Summary
“Taking a Break” makes for a satisfying if lightly ambiguous conclusion to a surprisingly strong cautionary tale.
This recap of Dom season 1, episode 8, “Taking a Break”, contains spoilers, as well as an open discussion of the Dom ending.
One of the big trends ushered in by the direct-to-binge distribution model of most major streaming platforms is that shows don’t end. Most don’t, anyway, since the most reliable way to get a second season greenlit is to not finish the first and hope that audiences care enough about what they’ve seen to demand a conclusion. Amazon Prime’s Brazilian crime saga Dom leaves its cautionary tale of drug addiction and blurred morality with a note of ambiguity, but my favorite thing about it that it works on its own terms.
Naturally, a finale has too many responsibilities to be able to hone in on a character or theme in the same way that, say, the excellent fifth episode did. But “Taking a Break” proves a satisfying, thematically-fitting conclusion nonetheless, beginning with Pedro and his gang hustling away after the disaster at the end of the previous installment. The title of Dom episode 8 is a reference to what Pedro thinks they should all do, but Figueira, like all bosses the world over, won’t allow them much R&R.
Figueira, though, might not have much say in the matter, at least not if anti-corruption Chief Alberto Barradas has anything to do with it. Pedro is once again offered a deal, this one relating to his father, and he’s ransomed for a hefty amount, which Marisa and Laura pony up by selling the apartment without telling Victor, who is busy on the mission. I’m not sure how much sense this makes, but it works either way in terms of getting Pedro returned. In the aftermath, he again wants to get clean, and we once again don’t believe he can. That, away from the overarching plot, is what Dom is really about, and that’s the real tragedy of it.
And, of course, the audience is correct. Despite some progress being made, both with Pedro’s addiction and his relationship with his father, he’s once again led astray, and his past catches up with him. You can never outrun it, and Dom season 1, episode 8 crystallizes that idea. Perhaps sometimes, the only way to escape the past is to blow it up completely, to pull the pin on a live grenade and let it detonate all the hardships that won’t stop following you around. It doesn’t seem like the smartest plan. I think Dom will work better if we never really know whether or not it worked.
