Who is Santo, as explained in the Santo ending? Can Santo really kill Luca?

Santo Season 1 Recap

The first deaths to occur in ‘Santo’ were those of a local drug dealer named Cristóbal and his son Mario. For the sake of Cristóbal’s wife Maria, with whom he is having an affair, Police Officer Miguel Millán, who also works for the local drug mafia that Cristóbal belongs to, sets out to find the murders with his colleague Susi. Millán does this for the sake of Cristóbal’s family. Through their questioning, Millán and Susi met three Norwegians who were also involved in the attempt to kill Millán. Millán and Susi discover that the Norwegians are men under the direction of Santo, a Brazilian drug lord with no known face and for whom no other information about his identity is available. Ernesto Cardona, a law enforcement officer from the city of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia, became an undercover member of Santo’s drug trafficking ring.

Cardona’s cover was eventually compromised, putting the success of his operation in jeopardy. However, he is given a second chance to find Santo through Bárbara, who is Santo’s mistress and asks the police for help to escape from the unnamed drug lord. Cardona and Bárbara flee to Spain for protection, but Santo follows them there and kidnaps them. Millán rescues Cardona from a warehouse where the drug lord is sacrificing people for his own good and ensures his safety while Millán investigates the Santo. They eventually succeed in finding Barbara, but Cardona and Barbara decide to flee from the authorities and take refuge in a secret location rather than cooperate with the authorities.

Cardona struggles to move on after losing Vera, who first told him about the Exu, a spirit associated with customs of African origin. As a follower of Exu, he was granted the “thread of Exu,” which he must keep with him for protection. Under the influence of Santo’s occult rituals, he also has disturbing ideas that involve him killing a child as the victim of Santo’s human sacrifice ritual. As this happens, Millán’s superiors learn that he has connections to a local narcotics ring. Despite this, he is able to create a story to continue the investigation into Maria’s disappearance. During the same time period, Santo’s men kidnapped a group of children to perform additional sacrifices.

Paulo, who worked with Cardona in Brazil, travels all the way to Madrid to provide assistance. However, he is killed in a confrontation with Santo’s men, and they take Barbara to the warehouse after the battle. Millán is kidnapped by Norwegians, and Santo forces him to stay in the same warehouse with him because he wants Millán to kill a child as a sacrifice. Cardona came to the rescue and stopped the sacrifice. The kidnapped children are rescued by Susi, who arrives at the warehouse, while Cardona and Millán continue to search for Santo.

The end of Santo Season 1: Who is Santo?

Even though Santo is one of the most famous drug lords in the world, he has not seen anyone, not even his close friends or acquaintances. Law enforcement agencies of several countries were unsuccessful in finding even a single photo of the offender. Santo never left their company because Barbara is Santo. Barbara created the idea and image of a powerful, male, and invisible drug lord so that she could divert the attention of her opponents, competitors, and law enforcement officials. By inventing such a figure, Barbara can better play the role of Santo’s fugitive and divert the attention of law enforcement officers like Millán and Cardona. He does this by staying with them and studying their every move.

Barbara knows very well that in a world dominated by powerful men, it is impossible for her to establish an international drug-trafficking ring on her own. He probably anticipated the risk that someone would try to “dethrone” him from the empire he built if he emerged as the real leader of his drug network. As a consequence, building a strong male image becomes an urgent need for women. The fear of such a male force among Barbara’s men ensures that they will not attempt to harm Santo’s mistress, which ensures that Barbara will continue to live with her own men. Since she is perceived as the individual most intimate with the fictional Saint, pretending to be the Saint’s mistress gives her the ability to exercise authority and control over her men.

Through the fictitious character Santo, Barbara also exploits people’s natural anxiety about the “invisible.” Even among Bárbara’s competitors and the political authorities of many countries, Santo continues to be a figure considered powerful, mysterious, and terrifying. This is due to the fact that no one in the world can adequately estimate the power and authority of a mythical being. He fell victim to the fact that it is human nature to fear things that cannot be explained and unseen. The inclusion of the occult and other paranormal activities contributes greatly to the expansion of the myth of the Saint and demonstrates the validity of Bárbara’s invention.

Will Santo/Bárbara kill Lucía?

Despite the fact that Millán and Cardona knew that Bárbara was indeed a Saint, they did not catch her, allowing her to get away. Millán, who was attacked by men working for the drug lord, was taken to hospital as a result. Bárbara sends him a video of Luca focusing on him while he is in the hospital, where he is currently being treated. Even though Bárbara holds the power to decide Luca’s future, it is possible that she is in no rush to end her life. The fact that Barbara chose to deliver the footage to law enforcement instead of killing Millán’s daughter immediately suggests that the drug lord has some unfinished business involving Millán. It’s highly likely that Barbara is using Lucia as bait to take advantage of the police.

Millán could prove to be an invaluable asset to Bárbara’s team, particularly given the precarious position in which he currently finds himself, as he is in the process of establishing his own drug empire in Spain. Before Millán and Cardona, no authority had been successful in solving the truth behind the Saint, indicating that Bárbara was losing her strength. If he can keep Millán on his side this time, he will be in a better position to continue his drug trade in Spain. That’s why Barbara is expected to use Lucia as a way to blackmail the police.

Since Millán risked his life to subdue Santo, his superiors may give him permission to continue his investigation and ultimately subdue Santo. If this is the case, Millán may have no choice but to serve Barbara as the price he must pay to keep his daughter safe. As someone who has previously helped local drug lords in exchange for money, the police may not have any moral conflict with the possibility of helping Bárbara if she is also benefiting from the same situation.

Why does Cardona Save the Saint/Bárbara?

Following Bárbara’s confession that she is a Saint, Millán makes it his mission to get rid of her so that he can fulfill his word to Maria and fulfill his obligation. Bárbara avoids capture due to the intervention of Cardona, who buys her some time. Cardona begins to develop a close personal connection with Barbara after he “rescues” her from the Saint. The hours spent together and fighting a common enemy helped cement that relationship. Even if Cardona understands that Barbara is actually a Saint, he may still have affection for her. Cardona travels to Spain with the intention of taking revenge on the person responsible for the death of his partner Vera.

Cardona’s anger subsided when he found out that Barbara was actually a Saint, so he was no longer angry. There was no other justification for Cardona to save the life of the person responsible for the death of Vera, her niece, and a part of herself by framing that person as a “kid killer.” It is possible that Cardona decided to end Barbara’s life himself, rather than entrusting the task to Millán. But the Brazilian does not show any anger against him after he stops Millán, suggesting that Cardona’s feelings for Bárbara probably influenced his behavior because he did not kill her.