Los Protegidos

Los Protegidos is a Spanish TV series that tells the story of the "family" Castillo Rey, a group of people that are actually unrelated to each other but must pose as that because they have one secret: the children have special powers, and there is a group of people that is going after them.

Everything starts on a calm neighbourhood in an unnamed city. Jimena (Angie Cepeda), a married woman, is with her daughter Blanca, preparing her for bed. The girl tells her mother that she had a nightmare: two men took her in the middle of the night, and the latter could only run after the van they had taken her in. Jimena calms her worries, tells her to sleep and goes to her own bed, with her husband... and that same night, a van comes, and two men take Blanca in the middle of the night, while Jimena can't do anything but run after the van.

Nine months later, Mario (Antonio Garrido), a widower, works in a police station and takes care of his only son, Carlos (Daniel Avilés), a socially awkward boy who wears glasses and likes books. However, this is not the only problem he has: when Mario starts to talk with him, after having gotten into a fight with some kids at his school, Carlos unexpectedly reveals that he has Telekinesis, which he demonstrates by throwing a pair of scissors into the wall.

In the last nine months, Jimena has divorced, and now spends her free time looking for her missing daughter. However, it's only recently that she has started to tell the people about the dream her daughter had. When Mario hears this, he decides that maybe he could talk with Jimena in order to ascertain what to do, but Jimena, although initially spooked by his awkward manners, finally tells him that she can't do anything.

The next day, Jimena also meets Silvestre (Patxi López), a man who apparently knows what happened to Blanca. Silvestre brings her to meet his adopted daughter, Lucía (Priscila Delgado), a girl that can apparently read minds, as well as a teenager he knows that lives on the street, nicknamed "Culebra" (Luis Fernández), meaning "Snake", who can become invisible and uses his power to steal money and support himself. Apparently, there is a group of people that are kidnapping children and teenagers that have special powers, and want to use them for unknown but clearly nefarious purposes. "Culebra" is the only one Silvestre knows that has managed to escape. Silvestre still remembers a boy he had taken in until a pair of "policemen" arrived and took him away, and is now working to find the children and free them, while at the same time preventing the knowledge of the special children from spreading into the main populace.

Meanwhile, Sandra (Ana Fernández), a teenager, gets into a fight with her younger sister and accidentally electrocutes her, knocking her out. Scared, she runs away to avoid having to face her family, and that night, while attempting to sleep in a metro station, she meets "Culebra", who, after discovering her power, takes her to see Silvestre. At the same moment, Jimena decides to call Mario, and both of them with Carlos go visit Silvestre at the same moment.

However, a pair of men from the group that looks for the special children has arrived to Silvestre's house, looking for Lucía. It is only through Lucía's power that Silvestre manages to get his daughter to leave the house. Mario, Jimena, "Culebra", Sandra and Carlos find Lucía in the park, and then they find Silvestre dead. The six are then forced to run away from the men that killed Silvestre, and find they can't go to Mario's house because the bad guys know where it is. Using a series of clues Silvestre had in a journal and that Jimena took, the six go to Valle Perdido, a suburb. There, they rent a house, posing as the "Castillo Rey" family, while they attempt to why was Valle Perdido so important, as well as hiding from those that wish to kidnap the children.

Tropes used in Los Protegidos include:

