'Cable Girls' Season 5B Ending Explained: Did Lidia, Marga, Carlota, Oscar, and their friends escape Spain?
Spoiler Alert for Season 5B of 'Cable Girls'
When the second part of the final season of 'Cable Girls' aka 'Las Chicas del Cable' began, Lidia (Blanca Suarez) was in a reeducation camp, after having been arrested at the end of the first part along with Carlos (Martino Rivas). Carlos was killed by Romero as revenge for deserting but was staged as a suicide. As such, with Carmen (Concha Velasco) being in charge of the reeducation camp where Lidia is, the latter is targeted because Carmen believes Lidia is responsible for her son Carlos's death.
Soon, however, Lidia escapes with the help of a nurse at the reeducation camp and her friends, Marga (Nadia De Santiago), Carlota (Ana Fernandez), Oscar (Ana Polvorosa), and Francisco (Yon Gonzalez). However, just as Lidia escapes, Marga is arrested and Lidia is determined not to let Carmen harm Marga.
Later, Lidia approaches Carmen's daughter, Elisa (Angela Cremonte) to help save Marga (Carlota and Oscar as well when Carmen has them arrested later). Elisa is part of a clandestine network and has those targeted by the regime hidden in her house. Moreover, she is also helping those hidden in her house get on a ship from a port in Southern France headed to Chile. When Lidia hears of this, she wants all the women she wants to free from the prison on the ship as well.
This leads to a big rescue mission and when Elisa is killed by Romero, Carmen agrees to help Lidia on the condition that Lidia captures Romero so that Carmen can get her revenge. While Lidia conspires with Pablo (Nico Romero) and Francisco to get Romero, Carmen does her part, and surprisingly, does not turn on Lidia. Instead, after giving the deeds to her properties to Lidia for Eva, Carmen shoots herself.
The men, women, and children on the run face many hiccups - first when Carmen's boss chases them. However, with Francisco's quick thinking, they are able to escape. Again, at the railway station, they are interrupted by officers. Francisco rises to the challenge once again, giving the show a chance to recreate Lidia's and Francisco's childhood train scene, with the roles reversed this time.
However, just as they are about to leave Spain's borders, they are once again stopped. This time, Lidia, Marga, Oscar, and Carlota know what they must do and pull the biggest sacrifice, something to top their lifetimes of working for liberation. Just as we think they are free, they are shot at by officers of the regime. The finale ends with the women coming out of the house they were hiding in and facing the officers - giving the series a bit of an open ending. We do see Francisco, Pablo, and the others make the trek as refugees, so it may be safe to assume that the cable girls died in their attempt to save their friends, giving them the chance at new lives.
We also appreciate the show's decision to end the visuals on the women facing their enemies bravely, rather than them being taken down. It gives a powerful image to fans, and an inspiring one to remember as they face their own trials and tribulations.
While 'Cable Girls' has officially ended, we hope Netflix considers spinoffs for the show. We would be very interested in following Sofia (Denisse Peña) and Eva's adventures as brave women, following in their mothers' footsteps.
All episodes of 'Cable Girls' are now streaming on Netflix.