Rulers of Fortune (Os Donos do Jogo, TV Series 2025) Recap & Ending Explained: Does Profeta Take Over the Syndicate?

The Brazilian series “Rulers Of Fortune” (Original title: “Os Donos do Jogo”) is yet another thankless addition in the ever-expanding pantheon of gambling and syndicate dramas. Its release clashes with Edward Berger’s “Ballad Of A Small Player,” starring Colin Farrell as a swindler who’s run out of luck. What unites the two isn’t just this spiralling obsession, the greed and undoing of it all, but also the sheer futility in both projects. The two are matched by an inability to say anything riveting whatsoever. While Berger’s drama hides behind florid style, the series packs in too much, resulting in an overcooked mess. When there are so many strands let off in a particular narrative, there’s a threat of imminent collapse if they aren’t handled deftly. This is what plagues the show.

Characters dash by. Plots and counter-intrigues are hatched. There are gestures towards great, humbling consequences. It’s a saga of ambition and backstabbing sans much bite. Maybe major stuff even happens, but it all glides by in such a fitful daze, a peculiar stupor stifling any attempted momentum. Things are primed in the show only to be foiled with time. There are feuds in love and business that never kick in with force and persuasion. It’s more maladroit than artfully convincing, shoehorning the narrative into a clutch of heightened contrivances. Elements jar against each other in an awkward fusion with characters trying to outsmart one another. What could have been intriguing struggles to muster any palpable tension.

Rulers of Fortune (Os Donos do Jogo, TV Series 2025) Recap:

This is a sprawling ensemble. You get the show overexerted a lot in introducing several characters, angles, and crises. But all of it isn’t folded in with nuance or playful complexity. The depth is as flickering and flitting as a mucky cauldron of inconsistent seasonings. A surfeit of tracks drowns out any sustained investment. The show operates moodily, drifting from one track to another with a fundamental confusion of how and where to press its emotional buttons. This leaves the series dried up, despite ample action and a profusion of plot. When things are so crowded, jostling for attention and primacy, you can barely fixate on one thing before you’re beckoned to the next point. The series darts from one quandary to the next, often slipping off any mooring altogether.

Andre Lamoglia is terrific, subtle, and brazenly dramatic by turns. He tides past a lot of weaker portions, but the whole thing is too mangled in a foolish power game whose stakes never accrue much urgency. Lamoglia makes a lot of his character, Profeta’s journey, as he rises through the ranks, more emotionally cohesive than it really is. This is the ultimate odyssey of a young man making his mark in uncertain territory, sharpening his wits and tactics, and testing the waters. His trying to navigate Rio’s underworld dangles high danger as several threats crack open. Things he might have never calculated or seen coming assume massive proportions. His father dissuades him, but his brother, Nelinho, keeps trusting him. But there’s also another brother, Esqueleto, who’s more dismissive and sceptical, keener on the suggestions of his partner, Sombra.

How does Profeta’s agenda kick off?

Profeta steals a truck of slot machines. Pandemonium erupts. He orchestrates this, confident that Bufalo, a new member of the syndicate, would apprehend Gerson, his imminent father-in-law’s right-hand. This might bring ruptures in the film, cause a jolt of trust, rip through the very foundations. Profeta’s hunch turns out right. Buffalo punches Gerson to death. Jorge, the imminent father-in-law, had assembled the Board, but he’s not doing well. It’s Bufalo who takes care of matters.

So, clashes ensue between Profeta and Bufalo. The latter doesn’t initially see the former as a primary rival. He doesn’t give it much thought or consideration. Instead, Profeta pairs up with Mirna, the sister of Bufalo’s wife, Susana. Mirna thought she would have nothing and that Bufalo and Susana might get their hands on everything. She believes in Profeta. So, together, they can stir a storm, emerge as a formidable duo that can do it all, get whatever they lay their eyes on.

Rulers of Fortune (Os Donos do Jogo, TV Series 2025) — A still from “Rulers of Fortune” (*Os Donos do Jogo,* TV Series 2025)

Susana suspects there might be something brewing between Mirna and Profeta. Mirna acts all coy and oblivious about him, while it couldn’t be clearer that there’s a spark between her and Profeta. Bufalo isn’t initially serious about this, but soon comes around. A plot is set off. Susana buys a safehouse, and soon enough, Profeta and Mirna raid it. Profeta gets caught up in a money-lending situation, which is why he takes refuge in the safehouse. There’s a shootout, which he surprisingly survives.

How does Profeta wipe out Bufalo?

This incident is the turning point, where Bufalo collects his seething revenge on Profeta. Mirna insists on the Board to give her and Profeta shelter from Bufalo’s wrath. She makes herself and Profeta victims. The Board entreats Profeta and Bufalo to arrive at an agreement. But Bufalo violates it, and the bloodbath erupts. Suzana agrees to kill her husband, but she fibs. Her loyalties to Bufalo have remained perfectly intact. But this is envisaged by Profeta and Mirna, and Bufalo ultimately does get killed.

But troubles for Profeta don’t just magically end. He gets a confession video, doubling as blackmail by a person who claims to have witnessed him killing the driver of the truck with the slot machines. Profeta deduces soon enough it is Emerson, whom Bufalo had put up to the task. Only if Emerson gets slain can the mess be cleared once and for all.

There are more, far greater ramifications to be considered, and they gradually spiral into central focus. Several revelations spill to the fore. Xavier discovers that Jefferson is the son Leila had with Jose after she eloped and left Galego. Xavier had killed Jose all those years back, but didn’t harm the baby. He wanted Santiago, Galego’s son, to take over his reins, though the father doesn’t see much merit in his son. Done with living, Xavier kills himself and confesses it all in a letter, which Jefferson uncovers.

Rulers of Fortune (Os Donos do Jogo, TV Series 2025) Ending Explained:

Does Profeta Take Over The Syndicate?

Jefferson storms into the Board meeting, confident he has perfectly covered his tracks. Strange relationships are waiting to be made sense of and reconciled with. The Board enthusiastically greeted his arrival. But would Santiago do his bidding? Suzana, too, will clobber for her place on the Board. Esqueleto sees that Profeta can do anything that ensures his family’s best interests. Things seem to be improving between the brothers. However, Sombra keeps sullying Esqueleto. Profeta kills Sombra, which turns his brother yet again on him. Jefferson has replaced Bufalo at the table, encouraged by Galego.

The show obviously sets up for a second show, and you can gauge how much Profeta has to ward off and ensure his defences are maintained, be it the question of Suzana or upstaging Jefferson. So, Profeta has to do many balancing acts. Would he be able to shift among all sides and not get called out? Those answers will become clearer in the next season. He’ll have ample players to go up against, though he has climbed to a mighty position by the first season finale.