'Cable Girls' Season 5B: Did Francisco and Lidia get their happy ending? Here's what fans should look out for
Spoilers for 'Cable Girls' Season 5B
If you are a fan of Netflix's first Spanish original series, 'Cable Girls' aka 'Las Chicas del Cable', you would be divided between shipping Lidia aka Alba (Blanca Suarez) with either Carlos (Martino Rivas) or with Francisco (Yon Gonzalez). Lidia and Francisco had a history, but Carlos and Lidia had sweet chemistry.
In the first season, we learned that Francisco and Alba were childhood sweethearts, having run away together from their town to come to Madrid to seek their fortunes. Unfortunately, on reaching Madrid the two got separated. By the time they met each other again, Alba had become Lidia, intent on stealing from the safe at the company that Francisco and Carlos worked at together.
In her attempt to steal from the company, Lidia became closer to Carlos to access the key he had to the safe. Over the course of the first season, however, Lidia fell in love with Carlos, despite her lingering feelings for Francisco. When Carlos found out Lidia's real plans and that she was actually Alba (whom he knew about because he and Francisco were best friends), he felt cheated.
Over the next couple of seasons, we see that Francisco is still deeply in love with Lidia, who was finding it hard to let Carlos go. When she gets accidentally pregnant by Carlos, it gives the couple a chance to get back together and fall in love again -- and this time, Carlos did not let her go. They got married in Season 3 after the birth of their daughter, Eva. Francisco, who was still in love with Lida blessed the relationship because he wanted what was best for both Lidia and Carlos.
However, Carlos's close relationship with his mother, Carmen (Concha Velasco), continued to threaten his marriage. Carlos's inability to cut his mother out of his life even after she kidnapped their daughter and threatened her life was the last straw for Lidia. Moreover, she was upset at Carlos for keeping Francisco away from her after the latter suffered amnesia when he jumped in front of a gun to protect Eva. At the end of the fourth season, Lidia leaves Spain with Eva and Francisco.
With the fifth season being the final season, we figured it was still an even game between Carlos and Francisco. However, after having spent so many years together, it looked like Francisco and Lidia were having a happy life. When their adopted daughter, Sofia (Denisse Pena), runs away to fight in the Spanish Civil War, Lidia seeks Carlos's help. While they are initially antagonistic to each other, they make up, with Lidia promising Carlos that he can see Eva soon. Unfortunately, they get captured by the regime's forces. Carlos is killed for deserting, with his death made to look like a suicide.
In the second part of the final season, Francisco is determined to get Lidia back. Throughout the season, we see Francisco being a strong support to Lidia as she tries to save her friends and the other women at the reeducation camp. For most of the final season, however, fans of the ship may not have gotten any intimate moments between the two characters.
Those much-awaited moments come in the series finale. The first comes when Francisco runs after the moving train as Lidia reaches out to catch him -- mirroring a scene from their past when a young Alba runs after a moving train and Francisco catches her -- after which they kiss, potentially, one that fans have been waiting for a long time. The next comes at a more tragic circumstance when Lidia and her friends decide to sacrifice themselves to save the others. Francisco is hurt, but he understands.
Perhaps this was always the befitting end for Lidia -- not to end up with either Francisco or Carlos, but with her fellow cable girls, the women she spent two decades with learning and growing while fighting for their liberty. It also shows that Lidia trusts Francisco enough to bring up Eva on his own -- something we understand given his protective nature towards Sofia.
While fans of the Francisco-Lidia ship may have not got the best happy ending for the couple, we think that the ending is the one that the characters deserved.
All episodes of 'Cable Girls' are now streaming on Netflix.