The Netflix series Wrong Side Of The Tracks (or Entrev as it is known in Spanish) is a compilation of clichés that are not only dull and repetitive but also incredibly slow-moving for no discernible reason. Irene, a teenage Vietnamese girl who was adopted by the dysfunctional Spanish family the Abantos, is at the core of the situation. Irene resides in La Moraleja, an upscale neighbourhood in Madrid, with her adopted mother, Jimena. Irene feels alone around her wealthy pals despite having access to so much luxury. Irene meets Nelson Gutierrez, a street child, while visiting her grandfather Tirso Abantos, a hot-tempered ex-military who runs a hardware store in Entrev as, and falls in love with him right away. Irene has found what she’s been seeking for in Nelson, and the two intend to leave the area and live quietly by the sea. The dilemma here is whether Nelson will ever be able to leave the criminal underworld behind and begin a new life with Irene because he is a member of a drug gang.
David Bermejo’s Wrong Side Of The Tracks attempts to portray Irene and Nelson’s love story over the course of eight lengthy episodes. Tirso Abantos, a racist and prejudiced elderly guy, serves as their lone defender from the frightening drug lords and dishonest police officers. While no character in Season 1—aside from Tirso—underwent any significant change, the process of bringing about a change in the story was highly complex. It had the potential to be a fascinating tale, but it ended up being overly dramatic. Let’s continue to investigate the tale.
Warning: Major Spoilers
Wrong Side Of The Tracks Season 1: Plot Summary
In the Entrev as area, where crime is on the rise, Tirso Abantos, an ex-military guy, owns a hardware store. Young college students are supplying Sandro, a drug king who operates out of the La Rosa nightclub, with drugs and hash. Jimena and Santi, Tirso’s children, together with the rest of the family, plan a small celebration for Tirso’s birthday. Santi, Tirso’s son, requests that his father transfer ownership of the hardware store in Rufina Blanco to him so that he can run it as he sees fit. But despite Santi’s financial difficulties, Tirso won’t sell anything and won’t give up his store. He learns at the birthday celebration that his granddaughter Irene has left college and is dating a local punk named Nelson.
Nelson has taken some narcotics from Sandro in order to raise money and escape Entrev’s control once and for all with Irene. The night they make their getaway, though, Nelson is pursued by some police, so he gives Irene the packet. Out of anxiety, she then contacts her grandfather to take her to his apartment. While Irene is sleeping, Tirso becomes suspicious and opens her bag to find cocaine within. The following morning, he confronts his granddaughter, Irene, and when she refuses, Tirso pours the entire packet of medicines into the sink. When things start to get sticky and Nelson informs Irene that Sandro’s men are looking for him to recover the drugs, Irene makes the decision to take matters into her own hands. A black sedan picks her up after she visits Sandro’s drug den, where Sandro’s most devoted henchman sends her to the opposite side of the tracks. The men in the car drugged Irene, and she has no memory of the events of that evening. She awakens in a dumpster the following morning with bruises all over her body. When Irene learns that she has been sexually raped, she keeps it a secret from Nelson and everyone else.
While everything is going on, Nelson is saved by a dishonest police officer named Ezequiel Fandino, who intervenes when Tirso declines to assist the teenagers. Ezequiel has long been a Sandro employee, but he also upholds law and order by his own crooked behaviour since he has a moral conscience. He uses his own illicit funds to pay Sandro. However, as soon as Ezequiel resolves his drug issue, Tirso learns of the attack on Irene. Tirso, Nelson, Sanchis, and Pepe (Tirso’s military pals), burning with a vengeance, destroy Sandro’s drug den, sparking a conflict with the drug lord. In the series, Ezequiel struggles to keep the conflict under control and save the peace in his neighbourhood, but as things spiral out of his control, he is left with no choice but to kill Sandro, the source of all evil.
Who Was The Phantom?
Amanda Martos, Ezequiel’s senior officer, told him that they had been monitoring him for four years and had previously suspected that he was a snitch for Sandro. Internal Affairs sought to have Ezequiel arrested, but Amanda believed he could help the department by pointing them in the direction of Sandro’s boss or whoever was secretly heading the cartel. Given that no one had ever seen him or known his genuine name, Amanda dubbed this man The Phantom. Amanda claims that The Phantom makes contact with local gang members like Sandro and provides them with money, narcotics, firearms, and other illegal goods. Ezequiel was dispatched to La Rosa with a microphone strapped to his chest because Amanda required his assistance in obtaining Sandro’s location information in order to locate Phantom. When Sandro learned about the wire, he made the decision to kill Ezequiel, but a hooded guy intervened, shooting Sandro before fleeing the area.
