Michele Santana

**Michele Santana** was one of the main protagonists on the show. A naive young woman who had a very strong sense of justice. She was raised by her brother, who did not return after being sent to the Process.

She was a candidate in the 104th Process and was part of the 3%. She was also a member of the Cause.

## Personality

She is shown to be extremely vengeful for her brother's supposed wrongful death at the hands of Ezequiel, attempting to poison the head proctor at the possible cost of her mission. Anger festers inside her at the Process and Ezequiel. However, she is also shown to be a good, rational leader, with strong thoughts about what is fair and not fair.

In the second season, Michele is an outcast on the Offshore, and is seemingly lost between the Offshore and the Inland, not belonging to any. She follows Ezequiel for the purpose of saving her brother and proving his innocence, and seems only loyal to herself, although it is quite the contrary. Throughout the season, we see how Michele's actions are well-thought out, and that she wants a better world for all.

## Background

She was raised by her brother, Andre Santana.

## Relationships

**Fernando** - close friend and potential love interest. During Process 104 they become closer, helping each other whenever possible. Together they founded the Shell.

**Andre** - her brother and only remaining family. At first she cares deeply about him: willing to do anything to avenge his "death" and trying to help him escape from prison. However their different world views ultimately drive them apart.

## Season One

### "Chapter 01: Cubes"

Michele attended the 104th Process with her friend Bruna. After putting on the necklace of her boyfriend, she stared at a picture of her brother, Andre Santana, before being instructed by her registration chip that she had a 47 minute walk to the Process building. After making it to the Process building, she was interviewed by Cesar who hit on her and asked her if he can meet her outside of the interview. She was taken off guard when he immediately segues into a test question, but managed to successfully answer his questions. He asked Michele if she knew anyone who had passed the Process and, after stating she believed her boyfriend passed the process, he asked if she only wanted to pass to meet up with him. Noticing the necklace Michele kept, he asked her why she kept it if she wasn't a romantic, and asked her to leave it. She did after hesitating for a moment, and passed to the next interview. Cesar told her she made the right choice, and that the boy was dead.

In the cubes test, Michele helped Fernando pass the test by giving him more cubes from the center of the table, since he had difficulties reaching it in his chair. When Michele was only able to assemble eight cubes, Fernando helped her by turning the eight cubes into one big cube, making the total be nine.

While in the cafeteria, Michele and Bruna are both approached by Cassia, who told them to follow her. They were temporarily blinded with a black substance smeared on their eyes, then brought to a basement area. Michele and Bruna were told that one of them was an infiltrator from the Cause and, if one of them didn't confess, then they would both be killed. Michele told Bruna that she was not a member of the Cause, so the only solution was to rush Cassia and try to escape together.

When Michele gave the signal to tackle Cassia, only Bruna attacked and was killed. Ezequiel arrived on the scene and pointed a gun at Michele, telling her to back away. She did and was led back upstairs, blinded again, and was told not to speak of the events to anyone. During this time, it is revealed that Michele was coached by the Cause Leader to act the way she did, and that she was indeed a Cause member.

When she was upstairs, Michele broke down and wept for her lost friend, eventually rejoining the group for the next test.

### "Chapter 02: Coins"

As candidates waited for the next test, they started to discuss the missing Bruna, wondering if she was an agent for the Cause or simply eliminated. Fearful of being exposed, Michele responded that she thought she was eliminated, but Marco said he saw her after the cubes test. The group talked about how awful the Cause was, with Michele hesitantly agreeing that they were terrible. During the inductive reasoning test, Michele helped her group investigate, and was able to pass the test successfully and move on.

During the coins test, Michele tried to defend Fernando when Rafael said he should be eliminated. When the group decided to leave the choice up to chance, Michele agreed and was able to gain a coin. She passed and moved on to the next test.

### "Chapter 03: Corridor"

Michele was introduced to the next challenge by Denise who told the group that their goal was to get to the end of the tunnel in five minutes. Unbeknownst to the group, the tunnel was filled with an odorless gas that produced hallucinations. During the test, she hallucinated that Ezequiel was there and was gloating about killing her brother. However, with the help of Joana, Michele was able to make it to the end of the tunnel in time, passing the test.

After the corridor test, Michele arrived in the dorms with the others, carrying Agata with her. In the hallway, she talked to Fernando, who said he heard her talking about her brother. In order to distract him, Michele kissed Fernando, initiating a romantic relationship.

### "Chapter 04: Gateway"

After Marco figured out the secret to the dormitory test, Michele helped to pull the levers in one of the eight rooms, thus allowing them to get food from the chute. When Marco said he deserved the first food ration, Michele said that everyone's role mattered and that they should give them out alphabetically to be fair.

