The Ending of Follow (2025) Somehow Makes the Film Dumber
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
The ending of Follow (2025), also known by its native language film title, Juegos de Seducción, does not help its case at all. Arguably, it makes the plot dumber with a nonsensical lead character. Sebastián’s romance with Carolina came with a warning from his best friend Maclo, who probably could not believe that his friend had become remarkably unintelligent overnight.
As Follow reaches the third act, con artist Sebastián is all-in with Carolina, despite all the evident red flags: her separation from her husband, Angel Correa, custody issues with her daughter, and her willingness to bring her husband down via Sebastián through a con.
The Con on Angel Correa
The con is (despite Maclo’s warning to Sebastián that Angel is dangerous) that Sebastián is negotiating a deal with Angel over a construction agreement. Sebastián and Maclo (using false names) claimed to Angel that they would be a construction company acting as a front, meaning more money for everybody, and any suspicions of illegal activity would be washed away. Of course, there’s no company, and there’s no intention of helping Angel – they take 273 million pesos off him as part of the deal, which is equivalent to $14 million with no intention of returning it.
Carolina’s Secret
The money arrives in Sebastián and Maclo’s bank account. Sebastián and Carolina celebrate all night, drinking and having as much sex possible. However, what Sebastián does not know is that she has spiked his drink, making him sleep heavily. While he was asleep, Carolina logged into the bank account and transferred their money out and disappeared.
It turns out that Carolina is the twist in the story; she conned Sebastián and cooperated with past victims (with one being Ana, a former student of Sebastian who was part of his hustling classes) to take him down. This was all a ruse so she could get her daughter back from her dangerous, abusive husband.
Desperate and looking for answers, Sebastián aggressively confronts Angel’s lover and learns that Carolina and Angel are already separated, and she has another apartment. He then finds a file that states Carolina is mentally unstable and has battled her husband in lawsuits. Sebastián concludes that Carolina plans to use the money to negotiate with her husband for custody of her daughter.
When a confused and dizzy Sebastián returns to his apartment, he finds Maclo has been shot dead, and his sister, Nadia, is hiding in a closet. At this point in the story, the film has become serious for Sebastián. Nadia cannot believe who her brother has become, and she’s distraught at the violent mess he’s in.
Sebastián confronts Carolina
Sebastián finds Carolina out in the woods in a nice cabin, and he rings her while watching her from outside. She insists she had nothing to do with Maclo’s murder and that she needed the money to help leave her husband and win the custody battle – she insists she feared for her life and did not want Sebastián caught up in it all.
But then follows another twist – Sebastián knows she picked him to con after learning her godmother is Tamara, a woman that he was conning at the start of the film, and conveniently (though not anymore), Carolina crashed into his car right after.
Sebastián confronts her in the cabin, demanding a share of the money as he desperately wants to take care of his sister. He also, surprisingly (and this is where, in my mind, the story falls apart), wants to know if what they had was real. And for some odd reason, they end up kissing.
But this is where Angel arrives, and Carolina begs Angel for custody of her daughter in exchange for the money, but he repeatedly threatens her instead, so Sebastián ends up shooting Angel dead just as he was about to kill her.
And this is when Carolina’s mask completely comes off and shows her true colours. She rings the police, acting hysterical on the phone, telling them that a man killed her husband. Sebastián realizes he is being played again – she wanted him to follow her, so he killed her husband, and then pinned everything on him for murder.
Carolina tells Sebastián the full extent of all her plans, including how she teamed up with Ana and how she worked with all his past victims whom he conned. And where’s the money? A great question by Sebastián – Carolina tells him she did not accept that bank transfer, and that he has it again, so the crimes solely land on him. Despite all these betrayals and Carolina not providing any reason to trust her, Sebastián tells Carolina that, to him, their relationship was real.
Do Carolina and Sebastián Get Back Together?
As Follow ends, Sebastián is in prison; his sister, Nadia, visits him, and he asks her for forgiveness, explaining that he wanted to give her the best future. She explains she did not need the best future and wonders if he’ll be out soon because Carolina testified in his favour, claiming self-defense.
Two years later, Ana is on the news promoting her investigative novel about the “Profile of a Hustler”, presumably detailing her experiences with Sebastián. However, this only proves to Sebastián that all relationships are transactional. Scenes show Carolina dropping her daughter off with their godmother, Tamara.
The film ends with Carolina returning to her apartment, and to her surprise, she sees the same necklace she gave to Sebastián as collateral after the incidents involving their cars hanging on the mirror; she smiles. She then turns, still smiling, and looks towards the camera, almost as if someone were in the hallway. The film hints that Sebastián and Carolina’s relationship may not be over.
Final Thoughts
Of course, none of the ending of Follow makes any sense whatsoever. It seems far too much of a stretch that Sebastián, a brilliant con man, would even allow himself to get himself this deep with Carolina after displaying a flurry of red flags throughout. And then, despite his life being in danger, he still tells her that his feelings are real, despite her setting him up in prison for murder and ruining his life.
Sebastián is a criminal, a narcissistic one at that – a man who can take any woman he wants, as he has the social skills, and looks for it. It does not seem plausible that he would take all these risks for Carolina, and the film does not even explain why he became so besotted by her. There’s a logic problem with the film, and the fact that it ends with a hint that they may end up back together, even though there’s no way Sebastián would ever trust her in a realistic sense, or any universe, makes the story all the more dumb.
Some may argue that Sebastián did it for his sister, but let’s be clear – he was already financially sound from his other con jobs. He did not need Carolina to secure the future for his sister. And, as a result, his best friend died – a fact that wasn’t even bothering him when he was pining for her in the woods.