Struggle
Episode 6 of The Minions Of Midas begins with Victor heading back home after his horrific evening in the park. He has a shower to try and wash away the shame but it’s no good, he’s too far gone now. Drying up, he rings Monica and tells her he’s paid Midas and the extortion is over. In the morning, Conte looks online and discovers the homicide of Eugenio – the man Victor killed in the park. After deliberating slightly, he phones Natalia and asks for a favour. There’s 4 days until the European summit and with protests still rife throughout the city, the government ramp up their efforts to try and thwart the riots and put this situation to bed once and for all. Victor heads back to Mauro’s and hands over the briefcase of money to him. He tells him he’s starting to regain control now and breaks open his safe back home. Overlapping narration confirms that he’s got some documents for Pilar which incriminate the previous government and the newspaper. Victor demands she get started on this, and leaves it in her hands to sort out. Natalia runs into Conte at the bar and hands over the text messages she’s obtained between Victor and the Minions Of Midas. With the last one congratulating Victor and confirming the deal is near an end, Conte deliberates over his next move. The Civil Guard arrive at the newspaper with plans to arrest Luis for a number of different charges. He’s taken out his office in handcuffs but keeps his head held high when he does. It turns out he’s made a pact and when Monica finds out about this, Victor comforts her. The next day, Victor calls an emergency investor and shareholder meeting to take place the following day. Before that though, he gives Laura a changed set of demands surrounding their parental responsibilities. Given how well he’s been getting on with Marcos lately, in order to settle he’ll take over as the sole care-giver for Marcos and live in that house. Laura will be able to see Marcos whenever she wants and get a handsome settlement amount for her troubles. Teary eyed and reluctant, she eventually agrees to these terms. Meanwhile, Conte heads up to the park where Victor shot the runner dead. After looking around, he heads up to see Victor and decides to confront him over what happened. Victor refuses to give him the time of day, especially given their last frosty conversation. Conte calls him out regarding Midas’ message about “one life for many” and Victor realizes that he knows what’s going on. With the paper on the verge of shutting down, Victor promises to do what he can with Luis, even going so far as to proposition a brand new paper that he and Monica could launch. When Victor heads to work the next day, things take a turn for the worst. The takeover bid has fallen through and the newspaper is stuck with nowhere else to turn. As a consequence of this, Victor is forced to brief the team and close the newspaper down. In order to salvage the company though, he starts a coalition with Jose, holding hands with her during a big press conference while preparing for this brave new future. Unable to get through to Victor, Conte instead turns his attention to the other detectives on the force, bringing up the time of the murder and telling them Victor was in the park around the same time. Given the way Conte left though, they refuse to give him the time of day and entertain his ideas. At Monica’s apartment, a memory stick is attached to her front door containing all the information on the Midas case – including the text messages Victor received. Although it’s not explicitly told, it’s pretty obvious that this was Conte. Monica assumes as much too and speaks to Conte about the documents. He remains cagey though and refuses to admit he was the one who handed over the documents. At Victor’s house (the one he’s now usurped away from Laura), Victor receives another letter from the Minions Of Midas. They challenge him over the consequences of his actions and discuss a journalist close to him digging into the truth. That journalist, of course, being Monica. If they don’t hear from him by the following afternoon then they’ll “take care of this nagging issue”. The next day, Monica calls Victor out for his lies, knowing that he didn’t pay Midas. She also knows about the runner and confronts him about the park incident. Victor openly admits it too, telling her he had to do this. Monica is having none of it and promises not to keep quiet. Victor pleads with her to stop – but she doesn’t. When she leaves, it turns out Monica recorded their entire conversation together and has audible proof that Victor’s lying. Monica heads back to her apartment, snatching up her things and heads back out on the road again. When she does, violence and anarchy continues to grip the street as day turns to night. She heads inside El Nacional, now completely abandoned, and prepares to publish what she knows online. This catches us up to the moments during the opening of episode 1 as riots break out in the street. Just before Monica presses publish, several armed riot officers grab her and stop the journalist from uncovering the truth. In the morning, news reports confirm that Monica has been killed but they write it off as an unfortunate victim in the midst of the rioting. With Monica dead, Victor reads another email from the Minions Of Midas who welcome him into their brotherhood. They have great plans for him and ask to meet outside. A limousine awaits him and inside is… who knows. The episode ends before we can find out. An ending can make or break a series and this is unfortunately another example of an ending gone completely wrong. There’s no comeuppance for Victor’s actions, no resolution for Conte’s investigation and Monica suffers an unfortunate death at the end. If there’s an award for the most unsatisfying ending to a series since Game Of Thrones, this has to be up there. The entire series has you waiting to find out who the Minions of Midas are and – unless I’ve missed something across these 6 episodes of course – it ends with absolutely no pay-off to these big questions. That’s before mentioning the police investigation which fizzles out thanks to the powers that be deciding not to proceed. It’s such a shame and despite a relatively strong start, this one ends with a really unsatisfying ending.
