History YMMV / AguilaRoja

-->''Hijos de Santiago, grandes son los tercios'' (Sons of St. James, great are the Tercios.)

* CreepyAwesome: Malasangre. There is something about him which brings memories of The Joker from ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.

** The fourth verse of the anthem of the Tercios quoted above seems to be invoke Lucius Annaeus Seneca's quote that fear makes a man a slave. It might be unintentional, but Seneca was born in Spain, and it used to be studied a lot in the 15th century Spain as a glory of their past.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The show was the launching platform for Creator/JavierGutierrez (Sátur), who got to show his acting talent in ''Águila Roja'' more than in all of his previous works combined. His casting on the film ''La Isla Mínima'', which earned him the Goya Award for the Best Male Performance, is widely believed to have been granted thanks to his work in this series.

* MemeticMutation: The fictional anthem of the ''tercios'' has almost its own fanbase, and it's often invoked whenever the Spanish Empire is brought up (sometimes by people who actually believe it to be real, even although the lyrics should dispel quickly this illusion for anybody with a decent knowledge of the period).

** In Agustín's introduction episode, the leap he does across the entire cloister to evade Águila (which is used to show to the audience that the monk has ninja training as well) is so obviously wire-performed that it looks more like a stunt from a Corey Yuen film than a serious attempt to keep up with the series's admittedly inconsistent physics.
** Adolfo Fernández's own acting as Agustín can get unintentionally hilarious due to his facial and verbal hamminess. He seriously looks like he is on an overdose of something in his worst moments.
** The death of the kid who thought that Sátur's training wings were enough to fly was meant to be a true sign of parental concerns, but the fact that he jumped to his death off a balustrade that cannot be ''ten feet'' over the ground makes his instant death look terribly silly and improbable.
** Malasangre's repeated knockouts of people by karate-chopping them in the back with his clasped hands are really fake-looking. Even worse, the strike was apparently established as an actual signature move and not just a random piece of bad choreography.

* TrueArtIsAngsty

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Hernán and Lucrecia hook up at the series's grand finale, finally pleasing all the fans of the pairing who were unsatisfied on how the season seemed previously to be attempting to sink it for good. However, it brught its own problems (see Broken Base below).

** The death of the kid who thought that Sátur's training wings were enough to fly was meant to be a true sign of AdultFear, but the fact that he jumped to his death off a balustrade that cannot be ''ten feet'' over the ground makes his instant death look terribly silly and improbable.

** Malasangre firstly tries to cover up the story with his concubine Jimena in order to avoid being sentenced to death, but later decides he doesn't want to live anymore and accepts his death warrant - yet at the end changes his mind when he sees Jimena's distraught face in the crowd, and makes an elaborate act to get pardoned. His only explanation to the king is that her face reminded him of how many women he could enjoy by keeping on living, but this is clearly meant to be a lie and doesn't explain his continious switching of intentions through the episode. Was it altogether an incredibly complex BatmanGambit? Did he decide that he didn't want to leave Jimena to her remorse for his death? Or did everything happen that way because he is, well, crazy?
** Malasangre's SuicideByCop at the series finale is not much clearer. Did Sátur's words affect Malasangre enough to switch to DeathSeeker mode, or was it a conscious, personal decision? Was he thinking that life would be boring for him again, or did he feel remorse for his role on the fate of Gonzalo, a man he had stated to consider somewhat of a friend?

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: One of the biggest examples ever, period. Critics were skeptical at best and mocking at worst even before ''Águila Roja'''s release, citing its silly premise and shoddy production, and prophesied a dire first season cancellation. However, while they were technically right about those and more problems in the series, the latter was ''not'' cancelled. It worked so well with the audience that not only did it get a second season, but its success skyrocketed shortly after and ir became RTVE's TV juggernaut, gaining ''eight'' more seasons (and a movie) and the distinction of being considered one of the peak TV productions in Spain ever.

** The Cossack from the movie is portrayed as a powerful antagonist, and while he is certainly tough, he receives the classic Águila Roja treatment almost at the beginning of the film (and it doesn't help that [[NeverTrustATrailer the trailers built him as much more important to the film than he actually was]]). In comparison, his twin brother puts a much better fight later in the series.

