3%, Season One, Episode Eight: Capítulo 08: Botão

Here we are at the season finale and after grueling trials, all that remains is for the candidates to undergo the purification ceremony to complete their entry into the offshore.  Some will find the transition simple and others will have to make decisions about their future.  As with anything involving the Process, the situation isn't simply cut and dry. 

Just as I suspected, Ezequiel is not going to let Michele get away with murder. Ezequiel has Michele tortured to soften her up and then starts to question Michele about why she would want him dead.  Michele is tough at first and resistant to giving out any information. Ezequiel reveals that he knows that Michele is a member of the resistance and gives a description of the man that is Michele's contact. Ezequeil knows who Michele's contact is because he was recruited by the same man years ago. Okay, I didn't see that coming particularly given how devoted Ezequeil is to the Process. 

While Ezequiel is busy with Michele, Aline is making her own moves. After using eye drops to make it appear as though she has been crying, Aline bangs on her door begging to see Cesar's widow, claiming that she's desperate to make an apology.  As soon as the widow arrives, Aline drops all pretense of an apology and again claims her innocence. At first, the widow isn't interested in listening, until Aline argues that they both have a common purpose and both of them want to find out the truth about Cesar's death. 

The other contestants start their day all relieved to know that there is only one step left for them to accomplish.  A happy Fernando wheels his way to Michele's door and knocks repeatedly but gets no answer.  No one he asks knows anything about where Michele might be. 

In a fit of anger and despair, Michele comes clean and admits that she hates Ezequiel because he killed her brother.  This comes as a surprise to Ezequiel, because he's done no such thing. Michele of course does not believe him and so he shows Michele a video of her brother in the offshore, explaining that he might look a little different because it's been five years since Michele has seen him.  Ezequiel explains that this is how the resistance gets recruits, by lying to them about the fates of their loved ones. Given that the offshore population knows that, why wouldn't they have the people that passed contact their loved ones to let them know that they are safe and happy? Ezequiel leaves Michele alone in the room with the video of her brother playing on repeat. 

The candidates are taken for the final purification step and everyone is clearly thrilled.  Joana is pulled aside and told that Ezequeil would like to speak to her privately first.  This makes her nervous because none of the other candidates are being asked to wait behind but she goes with it because what else can she do.

Ezequiel walks past Fernando, who is still knocking on Michele's door and informs Fernando that Michele has been eliminated.  Ezequiel suggests that Fernando get to the purification ceremony and Fernando follows along for awhile but then abruptly stops and announces that he is quitting the process.  Ezequeil questions if Fernando is sure and when Fernando says that he is, Ezequiel allows him to leave.  A determined Fernando wheels himself outside of the building only to find that Michele is not there waiting for him.  The woman who tasked Fernando with coming up with a new test reveals to him that Michele has not in fact been eliminated and that Fernando has been defeated by the very test that he designed. The woman heads inside leaving Fernando outside alone.  Fernando bangs repeatedly on the closed door demanding to be allowed back in but gets no response. 

Ezequiel heads to see the candidates and tells them that all that remains is the purification process.  Ezequiel fully believes that the candidates have earned this position by their own merit and are now free to follow in the footsteps of the founding couple.  According to Ezequiel, the point of the offshore is merit and to that end, the final stage of purification is sterilization. Apparently, sterilization means that each candidate can be certain that anything that they achieve they have earned and not because it was given to them. It's some real faulty logic as far as I am concerned.  This however does answer the question of what people offshore do with their their children.

3% Season One, Episode Seven: Capítulo 07: Cápsula

The contestants are about to partake in a celebration dinner because all that's left for them to go through is the purification ceremony.  In last episode, we saw Michele dig something out of her hip and in Cápsula we learn that it's a capsule containing poison. For much of this season, Michele, while not as cool as Joana, has been able to pretty much keep her emotions hidden while thinking quickly on her feet. But one can only subsume rage for so long.