Abusive Parents: Culebra's father hit him, and pulled him out of school when Culebra accidentally started to demonstrate his powers of invisibility, to force him to steal.
- Arguably, Lucas' parents could be also abusive. The first time he shape-shifted into someone else - his mother - they took Lucas to an hospital and left him there.
- Rosa in a way. She is constantly pushing her children so that they get perfect marks and are the center of attention at all situations. At one point, she forces her son to play Snow White at a school play.
An Aesop: most chapters end with an aesop about how the difficulties the Castillo Rey are facing can be overcome if all of them work together.
Annoying Younger Sibling: averted. Culebra and Sandra love their younger "siblings" Carlitos and Lucía.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Culebra and Sandra.
Big Bad: Padre and his Mooks, who wish to have all the special children under their control for some unknown purpose.
- During the first season, people thought that Andrés and Nuria (two of the teachers at the school the kids go) had something to do with the Big Bad and that they had Jimena's daughter due to their suspicious behaviour. It's a Red Herring: in fact, they suspected the Castillo Rey were the Big Bad because they had come with Lucía, whom they knew was Silvestre's daughter. That was why they were investigating the kids, because they thought they would have to free them. And the girl they have in their house is Elena, Andrés' daughter, who accidentally killed her mother.
Big Brother Instinct: Culebra, especially towards Lucía and Carlos. Turns out he already felt this way towards Lucía when she still was a baby, but he did not remember until he found a video where he appears and in which Lucia recognises some things too.
Blessed with Suck: Hoo, boy.
- Sandra is practically unable to touch anyone without electrocuting them. She can only do it when she is totally calm.
  - This does not stop her from keeping most of her leg exposed (to be fair, the school uniform includes a short skirt) as well as most of her arm, though she constantly does wear gloves. She also can't swim, shower after gym or do anything involving water and people in close proximity (though in the latter episodes she starts to be able to control it).
- Lucía can't stop hearing what others think, unless she wears a pair of headphones.
  - While Lucía does occasionally wear headphones to drown out thoughts, it is usually an adult that puts them on her to stop her from reading their thoughts. Like Carlos, she has surprisingly good control over her powers, but because of their age, both children often use their powers inappropriately and in front of other people.
- Elena can pass her heart illness to someone if she is touching a person and is nervous.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: averted, especially with Claudia, who seems quite vain, but is an intelligent girl constantly pressured by her mother to excel.
Cain and Abel: Ángel is planning to ruin his brother's new life and then kill him, because when they were little kids Culebra ran away and left him behind. He starts with Sandra.
Cannot Spit It Out: Mario never manages to convey his feelings for Jimena. Nor Culebra his for Sandra.
- In 3x06, Culebra manages to confess his feelings to Sandra twice: when they were about to die trapped by a falling ceiling, and when he dies after being driven over by a car.
Cassandra Truth: poor, poor Borja. He is constantly seeing things related to the superpowered kids - the main characters' house disappearing, Elena floating in the air, the super-fast girl running in front of him, seeing Lucas shapeshifted into him - and his mother never believes him.
Catch Phrase: Rosa's "¿Sí o no?" which means "yes or no?" to the point that Mario frequently uses it when talking about Rosa.
Celebrity Paradox: In chapter 2x05, Claudia has a photograph of Maxi Iglesias, who plays Ángel.
- First season also had a couple of images of Maxi Iglesias during the previous series he worked at, Física o Química
Chekhov's Gunman: remember Culebra's brother, who happened to witness how their father hit Culebra before he ran away? Ángel is that boy.
Chekhov's Skill: sometimes, Culebra's ability to steal things gets put to test. For example, he once manages to steal a set of keys from a baddie's pocket while he is distracted.
Cliff Hanger: the first season ends with Mario suffering a heart attack, Sandra ready to go back to her family house and Carlos and Lucía discovering the truth about Andrés and Nuria.
- The second season ends with Blanca back with her mother, Ángel dying in the arms of Culebra after getting hit with an hyper-fast steel ball, and Blanca "seeing" that the whole Castillo family is apparently dead.
Contrived Coincidence: it turns out that when they were kids, Culebra, Sandra and Lucía were going to the same cardiologist, which was Leo's mother. And Sandra told Culebra that he would want her to kiss him.
Creepy Child: the Speedster girl. It's certainly because of the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing, but damn, she's scary.
Curse Cut Short / Last-Second Word Swap: when Borja discovers that his father had a girl with other woman, he says "Hijos de la gran..." (Sons of the great...). When his father looks at him, he says "... Bretaña," (Britain) which is a typical substitution in Spain.
Dead Little Sister: or rather, Dead Little Brother, which is the reason Culebra ran away... only the little brother didn't die then.