When Marco gathered a gang of candidates to go around and steal food, Michele fought against him, gathering the remaining candidates to build a barricade. Before Marco's gang arrived, Rafael approached and identified himself as a member of the Cause so that he could get in. The barricade held up long enough for Joana to rescue the group, and Michele was able to move on with the rest of the remaining candidates.

### "Chapter 06: Glass"

Proceeding the dormitory test, Michele and the rest of the group moved on to an outdoor field area. When there, She chastised Rafael for revealing himself as a Cause member, but he responds that it was a life or death situation. Michele told Rafael that it was against protocol for them to meet in the Process, and that they should forget what they know.

The candidates were brought to a new area, where they each got their own rooms. When Michele arrived, there was a picture of her brother and a glass cube filled with coins. Since Michele had no family, a proctor arrived to explain the test. She could choose to take the coins and live the Process, or stay in the Process with nothing. While in the room, Michele broke the glass cube, spilling the coins everywhere. When the proctor arrived to get her answer, she apologized and he said it was no trouble, they didn't use money in the Offshore. With that Michele moved on to the next test.

Fernando went to Michele's room after the test, telling her that he wouldn't be able to go home unless he passed the Process. He asked Michele what happened in her room and she said that she had no family. Fernando told her that he didn't care about anything as long as the two of them ended up on the same side. The two kissed passionately and remained together until the next trial.

The next morning, Michele was given her individual test from Cassia. She was told to convince the family in the next room to sign their ten year old daughter up for the Process. What she didn't tell Michele was that the family was Bruna's. She had to inform them that their daughter was dead. Michele told them that Bruna had gotten into a restricted area and was killed by a gas cylinder. The family was distraught, and Bruna's mother asked her where her daughter was. Cassia pushed Michele to hurry up, so Michele asserted that accidents happen. The family went to leave, but Michele told them it shouldn't stop them from registering their youngest daughter, Isabella. When asked how she could know what they feel, she told them that her brother had died in the Process, but she was still there. Andre didn't want to join the Process, but Michele encouraged him to. He did, and was shot by Ezequiel. Michele said that she spent years being angry, but she eventually forgave the Process. Reluctantly, the family agreed to sign up their daughter.

After the exam, Michele stormed back to her room and upended the garbage can, which had shards of glass from the cube she broke. She took a shard and cut into the scar on her hip, revealing a capsule.

### "Chapter 07: Capsule"

In a flashback, Michele revealed that the Cause Leader gave her the capsule. It was a poison capsule that he told her to swallow if she got caught, so she wouldn't betray anyone. He told her to take it only if there was no escape.

Back in the current time, Michele went to a celebratory dinner with the rest of the candidates. She sought out Ezequiel, attempting to poison his drink when he set it down. Suspicious, Ezequiel switched his drink with Cesar, who died of the poison. Michele, stressed that she would be found out, tipped over a bottle of alcohol. Rafael approached her and subtly said he knew what she had done, and also let her know that he informed Fernando of their "connection" of being Cause agents. He urged her to go speak to him. Michele spoke to Fernando and said he was in way over his head, but was interrupted by the proctors all leaving the room and the candidates being trapped in the hallway.

While the candidates were trapped, Michele approached Rafael with the remnants of the capsule, telling him to get rid of it. The candidates were soon interrogated one by one. When the first candidate, Daniel, came back and said they were asking weird questions about poison, Fernando took Michele aside and asked if she was involved. Michele again asserted that things were much more complicated than he knew. Michele anxiously paced the room, awaiting her turn to be interrogated.

During the interview, Michele was clearly anxious. Ezequiel gave her a drink, saying that it would taste different because he liked his drinks bitter. Ezequiel said he was surprised she approached him, because she was an out of the ordinary candidate, after what happened to the Cause member. He also asked her how she got the scar on her hip, which she said she got from a mugging. Ezequiel showed her footage of Cesar's body and his girlfriend mourning over him, told her that Cesar was a whole being, one of the 3%, and didn't deserve to die. He asked Michele if she had anything to hide, then sent her on her way.

When Michele returned, she panicked and said she was guilty. Fernando stabilized her and said she couldn't give up, and that he lied for her and the Cause. Michele said he should have stayed away from her, but eventually calmed down. When the guards came back, Michele began to panic that she would be apprehended, but she was relieved when they didn't take her. Her an the rest of the candidates were set free and sent back to their rooms to rest. However, Michele was caught off guard when she found Ezequiel in her room, holding the capsule.

