The character sheet for Los Simuladores.
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Los Simuladores
In general
A four-man secret organization that can solve any kind of problem for a fee.
- Anti-Hero:
- They incur in a lot of illicit behaviour for the sake of the operatives, and have driven many of their victims to madness (although it's usually people that deserve it), but they always make sure that their clients are at least decent people and their operatives won't have a negative impact at someone who doesn't deserve it. They also refuse to work with corrupt and amoral people.
- Although they always charge for their services, if they find someone that needs their help but can't afford the price, they will find a way around to get their money without financially affecting the client.
- Big Good: Of the whole series. Sometimes, some of their schemes affect the whole Argentina (in very positive ways).
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Chaotic Good: The team as a whole is a parallel justice group who acts as a help to the people who have been forsaken by the system or cannot find a solution to their problems, acting many times as a counterbalance to a corrupt and unfair (but sadly legal) system. They are constantly breaking and inflicting the law (with enough transgretions to land them in prison for the rest of their lives), and they inflict their own brand of justice. But their ends are always good, they are not killers, and those who end up punished are always evil or really bad people who deserve their face. - Expy: Of The A-Team mainly.
- Foil: The 4 of them are foils to each other. More markedly, Ravenna/Lamponne, Lamponne/Medina, Lamponne/Santos.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: Santos is the Cynic. Ravenna is the Realist. Lamponne is the Apathetic and Medina is the Optimist.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Santos is Phlegmatic, Ravenna is Sanguine, Lamponne is Choleric and Medina is Melancholic.
- Irony: A group of four illegal conmen ends up being succeeded by a police officer and a private detective.
- Troll: The four of them have some shades of this.
Mario Santos
Santos: Logistics and Planning.
Portrayed By: Federico D'Elia
The Magnificent Bastard leader of the group, formally he's in charge of Logistics and Planning, meaning he is the one that cooks up the drills. A man of a calm demeanor, he manages to keep a level voice even when angry or stressed. He has very defined tastes in everything from food to the furniture of the room he's in, to the point he might not eat anything if a restaurant doesn't have exactly what he wants to order. He's a widower, but has had Ship Tease with another woman in the show's run.- Adaptation Name Change: He's called "Ernesto Santos" in the Chilean remake of the show, and "Maxim Krasin" in Russia.
- Author Avatar: Scriptwriter and Director Damián Szifron has admitted that he used Santos many times as an avatar for himself when he gives speeches critizising capitalism, the cultural decadence in Argentina, or reenforcing the Argentine identity.
- Berserk Button: Children being abused and/or damaged. Corruption.
- Big Good: He is the leader and founder of the team.
- Brutal Honesty: For someone who has made a living out of lying, Santos doesn't like to beat around the bush. If he has something to say to you, he'll say it.
- The Chess Master: He is the one who plans the drills, after all.
- Child Prodigy: Santos showed to have a high intellect (160 I.Q.) since childhood, being able to defeat his father at chess in only eight moves. Even more impressive that after his father's suicide, he managed to make all the debts of his family magically dissapear by using a drill.
- Cultured Badass: He has a refined tase in music, food, and even furniture. He has vast knowledge of literature and psychology. He even knows how to fence. He still won't hesitate to dress you down and insult you in the best, most refined way he can find.
- Dark and Troubled Past: When Santos was a child, his father killed himself in a desperate attempt to free his family from debts. Santos got married later in life, but his wife died in a tragic car accident.
- Expy: Of John "Hannibal" Smith and Sherlock Holmes.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Cynic. Come on, the guy hits each one of the qualifications to be one.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic. He's level headed, generally cooperative, and for all his Magnificent Bastard traits, it's clear that he still cares about helping people the most, going as far as to even accepting jobs from people who can't pay it because it's the right thing to do.
- Guile Hero: He manages to makes the team's plans come together with his wits.
- The Lost Lenore: Victoria, his deceased wife. He even says being a widower is his own personal obstacle in socialization.
