Series / Dark Desire

A Netflix Original Mexican thriller drama, the series focuses on law school professor Alma Solares, whose marriage with Leonardo has grown sour. Spurred on by her friend Brenda and convinced Leonardo is having an affair with Edith, his attractive assistant, she cheats on him with a younger man named Darío. The next day, she is shocked to see Darío as a student in her violence and gender class. Despite her misgiving, Alma has sex with Darío again, sparking an affair. She suffers a great blow after Brenda is found dead, of an apparent suicide. Both her issues and those of other characters begin to cause trouble, as her relationship with Darío grows increasingly dark, and it turns out that there is far more to Brenda's death...

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Examples:

• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Maite Perroni, who plays Alma, was born only fifteen years before Regina Pavón, who portrays Alma's daughter Zoe. Consequently, she looks more like her older sister. There's also no indication that Alma had Zoe as a teenager.
• Accidental Murder: In Season 2, it turns out that Darío killed Julieta accidentally while they struggled near the rooftop's edge, and she fell over.
• Accomplice by Inaction: Eugenia's father, who was also a cop himself, didn't do anything to stop his daughter's rapist, telling her that they shouldn't get involved in such troubles.
• Affectionate Nickname: Esteban and Zoe like to call each other "bug" affectionately.
• Age-Gap Romance: Alma has an affair with Darío, who's about her daughter's age. After Esteban finds out, he gives her as much of a hard time due to their relative ages as that it was adultery. This comes off a bit hard to believe as the actors are only about twelve years apart. She's apparently supposed to be twenty plus years his senior, though their exact ages are unstated.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Esteban has had a crush on Alma from the day he met her. However, she still chose his brother Leonardo over him.
• Bath Suicide: Brenda is found with her wrist slit in the bath. It's theorized that she was really murdered, with it made to appear like suicide. However, then it's revealed she really did kill herself.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Darío and Lys in the second season. Darío accidentally murders Julieta, his soon-to-be wife and makes up a doppelganger in an attempt to save both himself and his inheritance. Alma falls for it initially. Lys, on the other hand, seeks revenge on Darío, for abandoning her when they initiated an incestous relationship. She is revealed to have sent the postcard of Darío and Julieta's wedding to Alma's doorstep, then sent Julieta the porn video of Alma and Darío.
• Bisexual Love Triangle: Zoe is briefly unsure whether she'd like to be with Darío or Karina, partly as she isn't sure about her sexual orientation. She soon chooses Karina though, accepting that she likes both.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lys is initially introduced as a kind, comprehensive and approachable woman who befriends Alma at the counseling meetings, both of them depicted as Birds of a Feather after having got out of the toxic relationships they had with Darío. However, this turns out to be a facade as she wants to seek revenge on Darío for abandoning her by trying to ruin his engagement with Julieta and even frames Alma, who is targeted as a prime suspect, for the murder.
• Brutal Honesty: For a precocious rebellious teenager like Zoe, she has absolutely no problem in speaking out truths without softening the tone of her voice.
• Butch Lesbian: Karina, Zoe's friend and roommate, is a lesbian with a mild butch look. It's close to goth attire, with short hair, piercings, lots of leather and mostly black clothing.
• Cain and Abel: Estaben and Leonardo are brothers, who initially are close. However later they get in a physical fight when Leonardo has wrongly thought Esteban is having sex with his wife, threatening him with a gun over it.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Zoe often calls her mother Alma, though she does say "mom" as well sometimes. Alma doesn't seem to mind. She sometimes calls her father Leonardo as well, which he also pays no mind. This appears to be just a part of her independent streak, as she still has a good relationship with both.
• Cassandra Truth: Zoe doesn't believe Alma when she tries to tell her that Esteban can't be trusted.
