Alma Pirata (lit.Pirate Soul) is an Argentine live-action TV series created by Cris Morena. It premiered on March of 2006 on argentine tv channel Telefe and ran for two seasons, with a total of 138 episodes under its' belt. The series earned the 2006 Martin Fierro Award for the best tv-series for young adults.
Three friends (Cruz, Ivan and Benicio) change the course of their lives to try to compensate the unfairness of society and, following a family tradition, they found again La Liga de las Espadas (The League of Swords), a neutral league whose goal is to deliver justice in cases of extreme unfairness. The super goal of three friends is to discover the whereabouts of a treasure, the emerald Alma, to clean up the memory of their fathers, continue with the league and, as soon as they find out about their fathers' murder, to sentence their murderer.
In order to achieve their goals, the three friends create strategies, play characters, imagine ties and simulate risky situations and adventures with confusions and mess. The league has its own laws, among which: never steal of own benefit, do not carry firearms, do not fall in love with the same woman. These could have been followed without any problem, if only gorgeous Allegra and Clara hadn't appeared.
"Alma Pirata" includes examples of:
- Ascended Extra: Candelaria Navarro, Cruz' sister, was set for just a few episodes... she grew popular among fans, specially in her relationship with Ivan, and showrunner Cris Morena decided to make her part of the main cast.
- Demoted to Extra: Towards the end of the series' run, Clara suffered from this; out of the final twenty episodes, she was in about five of them.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Benicio, due to the actor deciding to leave the show.
- Hidden Depths: Clara. She starts off as nothing more than a foil to her best friend Allegra, until she gets a short arc in which she's abducted for getting too close to Gino's organization, and after it ends she starts getting proper character development, which
did wonders for her popularity. - Luke, I Am Your Father: The identity of Clara's father was a mystery through the entire first season, with hints every now and then coming from her mother Charly, until we learn in the second season what most fans suspected: her father is Gino.
- Also, because of this, Allegra turned out to be her half-sister.
- May–December Romance: Ivan and Cande are the prime example of this, and together with My Sister Is Off-Limits this is why they're not together.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Cruz is very protective of his younger sister Candelaria, and he makes it very clear that he does not approve of any men she sees... specially when the man she wants to see is Ivan.
- Which turns ironic later on, when Andres' sister arrives and she has a fling with Cruz. Candelaria herself lampshades it in one episode.
- Out of Focus: Despite being on the main cast, Natasha appears in a lot less episodes that the rest of the characters, and there are a few episodes in which she just shows up, says something cryptic and leaves.
- Parental Incest: Played with in the case of Clara in the second season, as she develops a crush on Gino, who she doesn't know is her father. He is aware of this fact, which is why to him (and most fans), it quickly turned into No Yay.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Mariano Martinez (Benicio) was written out after deciding to leave the show following his break-up with Luisana Lopilato (Allegra).
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Romance on the Set: The actors playing Fan-Preferred Couple Benicio and Allegra were dating since before the show started. Unfortunately, it didn't go well (see Real Life Writes the Plot above).- Averted in the case of Nicolas Vazquez (Andres) and Gimena Accardi (Bernarda), who started dating after the end of the series.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Cruz and Marilyn. There's always something that gets in the way, which is to be expected from a woman about to get married and her lover, but even after she calls the engagement with Gino off the two spend almost the entire show apart.
- Straight Gay: Francisco, Ivan's best friend and fellow doctor.