- Magnificent Bastard: Mario Santos is a bonafide class Magnificent Bastard, a refinate and very well educated man, a brilliant Chess Master and extremely effective Manipulative Bastard/Guile Hero, capable of creating and putting on march complex and well thought plans and gambits, and turning bad situations into his favours. Always calm and in control, never intimidated by a challenge, he is a whole class by himself, and for all it counts, a very heroic individual.
- No Social Skills: Downplayed. Santos does know how to behave around people in formal situations, but he fails completely when it comes to simple things like ordering food. He seems to not realize (or not care) that his behavior comes off as rude.
- Picky Eater: Cultured and refined people may have selective tastes in food, but Santos takes this to the extreme. The only tea he drinks is Earl Grey, and his water must be non-carbonated and sodium-free, among other quirks. But he's picky not only with food, but aestethically too. When he works on a plan, he's specific at such extremes as the type of wood and style of the chairs he sits on and the format and recording company of the music he listens to.
- Playing Against Type: He doesn't participate on drills much, but when he does he just plays himself with another name and job. That is not the case of Cozzetti's partner in El Último Héroe ("The Last hero"), who not only doesn't wear glasses but also uses more informal language and even loses his patience in one ocassion.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Santos once described the group as a "parallel justice team", that walks the thin line between legal and illegal to help the people the system doesn't want to.
- The Smart Guy: He's the team's planner.
- The Social Expert: Santos is excellent reading and predicting other people's behaviour.
- Smart People Play Chess: Santos being able to defeat his father on chess in only eight moves when he was a child is mentioned as proof of his high intellect.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He's the team's brains and wears glasses.
- The Comically Serious: He is clearly amused by some situations, but his demeanor rarely changes. This is especially troubling when he tries to make a joke and no one laughs because no one can TELL he was joking, as his manner of speech does not change or indicate any sort of sarcasm.
- (After Medina finishes giving the run down on a particularly obnoxious target)
- Santos: "Lamponne, the request is simple. Get me a Magnum 357, loaded with real bullets."
- (Everyone looks at him concerned)
- Santos: "... It was a joke."
- Too Dumb to Live: He suffers from a slight case of this in "An Involuntary Job". Yes Santos, very smart to act haughtly and to show obvious contempt to a desperate mobster who has no compulsion in letting kids die. Possibly less dumb, and more the fact he underestimated how far Lempergier was willing to go to survive. Still, he gets stabbed and abducted for it.
- Tragic Hero: His father killed himself when he was a kid, leaving him and his family drowning in debts, and his wife died in an accident 5 years prior the series started.
- The Workaholic: We never see anything from his personal life unless it's work (or plot) related. It gets to the point that, when the group splits up, he's the only one that says he has no idea what he's going to do with his life now.
Emilio Ravenna
Ravenna: Characterization.
Portrayed By: Diego Peretti
The team's Master of Disguise, he's appropiately in charge of Characterization, meaning his job is to play the main or an important supporting character in drills. Little is known about his past other than that he was called "the chameleon", a nickname he still uses. His most frequent persona is Máximo Cozzetti (tropes relating to him go to his personal folder). He's in a relationship with three beautiful and intelligent women, with their knowledge and consent; in fact, they all live together. He's calm and laid-back, to the point where it seems like he doesn't have problems at all.- Adaptation Name Change: His surname is changed to "Jota" in the Spanish remake of the show, and to "Vargas" in the Mexican remake, he's called "Innokenti Kastalskiy" in the Russian version as well.
- The Casanova: He lives with a harem of three women, for crissakes!
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Realist.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine. A given for someone as charming and talkative as he is.
- Gag Nose: His nose is pretty big, and it's (intentionally) called attention to as part of one drill.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: The guy lives with a harem of women. He is also the one with the most active sex life of the team.
- Man of a Thousand Faces: He is an EXCELLENT actor with a lot of range, not only having to play each character perfectly, but also without breaking the illusion and making it believable for anyone who might be around.
