The Reyes brothers with the Elizondo sisters
Pasión de Gavilanes (literally Passion of the Sparrowhawks, known internationally as Hidden Passion) was one of the most popular Telenovelas of its time. It was produced by RTI Colombia in conjunction with Telemundo and with the participation of Colombia's Caracol TV. It premiered on Telemundo on 21 October 2003, while in Colombia it premiered on Caracol TV. A remake of the telenovela Las aguas mansas, it has a Hotter and Sexier vibe as well as a more comedic tone, straying from the political and historical context of the original.
Still, the main story remains largely the same: it all starts with naive and young Libia Reyes having an affair with Bernardo Elizondo, the much older, rich owner of a horse ranch. She believed him to be divorced and was certain he would marry her, especially after finding out she was pregnant with his child and her brothers, Juan, Óscar and Franco, demanded he take responsibility. Unfortunately, even though Bernardo was more than willing to go forth with their plans as well as finally putting some order in his own household, he loses his life in a freak accident. In her shock for the abruptness of his passing, Libia recklessly goes to the Elizondo house where she finds Gabriela, Bernardo's lawful wife, who in her own grief treats her harshly and cruelly, humiliating her and expelling her from there. Libia, hurt and desperate, jumps from a bridge to her death.
After this event, her brothers vow to take revenge on the Elizondo family. They manage to enter the household as construction workers with the aid of the housekeeper, Eva, who has her own grievances against Gabriela. However, during their time there, they end up tangled in the lives of the three beautiful daughters: Norma, whose marriage with Fernando Escandón is more strained than ever; Jimena, fun-loving and flirty that likes to enjoy her freedom and Sarita, the stern and no-nonsense overseer of the ranch.
It spawned many remakes and adaptations, with the two better-known ones being the 2008 Mexican adaptation Burning For Revenge (Fuego En La Sangre) and the 2014 Spanish Telemundo adaptation A Passion for Revenge (Tierra de reyes).
On May 2021, Telemundo announced a second season, taking place 20 years after the events of the original series. The second season premiered on 14 February 2022.
Tropes found in the series
- Action Girl: Both Dínora and Sarita see plenty of action, though they usually really on their guns.
- Accidental Misnaming: Óscar calls Bruno Ferraño "Ferrari" as a Running Gag, to the latter's chagrin.
- Accidental Pervert: In one of their first major encounters, Óscar ends up walking on Jimena sleeping on a bathtub with only Censor Suds to cover her and they both freak out. When he tries to leave, he ends up tripping and hurting himself, causing her to leap out of the tub in reflex and unintentionally giving him an eyeful before she had a Naked Freak-Out and covers herself with a Modesty Towel.
- Arms Dealer: Armando deals in illegal guns. His bar is actually a front to his real business.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies:
- Herzog and Rubinsky, two bad guys who worked for Armando. There were practically never seen apart from each other, and were a surprisingly large resource of comic relief despite still being presented as dangerous.
- Malcolm and Carmela, Eduvina's butler and head maid, who were grooming Eduvina in hopes of making her leave them her fortune, and try to control Franco's life when he inherits Eduvina's fortune, although in their case their "bantering" consisted mostly of smugly and snidely sneering at those who they considered their enemies. Unsuccessful, they flee after stealing some things, eventually finding themselves in the employ of Fernando, where they're just as nasty.
- Bathtub Scene: The most common way the female character provide Fanservice, as they all semm to love luxurious bubble baths. Even Dínora gets a few.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Elizondo sisters: Jimena as the spunky and flirtatious Beauty, Norma as the calm and sensible Brains and tomboy Sarita who loves working on the ranch as the Brawn.
- My Beloved Smother: Both Gabriela and Raquel are rather overprotective to the point of being oppressive and controlling over their children.
- Can't Bathe Without a Weapon: Rosario is held at gunpoint by Dínora while she's still in a bathtub when she interrupts her bath and startles her.
- Catchphrase
- Benito's "Insorportable, insorportable!"
- Martín and Raquel: Las pelotas del marrano! (or: pig balls!)
- Cool Old Guy: Everyone who's senior, like Don Martín, due to his charismatic attitude and being a Deadpan Snarker. Even some of the villains.