* ArcFatigue: One of the show's main issues, consistently pointed out but never corrected, was the way in which the producers seemed to forget everything happened in the seasons previous to the one that was airing at the time, thus dragging out the remaining open plots until the audience [[TheChrisCarterEffect got tired or just plain forgot about them]]. Some of the most important arcs, like the relationship between Hernán and Irene or the love stories between Gonzalo and Margarita and Irene and Nuño, weren't resolved or even given progress at all for ''many'' seasons.
* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** How many fans see the way Hernán gets his job back, as it happens due to a bizarre and unrealistic coincidence even for this show, where bizarre coincidences are the norm. It is especially jarring considering that the King had specifically stated not to care about him (it is naturally implied that he changed his mind, but the fact that it happens off-screen makes it look like it came out of nowhere).
** Hernán and Lucrecia hook up at the series's grand finale, finally pleasing all the fans of the pairing who were unsatisfied on how the season seemed previously to be attempting to sink it for good. However, it brught its own problems (see Broken Base below).

* BadassDecay: Hernán. Only after the first few seasons, he went from a veteran capable to hold his own against Águila Roja to a paper tiger that lost almost every duel, and it only went downhill from there.

** The hooded rider who attacks Águila and Sátur in the ruins looked like he was meant to be an important character, possibly an antagonist, but with the Emperor's son story-arc being thrown aside (assuming that the rider was related to it, which is not even clear!), he was completely forgotten by the plot. The audience never got to discover his identity, alignment or goals.

** In the final season, after Águila's true identity is given away by Anais, a bunch of seemingly ordinary people are seen surrounding his house in daylight. One of them opens a jar full of guns and distribute them, revealing that they are all the Cardinal's agents, who are likely just about to assault Gonzalo's house. However, this never happens: Gonzalo is arrested much later by regular guards, and the agents are never brought again.

** Was Sátur's supposed rape of a girl a very aptly and powerfully played arc, or was it absolutely idiotical and offensive to the audience to try to play such a absurd doubt on a beloved hero like Sátur? Or, in case it was good, would it have been better not to resolve it so fast?

** As of Season 9, while some liked the focus put on the fan favorite Malasangre, many people were fast in pointing out how just plain incoherent was the writer's apparent intention to turn him, the most vicious non-episodic villain in the entire series, into a BigGood of sorts, of all things. It only went in hand with the even more controversial decision of sinking definitely the uber-popular Hernán/Lucrecia ship and turning Hernán into a raving madman.
** ''Águila Roja'''s GrandFinale in 2016 was as divisive as the series itself. Detractors point out that the episode felt both rushed and erratic, as well as that its events contradicted the recent development of basically all the characters (not to mention the unceremonious way some of them were killed), while defenders maintain that it was the only way to close all the hanging plots and that, for good or bad, everything happened in the series's signature plot style after all.

** Sátur was ''at least'' as popular as Gonzalo himself. Reasons for it range from the Spanish audiences's love for comedic characters like him (as he is basically the only character who provides any kind of comedy to the show) to the fact that the guy who plays the character, Creator/JavierGutierrez, ended up blossoming out as the best actor in the show.
** On the critics's part, Santiago Merino was surprisingly well received for an episodic character. It's no wonder, though, as he received great lines and significance, was played by a cult Spanish actor, and his featured arc is considered the peak of the late seasons and one of the highest points in the entire series.

* GrowingTheBeard: There is not consensus about which season marks the beard growing for the series, but the third and fourth are serious contenders. However, for some the show starts declining in quality in those same seasons.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The show was the launching platform for Creator/JavierGutierrez (Sátur), who got to show his acting talent in ''Águila Roja'' more than in all of his previous works combined. His casting on the film ''La Isla Mínima'', which gained him the Goya Award for the Best Male Performance, is widely believed to have been granted thanks to his work in this series.

* MemeticMutation: The fictional anthem of the ''tercios'' has almost its own fanbase, and it's often invoked whenever the Spanish Empire is brought up (sometimes by people who actually believe it to be real).

** In Agustín's introduction episode, the leap he does across the entire cloister to evade Águila (which is used to show to the audience that the monk has ninja training as well) is so obviously wire-performed that it looks more like a stunt from a Corey Yuen film than a serious attempt to keep up with the series's admittedly fantastic physics.

** The death of the kid who thought that Sátur's training wings were enough to fly was meant to be a true sign of concerns, but the fact that he jumped to his death off a balustrade that is no more than ''ten feet'' over the ground makes it look terribly silly and improbable.

** In the same season, the Cardinal Mendoza's [[YouHaveFailedMe execution of his mercenary lieutenant]] for failing at killing Malasangre and his team could have been a characteristic misdeed of a villain like him. However, it happens that a) he kills the mook by drowning him in a bathtub, b) specifically the very bathtub in which Mendoza himself is taking a bath at the moment, c) he kills him by pulling down his head roughly against Mendoza's ''lap'', making it look [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything unintentionally lubricious]], and d) he does it one-handed and very easily despite the mook being younger and surely much stronger than him. Audience is pardoned for breaking laughing hysterically at that scene.
** In Season 7, the discovering of a supposedly cursed sword. It came so from nowhere (and is discovered, in true ''Águila Roja'' fashion, by random chance!) and it was so obviously inane for the plot that every time someone wielded it many a viewer probably broke laughing.