- Master Actor: Characterization is his team role. It is eventually revealed that he was indeed a professional actor prior to joining the team.
- Millionaire Playboy: Not necessarily a millionaire per se (it is implied that the Simuladores business give all four members enough wealth to live comfortably, but the number is never specified), but the playboy part is on point.
- The Music Meister: During one of the earlier episodes, he leads a Mariachi band as part of a drill, and he is quite good at it! A similar thing happens in a Season 2 episode where he gives a fantastic performance of If I Were a Rich Man while the other three members of the team play the instruments.
- Hidden Depths: Not that he could be consider superficial in any way, but even for his most playboy and ladies' man facets, he shows a great deal of maturity. Also, he seems to have his own set of issues and fears, long term commitment being a good example.
- Hollywood Midlife Crisis: One of his complexes seems to be a fear of getting old. He deals with it by lying about his age. His mother and the rest of the team just play along and let him be.
- Ravenna's mom: "I just feel you're a bit depressed..."
- Ravenna: "Oh, god, that word again, mom... come on! I am 29!"
- (Ravenna leaves the room)
- Santos: "29 years old?"
- Lamponne: "Yeah, he lies about his age."
- Only Sane Man: Ravenna constantly plays with this. While he is the one who usually pushes with the most outlandish operations (like the vampires or aliens), arguing that "if it's well produced, it is believable", he is also the one who tends to express his concern about the more dangerous and risky operations (like conning the F.B.I. or helping with a prison break).
- Sex Equals Love: Weirdly enough, for all of his Lovable Sex Maniac tendencies, he seems to at least respect the act itself. When Lamponne says he might be seeing a woman, Ravenna reveals he does not have sex with a woman until (at least) the third month of dating, because "it's better if you know the person well".
- Troll: He loves to pick on Lamponne (the most serious and non-nonsense member of the team) in very subtle but friendly ways, these interactions are minimal in dialogue and go mostly unnoticed by the rest of the team.
Pablo Lamponne
Lamponne: Technique and Mobility.
Portrayed By: Alejandro Fiore
A veteran from the Falklands War, the guy who gets the materials for the drills, and usually overtakes the most physically dangerous tasks. He's also the most willing to use shady methods.- Adaptation Name Change: He's the only member of the team whose name changes in every adaptation, likely due to his Punny Name (see Berserk Button below). He's "Pablo Lorca" in Chile, "Pablo León" in Spain, "Pablo López" in Mexico, and "Stefan Losev" in Russia.
- Berserk Button: Children being picked on, as it reminds him of his childhood. For similar reasons, making fun of his last name qualifies, since it is what other children used against him in the schoolyard. note
- The Big Guy: He fits the part. A veteran from the Falklands War, he is also the guy who gets the materials for the drills. And also the most willing to use shady methods (not that it makes hima bad person by any stretch. He just has less compulsion to employ methods like blackmail or recur to violence in case of need). Also, he usually overtakes the most physically dangerous tasks.
- Broken Ace: Lamponne is an extremely resourceful guy, but he also carries plenty of personal traumas and frustrations related to his job. In the finale, he decide to not bottle up these issues anymore and friendly break up with the group to focus on improving himself.
- The Comically Serious: Can say the most ridiculous things completely straight-faced.
- Deuteragonist: Of all the characters, he is actually the one that has the most emotional development throught the show. After Santos, his past and issues are the most explored ones, with more than one chapter focusing on it (or having a big impact on the group), the same for his relationship and dynamic with the rest of the team. He is also the one who (ironically) pushes the team to open emotionally with each other.
- The Engineer: He was in charge of telecommunications during the Falklands War in 1982, and the resourcefulness needed for that job extends to his time in Los Simuladores as well.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Apathetic.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric. Less extreme and obvious than other examples of the trope, but his inner turmoil is still visible to the audience, even if he tries to mask it with his general tough guy presence.
