Jeronimo Soares, the main antagonist in Good Morning, Veronica Season 3, was a complicated individual going through an existential crisis. To begin with, Jeronimo hated his father, Monsignor Davila, yet he believed in his ideals. Monsignor ran a human trafficking ring in Brazil during the 1970s, and at the height of his crime, he had a victim named Diana in his orphanage, with whom he had many children. Jeronimo was one of them. According to the series, Monsignor, the Holy man, used to sell babies to childless parents for a price, but for Jeronimo, Monsignor made an exception. He believed Jeronimo was a miracle child, which was why Monsignor took him under his wings and taught him the nitty-gritties of the business. Diana, on the other hand, never missed a chance to make Jeronimo realize the crimes his father had committed against his mother. Jeronimo’s loyalty towards his father slowly turned into hatred, and after Monsignor’s death, the son made a promise to himself that he’d never end up like his father. Yet, here we are.
Spoiler Alert
Who was Jeronimo Soares?
Born on March 24th, 1972, in Monte Azul, Jeronimo and his mother moved to a large horse farm outside the city after Monsignor’s death. While Good Morning, Veronica didn’t mention whether Diana had any involvement in Monsignor’s death, we could speculate that she indeed helped Claudio and Matias get rid of her rapist so that she could inherit the money and live a peaceful life after his death. But killing a man doesn’t end his influence on the people he leaves behind, which unfortunately was true in Diana’s case. Even though the woman was able to escape the physical cage, mentally, she was still Monsignor’s victim and, therefore, continued his legacy even after his death. When Jeronimo and Diana arrived at the horse farm, they started the human trafficking racket from scratch, but this time, they used the horse breeding business as a front for the illegal trade. Throughout the series, Jeronimo kept telling Veronica that he wasn’t like his father, as he never touched his victims, but he had been doing the same thing in a different way.
So, Jeronimo was not a horse breeder. Instead, he ran a women’s auction racket, selling girls to the Brazilian bigshots, ranging from high-class businessmen to ministers holding important positions. Jeronimo had recorded these men in compromising situations so that he could blackmail them in exchange for protection from the law. However, what differentiated Jeronimo from his sworn rival or competitor, Matias, was the fact that Jeronimo didn’t yearn for a spotlight. But if that were true, why did Jeronimo sell babies and hold VIP auctions for his guests? Well, the most logical answer to the question would be that Monsignor had deeply impacted Jeronimo. He had brainwashed Jeronimo since childhood, which is why, even though he hated his father, he continued to follow his path because he didn’t know anything else.
Throughout the series, Jeronimo struggled with his identity and couldn’t face the horrors of his past. He was a quiet man with a lot of suppressed emotions, which he would eventually take out on his victims. Monsignor tamed Jeronimo like an animal, and as a result, the boy exercised absolute control over the women he held captive and used them as disposable items, showing no sign of mercy. It is true that Jeronimo was very different from Matias, who would let his victims leave after sexually assaulting them. But Jeronimo would kill them in cold blood so that they could never pose a threat to him or the empire he had created. With time, Jeronimo had turned into a cold-blooded killer, deprived of any sign of empathy, not even for his mother. He had only one goal: to continue his father’s bloodline, and he was ready to go to any extreme to achieve the same.
How did Matias die?
Jeronimo always knew that Matias and Claudio had poisoned Monsignor in prison, but their actions didn’t bother Jeronimo, as he hated his father. However, Jeronimo did share an enmity with the popular Matias for a different reason. Matias was his father’s favorite, a validation that Jeronimo had craved for his entire life. The series also suggested that Jeronimo and Matias shared an intimate relationship during their orphanage days, something Jeronimo wasn’t proud of, which was why he cut off all ties with Matias and got settled in a secluded corner of the world. From here, Jeronimo built his empire and became a merciless trafficker.
