Netflix’s Man on Fire arrives at its explosive conclusion after seven relentless episodes of action, deception and emotional gut punches. The series, based on the A.J. Quinnell novel of the same name and inspired by the beloved 2004 film, follows former Special Forces operative John Creasy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as he battles crippling PTSD while being pulled into a political conspiracy that costs him almost everything and nearly costs him his life.
Who is really behind the high rise bombing?
For most of the season, Creasy operates on the belief that the FRP, a Brazilian extremist group led by an imprisoned man named Ferraz, carried out the bombing that destroyed the luxury high rise where his old friend Paul Rayburn (Bobby Cannavale) lived with his family killing them along with more than 600 others.
But in the penultimate episode, the truth comes out. Ferraz reveals to Creasy that Brazilian President Carmo (Billy Blanco Jr.), his political enforcer Prado Soares (Thomas Aquino) and American CIA agent Henry Tappen (Scoot McNairy) were the ones who engineered the attack. Their motive was twofold: steal the upcoming election and seize emergency powers over the country. To pull it off, they kidnapped Ferraz’s family and coerced the FRP into carrying out the bombing, which was originally targeting a different building altogether.
When Rayburn began to suspect leaks within the president’s inner circle and brought Creasy in to investigate, Tappen changed the target to the Rayburns building to eliminate them both. Ferraz also confirms to Creasy that fake emails were planted to frame Creasy himself as a co-conspirator in the attack. A phone call with Poe (Billie Boullet), Rayburn’s surviving teenage daughter, confirms that Tappen was the man she spotted on a motorcycle the night of the explosion.
How does Creasy take down Tappen, Soares and Carmo?
Creasy devises a plan centered on what he believes is Tappen’s insurance policy a dead man’s switch that would automatically release incriminating evidence against Carmo and Soares if anything happened to Tappen. By eliminating Tappen, Creasy figures the switch activates and the entire conspiracy unravels publicly.
The team stages an elaborate trap, luring Tappen and Soares to a fake recording planted to make them believe Ferraz had evidence against them. When they press play, it is Creasy’s voice they hear, not Ferraz’s, telling them they have just released a deadly toxin into the air. Rattled, the two men are rushed to the hospital exactly where Creasy needs them to be.
Who survives the hospital showdown?
The hospital sequence is the series most intense stretch of episodes. Creasy and Poe infiltrate the building disguised as medical staff, with taxi driver Valeria Melo (Alice Braga), her husband’s teenage cousin Livro, a gang member named Vico and a wealthy Russian named Ivan rounding out the crew.
The plan falls apart quickly. Tappen spots Poe and realizes it is a setup. A full standoff breaks out between the crew and Brazilian police. Creasy tracks down Tappen, and the two men engage in a brutal brawl before Creasy gains the upper hand, grabbing a scalpel from the floor and stabbing Tappen in the thigh, hitting a vital artery.
Creasy then rolls a Molotov cocktail to save his cornered crew, and the group makes a run for it but not before Creasy takes a shot to the arm. Moments later, Soares corners Poe with a gun to her head. She uses a self-defense move her father and Creasy had taught her to break free, and Creasy shoots Soares dead. The cost is steep: Creasy takes a bullet to the chest in the process.
How does the Man on Fire wrap up?
The finale delivers a satisfying resolution on multiple fronts. Brazilian news reports confirm that President Carmo has been arrested after evidence surfaced linking him, Soares and Tappen to the bombing. Creasy and his crew are credited with exposing the conspiracy.
Melo and her daughter choose to remain in Brazil, hopeful for change under a new government. Livro and Vico leave gang life behind to work on Ivan’s yacht. And Poe returns safely to the United States, where she delivers a eulogy at a memorial for her family with a recovered Creasy seated in the audience.
Will there be a season 2 on Netfix?
Netflix has not yet officially greenlit a second season, but the finale ends on a deliberate cliffhanger. At the memorial, Creasy receives a call from CIA director Moncrief (Paul Ben Victor), who tells him a new situation is developing one involving the people in Mexico City responsible for killing Creasy’s entire team four years earlier.
Director and executive producer Steven Caple Jr. has expressed genuine enthusiasm for continuing the story, telling Comic Book that Creasy is a character with a great deal more to explore and that he would happily follow him into a second chapter if the audience shows up for it.