- Improvisational Ingenuity: Anything Santos asks him, he has a way of getting it (in a ridiculously low amount of time). But the few occasions he genuinely can't provide, he tries to improvise.
- (A cougar is brought in as part of a drill)
- Santos: "Lamponne, I asked for a tiger."
- Lamponne: "Right, but it was 800$ per hour, and the accountant told us we exceeded the budget."
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Troll: Not as frequently as Ravenna, but he still has some shades of this. In the first episode, he really seems to enjoy the thief role. And in "The Child Avenger", when he confronts and terrifies his school bully with a fake gun.
- Unscrupulous Hero: For the team's standards anyway (and they are all scammers), but he is the most unscrupulous of all, willing to scare, blackmail, and even threaten with death (not that he was not justified).
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Medina, full stop.
- The Woobie: We see his visits to the psychologist, where he opens up and confesses he would like to at least be recognized or appreciated more for his job in the team.
- Lamponne: "Lamponne, get this, Lamponne, bring that... but does anybody remember Lamponne himself?... does anybody congratulate him?... No sir, everyone just assumes that Lamponne will do his job correctly. Does anybody even know that Lamponne has an inner life?"
Gabriel Medina
Medina: Investigation.
Portrayed By: Martin Seefeld
Gabriel David Medina, he is the team's researcher. A former journalist, divorced just before the start of the series. A romantic by nature, he is the most emotionally open of the team, which exasperates Lamponne to no end. Of the whole team, he seems to be the most well adjusted person, having the least amount of issues and most balanced personal life. A bit metrosexual, he enjoys romantic music and composing poetry in his free time.- Adaptation Name Change: He's the member of the team whose name changes the least, managing to keep his full name in all hispanic remakes of the show. The only instance where this is not the case is the Russian version (for obvious reasons) where he's known as "Roman Shestakov".
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Sometimes the rest of the team sees him in this light. Mostly due to his 'childish' tendencies.
- Foil: To Lamponne. They are basically opposites in personality and interaction with the world. They still love each other (although Pablo would never admit it)
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Medina is the most sensitive member of the group. He likes cute things like poetry, ABBA, children songs or making silly gifts for his friends. He's also not afraid of telling his friends that he loves them and in the finale, he's the most affected by the news of the group breakup and breaks down crying.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Optimist.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic. He's the only one who usually questions the deeper moral implications of what the team does, and he can be driven by his feelings to a fault. He can also be very blunt with his expressing of emotions, such as the final episode when he tells the rest of the team he loves them, and he breaks down crying after everyone else returns the feeling (despite the comical awkwardness).
- Manchild: Downplayed. He does show child-like interests, usually unaware of them being less than appropiate for the ocassion (such as his love for cartoons and the exaggerated idealism he displays sometimes), but he is responsible enough with his job and as competent as the rest of the team. The only exception being when he almost screwed up a drill intentionally due to it interfering with his moral principles.
- Nice Guy: Of the whole team, he is definitely the nicest and most aproachable of all.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Looks pretty tough and unfriendly at first glance. He is anything but. Just listen to the type of music he brings to a Road Trip.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to the entire group. The others are extremely professional and stoic most of the time, which contrast with Medina openly emotional personality.
- Sex Equals Love:
- Lamponne: "You're the corniest person I know, Medina."
- Medina: "Why? because I don't believe in sex and i'd rather believe in making love?"
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Happens quite a bit. Notable example being when he refuses to let go of some exotic fishes the team got for a job, as he hates seeing captive animals. He takes them behind the team's back once the drill is done and sets them free in a river, only to be informed by Lamponne that those were salt water fishes.
Brigada B
In general
A group of people who were helped by Los Simuladores, who decided to form their own team to help people with the main team's blessing. Given the increasing amount of cases, the main team delegated many of the less important and less complex works to the B-Brigade, only focusing on the main cases from that point forward.
