Martin
1992 Series
Overview
An honest lawyer reaches a moral crossroads after the cops force her to inform on her incarcerated brother, the leader of a rising criminal faction.
Seasons
- Status
- Returning Series
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 14 episodes
- First aired
- Oct 25, 2019
Reviews
4 min readThe Brotherhood Between Us
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about the way Cristina walks. Not the way Naruna Costa moves—though that’s remarkable too—but the way her character carries herself through the corridors of power and powerlessness in Brotherhood. There’s a stiffness to her spine, a deliberate control in her steps, as if she’s afraid that one wrong movement might unravel the fragile truce she’s built between her conscience and the world’s cruelty.
It’s the walk of someone who has spent her life believing in the system, only to realize the system was never built for people like her.
That tension—between belief and betrayal, between the law and the blood that binds—is the engine of Pedro Morelli’s Brazilian crime drama. Set in São Paulo in the mid-1990s, the series follows Cristina, a lawyer whose life is upended when she discovers her estranged brother Edson (Seu Jorge) is the leader of a burgeoning criminal faction called the Brotherhood. The police, corrupt and desperate, strong-arm her into infiltrating the organization as an informant.
What follows isn’t just a cat-and-mouse game between cops and criminals, but a slow, agonizing unraveling of Cristina’s sense of self. By the time the first season reaches its climax, you’re left wondering whether she’s still playing the role of the informant or whether the role has begun to play her.
The show’s greatest strength lies in its refusal to simplify its characters into heroes or villains. Edson, for all his brutality, is a man who loves his sister and believes—genuinely, tragically—that his actions are a form of resistance against a system that has already failed him. Seu Jorge, whose presence alone could carry a lesser series, plays him with a quiet intensity that makes his violence feel like a wound rather than a spectacle.
Audience Opinions
"A gritty crime drama with strong performances but uneven execution."
Viewers appreciate the intense performances and the raw portrayal of crime and family dynamics, which add depth to the series. latestnetflix.com's read is that however, some find the pacing inconsistent and the storyline occasionally convoluted, making it harder to stay engaged.
What viewers praise
- Strong lead performances The actors deliver compelling and intense portrayals, particularly in the central roles.
- Gritty atmosphere The series effectively captures a tense and immersive crime environment.
- Emotional depth The exploration of family bonds and moral dilemmas resonates with audiences.
Common complaints
- Inconsistent pacing Some episodes drag while others feel rushed, disrupting the flow.
- Convoluted plot The storyline can be difficult to follow at times, with too many twists.
Recommended for
Crime drama enthusiasts Fans of intense character studies Viewers who enjoy morally complex stories
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsA 2019 prison drama just sent a spin-off to Netflix's global number one.
When State of Fear hit the service in February 2026, FlixPatrol had Pedro Morelli's movie at the top of the worldwide chart within a day, and seventh in the United States by day two 
. Brazil knows it as Salve Geral: Irmandade. It is the first feature spun off from a Netflix Brazil series. Naruna Costa is back as Cristina. Camilla Damião plays her kidnapped niece Elisa. Seu Jorge returns as Edson , . Portuguese Wikipedia says the original series crossed 10 million global views, and the film logged 8 million complete views in its first tracked week . latestnetflix.com's view is that that is a loud afterlife for a Portuguese-language crime show English search still mixes up with Blake Masters' Irish-American Brotherhood from 2006.
A lawyer, a brother, and a faction Netflix would not name.
Netflix posted the 2019 cast on January 31. Eight episodes. Costa as hardworking lawyer Cristina Ferreira. Seu Jorge, the City of God actor, as her estranged older brother Edson . Hermila Guedes signed as Darlene. Lee Taylor, already in The Mechanism, played inmate Ivan . Morelli created the show and directed with Gustavo Bonafé and Aly Muritiba. O2 Filmes produced with Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Bel Berlinck. The writers' room listed Felipe Sant'Angelo, Iris Junges, Leonardo Levis, Mirna Nogueira, Francine Barbosa, and Tom Hamburger . The first full trailer went up September 19, 2019. Season 1 dropped globally on October 25 . The English Netflix card still sells the same hook. An honest lawyer reaches a moral crossroads after the cops force her to inform on her incarcerated brother, the leader of a rising criminal faction.
Morelli told Estadão he did not want another cop-lead or boss-lead favela movie. "In the case of Brotherhood, we present the story from another point of view: that of a Black woman, a lawyer, sister of a criminal faction leader," he said . Seu Jorge took the job for the same reason. "When I was invited, I thought that two Black actors in a Brazilian series is something very important. They almost never write things for us," he told the paper. He described Edson as bitter, missing his family, never getting a relax moment, and clinging to the line "the right thing is the right thing" . That line is also the title of episode one. Estadão and the director's press conference both said the faction is fictional. It is not a named PCC biopic, even if Brazilian coverage nicknamed the show "Netflix's PCC" , .
Inmates shouted the fake name through the windows.
Season 1 shot in a deactivated wing of the State Penitentiary of Piraquara, in Greater Curitiba. The next pavilion was still live. "The inmates could see us through the window. And they liked the Brotherhood, they kept shouting the name of the fictional faction, we had a very unique interaction there," Morelli said before the 2019 premiere . That is the production anecdote that stuck. Not a salary leak. Not a set fight. Real prisoners cheering a made-up gang while Seu Jorge worked a few meters away.
Netflix renewed season 2 on February 22, 2021, more than a year late. Noticias da TV had reported a 2020 pickup with a March shoot at the same prison. Covid froze it. The platform stayed quiet while other renewed shows got cancelled abroad , . Six new episodes arrived May 11, 2022, for a total of 14 . Then the 2026 movie put Costa back on a São Paulo that looks like a war zone. If you bounced off the series in 2019 because the English title was a mess, the chart run is the rumor worth printing. The work kept going.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.