Dhruv Trivedi
Netflix’s ‘Jaguar’ is a Spanish action drama based in the 1960s, when hundreds of survivors from Nazi concentration camps migrated to Spain. The show follows one such survivor as she hunts down Nazi sympathizers in her country, only to find out that she’s not alone. Isabel is then pulled into a world of action and espionage, where she becomes an invaluable asset to a group of Nazi hunters with a bigger scheme in mind. The mission is arduous, and the sinister former Nazi at the center of it all is as powerful as ever. The season ends on a somber note, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Let’s dive into the ending of ‘Jaguar’ season 1 and see what we know so far. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Jaguar Season 1 Recap
The show opens with a group of secret agents tracking the movements of a woman named Isabel. Despite appearing to be an ordinary citizen, she follows strange protocols like changing her route to work every day and not keeping any contacts. It is soon revealed that Isabel is a survivor of the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp where her father and brother were killed. We then find that Isabel plans to poison the group of influential Nazi sympathizers scheduled to eat at the restaurant she works in.
However, her plan is thwarted by the secret agents, who reveal to her that they are tracking the sympathizers in order to arrest other high-level Nazis and subsequently hold a war crimes tribunal against them. This, they say, is a more fruitful outcome than just murdering them, as Isabel had initially planned. Since Isabel spent her childhood years as a maid in the home of a high-level Nazi and knows them by face, she becomes an invaluable asset to the spy network.
Soon enough, they learn that the infamous Nazi doctor Aribert Heim, known for torturing hundreds of prisoners, plans to migrate to South America through Spain. The group decides to track him by spying on Spain’s most powerful former Nazi, Otto Bachmann. However, breaking into Otto’s inner circle proves challenging, and the group soon finds themselves chasing him to the city of Almería, where they expect him to rendezvous with Aribert.
Finally able to track the fugitive Nazi doctor, the agents and Isabel then confront him and Otto at sea as they attempt to escape. Amidst the chaos, both Otto and Aribert escape, but the latter is grievously wounded and is forced to be hospitalized. A second faceoff then takes place in the hospital, and the agents are able to capture Aribert but now find themselves barricaded within the hospital surrounded by Spanish forces under Otto’s command.
Jaguar Season 1 Ending: Does Isabel Capture Aribert Heim? Does She Kill Him?
The agents devise a plan to escape disguised as doctors but are apprehended by Otto. One by one, each of them volunteers to hold Otto and his men back, and Isabel is finally able to escape with Aribert as her hostage. She takes shelter in an abandoned mill, waiting for the others to return. Aribert continues to provoke her until Isabel almost kills him. However, the injured Nazi doctor is still weak from his injuries and begins to lose consciousness.
In the end, Isabel helps the man survive by giving him her blood. Season 1 then closes with three agents returning but their de facto leader, Lucena, conspicuously missing. As the season closes, we see that he has been captured by Otto, who begins to torture him. Therefore, the agents and Isabel have a mixed victory at the end. Despite successfully capturing Aribert, they lose an important member of their team, Lucena. Not only does Isabel manage to capture Aribert and bring him to the abandoned mill, but she also gives the despicable man her blood to help him survive. This is a particularly distasteful task for her considering the Nazi earlier admitted to torturing and killing her brother.
However, this just goes to show how important the agents’ belief in their mission to capture Nazi war criminals alive is. The only way, they believe, to make the heinous crimes committed by them become widely known is by holding a public trial for the captured Nazis. This is also why the agents stop Isabel from initially killing Otto and the other Nazi sympathizers. At the end, when Isabel saves the life of the man that killed her brother, we see that she, too, has begun to share the agents’ beliefs.
Is Lucena Dead?
We last see Lucena captured by Otto and held hostage in some form of a torture chamber, where the latter proceeds to electrocute the Spanish agent. Lucena, hanging from chains, finally goes limp, and Otto even checks his pulse before leaving the room. For all intents and purposes, it seems like Lucena is dead. However, in one of the closing scenes, we see him briefly move, which suggests that the leader of the agents is still alive.
This also ties into the ending when Isabel sets off with a loaded gun and makes a call, asking to speak to Otto. Considering that she is holding Aribert and Otto is holding Lucena, Isabel and the remaining agents might just try to rescue their colleague under the guise of a hostage exchange. There is also a small chance that Lucena — left alone in the torture chamber — is somehow able to escape. However, we cannot underestimate Otto, who has outsmarted the agents on multiple occasions, and for now, Lucena’s life hangs in a precarious balance.
What Happens to Otto Bachmann?
Otto Bachmann remains untouched and is neither harmed nor captured by the agents. In fact, he manages to capture Lucena and proceeds to torture him. Otto has also now discovered that there are agents that are tracking his movements. So far, because he was unaware of their infiltration, the agents and Isabel could get valuable intel from Otto. That is no longer the case.
However, this also means that Otto is no longer of use to the agents, and Isabel may finally be justified in killing the man that murdered her father in front of her. She has so far resisted the urge to kill Otto because he was a source of information about the movements of other Nazi war criminals. However, she can now hunt him down. Considering we see her specifically load her gun with bullets she says are for her family’s murderer, it looks like Isabel is headed to kill Otto and possibly try and rescue Lucena in the process.
What Happens to Sordo (aka Deaf Man)? Was He a Nazi?
Sordo sacrifices himself to save Castro during a shootout at the hospital. Though he makes it to the mill with the other agents, we last see Sordo’s gun fall out of his limp hands, and the dedicated agent is likely dead. This, in a way, was expected as Sordo carried the heavy burden of guilt with him. Though he was not a Nazi, he admitted to Castro that he was a Kapo during his days in the Nazi concentration camp. Considering Kapos were prisoners who helped Nazis maintain order in the camps, Sordo is essentially thought to be a former ally of the Nazis by Castro. It is also hinted that Sordo lost his tongue because it was cut out by his fellow prisoners. When Sordo reveals all this to Castro, he is disgusted, and by sacrificing himself to save Castro’s life, Sordo symbolically redeems himself.
Read More: Is Jaguar Based on a True Story?
