Bandidos revolves around a group of misfits trying to find a hidden Mayan treasure, which is also being pursued by some very dangerous people. The series is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Miguel is the son of a well-known archaeologist, Juan Morales. Despite possessing knowledge about his father’s work, his father never considered him worthy.
Instead, Juan valued his best student, Ariel, whom he adopted, far more than Miguel. While Ariel has become an archaeologist and established a museum, Miguel did not even finish high school and now works at a hotel.
Juan has developed Alzheimer’s disease and lives in a nursing home. To cover the expenses of his care, Miguel resorts to swindling people.
Whenever he finds himself in trouble, his uncle, Wilson, a forger, comes to his aid. Wilson cares for and appreciates Miguel more than his father.
One day, at the hotel, Miguel runs into his ex-girlfriend, Lilí, who is a scammer. She left him when they were together, but Miguel is still in love with her.
Miguel also meets a guest named Luis Fernández de Montejo, who happens to be a descendant of Francisco de Montejo.
Francisco was a Spanish conqueror who, along with two other conquerors, stole the gold of a Mayan ruler, which included a unique and priceless gold jaguar.
Luis shows Miguel a map tattooed on his body that was passed down from Francisco. It is believed that the map leads to the treasure that he stole.
Soon after, Luis is killed for the map, and his skin is gruesomely torn from his body. The investigation into his murder falls to Detectives Inés and Canché.
Fortunately, Miguel had taken pictures of the map when Luis showed it to him. However, to decipher the pictures, Miguel requires access to the maps stored in Ariel’s museum.
To get those maps, Miguel recruits Wilson, Lilí, and his friend Lucas. Lucas’ mother owns the hotel where Miguel works, and he is a skilled hacker.
Even though their plan does not go smoothly, with the help of his partners, Miguel gets his hands on the maps and figures out the location of the treasure.
The treasure is in a cenote, and to get to it, they need a diver on their team, so they hire Citlali, a girl from a poor family who steals to feed her siblings.
Citlali does not find the treasure, but she finds a moon-shaped stone. Their group is then stopped by a man known as the boss, who is also looking for the treasure.
Miguel promises to give the boss the stone if he lets his friends go. However, as soon as his friends get away, he swallows the stone.
The boss’s men take Miguel to his hideout, where Miguel will undergo surgery to retrieve the stone. They are unaware that Lucas managed to put a tracker on their truck.
To rescue Miguel, Lilí decides to reach out to an old acquaintance, Octavio Trapanesen, who used to be in the military but is now a thief.
Octavio agrees to join the group in exchange for a million dollars. With his help, the group saves Miguel before the doctor can retrieve the moon stone from his body.
Once Miguel is safely brought to the hotel, he excretes the moon stone and then takes it to his father to seek a hint regarding the treasure’s location.
Juan tells Miguel that there are supposed to be three stones, each representing the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth.
Miguel and his friends are then arrested by Inés, as Miguel was the last person seen with Luis. Additionally, Juan is kidnapped by the boss’s men.
Lilí had previously met Ariel at the museum, and she now seeks his help to get herself and the rest of the group released.
Ariel manages to free them all, but not before Inés finds out about the treasure. The boss now threatens Miguel and the group to find all three stones for him.
If they fail, he will harm the people and things they value most. To learn more about the stones and save his father, Miguel looks for his father’s journal.
He finds it and realizes that the three stones are the three keys needed to open the treasure chest. Each of the three conquerors had one key.
Miguel and Lilí also come to know that the keys were buried with the conquerors. Now that they know where the keys are, Miguel’s group manages to get the two other keys as well.
However, the moon stone is with Inés, who confiscated it when the group was arrested, leaving Miguel no choice but to make her a partner.
Inés needs money to fight her abusive ex-husband for custody of her son, so she joins Miguel’s group in their quest to find the treasure.
It is then revealed that Ariel is working with the boss, as he desires the gold jaguar for his museum. He is the mastermind behind Juan’s kidnapping.
Lilí insists that Miguel ask for Ariel’s help in rescuing Juan, and they give Juan’s journal to him.
When Miguel and Lilí meet him, Miguel ends up discovering Ariel’s involvement in the kidnapping. Suspecting the same, Lilí decides to stay behind with Ariel and successfully finds Juan.
When Miguel’s group meets with the boss to hand over the fake keys created by Wilson, Ariel reveals his true intentions.
Since Miguel was already aware of Ariel’s betrayal, he outsmarts him, and his group escapes after delivering only two real keys, keeping the moon stone for themselves.
Miguel also sends Inés and Octavio to rescue Lilí and Juan, after which Lilí deduces that the treasure is hidden within a pyramid.
The group sets out for the pyramid, only to discover that there is a traitor among them who informed Ariel about the treasure’s location.
Ariel and the boss paid off the group’s pilot to abandon them, leaving them no option but to parachute out of the plane. Octavio is the only one who chooses not to jump.
