Netflix’s Young Millionaires revolves around four seventeen-year-olds from Marseille who won a lottery of seventeen million euros, and then had no clue what to do with the money. As youngsters from humble backgrounds, they knew that the cash could completely transform their lives, but at first all they wanted to do was experience the finer things in life without any guilt. Even before they claimed the seventeen million euros, David, Leo, Samia, and Jess decided to party hard. They begged, borrowed, and stole cash to live a little lavishly and party like they never had before. The next morning at breakfast, they finally decided to glance through the rules to withdraw their winnings, and they discovered that they had to be above the age of eighteen to claim the prize. None of them were about to turn eighteen in the next sixty days, by which time the lottery ticket would expire. They had to come up with a plan—they needed to find a trustworthy adult who would help them withdraw the money.
Spoiler Alert
What was Victoire’s secret?
The group’s decision to let their literature teacher, Mr. Pivot, withdraw their winnings failed in the most spectacular way. While Mr. Pivot agreed to get them the cash in exchange for a million euros, he met with an accident just as he was about to cross the road and walk into the lottery office. Mr. Pivot ended up in a hospital, and David, Leo, Samia, and Jess had to come up with innovative ways to get the lottery ticket back out of his wallet. Jess pretended to be Mr. Pivot’s daughter, and she somehow managed to get the ticket. David got extremely worked up about the situation since he owed money to his stepbrother, Samir, who was a local gang leader. He ended up insulting his friends, so Jess decided to do what she thought would be best. The next day, when David, Samia, and Leo learned from the local newspaper that a man named Patrick Fiori had withdrawn their lottery winnings, they lost their cool. They managed to track down Fiori’s house, and they were surprised to find their classmates Victoire and Jess there.
Jess explained that since Victoire was eighteen and reliable, she’d decided to disclose their lottery win to her. The picture and name of the lottery winner were fake, but the address turned out to be accurate. Victoire was new to their school; she barely had any friends, and she was usually quite awkward around her peers. The four friends were surprised as well as a little intimidated when they found out that Victoire came from wealth. Victoire’s bank manager informed Leo, David, Samia, and Jess that the money would be transferred to their accounts when they turned eighteen. Until then, they could only spend their money through Victoire. While the bank manager had informed them that they could access the money with their cards, according to Victoire, she hadn’t yet received their cards, so until they did, they had to use hers to make transactions. Leo, David, Samia, and Jess didn’t like the arrangement; they needed Victoire’s approval before every decision they made, and even with all the money they had, they didn’t really have any freedom.
From episode 3 of Young Millionaires, it was evident that Victoire wasn’t completely honest. She already had the debit cards, but she hid them, probably because she wanted to be the one with all the power, and she knew that she wouldn’t be of any use to them once they could individually access the money. Not only that, but Victoire had lied about her mother’s death. She had told her new friends that her parents were murdered by thugs, and as it turned out, she’d lied to gain sympathy.
Victoire was a lonely teen, and she’d hoped her little tactics would help her become friends with Jess and the rest. She eventually handed David, Jess, Leo, and Samia their cards; probably by that time she figured that they would not dump her, and she knew that she was being unfair to them. When an anonymous messenger started to blackmail the lottery winners, they assumed Victoire was playing them. After breaking into her house and going through her passport, they’d discovered that Victoire’s original name was Katarina, and she was from Serbia. Victoire admitted that she’d lied, and she was ashamed of how far along things had gotten, but she wanted her new friends to believe that she didn’t have any ill intentions at heart. She explained that the previous year, when she was dating a senior from school, his friends had filmed her without her consent and posted the explicit video online. It soon became viral, which was why she had to move to Marseille and change her name. Victoire apologized for lying about her parents’ murder; she admitted that it was pathetic of her to make up stories only to feel seen. David recognized Victoire’s tattoo from the video she’d mentioned, and he realized that she was telling the truth.
Who was the blackmailer?