Jeronimo never really considered Matias and Claudio, his father’s true flag bearers, to be his brothers, for a simple reason: they didn’t share the same bloodline. However, for some reason, most likely because of his mother, Jeronimo never took any action against the two brothers and let them carry on their business. When Matias was thrown in the clink, he believed Jeronimo and Diana would help him escape, but Jeronimo didn’t bother because he was more than happy with Matias’ downfall. However, when he escaped prison and arrived at Jeronimo’s farm and dared to touch Diana, Jeronimo couldn’t hold back any longer and unleashed his fury upon his sworn enemy, smashing his head brutally with his horse. It was the end of the road for Matias. And for his daughter, Angela, Jeronimo had no sympathy either. He would have sold her or impregnated her for a baby because, for Jeronimo, she was just a nobody.
How did Jeronimo die?
As the Good Morning, Veronica finale season began, Jeronimo was in a hurry to get an heir from Diana because he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness that was going to take his life soon enough. And even though Monsignor had too many sons and daughters, Jeronimo considered himself to be the only legitimate son of his father and bore the burden of continuing his bloodline through his pureblood heir. But with Diana, Jeronimo only found disappointment, which was why he quickly turned his eyes to Veronica.
The first meeting between Veronica and Jeronimo seemed strange, but it was staged. Perhaps Jeronimo knew the truth that Veronica was Monsignor’s daughter, or maybe he had his doubts, which was the reason why he didn’t kill her when Veronica arrived at his town looking for answers. After Veronica left, Jeronimo tested her DNA to learn more about her lineage and came to believe she was indeed his sister. In simple words, Veronica was the perfect breeding mare for Jeronimo, but he didn’t want to force himself upon her. Instead, he wanted Veronica to submit to his wishes and become a part of his project. Veronica, however, wasn’t delusional like these disturbed men in the series, and therefore raised her voice against their crimes.
As for Diana, she could very well understand Jeronimo’s obsession with Veronica, but she felt insecure believing Jeronimo would stop loving her. To be honest, Jeronimo did distance himself from Diana after he found out that she couldn’t conceive because of her age and, therefore, treated her more like a mother instead of a lover. I know it sounds funny and disturbing at the same time. Nevertheless, it could be argued that Jeronimo’s patience was running thin with Veronica, and he would have taken a grave step after the yearly women’s auction. But, fortunately, Veronica used the distraction to turn the table around and burn Jeronimo’s legacy to the ground.
On the night of the event, Veronica, along with other prisoners, killed Jeronimo’s men and brought chaos to his farm. Jeronimo tried to escape with his mother, but Diana was already shot down, and she couldn’t move. While Jeronimo tried to help her, Veronica arrived at the stable and pointed a gun at Jeronimo in an attempt to make him surrender. But Jeronimo didn’t want to spend the rest of his days in prison, especially when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He took the gun from Diana’s hand and tried to shoot Veronica, but she was quick to react and put a bullet in Jeronimo that eventually took his life. The man died on the farm that he called his heaven. Ironically, he died in the same stable cell where he would lock his victims, thereby serving a sort of poetic justice through his own death. Diana, on the other hand, had to witness her son’s death during the final moments of her life. She always believed that she would leave this world before him, and Jeronimo would miss her, but maybe fate had something else in store for the mother-son duo. Diana couldn’t bear to see her son die before her, and therefore, died by suicide, ending the cycle of pain forever.
What Will Happen to the VIP Bidders?
While investigating Jeronimo’s farm, Veronica found several hard disks with recordings of several men involved in illicit activities. These VIPs treated Jeronimo’s farm as a pleasure retreat where they were free to remove their masks of normalcy and paid a huge amount of money for it. It is possible that the police arrested a few important people from Jeronimo’s farm after Veronica raised the alarm. But as usual, most of these criminals were let go by the police due to a lack of evidence. Veronica knew that these corrupt men had the entire system in their pockets, and no sane law enforcer who liked having a job would dare investigate them. It was the reason why Veronica didn’t want to return to the police department and instead became a vigilante so that she could punish these men without any further delay. She didn’t need to arrest them anymore and could just kill them to put an end to their crimes without the involvement of any judge or jury. It wasn’t legal anymore, but Veronica didn’t have many options left either.
