Caught Season 1 Ending Explained: What Happened to Martina, Who is the Real Culprit and What Happened to Ema?
CARE, SPOILER ALERT. Based on Harlan Coben’s hit novel “Caught” (original title Atrapados) is an Argentine Netflix series who is based in the city of Bariloche and follows Ema Garay (Soledad Villamil), a reporter famous for catching criminals who often evade justice, while investigating an online child molester and subsequently the disappearance of Martina Schulz’s teenager (Carmela Rivero). Who is the real culprit in the first case? Is Martina also her victim? What happened to her? Next, I will tell you about the most important moments of fiction directed by Miguel Cohan and Hernán Goldfrid. The police thriller starts with Emma trying to catch the abuser. She pretends to be a teenager and agrees to arrange a date with him in the plaza but fails to capture him. Later, he searches for one of the victims, Camila, since the police do not want to share information. But Leo Mercer (Alberto Ammann), a man who runs a foundation to help young people, prevents him from approaching Camila’s family.
When Leo Mercer knows Emma’s work and her story, he decides to help her with her research. During a talk, chemistry arises between them, and they are carried away by passion. However, Leo goes from being an ally to the main suspect when he appears at the place where the reporter arranged a second date with the child molester. While being recorded and accused of rape, Leo pleads not guilty and assures that he only went to a young woman’s call for help. So, it is very likely that most viewers have seen her tug, as is often the case with these types of suspense stories, even though it has reached the platform in the middle of the week. If you are one of those, do not worry; you are not alone. And if by chance you ended up here before reaching the outcome of the series, save this link for when you finish it in case you have doubts. It wouldn’t be weird if you had questions about what’s going on in the last few episodes, and that’s how good the Coben series is. Nothing is what it seems until the last moment. At first, everything seems clear to Ema, the protagonist, who finds all the tests blaming Leo for the attack on a young woman from Bariloche.
Caught Season 1 Ending Explained: What Happened to Martina, Who is the Real Culprit, and What Happened to Ema?
The protagonist of “Caught” talks to people close to Leo, but most defend him tooth and nail. Although that raises doubts in the reporter, those doubts dissipate when the evidence reaffirms her guilt. For example, the police find a laptop with conversations with Ema in her cabin. Despite everything, Mercer contacts the journalist and arranges a meeting to share her side of the story. Leo claims that he went to the meeting place at the request of Martina, who needed help. Before I can say more, Camila’s father appears, ready to avenge his daughter. Ema tries to reassure him but can’t prevent him from being shot. Camila’s father ends up in prison while the journalist gives her testimony at the police station, where she discovers that Martina’s parents reported her disappearance. While investigating Martina’s case, Ema neglects her son, Bruno (Matías Recalt), who hides a secret that could aid his mother’s work. The reporter discovers that Leo was Martina’s neighbor and that he once gifted her gloves. Was Leo the man with whom the teenager was sneaking around? During a search in the woods, the police find Martina’s body and, later, what appears to be Leo’s camp. With all this, they close both cases. However, for the protagonist of Caught, some things don’t add up, so she decides to continue her research, even if it means deepening the chasm between her and Bruno.
Who Killed Martina? What Really Happened to Leo?
The final stretch of Caught reveals that Leo was not the predator that Ema believed but one more victim in a plan devised by Marcos Brown to destroy him and keep the lands of the child shelter he ran. Taking advantage of his enmity with the Briguel family and his desire for revenge, Marcos manipulated Martina, making her believe that he was helping Leo when, in fact, he was part of a montage to incriminate him. Everything is complicated when Martina, after discovering that her participation had contributed to the fall of Leo, tries to rectify it. He calls Marcos to reproach him, but Marcos tells him to destroy his mobile and disappear. That conversation is heard by Armando, the son of Juliana, Leo’s neighbor, who, after seeing the campaign against Leo on the net, panics. In an outburst, he pushes Martina up the stairs and kills her. Her mother, Juliana, instead of going to the police, covers up the crime: she hides Martina’s body in the woods and plants false evidence to further incriminate Leo. Ema ends up discovering everything, and although Juliana begs her not to say anything, she decides to take her with Armando to the police station. Justice for Martina, at last.
