Dhruv Sharma
‘El Presidente’ is an enthralling drama series that revolves around a real-life controversy that gripped the sport of football. Although it carefully explains each element of its convoluted storyline to ensure that a viewer is able to follow, there are moments where many of its plot points go right over your head. Moreover, even its eerie “alternate ending” makes you wonder what’s real and what’s fiction? So here’s a detailed guide to some of the biggest unanswered questions in ‘El Presidente.’
Sergio’s Downfall
The final episode of ‘El Presidente’ begins with a glimpse of Sergio’s past, who fails to get a VIP seat at the FIFAgate. In contrast to this, in the present events, Sergio is at the pinnacle of his career but everything else around him seems to slowly fall apart. His wife kicks him out of the house after she discovers that he has been involved with the FBI all this while.
What further adds to his troubles is the fact that all of his Copa America merchandise has been dated wrongly by Jashir, his right-hand man. When he discovers that all of his heavily invested merchandise is being dumped on the beach, he points a gun at Jashir and calls him a “f*ggot”. However, the tables turn in no time and Sergio realizes that he’s messing with the wrong person.
In the meantime, while Lisa confronts her own personal problems, she pressurizes Sergio to leave town and appear from the trials of the whole controversy that has gripped CONMEBOL. In a desperate attempt to bring his old life back, he even offers Lisa some money and tickets to Copa America finals just to buy more time. But she rejects the money and warns him that he’ll have to leave without his family.
When the day of the finals arrives, Jashir stabs Lisa at the stands of the game and intentionally keeps her alive just to set up Sergio. For obvious reasons, Lisa starts believing that Jashir was hired by Sergio to kill her. In the meantime, Sergio goes through a cathartic process and leads his team to a win. The whole nation celebrates his leadership and lauds him for helping Chile win Copa America after ages. But with the recent development, Sergio is left in low spirits and he also finds his wife kissing one of his players. Things get even worse for him when Jashir steals all of his hidden money from his office. After all of this, his desperate attempt to escape the FBI fails when Lisa catches him, still believing that he ordered the attack on her.
There’s one specific scene that perfectly captures Sergio’s downfall. After being thrown out of his home, Sergio heads to his office and spends the night there. He sleeps on his couch draped up in the national flag and uses his wrongly date merchandise as a pillow. This scene shows how once his national pride and his role as the president were his key priorities, but now, nothing is as it seems and his empire has fallen even before he could properly build it.
What Was Nené’s Plan?
Sergio’s wife, Nené, chooses to stay by his side as his associate during these tough times and decides to help him get out of there. Nené, as always, uses her intellect to devise the perfect plan for their escape. She first convinces Lisa that Sergio was not responsible for the attack on her and Jashir only did it to set him up. She then withdraws all of their remaining black money from their safe deposit boxes, and with Lisa’s help, they head to their airport with their kids.
Lisa, being the FBI agent that she is, carries the bag with all the money and gets past the airport security. After arriving in the US, she bribes the customs check officer, and they safely reach their desired destination. Following this, before bidding their final goodbyes. Sergio pays Lisa for helping them out but she asks for more. This is when Nené sneaks up right behind her and chokes her with her waist belt.
The Ending: “Reality is Stranger than Fiction”
For a show that slowly unfolds itself, the ending turns out to be quite shocking as it jumps from A to Z in an instant. But that’s when the narrator of the series, Julio Grondono, reveals that the ending is just fictional melodrama. The narrator then rewinds a little and confirms that the show is based on a true story, but almost everything in the last episode was purely fictional to entertain viewers. But just when he starts reciting the real-events, things turn out to be even stranger.
If one can recall well, there are several scenes in the final episode that are depicted as dream-like sequences, especially the part where Sergio himself steps on the ground and inspires his players. These scenes are early signs that portray how almost nothing that goes in the final episode is real. As revealed by the narrator, Lisa and Jashir were completely fictional. This suggests that in real life, Sergio never went through a catharsis where he threatened his own right-hand man or even tried to kill an FBI agent.
Instead, according to the true story, Sergio completely cooperated with the FBI. As a result, everyone involved in the scandal of CONMEBOL was convicted but managed to escape their trials by paying hefty fines. Some of them, who were opportunists, even took advantage of this situation and somehow managed to draw benefits out of it. As for the ANFP, it was left with a debt of billions, but strangely, when the books of their debt were settled, $3.5 million had disappeared into thin air.
What Does The Ending Mean for Sergio and Nené?
As revealed in the ending, Nené decided to leave Sergio after everything that had happened but had a hard time keeping her head above water. While Sergio got away and had a fairly normal life after everything, Nené worked at KFC to stay afloat. The “actual alternate ending” of the series may seem a little less dramatic but is strange nonetheless. It’s a perfect representation of how “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
Read More: El Presidente Review