- Crossdresser: To help out Óscar after a sexy prank by Jimena where she stole his clothes, Leandro lends Óscar his clothes and wears a dress and heels after a fashion show. He is committed to playing the part.
- Destructive Romance: Armando and Rosario. Armando orders Rosario killed due to her infidelity. Later, Rosario offers the goon who was going to kill her more money to kill Armando instead. She does shoot Armando later but regrets it.
- Doting Grandparent:
- Gabriela's grandson means the world to her, she loves him unconditionally despite the fact he is Juan's son as well.
- Don Martín loves all his granddaughters and is openly supportive of them even if he doesn't understand their actions. Besides their deceased father, he is the only one that seeks what's best for the three of them, even if it means they have to live far from him.
- Double In-Law Marriage: Or, rather, triple-in-law, as the three Reyes brothers fall in love with the three Elizondo sisters.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Ruth frequently forecasts upcoming plots, being given visions by Libia.
- Flashback: What's unusual about this show is that occasionally, a flashback scene will begin with one character but end with another, as if they both shared the same flashback!
- Foreshadowing: Libia keep appearing in Ruth's prophetic dreams. Turns out, the reason why Libia show up to Ruth is because she's her cousin.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Yeap and it led to a lot of misunderstandings. The main ones who suffered from this were Juan - Norma - Fernando - Dínora and Franco - Sarita - Rosario - Armando. Jimena was also very jealous about Ruth and Óscar's friendship.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Gabriela finally turns over a new leaf and accepts the Reyes brothers in the end, especially after Juan did all he could to keep her safe and even save her life in the swamp.
- Miguel and Manolo, the sons of Doña Hortencia, were initially as antagonistic to the Reyes as their mother was. After the Reyes become rich, Miguel and Manolo go to the Reyes ranch to ask for work, mainly to get away from their overbearing mother. Juan hires them and the formerly antagonistic brothers become the Reyes' most loyal employees and their right-hand men.
- Following her stint in the psychiatric hospital, befriending Martin and helping him escape with her, Hortencia pulls off a Heel–Face Turn herself.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The three Elizondo sisters are shorter than the Reyes brothers but this applies especially to Juan and Norma, who looks especially tiny when beside him.
- Identical Stranger: Ruth looks exactly like Libia and are both played by Ana Lucia Dominguez. Its eventually revealed to be their Long-Lost Relative which makes this a case of Uncanny Family Resemblance.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Don Martín, Gabriela's veteran and wheelchair-bound father, and Pepita Ronderos, the young, buxom and boisterous bar singer, have a close friendship. She is the only one that remembers his birthday and serenades him, was heartbroken when she hears he might die and the two even went out on a bender.
- Karmic Nod: As she is imprisoned, starved, and drugged in her own basement, Gabriela at last realizes the evil she committed by tormenting Libia Reyes.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Fernando gets beaten up immediately after:
- Man-handling Sarita (by Franco)
- Attempting to rape Jimena (by Óscar)
- Threatening to kill Norma and her son (by Juan)
- Punched off of a terrace for trying to rape Norma (by Norma)
- Lighter and Softer: The telenovela is this when compared with the series it was based on, Las aguas mansas, considering that the latter was a period piece set in The '50s, with the turbulent political history of Colombia at the time
in the background (in fact, the rape of the Norma analogue in Las aguas mansas happened on the same day as the Bogotazo). In contrast, there's nothing socio-political like that in Pasión de gavilanes, where there are many wacky moments. - Long-Lost Relative: At the end of the show, Ánibal provides the familial connection between Eva, Ruth, and the Reyes brothers.
- Love at First Sight:
- Norma and Juan share a passionate Held Gaze moment when they first meet.
- Sarita reveals to Franco that she had always desired him from the first moment she saw him.
- May–December Romance:
- What kickstarts the plot of the story is the young Libia having an affair with the older Bernardo Elizondo.
- Fernando and Gabriela get married later in the story. Although it was a ploy on Fernando's part, Gabriela truly loved him and believed wholeheartedly that the younger man loved her back.
- Even if Eduvina weren't rich and unhinged, this describes her relationship with Franco.
- Mood Whiplash: During the show's many brawls, sometimes the musical cues will indicate that this is comedic, other times gravely serious—sometimes in the very same scene.