• Catapult Nightmare: Alma wakes up from nightmares where she sees Darío dead, or Leonardo is demanding she tell him she's cheating, rising in a panic.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Karina, who's dating Zoe, becomes very defensive when she meets Mauricio, an old friend. She's even pissed when Zoe lies about their relationship and finds out that she used her uncle as an excuse to visit him. And speak of the devil, Esteban accidentally (and unknowingly) revealing the ruse doesn't really help her case, yet Karina became suspicious due to noticing Zoe wine-scented.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Darío's father, a prisoner who insisted he'd been wrongly convicted, killed himself in front of his wife and Darío.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Karina wears dark clothes, but she is a nice person in contrast to the stubborn Zoe.
• Dirty Cop: Esteban, a police detective, it turns out is completely corrupt, framing people for money or his own ends.
• Domestic Abuse: Alma is a law professor who teaches about violence and gender, which includes domestic violence. She also starts to suffer it herself from her lover Darío, who gets increasingly controlling and then abusive before Alma breaks off the relationship. Alma explains how many people want to see the good in those they love, even if they're abusive, so they don't do this. Plus, this usually builds up slowly, as she explains with the "boiling frog" analogy.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Initially, Darío was supposed to be the main antagonist of the first season due to his unhealthy obsession with Alma. However, he is later revealed to have been employed by Esteban who instructed him to use Alma in order to get to Leonardo, who had Darío's father unjustly thrown in jail for a crime he did not commit, but Esteban himself also seeks revenge on his brother out of envy. As the season progresses, it is clear that the two hate each other.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Brenda is found dead in the second episode, having apparently slit her wrist in the bath. It's soon believed she was murdered, however, with it made to look like suicide. Later it turns out Brenda really did kill herself over her love for Esteban, after realizing they would never be in a true relationship.
  • Darío's father was convicted of a crime he swore he'd been tortured into confessing to, and then shot himself after grabbing a guard's gun as Darío watched with his mother.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Íñigo is heavily hit hard with the reveal that Darío, his would-be son-in-law with whom he had formed a fatherly relationship, was responsible for the murder of his daughter Julieta.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Basically all of the cast have sex (Alma and Darío most), with every episode having at least one sex scene.
• Experimented in College: Zoe sleeping with her best friend Karina (a lesbian) at first seems to be this, since after it she concludes she's straight. However, in Season 2 they're dating. When Zoe cheats on her by having sex with a guy though, Karina thinks that it was just experimental for her, to get over Darío. Zoe denies this though, saying she's really been attracted to girls so long as she can remember, but also likes guys.
• Fake Twin Gambit: Darío pretends he's got an identical twin to excuse certain things he does, using some makeup so they look slightly different.
• Faking the Dead: Darío makes it look like he died due to an explosion, making a deal with Esteban that saved his life.
• Fantasy Sequence: These occur frequently, either violent or erotic, which can be confusing to tell if something is happening or imaginary at times.
• Flashback: They are frequently used to show Alma's past relationships with Leonardo and Brenda, leading up into where she is in the present.
• Frame-Up: Darío's father was framed for murder by his relatives with the aid of a corrupt police detective so they could get his money. Later Esteban (that same detective) also works to frame Darío then Leonardo for murdering Brenda.
• Freudian Excuse: Darío's obsession with Alma comes from a forbidden relationship he once had with Lys, his wealthy aunt/adoptive mother, also a married woman to his uncle/adoptive father Alberto, both of whom were his legal guardians at the time of his father's suicide and his mother's mental health deteriorating.
• Gaslighting:
  • Discussed by Alma and her psychiatrist, since she's unsure if her suspicious about Darío are unsound or not. Her psychiatrist says based on what she describes he may be doing this to her.
  • Leonardo later gets convinced by Esteban that he murdered Brenda, but doesn't remember it (he's innocent).
• Good Victims, Bad Victims: Alma discusses this in her class, saying how "femicides" (i.e. homicides of women) with a victim who was either promiscuous or at least thought to be such get far less sympathy and police attention.
• Gone Horribly Right: Lys's plan to spite Darío is to ruin his engagement with Julieta by sending her the sex video of him and Alma. The plan works as Julieta is understandably furious at Darío. However, it takes a turn for the worse as Darío, in a fit of rage, throws his fianceé off the roof to her death when she attempts to call the police on him.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Darío grows increasingly, even violently, jealous as Alma starts getting back with her husband.
