Niní is an Argentine juvenile telenovela that aired from 2009-2010, with Florencia Bertotti as the titular character.
Nina Gómez, a.k.a. Niní, is the granddaughter of the Santa Juliana embassy's gardener, and has lived at the embassy her entire life. She's sweet and kind-hearted but very insecure and prone to stumbling into trouble. One day, after many years without one, the new ambassador Tomás Parker and his family of adopted children move in. After Niní accidentally insults him and then takes the blame of a fire incident (to protect the eldest Parker sibling, Martín), Tomás kicks her out of the embassy.
Niní, while working a job promoting a Christmas sale dressed as Santa Claus, helps Tomás bring his youngest daughter, Sicilia, to the hospital after an accident. He thanks Niní for saving Sicilia, and asks for "his" name, mistaking Niní for a man. She goes along with it, calling herself Nicolás, as she thinks the ambassador hates her. Eventually, Tomás offers Nicolás a job at the embassy, and she accepts in order to be near her grandfather and return to her home. She goes on to live a double life as Niní and Nico, and complications ensue from there, not least that Tomás comes to think of Nico as a close friend, and falls in love with Niní.
The series provides examples of:
- Amnesiac Costume Identity: Niní wakes up amnesiac after almost drowning, and since she's dressed as Nico, she assumes she's a man, and no amount of convincing her will work, not until she goes to the bathroom and finds something missing.
- Apologises a Lot: One of Niní's most characteristic traits.
- Beta Couple: Victoria and Sebastián. Towards the end, there's also Carmen and Ángel.
- Betty and Veronica: Lola (Betty) and Sofía (Veronica) for Martín.
- Boyfriend Bluff: Nico pretends to be Victoria's boyfriend to get out of romantic situations with women, and to explain away strange events where Victoria's help is needed.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Niní-as-Nico constantly tries to clean up her image with Tomás.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Martín does it to Tomás whenever they don't get along; Tomás himself does it to his own dad as they're not close.
- Childhood Friends: Niní, Victoria and Ángel have known each other since primary school. Vicky, as the Best Friend, is the only one that has always known the truth about Nicolás, and is who Niní relies on to keep up the ruse.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Victor. He betrays anyone, even his own sister, when it results in his advantage.
- Clark Kenting: At first, the embassy staff remark how physically similar Nico is to Niní but end up believing they're different people. Justified in that their similarities are passed off as family resemblance, and they act so differently suspicions fall to the wayside.
- Clueless Dude Magnet: Niní acquires many suitors throughout the story (Ángel, Tomás, Victor, Cesare, the sheik...), but her insecurity makes her believe nobody would be interested in her. Nicolás has a similar effect on women, and occasionally gains his own Unwanted Harem.
- Doorstop Baby: Horacio's sister abandons her son in the embassy's garage, and Horacio eventually (and temporarily; his sister takes the baby back later) adopts his newphew as his son.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Technically, Tomás and Niní's first kiss is this; Niní faints after inhaling smoke and Tomás holds her, worried, and gives her a peck on the lips.
- Endearingly Dorky: Ángel and Victor fall in love with Niní pretty much immediately, and her clumsiness, social awkwardness, and constantly asking for forgiveness tend to endear her to them even more. Tomás also finds those things endearing to some extent, but he falls for Niní more because of her sweetness, sensitivity, and shows of bravery; he tends to hate when Niní apologises too much or gets mixed up in trouble.
- Faux Affably Evil: Victor pretends to be charming and helpful, but he's a power-hungry villain willing to do anything to get what he wants: to be ambassador (and then probably aim higher).
- Fictional Country: The Isle of Santa Juliana. Not much is said in canon about it, just that it's a former colony that has recently gained independence, that there's a violent faction that wishes to return to colonial status, and that Niní's grandfather fought in the war of independence. Victoria's guided tours throw the occasional tidbit, like the island's patron saint's backstory or trivia about the former ambassadors.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Victor tries to excuse his attempts to get Tomás fired and his mistreatment of the embassy staff as him having a rough childhood that made him rude, but Niní refutes him, saying she had just as rough a childhood and yet she's still kind and caring.
- Friend of Masked Self: Niní makes up that Nicolás is a distant cousin of hers that's recently come into her life to explain Nicolás existance and her relationship to him.
- Gender-Bender Friendship: Niní often laments that Tomás dislikes her as Niní but seems to love her as Nico.
- Happily Adopted: The Parker children are all adopted. No matter how their bonds are tested, they're still family and they care about each other as such.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: If Nico's achievements are proof of anything it's that Niní can be amazingly brave and that when she does things with confidence people take her seriously, but her insecurities and low opinion of herself keep her thinking she's a good-for-nothing.
- Holding Both Sides of the Conversation: Any time someone's looking for Niní but finds Nico or viceversa at the gardener's house, Niní will pretend to be both having a conversation.
- Hopeless Suitor: Ángel has been in love with Niní since they were kids, but she only sees him as a good friend, borderline brother.