Digging Yourself Deeper: Mario is the master of this, due to his Motor Mouth.
Foreshadowing. See Power Incontinence, Lucas
Freudian Excuse: why Ángel wants to kill Culebra. He was lied to, though.
The Gloves Come Off: if Sandra has to pull off her gloves (which she uses to prevent her from accidentally electrocuting someone), expect something impressive to happen.
Green-Eyed Monster: in the first season, Jimena doesn't like that Mario is getting near to Nuria.
- In the second season, Sandra thinks Culebra's dislike of Ángel stems only from the fact he is always near her. Turns out he was right, mostly.
Happily Adopted: averted with Claudia. While it is clear her parents and brother love her, her mother is constantly pushing her to be perfect, and she gets angry when Claudia doesn't manage to reach perfection.
Heel Face Turn: At the start of the series, the bad guys plan to have Lucas infiltrate the family disguised as Lucía's father, but he soon decides to join the family.
- Heel Face Revolving Door: Ángel had been planning to kill his brother and betray the others. When he realises he's falling for Sandra, he decides to help the family instead. When Sandra tells him she loves Culebra, he continues his former plan.
  - And when he learns that Culebra had come back to get him away from their abusive father, not knowing he had sold Ángel to the bad guys, he definitively stands with Sandra and Culebra.
Hoist by His Own Petard: when Culebra goes with Sandra so that she can see her sister (who is at the hospital) a guy manages to corner Culebra in a small room which he closes from the inside. Fortunately, Ángel helps him get out of the room - and Culebra had the keys to the room.
Hollywood Nerd: Lucas and Hugo are Type 1, without the glasses.
Hypocritical Humor: Rosa is the mistress of this. A recent example: she is arguing with her husband and her ghost-costumed son (or so she thinks) is in the same room. She tells her husband that because of his laid-back attitude their son isn't as obedient as he should be. When she turns around and the kid has disappeared, she accuses her husband of scaring the kid with his shouting and she immediately starts to shout even louder than what her husband had done.
- When Mario feels curiosity over a noise in Rosa's house (Antonio's illegitimate daughter banging on the kitchen's door) Rosa pushes him out of the house, claiming that he should not snoop around other people's houses.
Idiot Ball: Culebra seems to be holding it most of the time, especially in regards to Sandra.
Kick the Dog: at the end of the second season, after Culebra learns that Ángel is actually his younger brother Víctor and they reconcile, it seems that in the end both brothers will live together. Padre orders one of the girls to kill Culebra, but Ángel does a Diving Save and dies on Culebra's arms.
Kid Hero: lampshaded by Lucas, when he tells Carlitos that neither of them are suited up to the role of hero, because they are the ones laughed at in school. And then it's both of them that save the day.
Killed Off for Real: so far, Silvestre, Andrés, Ángel, Padre and Leo's parents.
Line-of-Sight Name: when the school's headmaster asked them about their name, Carlos happened to be carrying a book called "El rey del castillo" (The King of the Castle), so Jimena came up with Castillo Rey (Castle King).
- Also the name they pick for Culebra, Policarpio, shortened to Poli, which Jimena picks when she sees Antonio wearing a police uniform
Long-Lost Relative: thanks to a flashback, the audience discovered that Ángel is Culebra's brother.
Love Triangle: first season had the square Culebra-Sandra-Leo-Claudia.
- Second season has Ángel-Sandra-Culebra.
Mistaken for Gay: Lucas tells his friend Hugo that he left his parents' house, and the professor immediately rounds on him to determine why he did that. In order to avoid telling him about his power, he had to say that he was homosexual. Hilarity ensued.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: at a later chapter, Hugo tries to have a date with a girl he has always liked, who is leaving for the US, but it has been everything a prank of the class' bullies. Lucas manages to meet the girl before she leaves, and then meets his friend disguised as the girl. He proceeds to talk with his friend, and he tells him that he likes "her", and later proceeds to kiss him - disguised as her, of course.
The Mole: at the start of the first season, it looks like the Big Bad will use Lucas as a mole, in order to get him to find the others. He does a Heel Face Turn (not that he had much of a Heel) quite soon.
- Ángel is being set up in this way.
Motor Mouth: Mario's main problem, which tends to put him in problems as he says things he doesn't mean or shouldn't say.
Mundane Utility: most of the powers are a bit difficult to find an use for, but some have interesting uses:
- Sandra can use her electromagnetic powers to light a bulb (which can be a replacement for torches) or heat things like popcorn or tea.
- Carlitos can use his powers to reach things he can't reach on his own.
Never Learned to Read: Culebra actually knows how to read and write. His problem comes when he has to read aloud, because his father pulled him out of school when he was very young, and thus he didn't get the usual training kids get at school.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Culebra. His real name - Poli - is only heard a couple of times. Even his "parents" call him by his nickname.