Thanks to a colleague, the protagonist of Caught learns that Leo’s land has a clause: if the foundation director is involved in an abuse case, the land returns to the Browns, that is, Marcos. Therefore, it is clear that Leo’s best friend is behind the rape charge. It was Marcos who was writing with Ema and who hid the computer in Mercer’s cabin. After helping Martina, Marcos discovers that there is a link between the young woman and Leo, so he decides to take advantage of it to recover his land. He kept in touch with the teenager and asked her to cheat on her friend. I mean, Marcos was the man Martina was talking to and sneaking around. Marcos tried to convince his friend to sell the property to the Briguels to avoid the ruin of his family, but he did not succeed, so he used Martina to get rid of Leo. When the young woman tried to tell the truth, he apparently murdered her. He tries to do the same with Ema, when she confronts him, but the reporter hits him with a stone and manages to get out of the water to report him. At the end of Caught, Marcos commits suicide. Ema retires and leaves Vicky in charge of investigating the Briguel case. In addition, visit Armando, the son of Leo’s ex-girlfriend. During that meeting, he discovers what really happened to Martina. Armando invited her to his house, and everything was going well until the young man discovered that his partner had set a trap for the man who was like a father to him. In the middle of the discussion, he accidentally pushes and kills her. His mother helps him take the body to the forest and leaves the phone at Mercer’s camp to protect his son. Armando cannot blame and confesses. Leo is also revealed to be alive.
Marcos’s Plan: Revenge and Treason
Marcos Brown drags an inferiority complex and a thirst for revenge from a young age. In the past, his family was indebted to the Briguels, and upon returning to Bariloche after being fired in Buenos Aires, he sees the perfect opportunity to collect his own. His goal: to sink the Briguel, reclaim the donated land, and destroy Leo, whom he blames for his fall from grace. To do this, he impersonates a pedophile in a forum that investigates Ema, plants false evidence at Leo’s house, and manipulates Martina into luring him into a trap. His plan works so well that even Facundo, the father of an abuse victim, ends up shooting Leo, believing he was to blame. However, when Ema unmasks him, Marcos tries to kill her. She defends herself and broadcasts her confession live. Marcos, unable to face the consequences, commits suicide by crashing his car. A cowardly ending for someone who played with other people’s lives for revenge.
Was Leo Really Guilty?
In her research, Ema discovers that Martina had an account on CoX, a page where she uploaded suggestive content in exchange for money. She had wealthy fans who invited her to Buenos Aires. The reporter travels to the Argentine capital in search of more information and meets the mysterious man. This is Fran Briguel (Mike Amigorena), who, because she belongs to a powerful family, has been hidden in the official archives. Ema also gets the video from the security cameras of the Briguel Hotel, where Martina stayed, who leaves the place accompanied by Marcos Brown (Juan Minujín), Mercer’s best friend. When the journalist interrogates him, he explains that he works with Fran and that he helped the teenager return home at Briguel’s request. He explains that the young woman told him that Fran tried to abuse her, but he convinces her not to report him due to the power of the Briguel.
At that point, Ema is increasingly certain of Leo’s innocence as she discovers that the land where his foundation is located borders that of the Briguel, who own almost the entire city. But this was not always the case; much of the land belonged to the Browns until Marcos and Leo broke into the Briguel property and caused serious injuries to an employee. Marcos took the blame, and the Browns gave up business to avoid a complaint. After that, Marcos was rejected by his family, and Leo was donated the land in front of the lake for its foundation. Ema believes that the Brigueles set Leo up to keep his land and try to clean up his image. But before she can prove it, a threatening visit by Fran to her son Bruno slows her down. However, Leo’s innocence is demonstrated when Camila identifies the true child molester.
What Happened to Leo?
Leo manages to survive the shot and the fall into the river. Although the world believes he is dead, Ema discovers that his body never appeared, and we finally see that he is still alive, guiding a group of young people through nature. He may return to Bariloche someday, but for now, he needs to heal. It is also revealed that Leo never abused Camilla (Facundo’s daughter) and that he was one of the few adults who really cared about her. Facundo, upon discovering that he did not kill him, faces minor charges and has a second chance to take care of his daughter.
