Subteran avoids the easy, happy ending, which holistically is one of the bolder things about it. Netflix’s first Romanian original series is mostly content to be generic, letting its snappy pace and sense of humor carry it. Episode 6 is surprising in how it doesn’t let the good guys simply win, and instead leaves things on a slightly ambiguous note, with one threat dealt with but another, more insidious one still on the loose.
Of course, following on from the penultimate episode, the big matter to address is how Bones and Cami are able to rescue Matei from Nicolae. But there’s more to it than that since Nicolae has half of the police force and the political establishment in his pocket, including prosecutor Galescu. It’s obviously in his best interests for the list of Nicolae’s conspirators to never see the light of day, so there’s plenty to go over in the finale.
Galescu Covers His Back
To try and protect himself, Galescu is hoping to pin Luca’s death on Cami, painting her as a crazy girlfriend and using his own stellar reputation to deny any allegations that might come his way. But Cami isn’t sticking around for that, so she legs it, heading for the meeting with Nicolae in the hopes of saving Matei.
Galescu naturally puts out an APB on her, and when the police assemble at the scene he prevents them from going inside. Bones, Cornel, and Tatu are all there too, trying to get inside in time to save Cami and Matei. Galescu is an obstacle at every turn.
Luckily, Cami is pretty switched on. She knows her control of Nicolae’s money will keep her and her son safe for the time being, and emptying the accounts will hopefully convince Nicolae to them both go. But it’s more complicated than that, since Nicolae feels betrayed by Tili and Dracu and knows they’re planning to betray him and abscond with the money, so the whole situation’s frantic. When the cops make their presence known, Tili shoots her father in the subsequent chaos and doesn’t feel especially bad about it.
Cosmin Teodor Pana in Subteran | Image via Netflix
Cami Gets Matei Back
Tili and Dracu are able to abscond with Matei, but Cami still has the leverage because she controls the accounts. She also learns that this is a more personal case for her than she necessarily realized since Nicolae was responsible for the death of her father, who was Cornel’s partner. Nicolae’s downfall has been a long time coming, and since he survived being shot, he’ll be spending the rest of his time in prison.
But even with Nicolae off the board Galescu still isn’t in the clear. He’s forced to let Bones and Cami go since Tili and Dracu need them to access the cryptocurrency. Force doesn’t work, but after a scuffle that sees both Bones and Dracu get shot, Cami reveals she has a contingency plan. If she doesn’t log into the account daily, the long list of Nicolae’s bribe recipients will be automatically sent to the authorities. If Tili wants to continue doing business as usual from her father’s former throne, she doesn’t need that kind of exposure.
So, an exchange is done. Tili gets her money, and Cami gets the reassurance that she and Matei are safe. Personally, I wouldn’t trust Tili as far as I could throw her, but Cami is confident in her plan and feels safe enough to promise Matei that he’ll never see Tili again.
A still from Subteran | Image via Netflix
Subteran Has A Surprisingly Miserable Ending
It will likely leave some viewers unsatisfied that Tili essentially gets away with everything she’s done, but that’s life, sometimes. Galescu also escapes consequences. In fact, he’s made the hero of the entire affair, taking responsibility for the police’s crackdown on organized crime. He also supplies Tili with the frozen hand that Bones had been keeping as evidence against her father. He’ll never be getting out of prison.
But Galescu still has a pretty dangerous enemy, and Episode 6 of Subteran ends by reminding us of that. Bones is a police officer again now, but it’s extremely unlikely he’ll just let his career pan out while being answerable to Galescu. He knows he’s corrupt, and something tells me he won’t let that go.
Will Bones taking down Galescu be enough to power a second season? Possibly. There’s something between him and Cami that could make for an interesting dynamic, but it likely would have been a bit sudden for this season (she and Luca seemed pretty happy together, after all.) Whether there’s enough meat on the bones of Subteran for another outing is anyone’s guess, I suppose, but this ending certainly lends itself to more. If not, though, the little note of ambiguity suits it.