  • The first season finale reveals that Esteban was always jealous of Leonardo getting everything, including his promotion to a magistrate and Alma, who only saw Esteban as a friend.
• Groin Attack: Alma knees Darío in the groin when he starts manhandling her at one point.
• Hallucinations: Alma sees Darío dead several times quite vividly when he's actually alive. She also sees her friend Brenda, who is dead. It's later said to be a symptom of PTSD.
• Heel–Faith Turn: Esteban becomes a Christian after his life is saved in a church shooting as he held up a Bible to save himself (a bullet passed through it, but didn't hit him and the gunman was shot immediately afterward by the police), claiming he has now changed his ways.
• Hollywood Atheist: Eugenia lost her belief in God due to being raped.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Esteban when it comes to Zoe. While Alma and Leonardo don't trust him after the many bad things he's done, Zoe still believes he is a good person.
• Honey Trap: Darío only seduced Alma to get near her husband Leonardo, who he wants revenge on for prosecuting Darío's father (whom he's convinced firmly was railroaded). However, he later falls for her legitimately.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Darío is subjected to partial drowning and then menaced with a gun to get Zoe's location (she is fine, it turns out-he didn't harm her). Later on as well Esteban threatens to shoot a suspect and gets a confession out of him that way.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While it's really hard for Alma to trust Esteban after he's released prematurely from jail and Zoe, a very clingy and annoying teenager to put up with, keeps complaining about it, she makes good points concerning the consequences of Alma and Darío's affair. That Alma's family and marriage was wholly screwed up because she hooked up with a 25-year-old man? Valid. Also because of it and being divorced from Leonardo, Alma can no longer get employed and is now forced to live by herself at her parents' old house, even calling that not normal? A bit too far and insensitive.
• Just in Time: Esteban narrowly escaped being killed during a mass shooting when the gunman was shot by a police officer just while aiming at him.
• Karma Houdini: Esteban got away with his crimes in the first season aside from obstructing justice as he managed to discredit or dispose of most evidence to show that he'd committed them. He serves only a short sentence for his single conviction.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Edith is a lesbian, it turns out, who's very feminine, with long hair and always wears an elegant blouse/skirt ensemble. Leonardo finds it funny as a result that Alma believed he was involved with her.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: It's theorized that Brenda's death was a murder made to look like a suicide. However it's subverted later when it's revealed she really did kill herself.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: A significant amount of the sex occurs outside the bedroom (for instance a field, in a laundry room etc).
• Manipulative Bastard: Esteban is eventually revealed to be one of these. He first manipulated people to think Darío killed Brenda, then Leonardo, all while being the real bad guy, with nearly everyone thinking that he was on their side the whole time.
• Mr. Fanservice: Darío is a quite handsome, muscular young man who's often shown in shirtless scenes. A lot of these are while he's having sex with Alma, but not always-the series needs little excuse for him to take it off.
• Ms. Fanservice: Alma, and to a lesser extent her friend Brenda, are shown frequently topless during sex scenes or otherwise scantily clad.
• Morality Pet: Karina is this to Zoe.
• Mum Looks Like a Sister: Due to the small age gap between the actresses playing them (fifteen years) Alma looks more like Zoe's older sister than really her mother.
• Near-Rape Experience: Darío throws Alma down on the bed and appears to be intent on rape, but then (looking shocked at himself as she protests while struggling under him) he pulls back.
• Never Suicide:
  • Brenda is theorized to not have really killed herself, with it being murder made to look that way. It turns out that she did though.
  • Julieta in Season 2 appears to have jumped off a roof initially. It soon becomes apparent she was pushed.
• No Bisexuals:
  • Zoe initially has sex with her friend Karina, and concludes she's straight. Then she's briefly with Darío, but often appears conflicted or reluctant when they have sex (although that could be for other reasons). Later on, she kisses Karina again.