### "Chapter 08: Button"

While the rest of the candidates were sleeping, Michele had been tortured using a pau de arara. Ezequiel untied her from the device and said that Cassia and him had suspected her from the start. Bruna didn't fit the profile for a Cause member. Ezequiel asks Michele why she was trying to kill him, and said that he just wanted to talk to her and know why she was so angry. He told her he wouldn't leave until he got answers. She said he killed her brother. Ezequiel asked her why she thought that, and she said it was because he was with the cause. He responded that it was unlikely Andre Santana was with the cause, and, showing her a picture of her brother, that there was no way he would pose for a photo at the Offshore if he was dead. The photos were five years after his supposed death.

Ezequiel told Michele that she was indoctrinated in the name of a lie. He knew the old man who ran the Cause, saying when he knew him, he didn't wear the hood all the time. He was with the Cause, but abandoned the ideology a long time ago. Ezequiel told her there s no good or evil, only those who have merit and those who don't. He said that he didn't want her life, he wanted to take down the old man, and that he would free her if she told him the old man's location. Ezequiel returned to the Process, leaving Michele with a video of her brother.

Returning to Michele, Ezequiel asked her once more to tell him where the old man was. He said that the deaths of Cesar and Bruna were not her fault because she was manipulated by the Cause. He asked her to tell him where she would meet him if she was eliminated. Michele gave in and gave Ezequiel the address. Ezequiel gave Michele the vaccine, saying that anyone else would have surely killed her. He told her he had seen both sides, so he would take her to the Recovery and Treatment Center and monitor her progress personally.

## Season Two

### Chapter 01: Mirror

After finishing her Process, Michele was taken to the RTC as promised. Ezequiel frequently visited her until she was released. Upon her release, she began visiting her brother every day. He was in a glass shell and couldn't see her.

Ezequiel challenged her to create a new test for the Process and she developed a maze test with walls that moved. When Ezequiel created it, he made it even more difficult than her plans and trapped her in there to test her loyalty to him and the Offshore. She said she hated the Cause and the Offshore, but that was good enough for Ezequiel, who said she would be going to the Offshore. He showed her a video of Silas and Joana stealing fertilizer for a bomb and told her she'd be going to the Inland to stop them. When she didn't want to, he used her brother to blackmail her.

### "Chapter 03: Static"

Before sending her to the Inland, Ezequiel took Michele to see the Old Man, who apologized to her for telling her her brother was dead.

Prior to her departure, Michele sent a coded message to the Inland for the Cause.

Ezequiel then modified her registration so he could hear everything she heard and speak to her through her implant. In the Inland, Michele ran into Fernando and after learning he was working with the Cause, asked him to take her to his leaders. Before he could, Joana and Ivana came in the room and ended up questioning if Rafael or Michele was the truly loyal one.

### "Chapter 04: Napkin"

Michele and Rafael each claimed the other was disloyal. Due to her training with Ezequiel, Michele was able to lie believably about her brother being dead, fooling everyone but Ivana, who used her eye movement to detect that she was lying. When the Division came in on a rescue mission for Rafael, Ezequiel told Michele about a secret passageway, which she used to get herself and Joana out. They then watched as Rafael shot and killed Ivana, not knowing that it was at Ivana's insistence.

### "Chapter 05: Lamp"

Michele lied to Ezequiel and pretended she was alone while Joana was actually with her. When he realized the truth, Ezequiel came to the hideout himself, saying he was there to save the Cause. Unbeknownst to them, Cássia and Marcela were back at Ezequiel's station, listening to the whole conversation. Ezequiel explained his history with the Cause, how he infiltrated against the Old Man's wishes. He wanted them to take down the current structure of the Offshore and start fresh with them as the New Founders. He also said that the flask he gave Michele to disable the bomb actually wouldn't disable it, but would make it invisible to the Division. As he and Michele left to return to the Offshore, Marcela found them. Ezequiel pretended to have captured Michele, but Marcela knew that was a lie and stabbed and killed Ezequiel while Michele ran away. Michele later saw Ezequiel's body, which was painted in his own blood with the Cause symbol, framing them for his death.

### Chapter 06: Bottles

Michele and Joana followed Silas in order to find the bomb he created. They found the bomb and retrieved it. However, Michele then took the bomb and left on her own with it. She took it to Marcela to convince her she wasn't with the Cause anymore and get herself on the next submarine back to the Offshore. Without Michele's knowledge, Marcela arranged for Cássia to meet Michele upon arrival at the Offshore.

### Chapter 07: Fog

Cássia took Michele back to the RTC, where she said she was going to run some tests to guarantee that Michele was on her side. She probed Michele's memories for the Cause and then Ezequiel's death. She tried to erase Michele's memory of Marcela killing Ezequiel, but Michele refused to forget. She managed to wake herself up and fought Cássia, taking her ring and her gun.