- Poor Man's Substitute: To Los Simuladores. Even given the "easy" jobs (at least easy for the main team's standards), they still can't keep up.
- Recurring Character: All of them are the main group of collaborators (in fact, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th episodes had them as clients of Los Simuladores), before they become the B-Brigade.
- Trauma Conga Line: The whole 07x02 episode. From being scolded by the main team, to being abducted by the FBI, held as suspected terrorist, and tortured for three days straight until the team comes to rescue them.
Arturo Gaona
The "Assistant", unofficial fifth member of the group, he is their main colaborator from the beginning.He eventually joins the B-Team.
- The Apprentice: He could be seen as this for Santos. He is in charge of Logistics and Plannification. which is the same role Santos has in the main team.
José Fehler
A client in an early episode, he was kicked unfairly from his job and due to his age he was unable to get a new one. Los Simuladores help him not only get back his previous job, but also get a much higher position than the one he originally had. He eventually joins the B-Team.
- The Apprentice: Once he joins the B-Team, his role is Characterization, same one Ravenna has in the original team.
- Sketchy Successor: He takes Ravenna's spot in the B-Team, but when Los Simuladores help him out in his debut episode his acting skills leave a lot to be desired.
- Red Herring: Once he joins the B-Team in Season 2, he is seen wearing a single glove. Nobody knows what's up with this, until the season ends with him saying he never noticed the other glove was missing.
Martín Vanegas
A client in an early episode, he owed money to a mobster who was threatening his children and Los Simuladores helped him out. Eventually becomes part of the B Team.
- The Apprentice: His role in the B-Team is Investigation, Medina's spot in the main team.
- Break the Haughty: After joining the B Brigade, Vanegas grows arrogant to the point where he thinks he knows better than Santos. This ends up with him kidnapped and tortured for days by the FBI for being a suspected terrorist. The trauma from that experience helps him recover some of his humbleness.
- Butt-Monkey: He tends to get the short end of the stick once he starts working for Los Simuladores, usually being scolded by everyone in the main team (not entirely unjustified).
- Sketchy Successor: He does not keep up with the main team, not even in the role he's assigned. The entire Milazzo sub-plot in Season 2 happens because he forgets to do his job of checking in on him.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As said above, Vanegas starts thinking a little too high of himself after joining the brigade, dismissing and mocking Santos's legit concern about the operation the brigade was carrying out, which was not only dumb, but also considerably ungrateful considering that Los Simuladores saved his life and his family.
- The Woobie: Poor Vanegas. His first appearance includes his children being threatened with death, him being held at gunpoint, and dragged physically many times.
Lucio Bonelli
A client in an early episode, Los Simuladores help him settle a big troubling debt he had with a simple fishing competition (by rigging it in his favor). He eventually joins the B-Team.
- The Apprentice: His role in the B-Team is Technique and Mobility, Lamponne's spot in the main team.
Antagonists
Franco Milazzo
"Bravery and Strength, against any threat."
A scammer who was conned by Los Simuladores in the first season, making him believe that he would compete in a Survivor-like reality show. After spending a year in the woods alone talking to a turned-off camera, he realizes the scam and start tracking down Los Simuladores to get his revenge. Milazzo is the closest thing the series has to a Big Bad.- Adaptation Name Change: He's called "Márquez" in the Spanish remake of the show, "Carlos Milasso" in the Chilean remake, and "Franco Milán" in the Mexican remake.
- Adaptational Badass: Not that he's a wimp in the original version of the show, but a lot of the remakes remove the character of Molero completely, while still adapting the final encounter he has with the protagonists. Thus giving the impression that Milazzo was competent enough to find them all on his own without the help from a detective (which is absolutely not the case in the original version).
- Action Hero: He is obsessed with this archetype, and wants above all to be this. He gets his wish at the end.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is very self-assured with his martial arts skills, and not without reason.