** Due to how terribly handled the relationship is by the writers, Gonzalo and Margarita could be seen as this.

* RootingForTheEmpire: A lot of fans sided very fastly with Lucrecia and Hernán, the villainous couple of the show, over Gonzalo and Margarita, the heroic one, who was seen as bland and badly developed.

** Cipri became one when his growing antagonism towards Sátur started coming across unjustified and petty, not improved by the fact that even his character development seemed explicitly oriented towards making him less and less sympathetic. Only with [[spoiler:his death]] he was fully RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap, and by then it was arguably too late.

* SeasonalRot: ''Águila Roja'' started as a quite narmy but genuinely elaborated product, and viewers were willing to forgive its most improbable elements in order to see where the series went to. The next seasons increased the fantasy points through derivative plots-of-the-week, but it was forgiven again for also adding character depth and a new overarching plot. In late seasons, however, ''Águila Roja'' started to show clear signs of bad writing when they made a routine out of [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot opening interesting plots and forgetting them after a few episodes]], even if some of them were well received and liked anyways, and opinion started to go sour. Then, after RTVE failed notoriously at handling the series's schedule and the writing problems only became worse and worse, a big part of the charm faded away and almost all the audience entered SoBadItsGood mode until the end of the series.

** Many people would have wanted to see more of Sátur's father instead of the BusCrash that followed his sole appearance. The writers made up a bit for it by exploring Sátur's thoughts of him after he died, but this plot had little effect compared to how interesting a full arc about the two would have been.
** Matilde was also missed by a big part of the crowd after she was PutInABus for the second and final time. Even if she had little personality outside her PuppyLove with Alonso (and her teased LoveTriangle with Nuño), her background as the daughter of a [[BurnTheWitch pursued witch]] was still promising, and she was also the last plot element that managed to give gave Alonso color, depth and a reason to be sympathetic to someone. The fact that her ultimate fate remains unknown (she was not even mentioned during the dramatic return of Inés, who had shared Bus with her, and we could only speculate about what happened to the poor girl) also adds to it.
** Emilio de Montalvo is a special example, because despite having a puzzling background and some interesting interactions with other characters, it was painfully clear from the beginning that the writers didn't have a bloody clue what to do with him. His death felt both contrived and inevitable given his lack of plot relevance.
** The deaths of both the Cardinal Mendoza and Malasangre at the finale stand out for how perceivably senseless they are for such a pair of Magnificent Bastards, especially considering that the former's death is pretty glossed over while the latter's was a random character decision that went unexplained. Some fans would have prefered their teased MutualKill in Season 9 as their actual demise.

** Possibly the biggest sin of the series. Many viewers were understandably critic with the fact that some of the most anticipated arcs, like the successor of Christ or Hernán's quest to get his job back, were resolved very abruptly and/or in a vague and unsatisfactory way in order to leave space for the next story-arc.
** The relationship between Alonso and Nuño. They went from having an interesting, changing and multi-layered rivalry, based on their opposite upbringings and background, to just stop interacting at all, to the point Nuño apparently left Gonzalo's school altogether.

* SoBadItsGood: Even the series's staunchest defenders usually had this view as part of its charm, especially in later seasons, where the writing quality started to plummet and the show became more of a narrative freakshow than anything. Some of the storylines of the last season were pure BileFascination fuel.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: In late seasons the writers took delight in making Hernán and Lucrecia pay for their misdeeds at the hands of the commoners, and this includes her getting publicly humiliated and him being beaten up by an angry mob in at least two separate occasions each. However, it's actually hard for the viewer not to side with them after having been repeatedly shown throughout the series what a bunch of horrible people the entire population of the city seems to be in the first place. Eventually the show itself seemed to realize it as well.

* GeniusBonus: Sátur once talks about a friend of his who mistook his wife for a hat. This is a reference to the Oliver Sacks neurology book ''The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat''.

** The death of the kid who thought that Sátur's training wings were enough to fly was meant to be a true sign of AdultFear, but the fact that he jumped to his death off a balustrade that is no more than ''ten feet'' over the ground makes it look terribly silly and improbable.

* EndingAversion: A increasing trend among viewers through the series's run, given how many arcs had no ending or received a vapid one.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: A ninja in the Spain of the Austrias. Enough.

** With the show having been accused so many times to be a ripoff of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', one of its main actors ended up acting in the [[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 video game's 2016 film adaptation]], which has a protagonist named "Aguilar".