At the celebration dinner, Michele watches Ezequiel intently, waiting for her opportunity to strike.  Fernando tries to take the time to pull Michele aside to let her know that Raphael told him about her membership in the cause but Michele is so fixated on Ezequiel that she won't take the time out to speak to Fernando.  Michele watches as candidate after candidate approaches Ezequiel to thank him and realising that this is the only way to get close to him, Michele approaches Ezequiel and hugs him, using the hug to cover for her dropping poison in his drink. Michele moves off to the side and waits patiently for  Ezequiel to drink the poison. After some time passes, Ezequiel lifts his glass, making a toast to the new recruits and seconds later Cesar, one of the testers, falls to the ground. A horrified Michele watches as Cesar is rushed away for medical treatment.

Now that she's accidentally killed Cesar, Michele suddenly has time to speak with Fernando.  At this point, Fernando is so in love with Michele he doesn't care that she's murdered someone or is a member of the resistance.  How long have these two known each other exactly?  Michele is freaking out and tells Fernando to stay out of it but he's all in.

Cesar dies as a result of a poison which sets off a murder investigation. Ezequiel promises the council that he will get to the bottom of what happened to Cesar and get back to them shortly.

The candidates are isolated in the dining room.  Michele hands the empty capsule to Raphael and asks him to get rid of it for her. Michele doesn't want to do this herself because she knows that the candidates are being watched by CCTV. When Ezequiel enters the room, to avoid discovery, Raphael drops the capsule behind him. One by one, the candidates are brought in for questioning. When it's Fernando's turn, despite being told that he will be eliminated for collusion if he knows something but remains quiet, he lies and says that he knows nothing.  Raphael, who is also a member of the resistance lies.  When Michele is brought in, Ezequiel shows her Cesar's wife mourning over her dead husband. The guilt is clear on Michele's face but she denies murdering Cesar or knowing anything about his poisoning.

Rather than arresting Michele, whom Ezequiel clearly believes is guilty, Ezequiel arrests Aline and blames Cesar's murder on her.  Ezequiel even gets the resistance member who committed the first murder on the offshore to claim that Aline is a sleeper resistance agent whose job it was to infiltrate the offshore and get the leadership of the offshore to trust her, until she found an opportunity to act. Ezequiel argues to the council that Aline didn't actually mean to kill Cesar but was attempting to kill him because she wanted his position.

3%, Season One, Episode Six: Capítulo 06: Vidro

With only two episodes left, 3% is clearly leaning towards its big finally. Unlike previous episodes, Vidro isn't about filling in the back story of the characters but exposing the characters to the consequences for taking part in the process. The contestants are no longer competing as a group but individually thus raising the stakes even higher. 

It all begins when the contestants are given individual rooms for the very first time. It serves as a hint of the comfort that awaits them offshore should they be successful.  What they don't expect is that the allotment of individual rooms also comes with a new test.  In each room, is a huge container of money.  The contestants are free to take the money, which will drastically change their lives and return inland, or they can risk it all and continue trying to make it to the offshore. The money is no big deal to the people off the offshore because apparently, they don't use currency. 

Fernando is reunited with his father and though the two are happy at first, the reunion does not end well. After everything he has seen, Fernando is ready to quit the process. The money means that his father won't have to work so hard and that they can fix up there home. Fernando's father however won't hear of his son quitting because he believes fully in the process. When Fernando points out that though he was raised to believe in the process, he has come to recognise that this is his father's dream and not his own, Fernando is told that if he quits the process he will be disowned.  Having the possibility of returning home removed from him, Fernando has no choice but to continue on with the process.