Just when the four friends finally had access to the money and thought that they could relax, an anonymous messenger threatened to expose them. It was not just the fact that minors were not allowed to enter lotteries, the messenger also intended to frame them for Mr. Pivot’s condition. If he died, they stood the chance of facing murder charges. The blackmailer took sadistic pleasure in pitting the friends against each other to prove whether they valued their friendship over money. It was evident that they were not blackmailing just for the money; they wanted the four friends to suffer and surrender everything they loved and valued in their lives.
Leo had to take back all the presents he’d gifted his girlfriend, Chloe (which ultimately resulted in their breakup), and David was asked to throw away his treasured baby blanket; it was the only thing his birth mother had left him. Even though David threw it away at first, he immediately jumped into the water body to bring it back. Jess was challenged to take her mother to a dinner party she was invited to. She had recently struck up a conversation with her estranged father (who didn’t know Jess was his daughter) at a golf club, and he’d invited her to the party. Jess knew her mother would be an embarrassment, but she didn’t have a choice. Later, her mother admitted that she’d had a one-night stand with him, and that was why her father didn’t even recognize her mother. The truth was not easy for Jess to accept. Samia was challenged to take drugs, but she refused to do it. Since all the challenges were not completed, the blackmailer asked them to either accept the fact that they would end up in prison or transfer them the entire lottery winnings. The four agreed that they couldn’t afford to go to prison. Since the money was in Victoire’s account, they had to convince her to transfer it. They lied about getting beaten up by a gang, and they explained that they had to pay up to stay alive. Victoire sympathized with their situation, and she immediately agreed to transfer the money.
Now that they didn’t have to worry about the blackmailer, David got them entangled in another mess. Samir had found out that he and his friends had won the lottery, and he demanded a share. He’d even made arrangements to expand his business based on the money he would receive from David. So, there was no way David could discuss his current situation with Samir. David told his friends that the only option they had left was to run away. Samir had gotten involved with an organized crime gang, so there was no way they would let go of him or David and his friends if Samir didn’t stick to his end of the bargain. When Samia told her boyfriend, Paul, that she would have to skip town, he offered to help them. He got the bank information of the perpetrator from her; he traced the account and hacked it. While the money was yet to be transferred to Victoire’s account, he promised that it would be done within a few days. After hacking into the perp’s account, he found incriminating evidence that he suggested they could use to put the blackmailer behind bars if they continued to bother the gang. Paul saved their lives, and naturally Samia and her friends were grateful to him.
During Young Millionaires’ ending, Samia and her friends discovered that it was Paul who had been blackmailing them. Paul was obsessed with Samia, and when she broke up with him, he was devastated. Instead of trying to move on, he came up with a plan to impress Samia. He hacked Samia and her friends’ phones, and that was presumably how he found out that they had won the lottery. He then collected evidence to blackmail them. And when they were in trouble, he decided to become their messiah and alter Samia’s perception of him. While Samia was grateful to Paul, she couldn’t suppress her feelings for Leo. They were attracted to each other, and when Leo confessed his feelings, Samia was about to kiss him, but their friends interrupted the moment. Paul had fixed a hidden camera in Leo’s room, and he saw everything. He was afraid of losing Samia, so he invited her to his place and proposed they spend the night together. Samia didn’t protest; she was confused about her feelings.
The next morning, when Samia woke up, she noticed a notification on Paul’s phone. It said that a movement was detected in Leo’s room, so she opened the app and was stunned to discover that Paul had set up a camera in Leo’s room. Samia figured out Paul was the blackmailer, and she immediately tried to leave, but he woke up. He asked her to stay, and he was quite persistent. Samia was afraid that Paul would harm her if she protested, so she stayed back. She shared her location with her friends, and they came to her rescue. David, Jess, and Leo had also found evidence against Paul; they had once chased the blackmailer, and in the surveillance footage, the perpetrator’s face was clearly visible—it was unmistakably Paul in the hoodie.
Did Victoire conspire with Paul to expose the group?
