YMMV / María la del barrio

• Fountain of Memes: Soraya Montenegro.
  • ¡Maldita marginal! ^note Damn beggar!
  • ¡Pero te va a pesar! ¡Te va a pesar! ^note You're gonna regret this... YOU'LL REGRET THIS!
  • ¡Gata igualada! ^note Roughly translates to "Sneaky slut!"
  • ¡Escuincla babosa! ^note Slimy brat!
  • ¡Vieja zorra! ^note Old bitch!
  • ¡Muerta de hambre! ^note Miserable bum!
  • ¡Inválida del demonio! ^note Another translation of YOU DAMN CRIPPLE!. However, this one literally translates to "Devil's cripple!" In context, however, the former is more appropriate.
  • ¡Tienen que creerme! ^note You have to believe me!
  • ¡¿Qué haces besando a la lisiada?! ^note WHY ARE YOU KISSING THE CRIPPLE?!
  • And last but not least... ¡MALDITA LISIADA! ^note YOU DAMN CRIPPLE!
  • Soraya is also the face of the "(insert verb) in Spanish" meme.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Naturally, in the US, since Spanish telenovelas are quite popular, but Thalia was also popular in the Philippines. She even recorded the theme song for the show in Tagalog. It's also very popular in Brazil, having been shown seven times on the same channel since its original airing in 1997.
• Love to Hate: Soraya is a piece of work and a totally Ungrateful Bitch, but she's just too entertaining to fully hate.
• Memetic Mutation: Soraya's infamous "MALDITA LISIADA!" shitfit is so hammy that people love it.
• Narm: What would you expect from a Mexican telenovela?
  • Maria, Soraya and Luis Fernando are about the same age, as are their respective actors. The big problem is that there is a 15 year time jump in the middle of the plot... and with the exception of a mustache on Luis Fernando's face and the fact that Maria wears more conservative clothes and makeup, there is no other visible sign of aging. And here comes the worst part: the actors playing the new teen characters (Nandito and Maria de los Angeles, although Alicia's actress was actually 14 making her the closest) are about the same age as the actors playing the protagonist trio, making it hard to take some scenes seriously, like Nandito interacting with his parents (Fernando Colunga is only 10 years older than Osvaldo Benavides, and Thalia is only 8 years older than him) or his romance with Soraya, which is seen by everyone as scandalous because she is the same age as Maria (Itati Cantoral is only 4 years older than Benavides).
  • The infamous "Maldita Lisiada" scene is something that needs to be seen to be believed. Whatever attempt at doing any serious drama the scene might have had died the moment Soraya utters those two famous words.
• Narm Charm: Like most Spanish telenovelas, this one is held in high regard due to the heavy Large Ham moments, most notably from Soraya's insane (and disturbing) antics. Look no further than "Maldita Lisiada", for example. Did it try to be dramatic and fail completely? Yes. Did it also become one of the most famous moments in the history of telenovelas exactly because of it? Definitely yes.
• Nightmare Fuel: Although Soraya can be funny with her antics and overreactions, some of the stuff she does and crimes she commits are pretty disturbing and terrifying. Just to name a few:
  • When her lover finds out that Soraya had her childhood nanny try to poison Maria with witchery, he threatens to turn her in to the police. Her response? She swiftly wips out a gun and points it at him. The understandably unnerved guy tries to reason with her, but she shoots him anyway. Her smile and casual sigh afterward really seals how sociopathic Soraya can be.
  • Turns out, the guy, (named Osvaldo), survived her shootings and Soraya is none too pleased to find out. He calls her and tells her to come to his apartment and to bring a lot of money with her, as blackmail, in exchange of him not telling the police that she shot him. While Soraya does show up to his apartment, she doesn't bring the money, but the gun AGAIN. The scariest part? This is happening right after Soraya had just found out that her childhood nanny mentioned above is in fact her mother. As such, she completely loses it, and Osvaldo tries to wrestle the gun away from her, but instead ends up accidentally pushing her through a 4-story glass window.
  • As a result, Soraya had to spend 15 YEARS in serious treatment, her personal doctor with her every step of the way. After she is cured, how does she repay him. Why, by showing up is his office, all dressed in black, wearing maching black sunglasses, and killing him of course! But unlike what happened with Osvaldo, or any of her other crimes for that matter, she wastes no time ranting her motives or waiting for her victim to attempt reasoning with her. Instead, as freaking terrifying low chords play, she immediately pulls out the gun as she enters the doctor's office and shoots him twice, just like with Osvaldo. Unlike with Osvaldo however, who survived the bullets, the doctor immediately falls dead behind his desk. Soraya then slowly approaches his dead body as terrifying drum symbols play. Then, she kisses her finger and touches his lips, satisfied with her crime and leaves, completely unnoticed.
  • The doctor's secretary reaction to finding him dead is completely understandable, cause how would YOU react if you found your boss dead behind his desk with bullets on him, obviously evidenced that he was murdered while you were out?
• Once Original, Now Common: The novela was wildly popular in its heyday and catapulted Thalia to international stardom, but nowadays it's seen as heavily clichéd, even by novela standards. Then again, some people love it for those very same reasons.
• Special Effect Failure: Soraya's fall from a four-story building is very fake-looking, from the obvious green screen effects to the stunt double in the fall looking nothing like the actress besides wearing the same clothing as her, who in fact appears to be a man going by the double's hairy arms and legs.
• Values Dissonance: Back in the mid 90's, Luis Fernando was shown as a sexy bad boy with a chip on his shoulder. Nowadays, he comes off as an abusive, drunken wannabe rapist and would probably be a villain on par with Soraya. It should be noted that in Mexico this particular behavior, known as "machismo", is nowhere near as reviled as it is in the US, although nowadays it would be seen as a sign of immaturity instead.
• The Woobie: Poor, poor Alicia. She's also a Wheelchair Woobie.

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