Machos was a famous Chilean telenovela emitted in 2003 that was a revelation of the Turn of the Millennium not just in Chile, the telenovela was emmited in diverse countries (not just in South America), various of them redubbed because of the Chilean slangs, and even has a Mexican remake in 2005 (made because strangely Mexico was the only country where the telenovela wasn't emitted).
The story is about the Mercader family, a patriarchy of only men, with seven sons and an illegitimate daughter with the mother of them as the sole woman of the family (that, until The Reveal of the daughter during the telenovela). The patriarch, Angel Mercader, is a machist womanizer who tried to subjugate all his sons during the course of the telenovela, with some of them being loyal to his father and other who opposed him, as well the conflicts between the brothers and their relationship with women.
The telenovela was a sensation in its time because of the treatment of taboo themes, like homosexuality (not taken like a joke as in the past), misogyny, toxic masculinity and infidelity, apart of having a casting starred of men only, something unused and unexpected for the time. And not just for the public, the critics also praised the telenovela and gained diverse prizes in its time, and until today is a Cult Classic in Chile and considered one of the best telenovelas of all time.
Although it uploaded complete in the channel's YouTube account, the telenovela was re-emitted on Canal 13 since January 2021, following a tendence of re-emitting past famous telenovelas due to the lack of new content because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Despite of having its own article in Spanish, The Other Wiki made articles in other languages, like in English
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Now that the teleserie has been emitted once again and not all public saw it in 2003, various unmarked spoilers can be found here, so read with caution. You Have Been Warned.
Machos provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Angel Mercader. He has no limits about trying to subjugate his sons, expelling one of them for being gay and cheating other son with a woman who's already cheating his wife.
- All Women Are Lustful: With some counted exceptions, the women of the telenovela seems all attracted to the Mercader family, usually rounded around them.
- Archnemesis Dad: Angel, especially for Ariel and some of the brothers who tried to opposite his dictatorial manners over them.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Not precisely a baby or a kid, but Antonio is the littlest of the brothers, with 17yo and going to High School. He's also the most rebel of the brothers, having continuous conflicts with his brothers and his father.
- Big Bad: Angel, obviously.
- Big Good: Alonso is considerated as this, probably one of the best Mercader along with Ariel, but sadly also is The Ingenue.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Mercader family.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the end, Alonso discovers the affair of Sonia with his father (who also cheated his mother), and the shock was enough to be Driven By Suicide. And that's the break point for the rest of the brothers and left Angel finally alone. Apart of that, all the brothers solve their conflicts and is Alicia who finally bonds everything and makes her brothers to come back to the father and be a family again.
- Broken Pedestal: Angel was a fatherly figure for the Mercader brothers in general, but with the time they got dissapointed with him at the point of leaving him behind.
- The Casanova: Angel is implied to be this before he was married, but his son Alex certainly is one, flirting and dating with 3-4 girls of the teleserie, even at the same time.
- Cain and Abel: Alex and Adan, also doubling with Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling.
- Chromosome Casting: The main protagonists of the telenovela are all men, with the women having secondary papers, starting with the matriarch Valentina Fenandez.
- Daughter of a Whore: Alicia Mercader, probably the reason why Angel never recognized her (apart of don't be a male child.)
- Disappeared Dad: Madona, Antonio's Love Interest is the sole child of a domestic maid, who's very overprotective and Does Not Like Men, which makes conflicts with her daughter and Antonio.
- Fake-Out Fade-Out: All audience thought the telenovela ends with the death of the matriarch Valentina, but in reality the recent-discovered Alicia Mercader takes the telenovela further and she becomes the focus of the rest of it.
- A Family Affair: A controversial example, in which Angel not just cheats his own wife, but his older son Alonso with the woman who has his lover. Which became in the end in A Deadly Affair after Alonso discovered the infidelity and went Driven to Suicide.
- Family Man: Angel as well some of his sons (mostly Armando) are considerated as this, being worried about Mercader family as well their own families they form later.
- Gay Aesop: When Ariel reveals that he is gay to his brothers, he finds different degrees of homophobia from them, although sooner or later almost everyone accepts it.
