WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Carmen Sandiego Season 3, now streaming on Netflix.
In its first two seasons, Netflix's Carmen Sandiego had the master thief working with the South Boston twins, Ivy and Zack, as well as the hacker known as Player to steal from VILE's (Villains' International League of Evil) key storage units and give the contents to charity. Shadowsan, the man who found Carmen and brought her to VILE, also defected to help her on her mission, riling up VILE even more. This pushed ACME (Agency to Classify & Monitor Evildoers) into overdrive in its hunt for Carmen, as the organization's Chief is dead-set in her ways. However, while Season 3 takes a key ally off the board, Carmen gets a new supporter, and it's a familiar -- yet very surprising -- face.
AGENT JULIA ARGENT QUITS THE GAME
Julia was brought over from Interpol by the Chief as she could think on the thief's level. However, she wasn't a company woman. Julia soon pieced together Carmen was robbing VILE and leaving stolen art pieces behind so ACME could return them to their rightful owners. In Season 2, the Chief did warm to Julia's theory and they eventually formed a temporary alliance, but that ended when Carmen hacked ACME.
Carmen hacked ACME so to corroborate that the Chief killed her dad years ago, but the Chief felt slighted, with her wounded pride making her think Carmen stole intel. Now, Season 3 finds her emotionally compromised and way too invested in Julia's job in her zeal for seeing Carmen arrested. Julia keeps harping on Carmen being an ally, but the Chief interferes in her investigations, at one point placing the bumbling Devineaux on the case too. After a case gets botched, Julia resigns, as she's lost the passion for her job.
Julia tells Chief she wants to teach ancient history at a prestigious university she's been eyeing and leaves, although a repentant Chief admits the door's always open for her to return. It's a big blow, as Julia did stymie some of ACME's pursuit as she knew Carmen wasn't the enemy.
AGENT DEVINEAUX WARMS TO TEAM CARMEN
However, the more surprising ally comes in Devineaux, who's now partnered with Zari and eager to get revenge on Carmen for making him look like a fool. He has the same outlook as the Chief, but when Carmen leaves behind centuries-old masks from a Venice heist, his perspective changes. The Chief praises him, and while he loves the plaudits, he's hesitant to take credit, since he finally understands what Julia was saying. Carmen is indeed a modern-day Robin Hood, obsessed with hurting VILE's operations.
As they chase her around the globe, Devineaux keeps subtly telling the Chief maybe they're going about it the wrong way and should be more diplomatic. However, he's toeing the line, as he knows the Chief thinks he's incompetent and could fire him at the drop of a hat or demote him back to desk duty. Still, after the Italian job, Devineaux can't help but defend Carmen at key intervals, risking insubordination, and leaving the Chief suspicious.
The season ends with him still holding his position with ACME, but conflicted, as he wants to make a stand despite his fear. This presents a great opportunity, though, because Carmen could co-opt him as a mole inside ACME. This would allow her access without having to hack ACME again and give Devineaux a shot at finally being a hero.
Starring Gina Rodriguez and Finn Wolfhard, all three seasons of Carmen Sandiego are available to stream on Netflix now.