- Ms. Fanservice: A lot of the female character would apply, but Rosario is the biggest example and frequently wears revealing outfits and gets many gratuitous Three Minutes of Writhing scenes at Alcalá Bar. Even In-Universe she's a Lust Object for a lot of men.
- Odd Friendship: Ruth's friendship with the Reyes could be seen as this, since she is of high class and they are poor workers. She is the only wealthy character, besides Martín, to take an instant liking to them without a care for their social standing.
- Papa Bear:
- Bernardo was a pretty shitty husband, but he loved his daughters and protected them far more than their mother ever did. In fact, the only reason he didn't survive his accident was that minutes prior he had told his daughter's abusive husband that he would divorce the two, and the husband refused to call for help.
- Juan with his son. One time when he got alerted by Sarita that Fernando intended to harm Norma and their son, Juan rushed to the Elizondo estate and put a world of hurt on the guy.
- Practical Effects: Much of the telenovela involves dramatic shots of actors on horseback. However, Danna Garcia (Norma) was afraid and generally reluctant to mount a horse, and so one scene of her on horseback is actually her riding atop a man's shoulders with the camera kept above her torso.
- Pun:
- Belinda, Dínora's somewhat loopy cousin and accomplice, is referred to once as "Be-fea", since "linda" means "pretty" and "fea" means "ugly".
- Óscar jokes about "living like kings," which is what his last name "reyes" means.
- Quintina mocks Dínora's name by calling her "víbora" (viper)
- Rags to Riches: The Reyes family had really bad luck economically speaking, and were on the verge of losing everything but after Franco inherits Eduvina's money they end up even richer than the Elizondo family.
- Remake Cameo: Juan Sebastián Aragón, the actor who played antagonist Armando Navarro, was also in Las aguas mansas, the telenovela Pasión de gavilanes was based on, where he played Óscar Reyes.
- The Reveal:
- The first half of the series hinges on the Reyes hiding their identity in order to infiltrate the Elizondo household as a way to find clues and seek justice for their sister's tragic passing. Once it was revealed in-Universe who they truly are, all they have managed to build crumbles on them, with the Elizondo sisters being the most affected and upset about it.
- Another big reveal in-universe is the fact that Ruth is not the daughter of Raquel Santos de Uribe, but was rather adopted by her after Gabriela forced Eva to give her up.
- Revenge: A running theme in the story is how it can lead people to a wrong path and make decisions that in the long run they would come to regret. In the case of the Reyes brothers, yes, they want someone to be held accountable for their young sister's death, but on their quest, they only ended up hurting themselves and the women they loved. Later on, when realizing their mistakes, it would be the enemies they made along the way who will get obsessed with revenge and lose themselves in it.
- Shower Scene:
- The Reyes brothers, as you'd expect from a telenovela.
- Gabriela also gets one right before her Beauty Makeover.
- Silver Vixen: Feeling marginalized by her daughters, Gabriela has a complete fashion makeover and starts Letting Her Hair Down as she begins to date her ex-son-in-law, Fernando. Hell, she didn't even have silver hair!note
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Óscar and Jimena's relationship at times was like this but it tended to lean on more comedic slapstick situations and after the reveal he was a Reyes and her subsequent fury it was more Kiss-Kiss-Slap. Another big example of this was Franco and Sarita's relationship, no matter how, when or where, they would find a way to bicker and fight, to the point they were compared with children because of their ongoing shenanigans.
- Small Town, Big Hell: The story is set in a hacienda/mansion and the village close to it in the countryside, where all met each other and the secrets fly all over the town and the hacienda.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Juan is a tall and handsome man that is constantly brooding.
- Three Minutes of Writhing: Almost every scene in the Alcalá Bar, including the music videos based on the show's soundtrack.
- Toplessness from the Back: Frequently used by the female character during sex scenes. Rosario especially was frequently seen sleeping on her stomach nude with a Modesty Bedsheet only up to her waist.
- Torture Is Ineffective: When kidnapped and bound by Dínora for days, Juan never renounces his love for Norma.
- Yandere: Dínora became very obsessive with Juan and often wants to prevent him and Norma to be together, to the point of trying to kill her and kidnapping him.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Two bad guys who work for Armando are named Herzog and Rubinsky. Armando is momentarily stunned by their names.