- Good Parents: Valentina Fernandez, the matriarch of the Mercader family, is the perfect mother, worried about her children and accepting them with all their defects and problems, including Ariel and Alicia, being loved equally by all her children and all the people who surrounds her. Which makes feel us terrible when
she finally dies by breast cancer in the middle of the telenovela. - Henpecked Husband: Armando, the only married son at the beginning of the story goes unemployed and comes back to the Mercader's house with his wife and son, being the House Husband of his own family and lessened by his wife, the only member of his family who get a job.
- Ironic Name: The patriarch is named Angel Mercader. Being the closest to a devil in the telenovela, being called "Angel" is certainly ironic.
- Jobless Parent Drama: The show shows one of the Mercader brothers, Armando, as a Family Man who got jobless at the start of the telenovela, becoming a House Husband and with his wife as the only person of his family who has a job and because of this being diminished by her with the time.
- Letter Motif: For some unknown reason, Angel named all his sons with the letter A as himself: Alonso, Armando, Ariel, Alex, Adan, Amaro and Antonio. And also includes Alicia, the only daughter of the family.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Ángel Mercader, he is tremendously sexist (he believes that it is humiliating that a man is unemployed and his wife is the one who works, and if a woman expresses professional ambitions, she believes that she is trying to usurp the place of a man), it is also very homophobic, especially with Ariel, his gay son
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Adan has traumas with his sexuality (thanks to his father, of course) that makes him a 26yo-virgin, which later is discovered he has UST thanks to the trauma. This is a problem for him because he's probably one of the hottest Mercader brothers and has a fame between women in the telenovela because of his hotness.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Ariel, the only of the brothers that used the hair almost shoulder-length. And that's the only indicative he's gay.
- Macho Latino: Machos is about a patriarchy of only men. Although every member of the Mercader family has a different and distinctive male stereotype, the father and one of the sons can be marked under this stereotype as the "machos" of this Chilean telenovela.
- Manly Gay: If Ariel doesn't reveal he's gay, probably none of the audience would know it. Being a Straight Gay, Ariel is so masculine as any of the Mercader brothers.
- The Patriarch: Angel Mercader.
- Promotion to Parent: Although Angel doesn't abandoned his children (or maybe some of them), the first son Alonso is the fatherly figure for the brothers, being considerated as a "second father" for most of them.
- The Reveal:
- One of the first reveals is Ariel being gay and telling the truth himself to the rest of his family, as well that's the reason why his father Angel expelled him from the family, being unknown for the rest of his brothers and his mother.
- In the middle of the telenovela appears Alicia, an affair's offspring of Angel, claiming to be the lost Mercader and wanting the Mercader heritage back from her.
- Rightful King Returns: Being expelled from the family and self-exiled in Spain, Ariel Mercader comes back to Chile to claim his position as a Mercader. Same for Alicia Mercader, who claims her place in the family in the middle of the telenovela.
- Self-Imposed Exile: After being expelled from the family by his Archnemesis Dad, Ariel Mercader decided to self-exile to Spain, coming back several years later, when the series starts to claim his last name back.
- Shout-Out: A notable one is the teaser trailer in which the Mercader family poses as the intro of Reservoir Dogs, even using George Baker's "Little Green Bag" song as background. Although it's not part of the telenovela nor the OST, this song became iconic for the series, even competing with the main song "Machos" made exclusively for the telenovela.
- The Smurfette Principle:
- The matriarch Valentina Fernandez is considered as this for the family, as well the nanny Imelda, her right hand.
- Alicia, the only Mercader offspring that is a woman and wants to claim her position as a Mercader like her brothers.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Amaro and his relationship with his college teacher Isabel who's 20 years older than him.
- Villain Protagonist: The patriarch Angel Mercader is seen as this, and all the plot and the cruel events running around him, like trying to control his children during all the telenovela.
- White Sheep: At the beginning considered the Black Sheep by his father for being gay (and the reason he was expelled from the family), Ariel Mercader demonstrates being the best of the seven brothers, having the three minors being loyal to him. Also, he's the only Mercader that became a Cardiologist as his father wanted.
