WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Trese, now streaming on Netflix.
In the Naruto series, one of the biggest pet peeves was how the franchise revealed the main villain in a roundabout way. It kept faking fans out, initially making the Akatsuki the big bad, only to show it was being manipulated by Tobi. That was a fake-out as well when it's discovered he was Obito Uchiha, who wanted to destroy the world rather than control it.
Then it was revealed Madara, his ancestor, was the one pulling his strings, only for yet another twist to unveil Kaguya Ōtsutsuki as the real puppet master. All these curveballs were merely forcing shock value, and this formula has now been taken on by Netflix's Trese.
As the young paranormal detective Alexandra Trese scours Manila, she discovers a sinister web being woven in Season 1. She's a Lakan i.e. a mage responsible for keeping a balance between the supernatural and human worlds. Alexandra realizes someone's causing rifts and creating gang warfare with the different species. More accurately, mankind is getting caught in the crossfire, with people being used as sacrifices, food or as vessels when monsters come to the light.
Alexandra ends up exposing the tyrannical Mayor Santamaria, who is gentrifying slums to get humans for trafficking. He tries to play both sides for power and influence, but thanks to Nuno, an informant and Earth elemental who looks like a cross between a goblin and a sewer duwende, she gets intel to sort the mystery out. Nuno, after all, wants peace as that's best for business -- but it gets out of hand when Santamaria keeps raising creatures of the night in jail.
Santamaria is practicing rituals of his own, using suicide bombers on the outside, and letting the media know he won't stop destabilizing the district. But when Alexandra and her team head over and try to battle him with the military, they discover he's getting help from Nuno himself. The C.I. admits that once he helps Santamaria create destruction, the mayor will be able to run contracts and rebuild, making millions. In return, Nuno would get territory, human fodder and the ability to build an army of his own.
However, as Alexandra tries to lead soldiers in the battle, she's dealt another blow. General Villar, who was in charge, is revealed to be the mystical person orchestrating the scheme. He backstabs her, with a cook outside their camp actually poisoning his soldiers and turning them into zombie-like killers. But just as Alexandra tries to deal with this faction, Trese pulls a Naruto and drags another villain out. It turns out Villar is just a skin-suit that's ripped off to reveal the god of war, Talagbusao.
This dark god is the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki of Trese, confirming that Alexandra and her dad, Anton, didn't fully seal him away years ago. Humanity's desire for war brought Talagbusao back and since then, he's been in Villar's body, whispering in everyone's ear to keep the Philippines soaked in blood. This all might resonate more had the series spread it out over two seasons, but this is just convoluted and rushed in Trese's final two episodes, with minimal emotional connection to the villains.
Trese stars Shay Mitchell, Griffin Puatu, Nicole Scherzinger, Carlos Alazraqui, Manny Jacinto, Matt Yang King, Steve Blum, Eric Bauza, Darren Criss, Jon Jon Briones and Lou Diamond Phillips. Season 1 is streaming on Netflix.