Raphael is greeted by his mother who is excited to see the money that Raphael will gain if he quits.  Unlike Fernando, Raphael very much wants to stay in the process despite the fact that the money would help to lift his family out of abject poverty.  Raphael's mother is shocked by this and points out that she always did the best she could by him but Raphael feels differently and points out how many siblings he has.  With an impasse established, Raphael's mother threatens to tell the people overseeing the process that Raphael is actually Diego and that not only did he steal his brother identity, this is the second time he's going through the process. Raphael is shocked by his mother's threat but balances the conflict by saying that he will tell the people in charge of the process that she was in on the scam, thus ensuring that none of her other children will ever qualify for the process again.  Aware that she's beaten, Raphael's mother leaves his room but she yells loudly so that everyone can hear that Raphael has betrayed his family and is not who they think he is. 

Joana is greeted by a man who supposedly lied and claimed that he was her father in order to have access to her. Joana is given two choices, she can either quit the process and walk out with the stranger pretending to be her father,  then surrender her winnings, or he can kill her and go and get the reward from the mob boss whose son she killed.  Joana is stunned and unsure of what to do. In the end, Joana decides to fight back and when she becomes overpowered, she tells the stranger to kill her because she wants to be there and will never quit the process. It turns out that the entire scenario was a test and that Ezequiel knows Joana's background. Ezequiel designed the test to ensure that Joana actually wants to be on the offshore and not simply escape a problem inland.  Joana is relieved when she is informed that she passed her individual test. 

Ezequiel gets the news from Nair that Aline has submitted her review of his work and declared that all of his methods during the process are even handed and fair.  This means that Ezequiel is untouchable unless he decides to quit being the process leader.  Given that Aline is blackmailing him Ezequiel to quit, this heightens Ezequiel's depression.  Cássia finds a depressed Ezequiel in his room and he admits to being blackmailed by Aline. Cássia makes it clear that she believes in Ezequiel and is on his side but says that he has got to pull it together if he is going to rally the troops.  Cássia wants to know what dirt Aline has but at this time, Ezequiel believes it would be better if she didn't know.

3% Season One, Episode Four: Capítulo 04: Portão

I know that I've said this before but there's no way that society offshore is calm and serene. People who survive the testing absolutely have to be living with some form of PTSD, given what they are put through during the various challenges.  I haven't even been able to identify what specific traits they are looking for from the contestants at the end. 

When we last left the contestants they were locked in the dorm room. Some time has passed and they are starting to feel both hungry and thirsty and are unsure of what to do next.  Realising that this must be some new test, the contestants start to try to figure out what to do. There are eight rooms and each room has a series of levers. Marco pulls one down but nothing happens.  There's a board on the wall which Marco stares at for some time before figuring out that they are set to a pattern which  the levers must be pulled in.  After a little cajoling, Marco manages to convince the others to work together.  After successfully pulling the levers in order, the contestants are given enough food and water for one person.  Marco is quick to claim the food saying that it was he who figured out the board. It's a hot minute before he gets challenged with everyone pointing out that they all worked together to get the food. Finally, Michele suggests that they go in alphabetical order, that way everyone will get some food and water.  The contestants move the levers every time the pattern changes until each of them has a ration of food and water.

To some of the observers the fact that everyone worked together to get food and water means that everyone passed but of course, for  Ezequiel, a test without any eliminations simply will not work and so he demands that they keep watching to see what happens. When the contestants decide to get some rest because no matter how many times they pull the levers into the correct pattern it won't release anymore food, Ezequiel orders that all of the rations be dropped at once into the dorm area.  The contestants grab at the food quickly, not caring who gets what, and Michele again steps forward and this time she suggests that they count all of the supplies and distribute them equally. 

Marco watches as the food and water given out and it's clear he's not pleased with this outcome.  When Raphael suggests that maybe Marco should just hand over his share, Marco says that what they need to be doing is looking for a way out because that is the next test and the only explanation for why the supplies were dropped into the dorm. Marco decides to gather up the strongest contestants and pry the door open.  They only manage to get the door partway open and it's Raphael who slips through, only to find yet another door which is locked.  The situation looks hopeless.

