Being born into a crime family comes with its own set of complexities, and that is something the Iron Reign captures at its finest. Especially since, as the daughter of the family, the constraints on Rocio while growing up had been greater than those on her brother, yet she turned out to be the ideal child that her father could rely on. Rocio’s story in this Spanish crime drama is one filled with heartbreak and betrayal. As a woman in the world of crime, she is mostly seen on the sidelines. After all, the men in her family want to make every decision on their own, ultimately leading to their own downfall. Yet, Rocio takes command as the face of the business as the sensible heir after her father is incapacitated. One might even agree that Rocio’s story keeps getting gradually depressing as she starts to lose everyone she cares about one by one. In the violent and vengeful world of men, Rocio is a victim of this vicious cycle that ends up consuming everyone she loves. It’s rather thought-provoking how people resort to violence without thinking about the repercussions of their actions. The punishment of death is not a punishment to oneself, but to those around us who are dependent on us and are close to us. That is what Rocio’s story is a spectacle of.
Spoilers Ahead
Who is Rocio Manchados?
Rocio is the younger child of the crime lord, Joaquin Manchados, and is Ricardo’s younger sister. Unlike the problematic son of the Manchados family, Rocio is more responsible and receptive. She is married to Nestor and has a daughter, Sandra. Nestor is also a childhood friend of hers, whom her father treats more like an heir than her, teaching him the tactics of the business. As a member of the organization, Rocio is more ethical and responsible about operation procedures, unlike her father. This can be seen when her father carelessly prioritizes anchoring the Tampico over another ship in line for 24 hours, which leads to an argument between the father and the daughter. She takes her responsibilities seriously, rather than the criminal ways that her family cannot seem to get over.
Rocio might just be the only person in the family who keeps the Manchados connected. In fact, despite his brother’s gambling habits and debt, she is compassionate toward him and supports him through thick and thin. Even when everyone in the Manchados crime family turns against Ricardo, Rocio allows his brother to explain himself. She knows that her brother, despite his woes, is not a thief who would steal from his own people. Even as a mother, Rocio is a righteous person and wants to impart good values to her daughter. She doesn’t want Sandra to grow up in the world where her uncle and her great-uncle killed each other out of hate. It surely is not easy for Rocio to raise a daughter with these values in a family of criminals, yet she tries what she can.
Why is Rocio unhappy in her marriage with Nestor?
Rocio has all the material belongings one could ask for owing to the status of her family. However, what she lacks in her life is a happy married life. As of late, her husband, Nestor, has been pretty distant, and she can’t help but suspect him of cheating. On several occasions, Nestor fails to come home, blaming it on unexpected work that has come up. Although she is suspicious of Sandra’s babysitter, Sonia, for being involved with Nestor, she cannot prove it. Nestor, as the head of customs, is an important part of their business, and she cannot do much about Nestor’s unfaithfulness. Little does she know that Nestor is actually cheating on her with Alex, presumably Sonia’s brother. In reality, Sonia and Alex are lovers, pretending to be siblings with the intention of stealing from the Manchados. Alex himself is involved with Nestor for the same reasons. Most of the time, when Nestor fails to come home, it’s because he has been spending the night with Alex instead.
How did Rocio meet Victor and Nestor?
Victor and Nestor have been friends since they were kids. The first time Rocio met them was as teenagers in 2006, when Joaquin caught the two peddling bootleg CDs of movies on their port. Joaquin seizes the CDs as well for running this illegal business on his port, which Rocio sees as an opportunity. Later on, Rocio gets hold of the CDs Joaquin seized and returns them to them. Rocio’s meagre allowance didn’t meet her requirements, which is why she struck up a collaboration with Victor and Nestor to sell the bootleg CDs over the summer. Rocio turned out to be a pretty good salesperson, which made them a lot of profit as well. However, the two boys wanted to date her and had asked her to pick one of them. In the end, Rocio went for Nestor, with whom she eventually got married and had their daughter Sandra.
Did Rocio Have An Affair With Victor?
Rocio and Victor indeed had a thing for each other, which started back in 2006. When the two boys had asked her to pick one of them, unable to decide, Rocio called for a race between the two, which Victor had won, but regardless of the results, Rocio decided to pick Nestor. Avoiding any hard feelings, the three of them continued to be best friends until Rocio and Nestor got married 10 years later. On the evening of the wedding, Rocio and Nestor headed to their room to consummate their marriage, but a drunk Nestor passed out instead. Unable to sleep, Rocio heads out to meet Victor; however, they end up sleeping together after admitting that they always had feelings for each other. Following this encounter, feeling guilty for having slept with his friend’s wife and wanting to get over his feelings for Rocio, Victor disappeared from their lives. They meet again years later, when Victor starts working at the port for Joaquin. Even after these years, there is an obvious tension between the two, which they seem to actively avoid.
What does Rocio reveal to Victor about Sandra?
After Sandra’s kidnapping by the Pereiras at Ricardo and Roman’s funeral, the Mexicans give the Manchados 24 hours to return the shipment. Victor and Rocio finally join forces to find out what really happened to the Czar’s mail. After successfully finding the damaged SD card from her father’s phone, Rocio finds out that her father’s attack was indeed an ambush. Jaoquin knew about the shipment being stolen as well. They finally track down the location of the shipment to a local dockyard, only to find out that Miki, a corrupt cop, and her own husband, Nestor, had been the ones who stole it in the first place. Before they can get hold of the cargo, however, Miki is shot dead by Alex and Sonia, who in turn steal the cargo and run away. Feeling betrayed by her husband’s involvement in the conspiracy against her father, she comes to terms that it is time she must be honest with Victor. Rocio reveals that she had been looking for Victor all those years but couldn’t find him anywhere. Disclosing that Sandra was, in fact, Victor’s daughter, she expresses that she wanted to be with him all those years. More than that, she wanted Sandra to be with her real father. With the revelation of Victor and Rocio’s past, it became clearer why she was unhappy in her marriage with Nestor. Their marriage was kaput from the very beginning, but she had to play along because of how life turned out for her. Even the possibility of reconciliation with Nestor was out of the question because of his affair, leaving Rocio all alone.
