Caídos del Mapa (meaning "Fallen Off the Map") is a 2014 Argentine TV series based on a series of Young Adult novels written by María Inés Falconi. The show is an expanded version of the 2013 film of the same title, directed by Leandro Mark and Nicolás Silbert. It contains both comedic and dramatic elements and takes place in a Buenos Aires school.
The show covers the plot of the first book, featuring a Four-Man Band of middle school students planning to ditch the class of their insufferable geography teacher for one day. Their plan is to hide out in the school's deserted basement, which no one ever goes into and is shrouded in mystery. Group Leader Federico (Fede for short), Fabian, Graciela, and Paula are determined to have an adventure together, but school bully Miriam notices their absence and is determined to find out where they are. Meanwhile, as their teacher notices that five students of hers have vanished, the parents of the kids frantically search, while the quartet of friends must deal with Miriam letting herself into their party, secrets being kept between the friends, and many other issues.
Caídos del Mapa contains examples of:
- Adult Child: Fabian's dad is quite happy and childlike, even when disciplining his son.
- Almighty Janitor: Ramón. He's wiser and more sensible than the other adults, and he's the only one who can successfully open the door to the basement when every other adult fails to do it properly.
- Almost Kiss: Between Fabian and Paula when they're at Fabian's house. Another one occurs at their wedding, when Fabian kisses her on the cheek instead of the lips. They later kiss for real.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Fede delivers the line "dominius, curriculum, Pilates" while officiating Fabian and Paula's wedding.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Miriam is notably fatter and less attractive than the other kids.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: There's some between Fede and Graciela. Fede loves to prank and scare Graciela, and while she gets mad at Fede's jokes, at one point Graciela admits to Paula that Fede can be pretty romantic sometimes.
- Blind Without 'Em: La Foca absolutely needs her glasses to see. It's why the kids get Miriam to steal those glasses so they can sneak out of class.
- Book Dumb: Fede is not the brightest bulb with schoolwork. Quote this gem...Fede: Since in Europe they were doing pretty well with the Champions League, because all the countries were playing together, they said [imitates Italian accent] "Hey! Instead of having a Champions League for futbol, why don't we have a Champions League for something else?" and that's when the European Union was formed.
- Bungling Inventor: Fabian invents an air conditioner controlled by his computer that at first works pretty well, but the device soon starts blowing like crazy, flying into the air, and then falling on Paula's pinky toe.
- Chekhov's Armoury: A number of objects that seemed nondescript when they first appeared turn out to be useful.
- The trapdoor that Fabian finds when the group first descends into the basement is the route they go through to hide from their parents.
- Fede picks up a short piece of rope just before entering the basement. Fabian later ties a knot with the rope and uses it to pull Paula up and save her from falling.
- The white coats all the students wear as their school uniform (Truth in Television in Argentina) later come in handy when Fede binds them together and uses them to climb the wall of pipes and escape the basement.
- Cool Old Guy: Ramón the janitor.
- Deadpan Snarker: Fede is one, and so is Miriam sometimes.
- Dumb Blonde: Averted with Graciela but played straight with her mom, who is nice but sometimes asks really silly questions.
- Flowery Insults: Fede calls Miriam an "IBM". He explains that it stands for "inmensa bolsa de mocos", or "huge bag of snot".
- Foreshadowing: Paula wonders at one point if the basement will be flooded. Turns out, it really does happen.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Fede is sanguine, Fabian is melancholic, Graciela is choleric, Paula is phlegmatic.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Paula and Graciela — two girls — and Fabian and Fede — two guys.
- Girlish Pigtails: Paula has them.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Miriam tries to join the group but Fede refuses. The four kids are the closest thing Miriam has to friends, even though they fight and argue all the time.
- Jerkass: Miriam and her dad both qualify.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The kids call Miriam out at one point for constantly getting them in trouble and being a bully, but Miriam points out that she's hurt when she gets called fat by the other kids, and asks the kids if they would enjoy being called "hippo", "cow" and other insults all the time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Miriam. Even though she's frequently frames people for things they didn't do, behaves in a cruel and selfish manner, and insults everyone around her, it's clear that she's lonely and unpopular, and wants to change that. Her father blatantly favors her above all other kids but never really expresses any affection for her or interest in her, she kisses up to her teacher to get some approval, and she gets teased often about her weight. The problem is that while she wants to have friends, Miriam doesn't really know how to be a friend.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Fabian.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Upon being denied the gang's meeting in Fabian's place at 5, Miriam makes their other classmates think they're throwing a party and has them go in order to ruin the meeting. After they arrive, however, Fede throws a party for real, and Miriam is left out, and shown pictures of the party to rub salt on the wound.
- Large Ham: La Foca is absolutely one.
- Locked Away in a Monastery: Paula worries that if she gets caught ditching class, her parents will send her to a convent.
- Love Letter: Graciela helps Paula compose one to Fabian, but Miriam steals it and reads it out loud, altering the final and most crucial word.
- Meaningful Name: Reinoso, Miriam's surname, comes from the Spanish words "rey" and "reino", meaning "king" and "kingdom" respectively. They emphasize the huge egos Miriam and her father both have.
- My Beloved Smother: Paula's mom. She insists on walking her daughter to school and to her friends' homes, panics the most out of all the other parents when they're looking for their kids, and it seems that some of her tendencies toward anxiety are rubbing off on Paula.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Fede begins his wedding speech with this declaration:Fede: Brothers, sisters, humans... Miriam.
Miriam: (sticks her tongue out at him) - No Name Given: The school principal's name is never mentioned.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The school geography teacher is named Elvira, but everyone calls her La Foca — which means "the seal" — due to her constant coughing and tendency to clap her hands.
- Parental Neglect: Fede's parents are divorced and it's clear that Fede is upset about it. Fede is the only kid whose parents never appear on the show; when La Foca calls Fede's dad to tell him that his son is missing, she gets an answering machine message instead of a human response.
- Passing Notes in Class: Paula passes one to Fabian about a group meeting in his place at 5, but Miriam manages to read it later.
- Road Apples: Mr. Reinoso steps in some at a park.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Paula sometimes displays this.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Happens between Fabian and Paula after the former pulls the latter up from the pipes they're climbing and saves her.
- Slut-Shaming: Miriam does this to Graciela, giving her grief for wearing lots of makeup and miniskirts, flirting with and kissing boys frequently. She even points out that the boys take bets on who has kissed her, something Graciela's friends didn't have the heart to tell her about. Needless to say, Graciela is furious when she learns all this.
- The Smart Guy: Fabian, of the quartet.
- Teacher's Pet: Miriam is one towards La Foca. She answers every question in class, asks unnecessarily complex and pedantic questions, and enjoys ratting out her classmates or accusing them of breaking rules when they didn't do anything wrong.
- Unnamed Parent: Virutally none of the parents are ever addressed by their names.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Fede scares the girls at one point with a skeleton, and the girls start smacking him in retaliation. He tolerates it all and begs them to stop, saying that he can't hit girls. Though it's all still really funny to him.
