Episode Guide
Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3.5/5 Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 3 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 5 -| Review Score – 3/5
Santo is a crime thriller set in Spain and Brazil, with two detectives from the respective countries forced to work together to find and arrest a twisted drug lord who is fascinated with occult rituals. If you’re not one for horrific and gruesome scenes, you probably should not watch this show. From the opening scene, viewers will realize that Santo is fast-paced and if you blink you’ll miss something! ..
Agent Millán is a detective working at the Madrid police station and they get a case of murder and kidnapping of an 8 year old boy named Mario. As the first episode progresses, it becomes clear that Agent Millán is on the drug cartel’s pay book and he is playing both sides. ..
The Agent Cardona tells the family member that their child was decapitated and his brains taken out. The family member is in shock and asks the Agent Cardona what he did to their child. The Agent Cardona tells them that he cut him into pieces before throwing him in the sea.
Santo removes the brains of children in order to perform a ritual that is said to be “scary.” The ritual is said to cause the child’s soul to suffer. Agent Cardona says that Santo does this because it is “the worst thing he can do because it is scary.”
In the course of his investigation into Santo, Agent Cardona finds Barbara, who is said to be Santo’s mistress. He rescues her from being killed and tries to get her to talk. On their way to the attorney’s general office, Santo’s men try to get to Barbara, and this forces Agent Cardona to hide and take Barbara with him to a safe location.
Santo may want to save the mistress because he is concerned for her safety. He has never seen her face, but he knows she is his mistress for over three years. All Santo had to do was wait for her to get imprisoned and kill her in prison, but instead, all this hullabaloo is happening.
In the show, details of these inhumane rituals are shared or shown and if you have a weak stomach, kindly skip this one! Santo is a powerful man and he has eyes and ears everywhere. He is almost omnipresent and his brainwashed followers think he is with them. To them, Santo is almost like a god; a father who delivered them from a tough life, and they will kill and die for him no question asked. He makes his followers put an X mark on their eyelids and during the sacrifices he makes them drink human blood. Santo’s followers undergo inhumane rituals where they make themselves bleed by cutting themselves with knives or using razor blades, drink human blood, or have needles stuck into their skin. These acts of self-harm are meant to please their leader as part of an elaborate religious ceremony that some may find disturbing. ..
The show’s quick pace only works for episode 1 though. For the other episodes, it made it hard to keep up with the plot, and the changing of the timeline back and forth without letting the viewers know, makes for a very confusing watch. Many times you’ll think the scene is in the present, only to realize it’s actually a flashback to six months ago. It’s certainly a bad idea to mix up the timelines in such a web of confusion. ..
Netflix’s new series, “Santo” feels like it was hastily thrown together and doesn’t quite have the polish that the company was hoping for. The reveal of Santo didn’t quite deliver on what fans were expecting, making the show a bit of a letdown. Given this was a big investment from Netflix, it’s disappointing that the series doesn’t live up to its potential.