Lilí confides in Wilson, who is aware that she is being pursued by a dangerous and influential person.
She had left Miguel because she believed she was not good for him and returned only to request Wilson to provide her with a new identity.
It does not take Lilí long to figure out that Wilson is sick. He is suffering from cancer, and although he is aware that he is dying, he has yet to tell Miguel about it.
It turns out that Lilí is the traitor. She betrayed the group because Ariel promised to help her. In return, she divulged the treasure’s location to him.
Due to that, the boss arrives at the pyramid before the group and finds a letter. He then traps Miguel’s group in a chamber, but Octavio comes to their rescue.
Lilí shows Ariel the letter discovered by the boss in the pyramid. It is revealed to be a letter left by Francisco for the woman he loved but betrayed for the treasure.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide any clues about the treasure’s location. Lilí then recalls information from a book in Ariel’s museum and deduces that the treasure is aboard a ship deliberately sunk by Francisco.
She then drugs Ariel, revealing that her apparent betrayal was part of Miguel’s plan to uncover the treasure’s whereabouts.
Once again, the boss and his men stop the group from leaving. The boss is also an archaeologist.
He once caught Juan and a young Miguel trespassing on the site he was excavating. Miguel triggered an explosion to escape, and the boss was injured.
The boss now wants to take revenge, and for that, he turns on Ariel, shooting him and leaving him to suffocate in a room with Miguel’s group.
When the boss attempts to shoot Miguel, Wilson intervenes to protect him and gets stabbed.
Octavio and Inés, who have been monitoring the situation from the surveillance room, realize they have been tricked and rescue the group just in time.
Ending explained:
A death and a discovery
Despite Ariel’s actions, Miguel asks the group to let him go, as the two of them once used to be close friends.
Wilson is injured, but he refuses to go to the hospital. He tells Miguel about his sickness and expresses his desire not to die in a hospital.
Wilson knows that he is going to die soon, so he gives Lilí her new identity through a forged passport. He also asks her to take care of Miguel for him.
In his final moments with Miguel, Wilson tells his nephew that he is proud of him and asks him to trust himself.
Following Wilson’s passing, the group honors his wish by giving his body to the sea. Later, Miguel discovers Luis’ skin among Wilson’s belongings, bearing the tattoo that resembles the map to the treasure.
Miguel recalls Luis telling him that the original map had holes in it and realizes they represent stars indicating the treasure’s location.
The group finally finds out where Francisco sank his ship. As they set sail for the treasure’s hiding place, the three couples within the group—Miguel and Lilí, Inés and Octavio, and Lucas and Citlali—grow closer.
The long-sought treasure
After reaching the treasure’s hiding place, Miguel, Lucas, and Citlali dive into the sea to find the sunken ship and successfully retrieve the treasure chest.
Miguel then reveals that Francisco was a con man who lied to his two partners about the necessity of three keys to open the chest.
The chest can be opened with just Francisco’s key: the moon stone, which Miguel never handed over to the boss and Ariel.
The group opens the chest and finds it full of gold and valuable gems. It also contains the infamous gold jaguar.
However, the group’s celebrations are cut short, as the boss finds them once again. Inés, who had heard him approach and had gone to check, is able to attack the boss’s men from behind.
Lilí takes the chance and stabs the boss. Ariel also arrives and shoots the boss dead when he tries to kill Lilí.
Ariel tells the group that he has called the police, and they will be confiscating the treasure. However, if the group allows him to take the jaguar to his museum, he will let them keep the treasure.
While Ariel discusses his proposition with the group, Lilí steals the jaguar. As a result, Miguel points a gun at her and asks her to return the jaguar.
Lilí also points her gun at Miguel and prepares to leave, confident that Miguel will not shoot her. However, eventually, Lilí does not shoot, whereas Miguel shoots and kills her.
The beginning of new lives
After Lilí’s apparent death, the group allows Ariel to keep the jaguar in his museum. In exchange, he lets them keep the treasure.
Each member receives an equal share and becomes a millionaire. As Wilson had wished, his share is passed on to Miguel.
As Inés prepares to fight for custody of her son, Octavio surprises her by bringing the child to her without the need for legal action.
Citlali purchases a new house for her family, while Lucas plans to travel. The couple remains together, promising to meet in Paris a year later.
Miguel moves his father to the hotel where he used to work. He ensures that his father is well taken care of and suggests that he might open a hotel of his own.
Since he was the one who found the treasure and not Ariel, Miguel is no longer affected by his father believing that Ariel is more capable than him.
Additionally, word of Lilí’s death reaches the person searching for her. Their henchman visits her body, which has become unrecognizable after being in the sea for several days.
However, it is later revealed that Lilí faked her death as part of a plan devised with Miguel. They successfully fooled the rest of the group as well.
Now, Lilí can be with Miguel without fear of being caught, and the two leave together to start afresh.
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