We are given a flashback to Marco's time inland. It seems even though Marco was forced to live inland he has class privilege.  The walls in his dining room have pictures of members of his family who supposedly successfully passed the process.  Marco has been left in the care of a maid and when she cooks, she gives Marco the lions share. With Marco's 20th birthday approaching, he's given a letter from his parents to celebrate this momentous time. Before Marco leaves to take part in the process, he writes a letter and gives it to his pregnant girlfriend, to be handed over to his child when they turn 20.

3% Season One, Episode Three: Capítulo 03: Corredor

This episode is used to show us a little bit more about the background of the contestants.  According to Ezequiel, the point of the test for the contestants to let go of their pasts and their fears, to ensure that they are able to properly blend in with the residents offshore.  Given everything that we've seen thus far, I'm not at all convinced that people leave the testing area functional enough to create a so-called Utopian society. 

The test this time involved the contestants walking down a hallway together. They are warned that they have five minutes to complete the task. Before entering, they see another group which has been eliminated.  Some of the eliminated contestants have even wet themselves.  Still, the contestants enter the tunnel filled with false bravado. It's not long however before things change.

Ezequiel unleashes the gas into the chamber causing the contestants to start to hallucinate.  This is the first time that we actually see Joana lose her cool. When Joana was inland, she was attacked for stealing some coins and determined to get them back, she broke into some mob bosses home. Joanna grabs the backpack which was taken from her and then picks up a gun. Given that Joana was almost raped in an alley, it makes sense to me that she would want the gun for protection. Joana is startled by the sound of a toy car and shoots the weapon, thus killing the mob bosses son.  A teary Joana repeatedly tells the dead child how sorry she is before she flees.

Joana seeks help from her friend, certain that if she's found that she will be murdered.  Her friend helps her by implanting the chip of a dead woman about her age, thus allowing Joana to enter the competition. Because growing up, Michele had no one who cared for her, she didn't have anyone to register her for the competition.  Now we know how Joana was able to recognise Raphael's scar. Once the procedure is done, Joana's friend learns exactly what Joana did to end up in peril and kicks Joana out of her lab, saying that she now knows exactly what kind of person Joana is.  Joana tries to explain that it was an accident but her friend will have none of it.  

In the hallway, Joana is haunted with taunts of, "murderer". When Joana looks up, she sees a pipe releasing the gas and realises why she is hallucinating. Joana stumbles her way down the corridor and when she reaches the end, she places her hand on the hand print and demands to be let out, only to be told that the entire group has to make it to the end of the hallway for her to pass. A frustrated Joana heads back down the hall.

3%, Season One, Episode Two: Capítulo 02: Moedas

3% continues to be extremely fascinating, even though I really see it as low budget Hunger Games. The contestants all want to get to the offshore but some are far more willing than others to be ruthless about it.  At this point, I feel as though we are getting to know a little bit about the characters and their backstory. The writers are also beginning to fill in the world just a little bit as well.

Capítulo 02: Moedas, made use of a flashback to show us Fernando as a child. Fernando has been raised to believe in the Process and that one day he will take the test and pass.  We see Fernando's father giving a sermon to the people and it's clear that the social stratification between the 3% and the land locked has been elevated to a religion.  Fernando's father counsels his listeners to believe in the Process and even more specifically, in the Original Couple.  This really caught my attention because it seems as though a sort of Adam and Eve are at the heart of this religious belief. Where and how they fit in, we still don't know. We don't even know what drove humanity off of the land onto the so-called offshore oasis. 

The very first test this week is a medical test and as predicted, Fernando does not immediately pass.  Fernando is pulled aside for testing and it's clear that he is frustrated as the doctor pokes his legs repeatedly, testing for some kind of feeling. Fernando has become used to his disability and has learned to adapt. The doctor then injects something into Fernando's spine and suddenly he gets feeling. Fernando is informed that should he pass, there's a good chance that he will be able to walk again because medicine is more advanced offshore. 