Even though at first it looked like Victoire was furious when she discovered that David and his friends had tried to double-cross her when they won the lottery, we eventually find out that it was all a part of the gang’s elaborate plan. After everything that they’d been through, David, Jess, Leo, and Samia decided to confess the truth to Victoire. They felt guilty that they didn’t offer her a share after they found out about their lottery win (they believed they owed it to Victoire because she too had suggested her lucky number for the lottery). They’d realized Victoire was trustworthy after she readily agreed to transfer the money when they told her that a gang had roughed them up. So, they ultimately chose to come clean to her, and she agreed to help them get their revenge as well as their money back. She was told to approach Paul and tell him how David and his friends had tried to double-cross her, and that together they must plan something to completely destroy them. Paul pretended to be innocent at first, but when Victoire revealed all his secrets, he finally admitted that he was the blackmailer. She stated that since they were both victims of the gang, they must unite and take them down.
Victoire explained that the gang already knew the truth and that they were acting innocent to trap him. Paul started to trust Victoire after he figured that all her intel checked out. Victoire told him that Samia and her friends had handed his offshore account details, name, and address to the cops, and she advised him to act immediately before the money was seized (this was a lie). Since Paul didn’t intend on traveling to Panama to access his account, Victoire offered an alternative. Her bank manager drafted an agreement so that they could launder the money into bogus companies, and after some time, they would get back the capital, which Paul and Victoire could split amongst themselves. Paul signed the document without even reading it.
Victoire encouraged Paul to expose David and his friends at David’s bar mitzvah party. Paul stuck to the plan, especially after seeing Samia kiss Leo (it was part of the gang’s plan, but after they kissed, they realized that they were in love). Paul plugged in the hard drive, but instead of incriminating photos and videos of the gang, a funny animated video of Paul started to play on the giant screen. Victoire showed him the finger with a smirk on her face. Paul realized that he’d been fooled. David and his gang had been tailing him, and they stole the hard drive from its hiding place. They then deleted all the evidence Paul had against them and switched it for a funny video of him.
In Young Millionaires’ ending, Victoire informed Paul that the agreement he’d signed didn’t guarantee fifty percent of the company; instead, it stated that he would only receive fifty shares that totaled up to eight thousand euros. Paul was shattered; he had no choice but to accept his defeat.
What will the friends do with the lottery money?
David’s bar mitzvah party ended on a happy note. He performed his first track with Leo’s brother, Tom, and he no longer had to worry about money, at least not for the next few years. His friends gifted him a puppy wrapped in his baby blanket, and he promised to never abandon it. During the ending of Young Millionaires, we discover that Mr. Pivot had regained consciousness, and he asked his students to pay him two million euros this time, a little extra for the pain he had to endure. David had always dreamt of traveling to LA for his music career, but maybe after everything he and his friends had been through, he might decide to stay back, to at least complete his education.
Can There Be A Season 2?
If Young Millionaires returns with a second season, maybe the show will focus on David’s search for his mother. In episode 7, just when David thought he would have to run away, he decided to fill out a form to find out about his origins. So, it is likely that in the next season David might travel to find his birth mother, and that in itself can be quite the adventure. At the end of the final episode, Jess proposed that they set up a business plan because this time they intended on investing their money in the right direction instead of just spending it away. David mentioned that he already had an idea, but he didn’t reveal it—maybe he wants to build a recording studio and start a music career in Marseille with his friends? That seems quite likely. Jess didn’t plan on leaving; she wanted to look after her mother and her little brothers, and maybe she’ll also get to spend some time getting to know her estranged father. Samia, too, wanted to stay; her soccer career came to an abrupt end due to her heart condition, and maybe the business will make her feel hopeful about her life again. Leo’s dream of living together with his friends in a farmhouse might as well come true! So, will Paul try to mess with the gang again? That remains debatable. Considering Paul is an egoistic man, he will never forget the humiliation and he might just return with a full proof plan to take down the gang.