  • In Season 2 she's dating Karina, but sleeps with Mauricio. When explaining/apologizing to Karina, the latter claims it's just a phase for her, while Zoe denies this, saying she likes both. Neither uses the word bisexual.
• "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: Lys is incredulous at Darío's declaration that she raped him (since they had sex when he was underage) saying he'd enjoyed it.
• Not What It Looks Like: Alma and Leonardo believe that Zoe's been kidnapped by her boyfriend. When the police come across a blanket with blood on it, they think it's evidence for foul play. However, it was actually where they had sex (Zoe's first time, hence the blood) and she's fine.
• Offing the Offspring: Darío's mother tried to drown him when he was an infant.
• Oh, Crap!: Alma has an immediate look of dismay when she sees Darío, the young man whom she'd just cheated on her husband with the previous night, is a student in her class.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Íñigo, Julieta's father, is not only devastated by her death but laments now dealing with things such as planning her funeral which he'd never thought would occur.
• Parental Incest: Darío it turns out was raped by his aunt/foster mother, who took advantage of him as a minor.
• Playing Sick: Alma pretends she's unconscious when Esteban is holding her captive, and then escapes when he unshackles her to check on what's wrong.
• Police Brutality: Darío is beaten and tortured by police working with Leonardo.
• Posthumous Character:
  • Brenda dies in the second episode. However, she appears continually afterward in flashbacks.
  • Same goes for Julieta in the second season.
• Put on a Bus:
  • García, who had quit the police force sometime after the first season since the Leslie Delgado case remained unsolved.
  • Edith, Leonardo's former assistant, does not return after the first season.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Both Lys and Darío are arrested for their involvement in Julieta's murder.
• Rape and Revenge: Eugenia tracked down and murdered her rapist in revenge over what he'd done.
• Rape as Backstory:
  • Eugenia it turns out was raped years ago.
  • Darío was also raped by his aunt/foster mother, who took advantage of him as a minor.
• Sex God: Darío is apparently very skilled at sex, since every women he's had it with seems highly satisfied and also often rushes back to have more (even when otherwise the relationship was horrible).
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Eugenia Montaño, who is in charge of Julieta's case, takes over García's role as the hot-tempered righteous cop after the latter is Put on a Bus.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Darío is traumatized by being menaced with a chainsaw, and nearly breaks down while visiting where it happened. Alma is similarly affected from not only the death of her best friend Brenda, but her very destructive relationship with Darío.
• Shipper on Deck: Alma is openly very supportive of Zoe and Karina being a couple.
• Shower of Love: Alma and Leonardo are shown once trying to have sex in the shower. However, it's realistically awkward and the pair break it off (also a sign of their fading sex life).
• Slut-Shaming: Alma mentions that woman viewed as promiscuous have far less sympathy as murder victims in her class. The detective investigating Brenda's death remarks on her apparent promiscuity as well, and then a female colleague rebukes him for a perceived attitude like this, but he dismisses it.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Alma had sex once with Darío before realizing he was her student, but then afterward she moves the relationship into a full-blown affair despite knowing the dangers.
• Their First Time: Zoe has sex with Darío on a blanket while out for a picnic, and it's explicitly her first time with a man. Later she also has sex with her friend Karina too. Karina is the first girl she's been with.
• Twofer Token Minority: Eugenia Montaño, a detective who leads the investigation into Julieta's death in Season 2, is the only Black Mexican character and female too.
• Two-Person Pool Party: Regina is shown having sex in the bath with Esteban during a flashback.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It turns out that Lys is responsible for setting off the second season's plot in the first place. Her plan was to get revenge on Darío and ruin his wedding. She sends Julieta a video of him and Alma having sex, eventually leading to a heated argument between them, Darío to throw her to her death and to pile it up, the police opening the investigation on Julieta's murder that targets Alma as the prime suspect.
• Vigilante Man: Eugenia decided to murder her rapist, despite Esteban's objection.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The case behind the rape and murder of Leslie Delgado never got solved.