** With the show having been accused so many times to be a ripoff of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', one of its main actors ended up acting in the [[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 videogame's film adaptation]].

* FanPreferredCouple:
** Gonzalo/Margarita, though the couple lost fans over the years due to the increasingly negative opinion towards Margarita's character and their relationship becoming very dragged out.
** Hernán and Lucrecia, fan-nicknamed the "dark side" of the show, were also amazingly popular, and actually surpassed the Gonzalo/Margarita fandom for a long time.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common consequence of the emphasis on drama and DarkerAndEdgier is that viewers tended to watch the series more out of curiosity about how the producers were going to torment the characters than out of sympathy towards the characters themselves.

** Malasangre firstly tries to cover up the story with his concubine Jimena in order to avoid being sentenced to death, but later decides he doesn't want to live anymore and accepts his death warrant - yet at the end changes his mind when he sees Jimena's distraught face in the crowd, and makes an elaborate act to get pardoned. His only explanation to the king is that her face reminded him of how many women he could enjoy by keep living, but this is clearly meant to be a lie and doesn't explain his continious switching of intentions through the episode. Was it altogether an incredibly complex BatmanGambit? Did he decide that he didn't want to leave Jimena to her remorse for his death? Or did everything happen that way because he is, well, crazy?

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: One of the biggest examples ever, period. Critics were skeptical at best and mocking at worst even before ''Águila Roja'''s release, citing its silly premise and shoddy production, and prophesied a dire first season cancellation. However, while they were technically right about those and more problems of the series, the latter was ''not'' cancelled. It worked so well with the audience that not only did it get a second season, but its success skyrocketed shortly after and ir became RTVE's TV juggernaut, gaining ''eight'' more seasons (and a movie) and the distinction of being considered one of the peak TV productions in Spain ever.

** The Cossack from the movie is portrayed as a powerful antagonist, and while he is certainly tough, he receives the classic Águila Roja treatment almost at the beginnign of the film (it doesn't help that [[NeverTrustATrailer the trailers built him as much more important to the film than he actually was]]). In comparison, his twin brother puts a much better fight later in the series.
** Many viewers found Cardinal Mendoza's death scene somewhat jarring for how unceremonious and easy it was for an antagonist who had disposed of Agustín (possibly by himself, nothing less) and kept an iron hand over the kingdom's politics for most of the series.
* ArcFatigue: One of the show's main issues, consistently pointed out but never corrected, was the way in which the producers seemed to forget everything about the seasons previous to the one that was airing at the time, thus dragging out the remaining open plots until the audience [[TheChrisCarterEffect forgot about or got tired of them]]. Some of the most important arcs, like the relationship between Hernán and Irene or the love stories between Gonzalo and Margarita and Irene and Nuño, weren't resolved or even given progress at all for ''many'' seasons.

** Hernán and Lucrecia hook up at the series's grand finale, finally contenting all the fans of the pairing who were unsatisfied on how the final season attempted to sink it for good. However, it brings its own problems (see Broken Base below).
* BadassDecay: Hernán stopped being portrayed as a competent soldier around the midpoint of the series, and it only went downhill from there.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: Trinidad. Some consider him an interesting fresh character, other see him as a horridly failed attempt of a fresh character.

** In the same season, an old hag sneaks into the Santillana palace and curses Lucrecia, who later suffers an accident and almost dies. Leaving aside the apparent effectivity of the curse, this comes literally out of nowhere and has no explanation or relevancy other than the couple of moments she gets with Hernán. Who is the hag or why exactly she wanted to curse Lucrecia is not revealed.
** The hooded rider who attacks Águila and Sátur in the ruins looked like he was meant to be an important character and possibly an antagonist, but with the Emperor's son story-arc being thrown aside (assuming that the rider was related to it, which is not even clear!), he was completely forgotten by the plot. The audience never got to discover his identity, alignment or goals.

** In the final season, after Águila's true identity is given away by Anais, a bunch of seemingly ordinary people are seen surrounding his house in daylight. One of them opens a jar full of guns and distribute them, revealing that they are all Cardinal's agents who are likely just about to assault Gonzalo's house. However, this never happens: Gonzalo is arrested much later by regular guards, and the agents are never brought again.

** The Fake Águila Roja arc. It was praised by fans and critics alike and widely considered to be the best storyline the show had featured in many seasons. However, some believe they should have let it continue for more time than the meager, rushed-feeling two episodes it received, while others think one of the best points of the arc was precisely its breakneck pace.
** Was Sátur's supposed rape of a girl a very aptly and powerfully played arc, or was it absolutely idiotical and offensive to the audience to try to play such a plot on a beloved hero like Sátur? Or, in case it was good, would it have been better not to resolve it so fast?