- Arch-Enemy: The closest thing the group has to one in the series, and the greatest direct threat alongside Molero, the FBI, and Lempergier.
- Big Bad: For season 2. His whereabouts becomes a big concern for Los Simuladores through the season because they know he's a dangerous man. Milazzo has his own sub-plot about tracking down the protagonists through the episodes.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Despite his combat training, Milazzo is no match to the cunning minds of Los Simuladores. In the finale, they con him yet ''again' by making him believe that all they put him through was a special training to see if he was fit for the ultimate mission: to assassinate Bin Laden.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Someway with Molero in the second season, him providing the purpose and physical skills and Molero the brain and recourses.
- Con Man: A pretty clear example.
- Determinator: If there is a single aspect to praise of Milazzo, it's his determination. He spends a whole year in the middle of the woods all by himself to win a fake contest and goes to great lengths to find Los Simuladores after he finds out they ripped him off. When they con him one last time into going to the Middle East to assassinate Bin Laden, Ravenna jokingly comments that he may actually be capable of killing Bin Laden.
- Fatal Flaw: His dream of being an action hero. He is conned using this. Twice.
- Final Boss: Subverted. While he's the last antagonist Los Simuladores face, he gets easily dealt with in the beginning of the finale, and the rest of the Episode has nothing to do with him.
- Foil: To Los Simuladores. Both sides are con men, the difference being one uses this skill to (mostly) help others in need, choosing their jobs carefully and with a strong sense of morality, while the other one is actively malicious and only does it for personal gain.
- It's All About Me: Milazzo doesn't care about anyone or anything except himself and his goals.
- Irony: A conman conned by a group of moral conmen and falls in their trap twice. He is also so self-centered he cannot appreciate the karmic irony of the situation, and he is so amoral he can't even acknowledge he deserved it.
- Lack of Empathy: He does not care at all of all the people he conned, and he shoots Molero in cold blood. Also he was planning to kill the group.
- Malignant Plot Tumor: His plot in the second season starts growing until the last episode where it fully collides with the group.
- Miles Gloriosus: He thinks of himself as an action hero. While he proves to be physically capable of it, him being conned by Los Simuladores twice proves that he isn't one.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Milazzo was never a funny guy to be around, but in the first season, despite his scammimg business, he was not a particulary dangerous character. But comes season 2, having lost everything, being one year in the jungle, and after being massively conned, the guy becomes increasingly more deranged and dangerous, willing to go to any lenghts to take revenge.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He seems to be pretty racist in general, a lot of the people he targets with his scams are groups seen as "inferior", such as immigrants or low class people desperate for a chance at fame. He also throws a couple derogative remarks against Paraguayans and the Chinese. A behaviour that can unfortunately be more normalized in Argentina, where political correctness is not as prevalent as in first world countries.
- Reality Show: Los Simuladores create a fake one in which he is supposed to participate against four other competitors in surviving one year isolated from civilization.
- Revenge: His main motivation in Season 2 is to take revenge on the group for having conned him out of his money, house, and lying about the show's existence.
- Revenge Before Reason: After being conned, he spent one year pointlessly in the jungle, having lost his money and his house, oficially being declared "dissapeared", and most of all, being conned using his biggest dream, Milazzo is so furious he doesn't care about the money or anything else anymore. He just wants to find the team and kill them all.
- Shadow Archetype: He is one to (half of) Los Simuladores, particulary to Ravenna and Lamponne. He is a scammer and a conman like them, but lacks the morality and good intentions of the group, instead conning decent and helpless people out of their money. He is a very dangerous fighter, trained physically and skilled with weapons (like Lamponne, who is a war veteran), and can be pretty seductive and good at disguise (Ravenna). His cons are generally simple and repetitive, but effective to a point. He also managed to get the team names and to make sketches of their faces (but there he met a dead end, where he turned to Molero). Molero seems to complement the abilities he lacks, by filling in with his investigative skills and his planning (Medina and Santos, respectively).
