Latin American shows are known for their over-the-top dramatic acting and dialogue. The shows are branded telenovelas for the same reason, and several OTT platforms have taken up this style of filmmaking and developed content following this trope. There are only a few shows that genuinely want to put forward human stories and allow the audience to be sucked into the world of gangsters and drug mafias. One of them has to be the famous Narcos series developed by Netflix.
Dom, created by Breno Silveira, was based on the novel by Tony Bellato and was a two-season-long saga based on the real-life characters ‘Pedro Dom’ and his father ‘Victor Lomba.’ The makers of the show breathed life to the stories of the two figures and presented a hauntingly gripping story of crime and corruption, but at heart, it was a sad story of a deteriorating relationship between a father and his son. Victor Dantas, a civil police officer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had been on a crusade to bring down the drug trafficking ring and the crimes in the city it brought about, while his son Pedro “Dom” Dantas was addicted to the same narcotics.
Spoilers Ahead
What was the basic plot?
The first two seasons of Dom on Amazon Prime Video were explained through three different timelines. The first timeline was from the early 2000s and featured a twenty-something Pedro “Dom,” the younger son of Victor Dantas. The father was constantly worried about his son and the kind of crooks he hung out with. The second timeline spanned the early 1990s, when a young Pedro went on a crime spree that included spray painting across the town, stealing cars, and eventually using narcotics. The third timeline was the story of a young Victor Dantas through the 1970s. As a boy from an affluent family who was only interested in diving and his need to help others got him in touch with a high-ranking intelligence official in the Brazilian army, who assigned him the work of gathering information regarding the drug trafficking happening along the coast. These timelines merge to offer an interesting story set around several places in Brazil that extensively covers rampant corruption in the army as well as police who skim a percentage of the profit from the drug mafia.
Were Victor and Pedro professionally different people?
The first season was all about understanding how different the lives of Victor and Pedro were. Victor was all about being a perfect father figure who wanted to help his son escape the menace of drug addiction. Pedro, on the other hand, wanted to get rid of the addiction, but his worst instincts made him make many questionable decisions. Even though he was the son of a known ex-police officer, Pedro couldn’t control his urge to go after a life of crime. There was an entire episode in season one that was all about the life Pedro had lived since his early teens. The boy had been in and out of rehab several times, but it never stopped him from going after narcotics consumption. It was also difficult to watch Victor and his ex-wife Marisa being deeply affected by the condition of their son, who had gone from being a sweet kid to someone they couldn’t recognize eventually.
Victor and Marisa, despite their marriage breaking up, were always there for Pedro. Their older daughter, Laura was the sorted one, yet she was expected to put her life on hold for the sake of her self-destructive brother. Yet she never complained because, as a family, she wanted to help her brother and parents, who were going through a tough phase.
Was Victor assigned a dangerous job as a young diver?
Victor, a young diver in the 1970s, fell in love with Paloma, an Interpol officer who was helping him and his boss with data about the narcotics business around the Brazilian coastline. As a result, a young Victor was asked to infiltrate into a local gang that was notorious for the trafficking and supply of cocaine, which was a new kind of stimulating illegal drug coming in from Columbia and other neighboring countries. Victor ended up getting too close to the leader and came across many interesting stories. He also got himself involved in dangerous tasks in his pursuit to find answers.
Season 1 also focused on Pedro getting involved with a bunch of people who were members of a gang whose leader had been arrested. Pedro, who was being referred to as Dom, involved his best friend Lico with Vivianne and Jasmin and began to loot the rich to fund their snorting habits. Their crime was caught by a police official, Sargento Figueira, who demanded a cut of the loot from Pedro “Dom” and his gang in return for a tip about rich people who could be robbed. Pedro and Jasmin eventually fell in love, and they found a way to keep things going for a while.
Did Pedro go back to his old habits?
Season one ended with Pedro “Dom” and his gang splitting. Lico’s death changed the dynamics in the group, and Pedro was almost on the deathbed, but he was revived in a rather painful manner by his father. Sadly, Pedro’s old habits caught up to him as Vivianne, his coke-headed friend from the gang, convinced him to commit another robbery. It ended with Pedro’s face being publicized everywhere through news channels and newspapers. Meanwhile, back in the 1970s, a young Victor had to find his way out of the life of a spy, and he was encouraged to join the local police, which he did.