- Insecure Love Interest: Niní herself is an obstacle in her relationship with Tomás. She's afraid of messing up as she's never been someone's girlfriend before, she thinks she isn't worthy of Tomás, and, to top it all off, she feels guitly she's been lying to him about Nicolás since they met; this all makes her reticent to accept him, and she often sabotages her chances. She runs away the first time they kiss, afraid of her feelings, and she repeats this the second time, but later confronts Tomás and tells him she loves him too.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Niní finds out Celina is Sicilia's biological mother, Celina asks her to step aside so she can reconnect with her daughter, who prefers being around Niní and hates Celina, and with Tomás in the hopes of becoming a family. Niní, wanting to give Sicilia the best life possible, chooses to distance herself from them, even if it means she feels miserable.
- Ladykiller in Love: Tomás has dated many women but he's never commited to any because he's never fallen in love. That is, until Niní shows up.
- Last-Second Word Swap: What tends to happen to Tomás when he talks about feelings with Niní; he means to deny he's in love but he ends up blurting out he very much is. The best example is when he goes talk to her after their first kiss with the intention of rejecting her, to tell her it was all a mistake, but once he's in front of her he ends up affirming his love for her.Tomás: Niní, yo creo que lo que pasó entre nosotros, ese beso, fue... real.note
- Longing Look: All over the show; Ángel to Niní, Niní to Tomás and viceversa, Sebastián to Victoria and viceversa, etc.
- Mask of Confidence: Or rather, Wig of Confidence; being dressed as Nicolás gives Niní the confidence to go ahead with the craziest plans and to really speak her mind. She even mentions how envious she gets of Nicolás because of this.
- Missing Mom: The Parker children are all adoptees so they're all cases of Parental Abandonment by their biological parents. However, their adopted mom, Tomás ex-wife, isn't present in their lives either and seems to have never been much on board with having them in the first place.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Sebastián thinks Vicky's cheating on him with Nicolás anytime he seems Vicky and Niní-in-costume talking.
- While Niní is living temporarily with Victor, Tomás shows up and sees them hugging. His conclusion is Niní had been two-timing him with Victor the entire time (being she had lied about moving far away). Niní denies cheating but can't explain the truth as she had promised to keep Celina's secret, so Tomás doesn't believe her.
- Moment Killer: Once Tomás and Niní confess their love, whenever they want to be romantic around the embassy, someone from the staff comes along to interrupt them.
- Nature Lover: Having been raised by a gardener, Niní is very knowledgeable about plants and absolutely loves the outdoors. Before the Parker's moved in, she'd been living in a tent on the embassy gardens, and she's never enthusiatic about guys giving her flower bouquets as a gift when those flowers could have been kept alive on the ground.
- New Old Flame: Subverted. When Damián, Niní's first love from fifth grade, shows up, it all seems to indicate he still loves Niní and wants them to date, but it turns out he's in love with a different girl from their class, and Niní helps him ask her out.
- One Head Taller: Tomás is quite taller than Niní.
- Parental Abandonment: Niní was raised by her grandfather at the embassy. Her father's an explorer and hasn't visited her in years; her mother died shortly after Niní was born, and her father never told her who she was.
- Parental Substitute: Niní is this for Sicilia, even after Celina's revealed to be Sicilia's biological mother. Sicilia even calls her her "mamá del alma," essentially "mom by choice".
- Playing Cyrano: Ángel asks the ambassador for help in writing Niní letters to wow her into going on a date, since his penmanship is very awkward and Tomás, as The Casanova, has more experience charming women. He agrees, and the letters work, which keeps Ángel asking for more. Eventually, Niní finds them out while they're working on one.
- Puppy Love: Chama and Zoe.
- Race for Your Love: Twice; first time, Tomás doesn't make it before Niní "leaves", second time he does.
- Raised by the Community: Since her parents weren't around, Niní was raised by her grandfather and the embassy staff.
- Rejection Affection: Carmen, no matter how unenthusiatic Nicolás is and that he outright rejects her, insists that her and Nico are just a matter of time.
- Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Niní uses a raspier and slightly deeper voice to talk as Nicolás.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Though Niní never dresses unfashionably, she wears clothes suited for gardening and it's not uncommon to find her covered in mud, so whenever she wears fancy, formal dresses, it's treated as this trope.
- Shipper on Deck: Sicilia wants her father and Niní to get together, and will keep insisting until they admit they love each other.
- The Silent Bob: Chiqui, the embassy's security guard, is never heard talking, just rarely laughing, but other characters still talk to him as if he verbalized his thoughts.
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: Though she takes the name from her Santa Claus costume, Nina and Nicolás aren't dissimilar.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Niní disguises herself as Nicolás in order to remain at the embassy after being kicked out.
- Token Minority: Chou is the only Asian character.
- The Unmasking: Sicilia realizes Niní is in costume first, and helps her out because she likes Niní. Martín then finds out after he sees Nicolás enter a place and Niní come out, but helps keep her secret in exchange for a favor. Damián realizes immediately but also keeps her secret. Victor also finds out, and reveals it to everyone at the embassy in revenge.
- Unpleasant Parent Reveal: For Sicilia, finding out her biological mother is someone she despises.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Tomás and Niní, at first because he doesn't want to admit he loves her and she's too insecure to believe anything could happen, and later because of Celina's intervention.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Tomás dad, the former ambassador, constantly shows his disapproval of how Tomás has been handling the job.