She used the ring to get to her brother and broke him out of his cell. André remembered an escape route that no one else knew about and the two of them fled together.

### "Chapter 08: Frogs"

Cássia took a team and followed Michele and André through the woods, but André knew of a hideout no one else knew. To avoid detection, they cut out their registrations, making them untraceable. They found the hatch, but André couldn't remember the password, though he knew it was something related to Michele. He had her search through her memories of them as a kid to think of something that mattered to them and she realized the password made the shape of a backwards N, like she used to write when she was little. They entered the hatch right as Cássia and the others arrived. Inside, André said he and Michele were the only people alive who knew about it.

### "Chapter 09: Necklace"

After finding the founders' bunker with Andre, Michele discovers the secrets of the founding couple, as well as the third founder who sought to build an Offshore on the Inland. While Andre deeply believes in the Offshore's system, and the process, Michele disagrees, and leaves the bunker with the third founder's pendant.

### "Chapter 10: Blood"

After gathering the Offshore's database, Michele confronts the council with a proposition, and in exchange for the data, which will save the council from process 105's candidates to riot, Michele demands various resources, which will help her accomplish the third founder's plan of a place neither Inland, or Offshore, which Michele refers to as the "Shell". She is last seen with Fernando atop a building, asking him to become one of the Shell's founders.

## Season Three

### "Chapter 01: Sand"

Michele worked to get the Shell set up. They became sustainable through use of the technology from the Offshore. They quickly established a community where people contributed toward growing food and caring for each other. When Joana came to the Shell, Michele greeted her and welcomed her in, though she was unimpressed with what they were doing. During her visit, a storm came. Michele called for everyone to move to the atrium and close all the doors. She then tried to pull in the collector, which provided them with water, but it didn't work and the collector was destroyed by the storm.

After the storm passed, Michele checked on the residents and told them that they would rebuild the collector and ensure the Shell's survival, but it would require everyone's help. She spoke of Fernando's commitment to the Shell and how he was killed in the Inland trying to recruit people for it, then asked who was in favor of rebuilding.

People got to work cleaning up after the storm and trying to repair the collector, but they weren't able to and then the stock room was raided and all the food was taken, seriously limiting their sustainability. Glória suggested they start a Process to decide who could stay and who would have to leave, but Michele opposed that idea.

Michele met with Marcela, who offered the Shell help, in exchange for the Offshore taking it over and using it to train people for the Process. Instead of accepting that help, Michele decided to start a Selection to reduce the population of the Shell. She assured everyone that it was just temporary and everyone would be able to return when things were going better. The first test was to remove their registrations. Some people refused to do this and decided to leave instead. Joana was among those who cut out her implant, saying she wanted to stay to watch Michele fail. She also accused Michele of being just like Ezequiel.

### "Chapter 02: Scalpel"

Michele started testing by grouping people and forcing them to work together to pass the first test. The next test was a test that was designed to test their faith in the Shell. They each had to declare that they had faith in the Shell and if anyone in the group was lying, the light would turn red. If they got three red lights, everyone was eliminated. When a group got three red lights, they argued over who was the liar. Michele then told them the test was impossible to pass and it was designed to see how they'd handle failure. One candidate was eliminated for blaming another candidate for their failure. He then held Michele with a scalpel to her neck and cut her. They managed to calm him down and save Michele's life.

### "Chapter 03: Medicine"

Michele's neck healed and then she started another test, which was expected to eliminate ⅓ of the candidates. They were in groups of three, with each group against another group of three. They had to design a criteria for elimination for someone in the other group. When they had decided, Michele said that criterion would actually apply not to the other group, but to their own group, eliminating Joana and Natália instead of Artur and Marco. After this wave of candidates was eliminated, Michele again assured everyone it was temporary.

### "Chapter 04: Gateway"

When the Shell's population was down to 100, Michele determined that half still had to be eliminated so the others could survive. She made the final test a one-on-one test, with each pair having one candidate eliminated and one staying. Each person had to create a test for themselves and Michele chose the fairer of the two options for them and test them using that. The final pair was Glória versus Xavier. Their test was to assemble a shape puzzle Fernando had created. The first one to finish would stay and the other would be eliminated. Glória and Xavier finished at nearly the same exact time, but Michele declared Xavier the victor and eliminated Glória, angering Glória.

