Santo follows the story of two cops who work together to take down a drug dealer whose face has never been seen. The series is now available to stream on Netflix.
Story
Officer Milan Miguel works on the case of Cristobal Martinez. Two guys on a motorcycle shot him dead and burnt his body before taking his 8-year-old son, Mario.
Miguel believes one of the guys on the motorcycle works for Santo, an international drug lord who recently arrived in Madrid with a fake passport. No one to date has identified him, as no one has seen his face.
Hunting down Santo results in Miguel and his team finding a secret hideout where they discover undercover cop Cardona trapped in a cell. He has been working for Santo for a while.
Miguel seeks help from Cardona, who has now been marked by Santos and hardly remembers anything from the time he worked for the drug dealer.
As they dive deeper into the case, Miguel and his team find out that Santo is more or less like a guru who indulges in occult-like practices where he sacrifices kids by chopping their body parts.
Performances
Raúl Arévalo as Miguel Millán and Bruno Gagliasso as Ernesto Cardona as the leads of the show don’t give any unconventional performances. They turn out to be every other cop we have seen in other crime dramas.
It’s Greta Fernández as Susana “Susi” Jackson who kind off stands off in the series as her character goes up against Arevalo’s character.
Lastly, we gotta give it to Victória Guerra as Bárbara Azevedo, as Guerra brings worth to every frame she is in, leaving you surprised till the very end of the show.
Positives
The show is pretty well-paced and adding occult to the criminal activities of the antagonist is quite intriguing to start with.
There are really good twists in the show and often tell a lot about some of the main characters in the show. These twists or sub-plots are often related to a character on a personal level.
It’s good to see that some of the main characters, even though on the good side have a darker side of their own.
Negatives
The show tries to execute a complicated thriller with a very confusing narrative. There are time jumps in every episode. These backstories are not well-placed throughout the episode’s run, and it takes a while for the viewer to find out where in the timeline the show is.
Some of these backstories could have been easily avoided or spared. Especially in the first episode itself, where character Cardona’s story is presented with very less details.
Instead of filling in these details, they repeat the same storylines by adding new scenes to explain what went down, which is completely unnecessary.
Verdict
Santo definitely adds brings something intriguing when it tries to add occult rituals to the crimes. But with the misplaced timelines, it struggles, even though being well-paced.
Santo
Director: Vicente Amorim
Date Created: 2022-09-16 20:41
2.5
Also Read: Fakes (2022) review: Humorous and engaging YA crime series