Did Pedro run away from Rio?
Dom season 2 began with Victor asking his son to run far away from Rio and live in another city. Pedro, in the new city, went back to his old habits, and was soon carrying out burglaries with his new friend Quinado. Both the men were under the impression they were successful burglars, but their past caught up to them as Roberto Ramalho, one of the honest cops left in the force, arrested both, and they were thrown in jail for robbery.
Victor got in touch with Jasmin, who wanted to stay away from the life of crime as she was pregnant with Pedro’s kid. Even though she was struggling, she was sure about wanting this child and giving it a life she never had. Victor was sure the unborn child could be used to get Pedro to walk away from the life of crime. Victor’s relationship with his ex-wife, Marisa, was also explored in depth in the second season. Marisa and Victor were in love until his work became his priority, and he was forced to choose between the two.
How was Pedro planning to sustain himself while in prison?
Pedro had other plans while in prison, as he wanted to make money through contraband by getting in touch with other criminals. This indicates Pedro was addicted to a life of crime, and no amount of rehab or convincing by his loved ones would change his mind. Victor was done trying to be a positive influence. Meanwhile Laura who loved her brother dearly, had lost hope.
Was Pedro arrested by the end of season two?
Season two included Pedro and his newfound friends in prison breaking out of jail in the hope of living a life of anonymity far away. Pedro’s life seemed to be a story of him running away, as he never planned to pay for the crimes he committed. Eventually, Roberto Ramalho had to resort to kidnapping a heavily pregnant Jasmin to get Pedro out of hiding. Pedro had to resort to violence again to rescue his girlfriend, which he did. The man was far away in hiding, but his arc had a happy conclusion as Jasmin gave birth to a girl. Pedro “Dom”’s arc by the end of second season had the police finally cornering him. Even though he tried to escape by throwing a smoke bomb at them, Pedro “Dom” was severely injured during the chase and it seemed his arrest was inevitable. It was not clear Pedro “Dom” was on his way back from where. Season three will throw light on this detail.
Was Victor sent to Amazonian villages?
Victor’s life as a young police officer in the late 1970s involved trying hard to get into the system to eradicate the burgeoning drug trafficking trade in the country; however, he was in the dark about the fact many of his colleagues were corrupt and making money from this illegal business. Victor was eventually sent to the department of the Amazon forest, where he discovered some of the outsiders were planning to build a road that would harm the local tribes. The road was meant to aid the flow of the drug business, but the tribes refused to have any contact with the world outside of their forest. There was only mention of a Christian evangelical group forcing the tribe to accept the path of Christianity while giving up their nomadic lifestyle and worship of pagan gods. This subplot was added to speak about the rampant conversion of the secluded Amazonian tribe to Christianity, which not only destroyed local cultures but also made sure children were not raised on tribal values.
What happened to Victor by the end of season two?
Dom season 2 ended with a bonus episode that chronicled the life of a young Victor Dantas after he graduated as a police officer. The episode was all about him meeting three people who he had witnessed committing a bank robbery and following them to a country house. This episode chronicled the lives of normal people in Brazil, which was then under dictatorship. Three people who identified themselves as Joan of Arc, Leon, and Ernesto, had a feud against the government as their father had been kidnapped and tortured by the army for protesting against the government; their fight was against injustice as their mother was now a target too.
The 1970s was a time when most of the governments in South and Central America had dictators who were suppressing all kinds of dissent, which led to many fleeing their own country. Since Victor planned to serve the force and get rid of the menace of drugs from the root, he witnessed firsthand the distress of the people who wanted their voices to be heard. The episode ended with Victor finding out the three people were deemed terrorists and killed at the border.
Dom not only delved deep into the menace of drug consumption and subsequent crimes that takes place, it also explores the relationship dynamics between fathers and sons. Even though Pedro and Victor had a good relationship, the latter could not help his son. Victor, as a young boy, always chose to do the right thing, and his relationship with his father only got better over the years.