### "Chapter 05: Lever"

With the population of the Shell down to 50, they finished repairs on the generator and restored power to the Shell. They then learned that Glória learned of Michele's offer from the Offshore to help them and had brought a group together to invade the Shell and try to take back control of it. Michele defended her decision, saying she couldn't let the Offshore take control. Desperate, Michele activated the Shell's built-in security system, which would shock people who got too close to the door. Marco decided to approach the door anyway and was seriously shocked and thrown back. Rafael turned off the system and the crowd breeched the Shell. Michele and Rafael went to escape out a secret trapdoor, but Rafael refused to leave without Elisa, so Michele left on her own. In her absence, Glória and Marco took over control of the Shell.

### "Chapter 06: Trapdoor"

Now outside the Shell, Michele ended up at the abandoned bus Joana was using for shelter. Joana told Michele she couldn't stay, but directed her to another place she could find shelter. Joana later noticed something about the rope from the Shell and went out in search of Michele. She found Michele passed out from the heat. She gave Michele some water and showed her the power plant which the Founding Couple blew up and then Joana showed her the rope, which had been cut, not torn. That's why they weren't able to pull in the Collector during the storm. They needed proof so the others would believe them. They went back to the Shell and called to Rafael to get him to open the trapdoor. When bounty hunters under orders from Marco and Glória came after them, Michele surrendered herself in order to save Joana. She was taken back to the Shell, where she was imprisoned.

### "Chapter 07: Gardrone"

Glória and Marco pulled Michele out to face the angry crowd at the Shell and asked her to answer for her decision to refuse the Offshore's help. She also had to answer about eliminating Glória in favor of Xavier. After she tried to explain, Glória declared her guilty and the crowd didn't disagree, so she was returned to her cell.

### "Chapter 08: Wave"

Michele escaped with the other prisoners with Elisa's help. They were forced to split up when Marcela's guards found them. On her way out, Michele confronted André, but ultimately let him leave instead of killing him. In the ensuing conflict, they managed to capture Marcela. Glória then apologized to Michele and they all met together to make a plan to take down the Offshore forever.

## Season Four

### "Chapter 01: Moon"

The Offshore contacted the leaders of the Shell to set up a diplomatic meeting. They wanted to use that time to execute their plan. Michele ended up staying behind at the Shell while some of the others went to the Offshore. Xavier and Michele worked together to prepare the final piece the Offshore team needed to execute the plan. They got the turbine ready, but Xavier was unable to get it into a fridge to transport it to the Offshore. When Xavier suspected that Glória had sabotaged him, Michele started to grow suspicious of her.

### "Chapter 02: Shock"

Michele and Xavier went to the Inland together to get the turbine into one of the fridges. They found out while they were there that the Offshore was sending videos to the Inland which showed their Shell members there, which called the Shell's credibility into question. With no other way to get the turbine in, they decided they needed to invade the Process building. To do that, they needed a 20 year old and Michele asked Xavier to do it. She immediately started to prepare him to go through the Process and pass the tests. Once he was entered into the Process, Michele took the turbine and entered the Process building with it.

### "Chapter 03: Fire"

Michele entered a vent and crawled through with the turbine. Xavier disabled the fans inside, allowing Michele to climb through and then out to where he was so they could meet. Michele then placed the turbine in an Offshore fridge and went to leave the way she came. When she got into the vent, she saw that the fans had been turned back on, trapping her. André had learned that Michele was in the building and sent the Process candidates out to capture her. Michele tried to escape, avoiding guards along the way, but was eventually captured and taken to André.

### "Chapter 04: Submarine"

André took Michele outside the Process building so she could see that the Shell was on fire. He then put her in a cell. However, he was unaware that Michele had told the others about the hatch and given them instructions on how to find it. They used the submarine inside to put the plan into action to destroy all the Offshore's technology, as the Founding Couple had done to the Inland.

### "Chapter 06: Buttons"

While trying to escape from her cell, Michele remembered her childhood with André, including the day their parents died. When Marcela was put in the cell with her, Michele and the Old Man, who was also in the cell, learned that the Offshore had been destroyed. André then came and took Michele to a room where she could see Rafael, Elisa, Natália, and Joana strapped to chairs. The four remaining candidates' final test was to push a button that would kill the person in the chair in front of them. They all did so, including Xavier. Michele was horrified to watch her friends die. However, she soon after learned that Glória had lowered the voltage of the test and they weren't dead. They all escaped the Process building, except Michele, who stayed behind to announce to the Inland that the Offshore was destroyed. She ended up in a confrontation with André. She shot him and then took his headset, which she used to announce the end of the Offshore. She told them it would be scary at first to live in a world without the Process, but ultimately, it would be good. After she finished her announcement, André came up behind her and stabbed her. He held her while she bled to death.

### "Chapter 07: Sun"

Xavier found Michele's body and took it back to the Inland, where they burned her body.