In all these chases, Ezequiel overlooked one crucial detail: Tirso spotted Sandro carrying a black duffel bag to a luxurious home in Las Ventillas. The bag was likely filled with money. The entire mystery surrounding Phantom’s identity will now be explored in Wrong Side of the Tracks Season 2 because Tirso thought Sandro was paying the drug money to the person for whom he was working and wanted Ezequiel to look into it further. However, a laid-back cop like Ezequiel had no interest, so the entire story around Phantom’s identity would now be explored in Season 2.
Who Killed Sandro?
Ezequiel wanted to get rid of Sandro since he had publicly humiliated him and was threatening to murder him. Ezequiel devised a scheme to use Tirso and his group’s covert identities as he was aware that they were attempting to remove Sandro. They are also known as The Robin Hoods of Entrev ão. Sandro’s covert delivery, which he was transporting to Nogueras Square in a similar white van, was destroyed by him after he persuaded a youngster named Nata to dress up as the Robin Hoods. Nata was dubious about the plan, but she agreed to carry it out because she shared Sandro’s desire to be eliminated and wanted to succeed him. Nata sent Ahmed Khalil, a.k.a. Loco, her boyfriend, to destroy Sandro’s shipment.
Everything was going smoothly until the night of the operation, when Ezequiel discovered that Nogueras Square was a trap put up by Sandro to catch the Robin Hoods. In the interim, Ezequiel detained Tirso to provide him an alibi so that Sandro wouldn’t pursue him. It was too late for Ezequiel to save Loco’s life. It was the first fatality in the area in a very long time when Sandro’s men shot him to death.
Following Loco’s murder, Nata made the decision to exact revenge and prepared to engage Nelson in gunfire. Sandro was dealing with Ezequiel, who he had caught wearing a wire, when Nelson entered the bar wearing a hood and shot Sandro in the head. Nelson had planted a gun in La Rosa. While the police conducted a search of the establishment and detained Ezequiel, Nelson discretely left. Ezequiel won’t appear in the upcoming season since he has been accused of wrongdoing and will be fired. For a long time, he had longed to leave Entrev as, and perhaps now his wish would be fulfilled. Depending on how far Amanda will go to defend Ezequiel, he might receive some legal remedy.
Wrong Side Of The Tracks Season 1: Ending Explained-Did Irene and Nelson End Up Together? What to Expect From Season 2?
To be quite honest, if Irene and Nelson had entered the realm of a happily ever after, the show probably would have stopped. However, the creators chose to drag it out, so let’s accept it. Irene had developed an Oxycodone addiction as a result of her traumatic assault, and as soon as Tirso learned about it, he chose to send Irene back to her mother’s house. In the end, Tirso held himself responsible for Irene’s drug addiction because it was he who initially persuaded her not to seek therapy for her nightmares because he believed in the traditional methods of handling trauma. Irene, like his friend Sanchis, also developed a drug addiction as a result of not receiving the proper psychiatric care.
Nelson made the decision to end his relationship with Irene for her own benefit because he shared the blame for everything she went through. Nelson went back to Nata, who was in love with him and needed his assistance to kill Sandro, after Irene fled Entrev as. Sandro’s passing would result in a power vacuum in Entrev as, which would be filled by four neighbourhood youth gangs, one of which would probably be commanded by Nata, of which Nelson will be an essential part. This was referenced in a small video clip at the end of Wrong Side Of The Tracks Season 1.
The mother of Nelson, Gladys, was attacked by Sandro’s goon, who Tirso had captured in the basement of his hardware store, and this caused Tirso to see yet another terrible event. Gladys intervened and saved Tirso’s life as the henchmen prepared to stab him to death in Pepe’s cafe out of retaliation. Gladys was rushed to the hospital while the henchman was taken into custody. Even Ezequiel noticed the ending’s potential for love between Tirso and Gladys when he asked her to flee with him, but he soon discovered that she was in love with someone else. Gladys didn’t give the name of the person’s name, but Tirso was undoubtedly the one she was referring to. In the little footage at the conclusion, we even saw Gladys kissing Tirso, confirming their romance. Will their relationship endure the commotion, though?
The brief clip also suggests the appearance of a new antagonist, a real estate developer named Guillermo Salgado, who wants to buy the neighbourhood and demolish it in order to build high-rise skyscrapers and modernise Entrev as. This is because the story may need a new antagonist to move the plot forward after Sandro’s death. Pepe already wants to sell his business because of the rising neighbourhood violence, and it’s probable that more others will do the same. But will Tirso so readily stray from his origins after he had been determined not to leave Entrev as throughout the entirety of Season 1? Or will he criticise Guillermo Salgado loudly, maybe starting a conflict between the two? The answer will be clearer in Season 2, though.
David Bermejo is the author of the 2022 crime thriller series Wrong Side Of The Tracks (or Entrev in Spanish).
