Bandidos is a 2024 adventure-comedy Mexican TV Series created by Pablo Tébar. It was released worldwide by Netflix on March 13, 2024.
It follows Miguel (Alfonso Dosal), a con artist and the son of a famous archeologist, who recruits a gang of of skilled misfits to find the Snake King's treasure in the Maya Riviera, while facing off a mysterious man (Adrián Ladrón) who is also after the treasure and seeks revenge on Miguel over an incident that involved him and his father years ago.
The team consists of:
- Lilí (Ester Expósito), Miguel's ex-girlfriend who poses as a guest of the luxurious hotel he works at to scam rich men.
- Wilson (Juan Pablo Medina), a counterfeiter and Miguel's uncle who is openly gay.
- Lucas (Juan Pablo Fuentes), an expert hacker and gamer, also Miguel's only friend.
- Inés (Mabel Cadena), a tough by-the-book cop who initially sees Miguel as the prime suspect behind the murder of the Spaniard man whose skin was carved out, but later on joins the gang, planning to use her part of the bounty in order to regain her son's custody.
- Octavio (Nicolás Furtado), a mercenary who used to be in the military, also the ex-boyfriend of Lilí and Inés.
- Citlali (Andrea Chaparro), a pickpocket and a skilled diver.
The series was renewed for a second season.
Bandidos provides examples of:
- Anyone Can Die:
- Wilson is revealed to have lung cancer during the midpoint of Season 1 and succumbs to the disease at the beginning of Episode 7.
- The Burnt Face man is also killed by Lilí in the finale, stabbing him with his own cane.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Lucas and newcomer Citlali are the youngest members of the heist team, to the point that Inés refers to them as "the kids" and Octavio sarcastically calls them "El Chavo" and "La Chilindrina" when Citlali partly confirms her innocence on being the traitor and Lucas backs her up.
- Beta Couple: Lucas and Citlali, Octavio and Inés.
- Betty and Veronica: Miguel and Ariel are the Betty and Veronica to Lilí's Archie. Although in terms on what each does for a living (Miguel being a con artist and Ariel owning a prestigious museum), Miguel would be the Veronica and Ariel the Betty.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Ariel is revealed to be working for the Burnt Face man to get the treasure. Ultimately subverted in Episode 6 when he double-crosses Ariel and leaves him to die suffocated with Miguel and the others, except for Inés and Octavio who free them.
- Cool Big Sis: Lilí always plays this role for Lucas.
- Driving Question: As the title of Episode 6 suggests, who was the traitor inside the team that blew the whistle on Ariel to have the airplane sabotaged? Each member is forced to hand over their phones and explain what were they doing the night before they took off, with Lucas tracking each of their movements on his to prove they are telling the truth. Eventually, the traitor is revealed to be Lilí, who leaves with the scarred man while the rest of the team is trapped inside a pyramid chamber. However, it turns out that the betrayal was staged as part of her and Miguel's plan to get to Ariel.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Inés can be very prone to anger issues when things don't go her way, even when she interrogates Miguel and his team, but she has a soft spot for her son whom she is trying to regain custody of from her ex-husband.
- Also Citlali, who is sarcastic, aloof and pessimistic. But she is a poor girl, who deeply cares about her mom and two younger siblings.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Wilson lost his left leg in an accident, but he always changes the story of how it happened to anyone who asks him.
- Open-Minded Parent: Marisa explicitly shows her approval at her son Lucas possibly being gay if he's into guys when she tells him to socialize more with people.
- Running Gag:
- Miguel explaining historical facts about the treasure and Lilí always cutting him off ("Miguel. No one cares"). She calls Lucas out when he tries this too.
- Lucas ejaculating prematurely while he is making out with Citlali. She is not weirded out by this, although Lucas feels embarrassed.
- Wilson changing the hows on losing his left leg.
- Secret-Keeper: Miguel never tells his teammates that Lilí faked her death and that she's being chased by men who wanted to kill her.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Lucas's mother is very supportive of her son and Citlali dating, although this was initially a ploy to steal her credit card after she had frozen his.
- The team's reaction to Inés revealing that she slept with Octavio the night before they took off on the airplane, also the alibi that proved he wasn't the traitor either.
- Twofer Token Minority: Wilson is an amputee and gay.
- Uptown Boy: Lucas comes from a wealthy family and gets romantically involved with Citlali, a local thief from a poor family.
- You Need to Get Laid: Lucas's mother, Marisa, always encourages her son to hang out with people his own age, and even get a girlfriend "or boyfriend" (not caring if her son is gay) as she puts it, instead of spending the entire day at the hotel playing with his video games.
