Summary
A very good finale comes after a slow season, delivering some payoff but mostly setting things up for a potential second season.
It takes a while – let’s be frank, too long – to get there, but the ending of Criminal Code Season 1 is worth waiting for. With a sense of gathering momentum, the Brazilian police procedural, which takes real-life influence from crime on the Brazil-Paraguay border and federal efforts to stop it, manages to pay off some of its key plot threads, including the crucial matter of whether Benicio can catch the killer of his partner, Santos. Episode 8, “The End and the Beginning”, includes not only this but plenty more, and we’re here to break it all down.
Criminal Code Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
Who is the mole in Foz?
Through the season, it is known that there is a mole within Foz. It is initially presumed to be Moreira, a daring undercover operative who managed to infiltrate both the Organization and the Ambassador’s gang and is ultimately the one to bring down the real mole, the rookie son of a senator, Joao Nascimento.
Joao was bought and paid for by Ghost Gang and feeds information about the police’s progress that is vital to the criminals remaining one step ahead.
What is the Organization’s plan?
The Organization’s big end-game plan is to break the Ambassador out of jail before he’s moved to a federal prison that would deprive him of the lax security and freedoms that have allowed him to manage his empire from inside a cell.
The prison break is a crucial component of a planned alliance between the Ambassador and the Organization. While initially intending to break the Ambassador out of the prison itself, Issac adapts the plan to ambush the convoy transporting the Ambassador after Rossi pushes Wladimir to fast-track the extradition. The change of plan is reported to Issac by the mole inside Foz.
Is the Ambassador captured?
By the end of Season 1 of Criminal Code, the Ambassador has not been captured. Thanks to the tip-off, the Organization are a step ahead of the police, ambushing them during the transfer and whisking the Ambassador away to a private chat. Several gang members from the coalition that carries out the hit are left behind, but the Ambassador himself is able to escape.
However, the good news is that Rossi’s team are ultimately met with praise for their actions during the case, and are given the green light to track down the Ghost Gang. That certainly sounds like the plot of a potential Season 2 if I ever heard one.
Does Benicio catch Soulless?
One of the big threads throughout the season is Benicio’s dogged pursuit of Soulless, the man who killed his partner, Santos. At the end of the season, Santos is indeed apprehended, but in fairly unusual circumstances.
Soulless is surprisingly humanized by his backstory, which reveals he’s motivated by love for his lawyer, Monica, and their unborn child. He’s also a born-again Christian, having been introduced to religion through Monica. He was only working for the Organization to protect her and their child.
By playing on the better nature that Soulless still maintains – not living up to his street name – Benicio is able to talk him into surrendering himself, and allowing the hostage he had taken in the chase to go free.
How does Criminal Code Season 1 end?
The first season of Criminal Code ends with the Ambassador free and Soulless apprehended, but the story is far from over, and the relative openness of the finale feels like a deliberate play for a second season.
Rossi’s team has been officially authorized to go after Ghost Gang and presumably Ambassador, so the plot more or less writes itself. If Criminal Code ends up being popular, this is a safe bet for the plot of the potential second season.