- That's not even his name! Jimena uses that because when asked about Culebra's name, the first thing she sees is Rosa's husband, who is a policeman!
  - Seems that his true name is Ángel. Ángel (Maxi Iglesias) used that name as a homage to his brother. His real name is Víctor.
- Padre, called that way even by his Mooks. He uses a false name when he meets anybody else.
Power Incontinence:
- If Sandra gets upset, all electronic and electric appliances around her will start to go haywire. Reach a high enough level of upsetting and... Stuff Blowing Up becomes the norm.
- Lucía can't help but hearing what people are thinking. Constantly. All the time. She always carries a pair of headphones with her to drown out the "sound" of thoughts, but she seems to be used to it.
- Elena provokes an illness into anyone she touches when she is upset.
- If Lucas starts to sleepwalking, he will start to shape-shift into anyone he has ever touched. This was already known before the third season.
- Culebra loses control over his invisibility if he is REALLY upset.
- When one of the kids gets ill, they suffer Power Incontinence Up to Eleven. Carlos is unable to control his power - resulting in everything around him to float around - while Lucía projects her thoughts into other people's minds.
Put on a Bus: several characters have left the series.
- Claudia left to look for her biological mother.
- Jimena left with her daughter Blanca to avoid Blanca's vision (in which most of them would have died) from becoming real.
- Leo left to find for his parents (who are deceased, but he does not know that).
Real Life Relative: Sandra's sister was played by Ana Fernández's sister.
Romantic False Lead: Nuria was this through the first season.
- Ángel seems to be this.
Self-Made Orphan: opposite to what is the norm, Elena became this accidentally when her power activated and her mother touched her.
Snowball Lie: as they can't actually tell people what they did before coming, the Castillo Rey family has to make up most of their past. So far, Mario has been a stock broker, a professor, a magician and much more.
Stockholm Syndrome: what most of the kidnapped children are going through. They call his kidnapper "Padre" (Father).
Street Urchin: what Culebra has been most of his life.
Superpower Lottery: most of the children are involved in this lottery.
- Oracular Urchin: Blanca, Jimena's daughter. She dreamt of how she was going to be kidnapped.
- Invisibility: Culebra. It taxes him physically, as if he had to run. He can turn completely invisible or only partially. With a greater effort, he can turn objects invisible too.
- Shock and Awe: Sandra can generate electricity into her body. Someone touching her can be electrocuted unless she is totally calm. She can also change electrical fields surrounding her.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lucas can change his body's shape into anybody else's. It only works for the last person he has touched, but it also changes his clothes, so there is no problem. He always wears a special pendant that is the only thing that doesn't change at all.
  - Since the beginning of the third season, he can morph into any person he has ever touched.
- Mind Reading: Lucía can hear what people are thinking, and if she concentrates she can drown out nearly everyone, to hear what one person thinks.
  - Her power now allows her to project her thoughts into other people's minds. She discovered this after she got ill and her power got out of control.
- Telekinesis: Carlos can move objects with his mind. At first it is very shaky, but with time his control improves, allowing him, for example, to move several objects at the same time.
- Ill Girl / Tyke Bomb: Elena, when upset, if she touches a person that person gets her heart illness multiplied several times. Basically, they get a heart attack, and, even if they recover from that one, they will get a second heart attack later. However, she can cure that person if she touches them when she is happy.
- Intangible Man / Made of Iron: Ángel (starting in the second season) can change his body's density (and perhaps others'), allowing him to either go through walls or making his body as hard as steel.
- Back at Padre's house, there is also a girl that can run very fast, and a boy that can read very fast.
- At the end of Season 1, a whole wall with photographs is shown, and a character implies that all of these children have special powers, too.
- Mental Time Travel / Time Stands Still: after an accident with a plant, Leo can do this. It becomes quite handy when Culebra dies and their Masquerade is broken.
Title Drop: after three seasons, the series' title (Los Protegidos) is finally dropped: it is the name of the group that is fighting against the Elephant organization to save the children with powers and probably heal them.
True Companions: what the Castillo Rey attempt to become in order to survive.
Tyke Bomb: what the Big Bad seems to be planning for the kids his group captures.
Verbal Tic: Mario tends to talk too much whenever he gets nervous.
- Lucas eats his nails when he gets nervous. It's normally how people can catch him.
You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: when Culebra manages to distract one of the bad guys by punching him into a room (attempting to get Sandra to leave unharmed) the bad guy suddenly reveals his power: he can make two copies of himself. Culebra practically says this trope.