Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal

Carmen Sandiego is pulled into a dangerous game where brainwashing looms over her closest friends. The threat from V.I.L.E. tightens around Zack and Ivy, and every choice feels like a trap. The appearance of The Chief pushes her into a brutal no-win cycle, testing her loyalty and courage.

Coach Brunt assigns the first target—a Terracotta Army statue in Xi’an, China. Carmen teams with Tigress to descend into an underground tunnel, where a deadly booby trap forces a stark choice: risk Tigress’s life to grab the statue or pull back to save her teammate and risk failing the mission. Whichever path is chosen, a helicopter of The Cleaners arrives and the guards tighten pursuit, setting up Brunt’s wrath and the looming brainwashing of Zack and Ivy.

The choice in the tunnel leaves Carmen variously positioned: if she pushes deeper, she claims the statue but triggers the chase; if she hides, she loses the moment but reduces immediate danger. The moment the statue is secured or the trap is evaded, The Cleaners swarm, and Brunt’s anger echoes through the site. Zack and Ivy’s fates tilt toward brainwashing as a consequence of the day’s chaotic outcomes.

Dr. Saira Bellum and Countess Cleo push Carmen toward the next temptations, forcing her to decide whom to steal for first and to photograph Zack and Ivy in captivity to triangulate their location. The choice tests trust and strategy as the team moves to the glamorous but perilous setting of Monaco.

In Monaco's charity gala, Carmen hunts for A.C.M.E. Agent Julia Argent, who has been tipped off about V.I.L.E.'s broader plan. The mission hinges on whether to trust Julia with the truth about the theft or lock her on the roof and press on. At the kitchen, Carmen faces the choice to sneak eggs out later or grab the entire cart of tins and make a swift exit, with outcomes shaping the day’s moral balance.

If Carmen hides the eggs, Mime Bomb struggles and Carmen souunds him, but the eggs are removed and Cleo proclaims the mission a failure, keeping Zack and Ivy brainwashed. If she blasts out with the entire cart, she escapes with pristine caviar, altering the moral balance of the day’s tasks and opening different possibilities for the rescue.

Bellum adds a more dangerous prize: a Tyrannosaurus rex bone with tissue intact from Hell Creek, Montana. Inside the museum, Carmen must decide whether to recruit El Topo or Le Chevre to assist. If she hides in a dinosaur model, the structure buckles and she flees without the bone; if she runs to the lab, she escapes with the bone and secures the prize with help, though the clock keeps ticking.

After the bone heist, Carmen checks in with Zack and Ivy and discovers they’re believed to be held in the Arctic Circle. The plan splits here: risk an early rescue with Tigress’s aid or press forward with V.I.L.E.’s third assignment, while the possibility of Tigress joining the rescue lurks depending on earlier choices.

If Carmen accepts both Cleo’s and Bellum’s tasks, the team ferries to Île d’Oléron where Zack and Ivy have been relocated in exchange for the stolen items. On the dock, Julia Argent reappears; if she was locked on the Monaco roof earlier, she refuses to help, forcing Carmen to rescue alone; if she’s trusted, Julia can pose as Carmen on the ferry while the real Carmen orchestrates the rescue.

The final rescue unfolds on the ferry as Julia either assists or impersonates Carmen, while the real Carmen executes the escape and secures Zack and Ivy aboard the same helicopter that carried the Terracotta statue. The operation wraps up the morally complex loop, balancing or breaking loyalties along the way.

Regardless of the path taken, the team returns the items to Julia’s doorstep or leaves with a fragile balance intact. The final sequence underscores how every choice reshapes the world Carmen fights to protect, leaving lingering questions about trust, loyalty, and who truly controls the mission.

A bonus scene unfolds where all cast members except The Chief and Carmen join in singing the theme from the classic Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? The end credits roll over an instrumental tribute to an earlier era of Carmen, providing a reflective closer to the journey.