- The Sociopath: He is narcissistic, cares for no one but for himself, preys on the weak and is quite good at manipulating people.
- Took a Level in Badass: His return in Season 2 sees the guy becoming increasingly more deranged and dangerous, willing to go to any lenghts to take revenge against the protagonists.
- Upper-Class Twit: To an extent, given that class division in Argentina is not the same as in the U.S., but he is from high class given his lifestyle and earnings, and looks down on poor people.
- Villainous Friendship: Subverted. Molero and him aren't friends. It's clear that not only they don't like each other, but Milazzo also sees their relationship as strictly business and even starts getting tired of Molero's teasing. His anger builds up, resulting in an attempted murder once he thinks Molero is no longer needed.
Marcos Molero
"These people brought me back the joy, I don't know if I really want to ruin their lives."
A private detective hired by Milazzo to find the group. Cynical, depressed after being cheated and abandoned by his wife, and almost bored to death of his job, he manages to find new life again while undercovering the group's identity.- Adapted Out: Most remakes of the show choose to not even adapt his Season 2 sub plot with Milazzo, some merely adapting the beginning of the final episode where Milazzo finds the rest of the team and that's it. As such, he's nowhere to be seen.
- Anti-Hero: True to his noirish air and inspiration. He is a cynical, depressed (to the point in which he admits he wasn't very interested in living), brutally honest (he laughs at Milazo's face many times after he described him the con that was made to him, and generally not minding words not caring aboaut Milazzo's reaction) and aphatetic (at least at the beginning). He doesn't give two fucks (and seems a dip angry and annoyed) about his clients, who according to him, always come asking to find if their wifes are cheating, given how bored he is with that, and how close to his own situation it falls, a tad suicidal, and always with a cigarrette in his mouth. He accepts working with Milazzo to undercover Los Simuladores, and keeps going even after discovering Milazzo's previous life as a con man and observing some of Milazzo's more unstable behaviour, and despite thinking and seeing the group less as con-mans and criminals, and more like heroes. And yet he keeps investigating the group, a great deal out of curiosity and emotion, part loyalty to his client, and the fact that the group are in fact, to the law's eyes, criminals. But despite all this, deep down he is a man of nobility and codes. Since the beginning he express an amazing deal of admiration for Los Simuladores, viewing them as heroes and geniuses for their abilities, and he continues working with Milazzo because he though the final objective was to undercover and arrest the group, not murdering, and desserts Milazzo the moment he makes clear he has no intentions of turning them in (Milazzo shoots him in the chest, but he survives, having a bulletproof vest). In the last episode, he presents himself to Santos and tells him all he knows about the group (including Santos real name and history) while expressing his admiration and respect for them (and for Santos's deceased father), thanks Santos for helping him recover the joy of life, and gives him his card and tells him he is at the group's entire disposition. This impressed Santos enough to make him a part of the new group of pretenders, after the organization decided to suspemd activities for a while.
- Alliterative Name: Marcos Molero. In a similar way, his team up with Milazzo also qualifies.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: During Season 2. He is hired by Milazzo to find Los Simuladores, but it is clear that without him, Milazzo is pretty hopeless on finding the group (which still doesn't make Milazzo any less dangerous, given his physical prowess, ability with weapons, and survival skills). Interestingly enough, he is much more of a smart guy and mastermind than his client.
- The Chessmaster: His plan to catch Ravenna worked, and the group is almost caught. But Milazzo did not want to go with it, as Molero was setting them up to be arrested and Milazzo just wanted to kill them all.
- Death Seeker: Molero tells Santos that the night Milazzo shot him he was wearing a bulletproof vest. When Santos asks him if he considered that Milazzo could have gone for the head, Molero responds that he wasn't interested in living either way, and he saw it as some sort of test. He also confesses that he was already considering suicide before Milazzo came along needing his help.
