a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix Sports Drama Olympo
Warning: this post contains spoilers for Olympo.
Olympo is full of drama. From the producers of Elite, the Netflix series follows a group of young adults who train at the Pirineros High Performance Center in Spain, with dreams of World Cup titles and Olympic golds. There's a significant ensemble, all vying for not just glory, but also sponsorship from the clothing brand Olympo, who choose only the most promising athletes to represent them, offering vital recognition that lifts athletes to the next level.
'No one gets to the Olympics without sponsorship,' as the young athletes say. Among them is our protagonist, Amaia (Clara Galle), who trains relentlessly to be the best synchronized swimmer in all of Spain, and by the end of the season, has learned some key information about her cohort.
The drug discovery
The penultimate episode of Olympo confirms one of Amaia's long-held suspicions: several athletes at Pirineos have been given performance-enhancing drugs. The HPC isn't the only one involved; they are working alongside Olympo to try the drug out on top prospects. The drugs are undetectable, a fact that threatens to destroy competitive sports forever. And at the end of the episode, Charly (Martí Cordero) has some vitriolic and homophobic words for his rugby teammate, openly gay Roque (Agustin Della Corte). Roque (who was given the drugs to heal his broken hand) reacts violently, nearly beating Charly to death while getting a large chunk of glass stuck in his arm. The episode ends with both Charly and Roque lying on the floor, badly bleeding. If that sounds like a lot, just wait til you hear what happens next.
The finale finds the athletes preparing for their respective events that'll decide who participates in the world championships. Amaia is still trying to expose the school and sports organization Olympo for drugging athletes, tipping off the anti-doping administration and convincing them to perform blood tests on the athletes.
In recovery, Roque wakes to find that he can no longer feel his hand. He begs Hugo to have whatever they've done to him reversed, but Hugo (Sergio Álvarez), a former rugby champion and top player at Olympo, threatens him, telling him that his rugby career is over forever if he keeps complaining. The doctors convince Hugo that he has nothing to worry about, although they warn that traces of the drug can be found if they go digging for it. But the blood tests eventually come back negative, meaning Nuria (Maria Romanillos) and other athletes who took the drug are allowed to participate.
The sporting events are underway, and Zoe (Nira Oshaia) wins her race, finding a second wind after her friend Renata (Andy Duato) goes down with an injury. Amaia's life is turned upside down when her mother, a former Olympic champion, arrives to force Amaia back into competition. She tries to take extreme measures to keep from competing, like taking laxatives, but she's found by Fátima (Najwa Khliwa), who stops her. As Fátima leaves, she falls down the stairs, and it's implied that Amaia was the one who pushed her. Fátima took her place in synchro, and by taking her out, Amaia is back in the competition, bringing her one step closer to her lifelong dream of Olympic gold.
Except that Nuria, Amaia's best friend, has turned on her. She chooses fellow swimmer Peque (Laura Ubach) over her. It's a move that devastates Amaia, but it turns out it wasn't Nuria's choice. She was forced to make the decision by fellow Olympo executive Jana (Melina Matthews), who is working alongside Hugo to remove the students who are seeking to expose the school for the improper drug use. Among those students is Zoe, who loses her sponsorship with Olympo despite winning her race, because she refused to take the drug.
Roque, who also wants to take Olympo down for their treatment of him, both as a gay athlete and for giving him the drugs. Roque sees Olympo as committing pinkwashing, reducing him to his queerness and using his homosexuality to cover up the reality of their drug program. He manages to leave the facility, finding his teammate and boyfriend Sebas (Juan Perales) and Zoe at a nearby cabin, where the athletes often escape to have a good time. They aren't alone in their desire to take down Olympo, and are joined by fellow Olympo sponsor Cristian (Nuno Gallego). Zoe reveals their plan to take out Olympo: she's secured a sample of the drug they've been using to give their athletes an unfair advantage.
What happens to Amaia in Olympo?
It's competition day for the synchronized swimmers, and Olympo hits us with another surprise: Amaia has regained her spot in the competition, performing alongside Nuria, something they've done for years together. During their epic performance, Amaia and Nuria are immaculate, perfectly matching each other. It's a staggering display, and at the end, they do the unthinkable. They pull off an underwater stunt that's incredibly difficult to perform, and doing it over and over requires inhuman breath control. Nuria nearly died trying to beat the record in the first episode, but here, both she and Amaia sail past the record with ease. It can mean only one thing—Amaia has given in to Olympo and given up her fight against them, taking the drug to achieve perfection. While everyone gives the duo a standing ovation, Zoe and company are devastated, knowing the truth. Amaia has taken the drug and turned on them in the fight against Olympo. Amaia has gone from ringleader in the fight for justice to cracking under the immense pressure put upon her by herself and her mother to achieve greatness.
Zoe leaves the arena and finds the tester from the anti-doping association, and gives her a sample of the untraceable drug. As Amaia leaves the pool, she looks her boyfriend Cristian in the eyes, seeing his devastation. But before Amaia can leave the pool, she starts to have a reaction to the drug. She loses her balance and falls in the pool. As she sinks to the bottom of the pool, the season ends. The fight against Olympo may not be over, but Amaia's fall and Zoe's evidence is sure to break the entire fight wide open in the next season of Olympo.
