“Sky Rojo” was a spectacular series, with our favorite part of it being how well-written the characters were. There was a consistency to them, along with believable character growth that aligned with the pace and journey of each of them. Even Romeo, the primary antagonist, has his ups and downs that justify the unhinged quality of his character. But Moises was one person who left us feeling frustrated and angry. If we look at the events of “Sky Rojo” objectively, despite Romeo’s ultimate end, we don’t believe that the scales of justice were really even. Can a horrific death really be compensation for the numerous lives it has destroyed? But if we ignore that for a second, he was at least treated as the villain that he was. “Sky Rojo” attempted to show Moises as a gray character when in reality, he was no different from Romeo.
Moises did not come from a privileged background. He grew up in a household where he regularly saw his mother being abused by his father. He was rather young when he had to take a stand, and that happened in the form of him killing his father in an attempt to protect his mother. As a scared young boy, the only person he could turn to was Romeo, who helped him bury his father without judging or asking too many questions. We might be right when we guess that it was the first time in Moises’ life that someone had protected and helped him that way. It was the kind of thing one expected from a father figure or a big brother, and Romeo became both for him. Moises’ entire life was centered around his loyalty to Romeo, borne out of that incident. His exact words to Coral were that he had grown up in a messed-up household and he had done some highly questionable things to survive, which is why he never judged Romeo for the things he did. But what Moises forgets here is that survival is different from exploitation.
It is an unfair and cruel world where very few are afforded the luxury of always being on the right side of the law. But that still doesn’t equal what Romeo was doing. He was making use of a twisted power balance and ruining the lives of many women. Moises had the intelligence to see this, but we don’t think he cared simply because he was a man. As long as he and his family were safe, he didn’t care what happened to others; in fact, he actively participated in it. When we say this, we are not just referring to the fact that it was he who told the girls the lies before taking them from their families. When he was chasing the girls throughout “Sky Rojo” Seasons 1 and 2, it was for the sake of soothing the wounded pride of Romeo and himself. Let us say he was bound to Romeo by his loyalty; let us say that he was able to believe in his own justification of prostitution for the women being a better life than what he had brought them. But it still cannot be denied that he was cruel to women. He locked up and killed a woman when she could not give him the whereabouts of the girls after they had escaped. We cannot forget the inhuman way in which he had partially unclothed the women before threatening them for the information. He clearly saw the women as objects, and the loss of their lives, agency, or dignity meant nothing to him.
Another example of this is his upbringing of Christian. Moises’ younger brother was a cruel man, bordering on psychotic. While Moises had a reason to be loyal to Romeo, Christian was almost fanatical in the way he went about his job. It is unmistakable that he relished the power that came with the job, and he used it brutally. What he had done to Wendy just showed the extent of his fanaticism. We also did not miss that he had the support of Moises for that action of his. But what really showed us just how dangerous he was was when he forced himself on one of the security guards at the club as a “joke.” The women watching realized the horror of the situation, but not a single man present did. None of the guards stopped him, and neither did Moises, who just did not seem to care. In fact, it was this particular episode that showed us how far gone the brothers were. As Coral says in her voiceover, Christian had no idea about the limits of a joke because he had never been taught them by his parents. What we are asking is, was Moises aware of those boundaries? When Christian was in the middle of the act, Moises did not even bat an eyelid. Yes, he was dealing with the guilt of having buried Coral underneath the concrete, but was he really that desensitized to what Christian was doing to one of his colleagues? It only meant that he saw nothing wrong with Christian’s actions because they weren’t affecting his family. The brothers claimed they wanted to leave this life behind for a different one, but the normal world wasn’t for them. When Moises saves the three girls, he doesn’t do it out of a sense of right and wrong. It was only for Coral and his inability to cope with the loss of a woman he loved. But the family still meant everything to him. He did not even admonish Christians when he killed his friend and spiritual advisor. Moises did mention in “Sky Rojo” Season 1 that he had gone to therapy to learn to control his anger, but he had obviously left the rest of his issues untreated.
In the final season, Moises lost his entire family to the actions of the man he had pledged his life and loyalty to. One might argue that they were just desserts, but were they really? It is upsetting that Moises’ mother was caught in the crossfire, but we believe that Christian was dealt a rather soft hand, considering the things he had done. Of course, Moises did not see it that way. When he helped the girls kill Romeo, it was motivated by his own need for revenge. He still wasn’t doing it because it was the right thing to do.
Moises’ past does not excuse his actions as Romeo’s aide. He was just as responsible as Romeo and did not deserve to be let off so easily. Please don’t try to tell us that his life was his punishment. He had a lot of money and the intelligence to use it to live a comfortable life. There was no justice when it came to him, not even the amount that Romeo was dealt with, and that will always be a thorn in our side.
