The Tax Collector (2020) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Victor has been secretly skimming $20,000 from his payments to cover his daughter's leukemia treatment. When David and Creeper confront him about the missing money, Victor confesses this desperate situation, which resonates with David as a fellow family man.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Alexis questions why Victor's payments are short, hinting at his financial struggles.

• victor
• leukemia
• stolen money
• daughter
• medical bills

Wizard is David's biological father, a revelation that comes as a shocking twist at the end of the movie. David discovers this truth while recovering from his injuries after the confrontation with Conejo. This explains Wizard's interest in David's loyalty and his orchestrated control over the criminal organization from behind bars.

Foreshadowing: Wizard's persistent interest in David's work and loyalty throughout the film hints at a deeper connection.

• wizard
• father
• identity
• david's father
• reveal

When one of David's crew captures a member of the rival Bloods gang over a slight against their leader's girlfriend, David personally intervenes to rescue the captive. He does this to prevent the incident from escalating into a full-blown gang war that would endanger everyone in their territory.

Foreshadowing: The tension between the crews is established early when David and Creeper navigate rival gang territories collecting payments.

• bloods
• gang war
• rescue
• bone
• prevent war

Louis is lured into a meeting with Conejo's counterpart Gata under the pretense of negotiation. Instead, he is brutally murdered, and his severed head and hands are displayed as a warning to David and Creeper when they meet with Conejo. This macabre sight represents Conejo's ruthless approach to consolidating power.

Foreshadowing: Louis's decision to meet with Gata alone despite warnings creates the fatal vulnerability Conejo exploits.

• louis death
• uncle louis
• conejo
• gata
• murdered

After David and Creeper refuse to join Conejo's organization following the discovery of Louis's murder, Conejo escalates his campaign of violence. He launches a pipe bomb attack on David's shop, killing several of David's loyal friends and associates. This brutal attack is meant to force David into compliance or eliminate him as a threat.

Foreshadowing: The refusal to join Conejo's gang directly triggers this violent retaliation.

• conejo
• pipe bomb
• attack shop
• violence
• revenge

After Conejo captures David's children and kills Alexis, David needs powerful allies to mount a rescue operation. Bone, the Bloods leader whom David previously saved from a gang war, agrees to help. Bone mobilizes his crew to assault Conejo's drug-infested lair where the children are being held.

Foreshadowing: David's earlier decision to save the Bloods member creates the alliance that later saves his family.

• bone
• rescue children
• alliance
• bloods
• help

Conejo dispatches his own grandmother to reveal the children's location to David. This occurs because David showed mercy to the elderly woman earlier, an act that contrasts with the ruthless violence of the gang war. Her information leads David and Bone directly to the children, who are found unharmed.

Foreshadowing: The theme of mercy versus violence runs throughout the film, with David's compassionate actions ultimately being rewarded.

• grandmother
• mercy
• children location
• conejo family
• rescue

After learning that Wizard is his father, David faces a choice between accepting his criminal legacy or breaking free from the violence that has destroyed his life. David ultimately rejects Wizard's path, choosing faith and hope instead of continuing the cycle of crime and violence that cost him his friends and nearly his family.

Foreshadowing: David's struggle between family loyalty and moral choice is established from the beginning as he balances his criminal work with his devotion to his wife and children.

• david rejects wizard
• faith
• hope
• criminal legacy
• family

Creeper is captured during Conejo's pipe bomb attack on David's shop. Later, Gata exacts gruesome revenge on Creeper, torturing and killing him as part of Conejo's campaign of terror against David. Creeper's death represents another devastating loss in the escalating gang war.

Foreshadowing: Creeper's advocacy for aggressive action against Conejo puts him directly in harm's way.

• creeper death
• torture
• captured
• Shia LaBeouf
• gata

Alexis is killed by Conejo's forces as part of his intimidation campaign against David. After the pipe bomb attack on David's shop, Conejo uses Alexis's death to send a clear message: comply with his demands or face more dire consequences. Her death also motivates David's desperate mission to rescue his children.

Foreshadowing: Alexis's warning about the $20,000 shortfall places her at the center of the escalating conflict.

• alexis death
• killed
• conejo threat
• family danger

Uncle Louis explains that Wizard and Conejo have a complicated, violent past that predates the events of the movie. This historical enmity explains why Conejo specifically targets Wizard's operation and offers such brutal terms when he confronts David and Creeper. The conflict represents a power struggle for control of the criminal underworld.

Foreshadowing: Louis's explanation sets up the inevitability of the violent confrontation between the two factions.

• wizard
• conejo
• history
• conflict
• gang war
• louis

The quinceañera celebration represents David's dual existence, the loving family man versus the violent criminal world. The festivities are disrupted when Louis disappears and Gata arrives with the deadly ultimatum. This contrast highlights how violence invades and destroys even the most sacred family moments.

Foreshadowing: The excitement of the quinceañera preparations early in the film establishes the stakes of what David is fighting to protect.

• quinceañera
• family celebration
• disruption
• violence
• contrast

Favi deceives David by sending his children away under the guise of protecting them from the growing gang violence. However, this well-intentioned act inadvertently leaves them vulnerable to Conejo's capture, as their location becomes known to the enemy. The children are ultimately found safe but the betrayal adds to David's losses.

Foreshadowing: David's concern for his family safety is established early, making this betrayal particularly devastating.

• favi
• children sent away
• protection
• deception
• capture