- The Dragon: After he is hired by Milazzo to find Los Simuladores, he takes over the case, and it even becomes clear that without him, Milazzo is pretty hopeless on finding the group, as he is much more of a smart guy and mastermind than his client (which still doesn't make Milazzo any less dangerous, given his physical prowess, ability with weapons, and survival skills).
- Foil: To Milazzo. He is an anti-heroic private detective, a cerebral guy, and a genuinely noble person, while Milazzo is a violent psychopath obsessed with his body and fighting skills.
- Friendship Moment: When he gives Santos his father's diary, and offers him his services for anything.
- Guile Hero: He manages to discover the group's real identities with nothing more than his cunning and skills, them being expert con-mans who managed to erase almost any evidence of their identities, and manages to make the police arrest Ravenna as part of the plan. Had him and Milazzo followed Molero's plan,it is likely Los Simuladores could have ended up arrested, given how much he had discovered on them, or at the very least exposed. Santos is clearly impressed of Molero's capability.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: He was never a real villain to begin with, just opposed to Los Simuladores.
- The Hyena: He is always making fun of Milazzo, with his notorious wheeze laugh, and has a very cynical and acid sense of humour.
- Malicious Misnaming: Asks Milazzo is his name is pronounced as "Milat-zo", as in "Pizza", and calls him that several times as a little tease. note
- Shadow Archetype: He is a slightly darker archetype of (half of) the group, showing Medina's tracking abilities, some of Santos chessmaster and planning skills. He is also plagued for the same emotional issues that most of the group members have, and works with more or less similar objectives (as an opposite, he is on the side of the law unlike Los Simuladores, who are all conmen). Milazzo completes the other half with the manipulative charm of Ravenna and the resourcefulness and mobility of Lamponne.
- Villainous Friendship: Absolutely subverted with Milazzo. Molero works for him, but shows him absolutely no respect for how much of a horrible person he is and laughs at his face when he tells him that he spent a year in the jungle talking to a turned-off camera. His teasing of him goes as far as insinuating he might actually be the bad guy while standing on the edge of a building, tempting fate while knowing that the only reason Milazzo does not push him off is that he still needs his skills to enact his revenge.
- Worthy Opponent: To Los Simuladores. The feeling is definitely mutual:
- I have a plan, Milazzo, but before he goes to jail, I'd like to go and congratulate him. They sent you to the jungle, and that other moron to an asylum! They're phenomenal, come on! (keeps laughing)
Notable Clients and Victims
Maria
Bernardo Galvan
Dr. Juan Dumas
Commisioner Diego Alejandro Crucitti
A corrupt Comissioner of the section 23 on the greater Buenos Aires. The point of the operative is to turn him to the side of law again, to ensure the safety of the people under his protection.
- Awful Wedded Life: According to Medina, he couldn't stand his wife any more, arriving his home as late as he could.
- Character Development: The whole point of the drill is to make him improve as a person.
- Dirty Cop: He is basically the crime lord of his area. He is involved in prostitution, smuggling, abuse of power, etc.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" might be an stretch, "corrupt" probably fits better, but his friendship with Ravenna is genuine, showing that he cares about him, this being one of the reasons he becomes a better individual.
- Heel–Face Turn: The whole episode is one for him. He becomes a honest cop at the end of the episode, and a pretty good one, managing to reduce the crime rates on his district to half in two months, and putting the police force at people's service, finishing the extortions.
- Jerkass Woobie: A curious case invoked for one the team's Asshole Victims, he actually has a relatively sympathetic backstory, and despite his horrible actions, his life is also awfully miserable.
- The Power of Friendship: That, and the fact of actually being able to achieve his dream, helps him to become a better person.
- Tragic Dream: His dream of joining SETI, and being rejected from it was what it pushed him into the dark path he took.
- Tragic Villain: To a level, he is. He tells the group that his life was a disaster full of frustrations and unhappiness, which also drove him to many of his actions, and that he never felt he had any reason to do things right until that moment, which shows he had a pretty unhappy existence until that day.
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