Piecing Together The Connection Between Luke And Boro In FUBAR
This post contains spoilers for Netflix's "FUBAR."
Arnold Schwarzenegger has done it again. Playing to his strengths, he is both a badass spy and a doting, overprotective dad in Netflix's action-comedy "FUBAR," where the most high-stakes missions play out against the backdrop of situational comedy. While this combination might tend to be obnoxious when a healthy balance is not struck, "FUBAR" manages to stay afloat thanks to Schwarzenegger's perennial onscreen charm and natural comedic chops.
The core conflict in "FUBAR" is familial in nature: Schwarzenegger's Luke Brunner, a CIA operative on the verge of retirement, finds out that his daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro), is an agent too, while also revealing his true profession to her, leaving her shocked to the core. This truth is revealed while they're both working undercover on a case to apprehend arms dealer Boro (Gabriel Luna), who soon discovers their true actions, thus blowing their cover. After a hasty extraction, Luke and Emma must put their differences aside and work in sync if they want to stop Boro from potentially blowing up the entire world.
The most intriguing aspect of Luke and Boro's connection is how long-standing it is right until the extraction operation goes awry, and how little the two know about each other, despite considering the other to be trustworthy. Moreover, Boro is not the kind of person who handles betrayal in a well-adjusted manner, which stacks the odds higher against Luke and Emma, who constantly try to thwart him at every step. Here's a closer look at the threads of lies and deception that forge the bond between Luke and Boro — or what remains of it.
Playing the rich, trustworthy uncle
After Luke attends his retirement party, Barry (Milan Carter) informs him that he needs to go on one last mission to extract an operative (codename Panda), as her comms have suddenly been cut off while on a mission in Guyana. The mission revolves around arms dealer Omar Polonia's son Boro, who wishes to continue his father's legacy and widen his illegal arms distribution circle. Luke reveals that he was the one to push Polonia off a cliff to his death, and to ensure that his son doesn't turn out like his father, he put Boro in the best schools and even paid for his higher education. Turns out, his best intentions did not help Boro transition into a better man than his father — if anything, Polonia's murder drove him to further uphold his criminal legacy.
Boro's case files also indicate Luke was undercover as mercenary Finn Hoss when Polonia was alive, and it is likely that he was able to forge a close friendship with the arms dealer before killing himself as a part of Operation Junglebook. This explains the smiling photographs of a young Boro with his dear uncle Hoss, giving the former little reason to doubt Luke's cover when he re-emerges when he's about to sell his suitcase nuke in an auction. For Boro, Luke is the cool mercenary uncle who was like family to his father, and someone who continued to take care of him financially as he grew up. Boro openly acknowledges this, thanking Hoss for sending care packages and funding his education, which helped him become the man he is now.
But Boro, of course, is unaware of Hoss' true identity and welcomes him to his paramilitary compound with open arms. That is, until, Luke's cover is blown to smithereens.
Boro unleashed
The fact that Luke assumed that Boro would turn out okay as long as he got the best education is wishful thinking on his part, but he did try his best to ensure the kid would have a crime-free future. However, familial legacy is hard to escape, and Boro turned out to be more dangerously ambitious than his father, as he wishes to bring glory to the Polonia name by entering the nuclear arms race. Throughout "FUBAR," Boro goes to great lengths to make this happen — he tortures and kidnaps people, sends his men on dangerous missions on moving trains, and plays a cat-and-mouse game with Luke and the CIA.
Since loyalty is crucial for someone like Boro, Hoss' betrayal hits him where it hurts the most. Previously, Boro shot one of the La Pe Pelanmo in cold blood at the mere suspicion of betrayal, and the sudden realization that he has been lied to his whole life by his father's "friend" throws him into a spiral. Obsessed with hunting down Luke and Emma's true identities, he employs the best hackers for the job, while continuing his mission to make a deadly nuclear weapon that will put him on the path to greatness (or so he thinks).
Now that Boro knows Luke killed his father, revenge is on his list of priorities, second only to attempts at world domination. While Luke grapples with the repercussions of leading a double life, he also needs to stop Boro. Can Luke manage to work through his guilt and stop Boro before it is too late? This is one of the central questions "FUBAR" poses while taking everyone on a race-against-time-style adventure in the final episode, where the fate of the world rests on Luke's (broad) shoulders.