City of Shadows season 1 ending explained: What happens to the serial killers?

Jorge Torregrossa's City of Shadows season 1is Netflix's newest crime thriller series that tells a tale of a city's hidden chaos and corruption that is revealed after a serial killer starts targeting high-profile individuals.

Two unlikely detectives, Milo and Rebeca, work together to uncover the mystery of the killer called Gaudí's Shadow and why they are making a public spectacle of the people they are killing. 

The limited series features six episodes that are about an hour long each. City of Shadows season 1 ends in a full-circle moment for Gaudí's Shadow, the culmination of their revenge plan. They take their own lives by setting themselves on fire as they did with their victims. 

Episode 6, titled Sagrada Familia, also wraps up the entire mystery of Gaudí's Shadow, who they are, and the driving force behind their fiery crimes. The series also gives a satisfactory ending to the corruption that the whole investigation has uncovered.

Who are the serial killers and what happens to them at the end of City of Shadows season 1

The sixth and final episode of City of Shadows season 1 wraps up the mystery surrounding the serial killers called the Gaudí's Shadow. They turn out to be a brother-sister duo, Hector and Helena Guitart. Rebeca reckons in the end that the "G" symbol refers to their surname. 

Hector and Helena's revenge plot culminates in one last fiery plan. They are going to take their lives the way they killed those other people. Hector's plot is at the Sagrada Familia during the pope's visit. He has already lit himself on fire before Milo and Rebeca arrive at the scene.

However, they arrive just before Helena can do the same at Palau Güell. But Milo fails to stop Helena's plan. She sets herself on fire before jumping off the building and falling to her death. 

Why do Hector and Helena target Pinto and Torrens

Besides the serial killers' identities, the finale also reveals why they became serial killers in the first place and why they targeted the people they did. Their revenge plan is rooted in the time they lost their home because of the Pinto Plan reconstruction project. Losing their home was also the reason their father died, something they witnessed happening. 

From there, the siblings have been stuck in a series of abuses that fueled their actions and revenge in the years to come. Orphaned, they were sent to one of the Torrens Foundation facilities - the La Ferradura. Hector and Helena experienced varying kinds of abuse from Felix Torrens while in the orphanage.

The consistent abuse and exploitation have created a trauma that drives their revenge at the present time. It's why they targeted Eduardo Pinto and then Felix Torrens. As for Gaudí's involvement in their plot, Torrens was a huge fan of him. It also influenced Hector's obsession with drawing Gaudí's famous buildings and they end up using his constructs to make a spectacle of their crimes. 

City of Shadows season 1: Is Judge Susana dead or alive at the end

While Gaudí's Shadow's fate is sealed by the last plan in their revenge plot, the fate of their final victim remains up in the air. Judge Susana hasn't turned up lit on fire in public like the others, so she must still be alive. And before Helena plunges to her death, she unknowingly gives a hint of where she and Hector had put the judge. 

She says that they have taken her air out, which Rebeca decodes to the siblings' family mausoleum. Her hunch turns out to be correct because they later find Susana trapped inside one of the fixtures. They arrive just in time to save her - she's barely breathing but still alive. 

Watch all six episodes of City of Shadows season 1 on Netflix.