I must admit to being disappointed with the very idea of a cure for Fernando's disability. I'm tired of seeing disability erased or magically cured.  Disabled people exist and deserve to be represented.  As you might well imagine, this throws Fernando for a loop. Learning that he might be able to walk one day shakes his very core. The only person Fernando initially tells about this is Michele, and she immediately congratulates him.  Fernando makes it clear that he didn't take part in the testing to cure his disability and feels that he is able and competent just the way he is, furthermore; Fernando feels that if he is magically cured of his disability that all of his struggling will have been for nothing. 

Joanna uses this break time to have sex with Lucas, after noticing him eyeballing her. Joanna and Lucas have sex in the bathroom with Joanna clearly taking the lead. Every damn thing that Joanna does is purposeful, so Lucas had better watch out. 

The next testing that the group engages in tests their ability to problem solve and to use logic.  A group of them are placed in a room which has been staged.   Mannequins are staged at a table and the group is told to figure out why one seems to be in distress. If the group comes up with the wrong answer, the entire group will be eliminated.  Fernando is the first one to look at the scenario and come up with a suggestion.  Fernando believes that the woman has been poisoned. As the group questions Fernando about his conclusions, they hear over the loudspeaker other groups being eliminated. 

3%, Season One, Episode One: Capítulo 01: Cubos

3% is the first Netflix original out of Brazil and the differences are immediately visible.  Unlike many shows created in North America, 3% has many people of colour in the cast.  Even if I didn't find the premise interesting right away, I think I would be compelled to give this more time than I would another show because it's refreshing to see so many hues of people on my television screen.

The premise of 3% is a futuristic dystopian world in which the majority of population lives in extreme privation while a privileged 3% live off shore in a utopian world. Each year, at the age of 20, in land citizens go through a form of rigorous testing which will decide if they will have a life filled with privation, or one of luxury and comfort.  As you might imagine, the test causes great anxiety for those participating. The testing and the lifestyle of the 3% is something that many in the 97 resent, so much so that they have created a resistance.

The candidates are notified via some device that has been implanted in their ear.  It's a long march to the testing site and when they arrive, they are told to change their clothing.  Candidates get weeded out almost instantly, as some fail the initial interviews.  The questions asked are designed to mess with the candidates emotionally and place them under stress.

Watching the entire interview process is Ezequiel, who is under much more stress regarding his selections than previous years.  The offshore, which is supposed to be a Utopia, has experienced its first murder in over 100 years. The murderer is a candidate who passed Ezequiel's rigorous testing the year before. Ezequiel is thrown for a loop when he is informed by counsellor Nair that Aline has been sent to observe the entire process this year and that many on the island blame Ezequiel for the murder. It's clear early on that Ezequiel is an arrogant tyrant who only cares about his testing procedures. The rejects who fall below the 3% maker are clearly people he sees as subhuman.  Ezequiel doesn't even respect his own staff and actually suffocates a woman in a sink full of water when she displays sadness that a reject jumped to his death after she failed to pass him.  Ezequiel felt that the only way to teach the lesson that what they do is a matter of life and death was to simulate drowning on a subordinate. It's only the first episode and I'm ready to see Ezequiel get his.

Although they all come from the same economic background, the candidates are very different personalities. There's Rafael, who falsified his registration and then cheated on a test to be able to stay in the running, in the process causing someone else to be eliminated. Rafael is smart enough to know that cheating caused great animosity among his fellow candidates and so he orchestrates a situation in which several candidates become violent in order to gain sympathy.  Rafael is absolutely conniving and when Joanna notices this, she enlists him as a team mate. For her part, Joanna is extremely bright and she exceeds on the first test. I love that she is laid back, bright and clearly full of some epic snark. Marco is perhaps the most confidant candidate of them all because his family has a history of passing the test.  Fernando is the disabled candidate and he refuses any and all help because he believes that looking like he needs help will eliminate him. Fernando however is willing to do a good turn when one is done for him.  At the end of one test, when it looked like Michele was going to be eliminated for failing to assemble enough blocks, Fernando quickly creates one large block allowing Michele to pass.