** As of Season 9, while some liked the focus put on the fan favorite Malasangre, many people were fast in pointing out how just plain incoherent was the apparent intention to turn him, the most vicious non-episodic villain in the entire series, into a character in the heroic side of all things. It only went in hand with the even more controversial decision of sinking definitely the uber-popular Hernán/Lucrecia ship and turning Hernán into a ravaging madman.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common consequence of the emphasis on drama and DarkerAndEdgier is that viewers tend to watch the series more out of curiosity about how the producers are going to torment the characters the next time than out of sympathy towards the characters themselves.

** Sátur is at least as popular as Gonzalo himself, if not more. Reasons for it range from the Spanish audiences's love for comedic characters like him (as he is basically the only character who provides any kind of comedy to the show) to the fact that the guy who plays the character, Javier Gutiérrez, ended up blossoming out as the best actor in the show.
** On the critics's part, Santiago Merino was very well received for an episodic character. It's no wonder, as he had great lines and significance, was played by a cult Spanish actor, and his featured arc is considered the peak of the late seasons and one of the highest points in the entire series.

** Gonzalo/Margarita, though the couple lost fans over the years due to the increasingly unpopular opinion towards Margarita's character and their relationship becoming very dragged out.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The show was the launching platform for Javier Gutiérrez (Sátur), who got to show his acting talent in ''Águila Roja'' more than in all of his previous works combined. His casting on the film ''La Isla Mínima'', which gained him the Goya Award for the Best Male Performance, is widely believed to have been granted thanks to his work in this series.

** With the show having been accused so many times to be a ripoff of ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', one of its main actors, Javier Gutiérrez, ended up acting in the [[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 videogame's film adaptation]].
** Ironically, at the beginning of the series, all the main cast members ''but'' Gutiérrez were getting awards and prizes for Best Actor right and left, which made his own posterior breakout even more surprising.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: There are so many examples of characters who end up in imminent death situations, only to be always miraculously saved, that the whole concept ceased being believable rather fast. The earlier seasons, however, actually averted this quite a bit.

** In Agustín's introduction episode, the leap he does across the entire cloister to evade Águila (which is used to show to the audience that the monk has ninja training as well) is so obviously wire-performed that it looks more like a stunt from a Corey Yuen film than a serious attempt to keep up with the series's already inconsistent physics.
** Adolfo Fernández's own acting as Agustín can get unintentionally hilarious due to his facial and verbal hamminess. He seriously looks like he is on something in his worst moments.
** The death of the kid who thought that Sátur's training wings were enough to fly could have originally been meant to be a true sign of AdultFear, but the fact that he jumped to his death off a balustrade that is no more than ''ten feet'' over the ground makes it look terribly silly and improbable.

** From the same season, the Cardinal Mendoza's [[YouHaveFailedMe execution of his mercenary lieutenant]] for failing at killing Malasangre and his team could have been a characteristic misdeed of a villain like him. However, it happens that a) he kills the mook by drowning him in a bathtub, b) specifically the very bathtub in which Mendoza himself is taking a bath at the moment, c) he kills him by pulling down his head roughly against Mendoza's ''lap'', making it look [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything unintentionally lubricious]], and d) he does it one-handed and very easily despite the mook being younger and surely much stronger than him. Audience is pardoned for breaking laughing hysterically at that scene.
** In Season 7, the discovering of a supposedly cursed sword. It came so from nowhere (and is discovered, in true Águila Roja fashion, by random chance!) and it was so obviously inane for the plot that every time someone wielded it many a viewer probably broke laughing.

** Sagrario and Jacobo were disliked for being a pair of unsympathetic FatBastard intruders, although they improved their reception a bit after some slow character development.
** Cipri later took this mantle, due to the fans seeing his antagonism towards Sátur as unjustified and petty, and the fact that even his late character development seemed explicitly oriented towards changing him from TheWoobie to a JerkassWoobie. Only with [[spoiler:his death]] he was fully RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.

** The Season 8 finale managed to divide quite definitively the fandom [[ShipSinking with regard to the terrible resolution of Gonzalo and Margarita's wedding and her departure, and Lucrecia's decision to save Gonzalo's life over Hernán's,]] causing AbandonShipping reactions for both couples among many fans, and even FanDisillusionment for some.

* MagnificentBastard: There are really many in ''Águila Roja'', but Malasangre outwits everybody in the series after his debut, including Gonzalo, Hernán, the Cardinal and ''the King'', who are the biggest examples themselves of this trope in the show.