The climax of Salvador's story revolved around Julia's testimony against the neo-Nazi group called White Souls, which had turned Madrid into a living hell. Julia was working undercover for police officer Martin to gather enough evidence to dismantle White Souls. No, Julia wasn't exactly interested in saving the city or obtaining justice; she only wanted to free her daughter, Ana, from the Children's Garden orphanage and give her a decent life. Since Martin had promised her he would make it happen, Julia risked her life daily by pretending to be a fervent neo-Nazi.
White Souls' terrorism reached its peak on the night of the football match between Madrid and Marseille, and the situation spiraled so out of control that one of the neo-Nazis, Milena, was fatally stabbed in the hospital. The blame fell on the immigrants, but Milena's father and a paramedic, Salvador, weren't entirely convinced. So, under the guise of avenging his daughter, Salvador infiltrated White Souls and identified the culprit as a self-proclaimed incel named Mateo.
Creator: Aitor Gabilondo
Stars: Luis Tosar, Claudia Salas, Leonor Watling
During this process, Salvador also crossed paths with Julia, and upon learning of her plight, he set out not only to ensure that Mateo received the punishment he deserved but also that Julia and Ana could live a free life away from the clutches of White Souls.
Mateo was what we call an incel. He hated women because they didn't give him the attention he thought he deserved. Mateo was close enough to Milena to share intimate moments of friendship and camaraderie, but Mateo wanted a romantic relationship with Milena, and since she didn't reciprocate his feelings, he wanted to kill her. White Souls believed that Milena was the informant leaking information to the police and wanted to kill her. But they wanted it to look like she had been killed by immigrants so they could spread their racist and bigoted rhetoric and provoke violent clashes throughout the city and, perhaps, the rest of the country.
Therefore, they sent Mateo after Milena. There were two problems: one, Milena wasn't the informant, and two, Mateo had recorded a video of the moment he killed her. To prevent the truth from coming out and ruining their anarchic plans, the White Souls tried to get rid of Mateo by putting him in the path of Nacho, Milena's lover, who was determined to kill Mateo after learning what he had done to Milena. Ironically, when Nacho shot Mateo, Mateo called Salvador for help.
Salvador could have let Mateo bleed to death, or he could have gone to where Mateo was dying and hastened his end. What did he do? Along with his colleagues, Marjane and Toni, he rescued Mateo, took him to the hospital, and made sure he recovered so that he would receive the punishment he deserved instead of an easy death. Salvador had every opportunity to give in to revenge. Perhaps if the immigrants had killed Milena, I don't know what Salvador would have done.
He might have allowed the White Souls to dictate his actions and undone all the humanitarian work he had done as a first responder. Since that wasn't the case, and because Salvador had glimpsed the truth, he realized that the businessman Dávila, along with Alejandro, Ignacio, and Azucena, were simply using the tense sociopolitical climate to enrich themselves quickly. Mateo and Milena were mere victims of this environment that these capitalists had created in the name of national integrity. While young people were susceptible to such radicalization, Salvador came from a different era and thought that if he didn't give Mateo a second chance, who would? Did Mateo appreciate Salvador's benevolence? No, but that wasn't up to Salvador.
With Mateo in the hospital and Julia missing, the White Souls were in chaos because they knew it was only a matter of time before she testified before a judge and exposed them all. Max, the leader of the neo-Nazi group, made one last desperate attempt to get Alejandro to prevent Julia from testifying, but Alejandro wasn't willing to do such a thing, as Davila had ordered him otherwise. As mentioned earlier, and as Julia explained to a judge, the White Souls were simply a means to an end for their masters. The neo-Nazis created this atmosphere of fear, discrimination, and distrust so that people would see them as their saviors and continue paying them for protection.
Protection from whom? Well, ordinary people would think the aggressors were the immigrants, but the aggressors were the neo-Nazis themselves. The White Souls were both the abusers and the saviors. And as long as the state of paranoia they had created was beneficial to Davila and his accomplices, they kept these terrorists on their payroll. As soon as they realized that the White Souls were about to face the consequences of their actions and that the repercussions could reach the doors of these capitalists, they decided to cut all ties with the neo-Nazis. So, at the end of Salvador, while Julia and Ana were moving to Altea, because Salvador had reserved an apartment for Milena in that city, the prominent members of the White Souls—Max, Carla, Nacho, and others—were arrested. Hopefully, they will rot in some prison cell for the rest of their lives, slowly realizing that nationalism as a concept is truly empty, and Julia and Ana will be able to enjoy their hard-won freedom without further setbacks.
However, and without wanting to be a spoilsport, is it realistic to expect that the puppet masters of the White Souls will simply give Julia a free pass, especially knowing that she knows so much about that neo-Nazi operation? Even if Julia swears on Ana's name that she will never mention the undercover work she did for Martin, will that be enough to convince Davila and the rest? I have my doubts, because powerful people tend to suffer from the same kind of paranoia they want to inject into the general public. And that leads them to take drastic measures. Therefore, I fear that Julia and Ana's period of tranquility will be brief, and they will soon find themselves looking around for any sign of hostility. Well, Julia has Martin and Salvador's phone numbers on speed dial, and hopefully they will come to her and Ana's aid if needed.
During Salvador's final moments, Ignacio informed Martin that he had been promoted to head of security at the Spanish embassy in Washington, while Martin was demoted to the position of beat cop, and in Tetuán, a district of Madrid, no less. What did that mean? That in this world, you will be rewarded if you serve your masters exactly as they want, and you will be punished if you try to do the right thing. Ignacio provided Davila with a scapegoat when he needed one. He spread the narrative that benefited Davila at every turn.
He made sure that justice did not prevail when called upon. What did Martin do? He infiltrated the White Souls. He got Julia to confess against the White Souls. And he was probably about to reveal the identities of the White Souls' puppet masters. Why? Because he wanted the city to stop living in this constant state of hatred and intolerance, which was being orchestrated by Davila and his accomplices. However, the system has become so twisted that it actively punishes those who try to make this world a somewhat more livable place and preserves that infernal cycle that keeps things intolerable for everyone except that one percent of the one percent of the population.
Usually, movies and TV series like these end on an optimistic note, showing how a righteous cop changed everything for the better. However, sadly, that's far too unrealistic, because the truth is, every time a major scandal makes headlines, only the pawns pay the price, while those responsible find another way to continue their mission. So, yes, at the risk of upsetting viewers, the series creators haven't hesitated to emphasize the fact that you can cut off some of the heads of the racist hydra, but two more will grow in their place. People like Davila and Alejandro don't actually care about white nationalism, and they probably don't hate immigrants as much as they pretend. They know that the more divided people are, the more dependent they will be on those who manipulate them, and the wheel of injustice will keep turning. Unless we realize that these manipulators are pulling our strings, change will not be possible. At least, that's the message.
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