Abhiroop Das
Created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, Netflix’s ‘Billionaires’ Bunker,’ originally titled ‘El refugio atómico,’ is a Spanish thriller series about a group of billionaires who try to escape in the face of an incoming nuclear war. This leads them to an elaborate underground bunker facility, made for and by the rich, specifically for an apocalyptic scenario. While the world seemingly crumbles down, life inside this enclosed space continues to thrive, resulting in the birth of a microcosmic society. This, however, doesn’t come without its challenges, both internal and external. Oswaldo serves as a breath of fresh air, giving a glimpse into the outside world and the challenges that follow. In this pursuit, he frequently stands at odds with the very fabric of the bunker’s operating methods, and the result is a tug of war with no victors in sight. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Oswaldo Becomes Minerva’s Greatest Challenge From the Outside World
While Guillermo Falcon lies trapped hundreds of feet underground in the Kimera Underground Park, his business partner, Oswaldo, temporarily takes the reins of the Falcom & Falcom enterprise. While that may be the case on the ground level, things still run on Guillermo’s commands, and that creates a problem for Minerva, the brain behind this entire scam operation. What this leads to is an elaborate cat-and-mouse chase between Oswaldo and the antagonist, as she uses every trick at her disposal to convince him that everything is alright in his partner’s life. To that end, Oswaldo becomes a sympathetic character, being lied to at every turn purely to fuel Minerva’s nefarious desires. Additionally, Oswaldo serves as our only pair of eyes into the outside world, showcasing the drastic contrasts between the world at large and the chaos and horrors that take over the bunker.
Oswaldo is introduced into the story as the most competent member of Guillermo’s company, and he lives up to that reputation by nearly finalizing a deal with Gonzalo Pastrana, a Spanish ambassador. However, that transaction has a catch, as Pastrana also demands some of Guillermo’s most prized possessions as a way of asserting dominance. This creates problems for Minerva, who has so far used an AI system to create a fabricated persona of Guillermo, which has scripted interactions with Oswaldo. When the latter asks for specific details, such as the code to the safe, Minerva and her team are forced to get creative, but ultimately it is Oswaldo himself who hands them the final key to the solution. When hearing the portion of the safe code that the team managed to recover, he realizes that it is his daughter’s birthdate and fills the rest, unintentionally securing the antagonists another victory.
Gaining Oswaldo’s trust is merely the first step in Minerva’s plan, as her real intent is for Guillermo’s company to sign a multi-million-dollar deal with Nexusthai, a fake company based in Bangkok, Thailand. To get Oswaldo to sign, she prepares a convincing office floor, complete with eccentric tech-heads and even more eccentric business ideas, with an AI-generated Guillermo pressuring his partner to transfer the money urgently. However, the game-changing step in her plan is to introduce a character named Mae as a potential love interest in Oswaldo’s life. Over the course of a carefully fabricated night, Oswaldo gets drunk and develops a bond with Mae, both of which lower his guard even further. Minerva correctly identifies his deep-seated inferiority complex and exploits it for just long enough to derail his critical thinking. However, Oswaldo proves her wrong in the last moment and figures out the truth about Kimera Underground, stationing himself as one of the few people who can bring the entire scam down.
Popular Actor Enrique Arce Brings Life to Oswaldo
Oswaldo ups the stakes of ‘Billionaires’ Bunker’ by nearly grasping the truth multiple times, but always falling short. The character is emphatically portrayed by Enrique Arce, who pulls off all emotional beats with perfection. The actor is perhaps best known for his previous collaboration with Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, ‘Money Heist,’ where he plays the role of Arturo Román. A veteran in the industry, Arce began his career as a theatre artist before becoming a popular presence with ‘Periodistas.’ Although he is primarily featured in Spanish-language movies, the actor is also known for international hits such as ‘Long Way Down,’ where he essays Angelo. Additionally, Arce appears in ‘Terminator: Dark Fate,’ ‘On the Line,’ and ‘Murder Mystery 2,’ where he steps into the shoes of Vicente, Tony, and Francisco, respectively.
The actor’s performance in ‘Money Heist’ showed off his prowess in depicting malicious characters; however, his performance in ‘Billionaires’ Bunker’ shows a completely different side of the actor. Although Oswaldo constantly shows off his usefulness within the narrative, the season finale brings to light his desire to find a genuine connection, with no strings tied to his wealth. The fact that he is betrayed in the end only adds to the tragedy, and Arce’s talents of tapping into even the faintest of details show how committed he is to the craft.
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