes the police will never find him.
Meanwhile, Agent Cardona is having a hard time coming to terms with the content of the video Santo sent to him. The Madrid police come to his place to escort him but they are attacked before they can leave his place. Cardona manages to escape but he is injured. He goes to Barbara’s hospital and they escape together.
On the news, six children have been kidnapped and the police think it was Santo’s doing. Barbara is also convinced that Santo took the kids to perform a ritual to rid them of their guilt. She tries to commit suicide but Cardona stops her. She is feeling guilty about what will happen to the kids.
On the other hand, Agent Millán is called in for a preliminary hearing into his investigation. The police have a recording of him with Chinche. They also have evidence seized from his house and Agent Millán denies any knowledge of wrongdoing and tries to hint that he is being framed. The hearing is interrupted when he is called to the hospital after his daughter overdosed.
Susi is also called at the preliminary hearing of Agent Millán and she is interrogated on whether or not she knew of any irregularities in his case. Susi refuses to put Agent Millán under the bus and states he worked by the book. After the interrogation, she tries to trace Cardona and Barbara. She finds a clue from a stop they made and pursues it with a new partner.
The clue leads them to Barbara and Cardona but they overpower her and manage to escape. Before leaving, Cardona relays to her that he is not responsible for the death of the officers at his home. He also refuses to tell her why he is running instead of going under police security.
After leaving the hospital, Agent Millán goes home only to find Cardona waiting for him at gunpoint. Cardona tells him that he knows where Santo is and accuses Agent Millán of already having this information. He wants the police to go there before Santo kills the children he kidnapped. Agent Millán tells him that he can’t do anything as he has been suspended from the force. Cardona confesses that he was the one who killed the boy when he was kidnapped.
Agent Millán goes back to the station and asks his boss to check on Cardona’s clue. As they are discussing it, a call comes in for Agent Millán. Someone claims to have one of the kids and wants to negotiate. Agent Millán is convinced the man is a fraud and is not Santo but his boss still chooses to go to the location traced from the call.
Episode 6
Who killed Mario?
Episode 6 of Santo starts with Paulo (Cardona’s colleague) secretly receiving a message. Meanwhile, the kidnapped kids are being taken to a house, probably Santo’s lair. Will the police save them in time?
Agent Millán is trying to convince Susi to look for Santo around the San Miguel neighborhood. He is certain they are getting close to Santo and wants to take him down. At the home-front, his daughter has been discharged from the hospital.
He gets a call from Maria (the lady he was having an affair with), they meet up and she tells him she won’t talk. She is hoping that she will find the man who killed her son Mario in return for her silence. Agent Millán lets her know that he already found out who killed Mario but refuses to tell her more.
Cardona was the one who killed Mario while he was under the influence during one of the ritualistic torture sessions Santo put him through.
Is Paulo a spy?
Meanwhile, it seems Cardona contacted Paulo to bring him fake documents and cash. Paulo goes to Madrid with the papers and the money to help Cardona leave Spain. Cardona asks for his help and tells him that he feels he is really close to Santo. He takes her to their hideout with Barbara.
Barbara is not ecstatic to see him and tells Cardona that Paulo was the one who betrayed him. It looks like Paulo is a spy for Santo and has been feeding him information about undercover cops sent to infiltrate his cult.
Paulo admits that he betrayed Cardona and told Santo about him being an undercover cop. He says he is sorry about how things turned out as he never expected Santo to reiterate by killing Vera (Cardona’s lover). Cardona wants to kill him but he is stopped by Barbara.
He confronts Barbara about the lies and secrets she has been keeping from him. She in turn accuses him of the same, as he didn’t tell her his true name, or the truth about Vera.
Barbara asks him what he wants from her. Does he want to save her or himself? She tells him there is no way out of hell. She believes that no one can save her from Santo; she has resigned to her fate. After their talk, Barbara leaves their hideout, but Cardona and Paulo follow her. She is heading to San Miguel and is picked up by Santo’s men in a black van.
What happens to Chinche?
Maria and Chinche argue about who is the boss. Maria is angry that Chinche betrayed Agent Millán but Chinche assures her that he will protect her. As they talk at the gas station, Chinche gets out to fill up the gas tank. A black van similar to the one Barbara got into pulls up and two men open fire, killing Chinche on the spot.
They take his body, burn it, and leave it at a warehouse. Susi goes through the footage collected from the warehouse and tries to get a trace of the van they were using.
The scene cuts to Barbara arriving at an unknown location. The kids that were kidnapped are taken out of the van. She heads in and has a talk with Agent Millán who is also tied up in the house. She gives him a drink that seems laced with heavy drugs and tells him they are finally with “our Pai.” The drink gives Agent Millán heavy hallucinations and weakens his state of mind.
What happens with the kidnapped kids?
In the meantime, Paulo and Cardona arrive at the compound where the kids and Agent Millán are being held. Cardona starts having flashbacks of being there before. Paulo is spotted and killed by Santo’s men while Cardona surrenders.
Barbara is getting ready to perform a ritual, she is dressed in white clothing and keeps saying a mantra. Susi and her new partner soon arrive at the compound and are carefully making their way into the building.
Cardona’s memories are coming back and he remembers Barbara as being the leader during the rituals. She is currently taking charge of the ritual and the truth is beginning to dawn on him.
Santo’s men give Agent Millán a machete and order him to kill one of the kidnapped boys. This is when Cardona steps in and takes one of Santo’s men by surprise and takes his gun from him. A gunfight ensues and Cardona rushes to protect the boy.
How does Santo season 1 end?
In the final takedown, Agent Millán follows Barbara and confronts her. He demands to know where Santo is and Barbara replies, “I have always been with you.” Cardona walks in at that moment and hears Barbara’s confession to being Santo. Agent Millán tries to shoot Barbara but Cardona stops him. This gives a chance for Barbara to make an escape and Agent Millán gets shot.
In the next scene,Agent Millán wakes up in the hospital and the first thing he asks is where Cardona is. Susi says she doesn’t know, Cardona went into hiding. She hands him his phone and he receives a video message from his daughter.
In the video, his daughter is begging for her life as someone in the background strangles her boyfriend. The person recording the video is Barbara.
The Episode Review
For an ending, this episode failed to build the tension and the stakes. It felt rushed and lacked the je ne sais quoi to leave the viewers shocked. It was predictable and a tad boring as the characters failed to see what was right before their eyes.
I am not shocked that Cardona chose to save Barbara again. I am offended he still chose her even after remembering what she does to children. This is one of the most toxic relationships I have seen on TV! All in all, the episode was severely disappointing.
