Flora Pereira da Silva, also known by the cognomen Sandra Maia, is the main antagonist of the Brazilian telenovela A Favorita. She is Lara's biological mother and Donatela's former friend as a very old colleague of the duo Faísca & Espoleta. Behind her kindness, Flora is a ruthless, sadistic, cold, heartless, torturous, and bloodthirsty psychopath who doesn't care about anyone's feelings, not even the ones of her own relatives (Lara, her own daughter and Pedro, her own father).
She is portrayed by Patrícia Pillar.
What Makes Her Pure Evil?[]
Past[]
- In the past in her childhood, Flora tortured animals and tried to kill Donatela by asphyxiation and almost set her on fire.
- Donatela and Flora had a successful career as musicians, but one day Donatela fall in love with Marcelo, a rich heir from Brazil's biggest paper and pulp company and let the duo. A devasted Flora started to plot revenge against them in the most horrible way possible: Flora approached Dodi, a jealous and dirty rascal that aways dreamed with Marcelo's place at the company, and when Donatela and Marcelo had a child named Mateus, they kidnapped the baby (who was just 2 years old) in a successful attempt to break the couple. Once the criminals never tried to make contact, there was the possibility that Mateus could have died, and the couple never recovered from it.
- To elevate the cruelty, Flora ordered Silveirinha, the former manager of the duo, to indeed kill the baby in order to prevent him to one day come back to his parents and to ensure her next step. But Silveirinha had enough moral standards to spare Mateus' life and gave him to Cilene who raised him as her son under a new name, "Harlem". Eighteen years later, discover it drove Flora to a deep rage, showing how savage she always was even against babies to fulfill her selfish and wicked plans.
- Flora had a (initially) secret affair with Marcelo which she let Donatela discover when Flora become pregnant. That kid was from her relationship with Dodi, not Marcelo, but to fracture their already hurted life, that lie was more than enough. And from now on, Lara would be the daughter without any problem to receive all fortune from the Fontini's company and Flora would have a way to enjoy it while Donatela had nothing to bound she and Marcelo beyond a broken relationship.
- Flora hated Marcelo more than any and every other person she met, because he was directly responsible for Donatela turn her back to Flora in the day of their most important show to go on a trip and met his parents; but to destroy their wedding, she had an affair with him so close that none doubted that he was Lara's father, just to show how her real personality is unable to stop when it comes about ruin other's lives when they are an obstacle to her plans.
- To advance her goals, Flora tried to incriminate Donatela from Marcelo's murder, a plan that backfired once Flora was sent to jail for the crime. But the point still is that the original plan was to kill Marcelo, incriminate Donatela and send her friend to jail. A plan that eighteen years later she put on action again.
Present[]
- In the first chapters, Flora accompanies Lara, her boyfriend Cassiano and some friends for a walk in a cave, Flora makes a trap so that Lara can drown, but ends up saving her to pose as a good woman.
- She murdered Dante Salvatore, the doctor who attended Marcelo on the day of his death, in front of Donatela to frame her former friend and send her to jail.
- Flora mocked Irene and Gonçalo due to their age. She gave nicknames to both of them: velha safada (''naughty old woman'') to Irene and toupeira (''mole'') to Gonçalo among several other ones that are especially gross to say against elderly people.
- She doesn't even care for her own daughter, Lara, as she often loathes Lara and denies her blood behind closed doors, even referring to her as a "purgative" on one occasion.
- Manipulated Irene into believe Donatela killed Marcelo and that she was innocent, feeding the hatred that Irene had against Donatela as a way to manipulate Irene's heart and control her.
- Angry at Zé Bob, Flora ordered Dodi to kill his female dog, giving the animal poisoned food.
- Flora gave her father a piece of chicken pie that she had prepared (there was poison in it) in order to get rid of him since he wanted to expose her crimes to Gonçalo and Irene, however Pedro survived. But Flora used both psychological and emotional torment against her father whenever she feels like.
- Flora told often that Pedro used to mistreat she when she was only a child, but in the present Flora keep him around not just as a tool to use to looks like a good and caring daughter, but also to torment him in every chance she had. Flora went deeper in her villainous way to be than that supposed traumatic past could justify once she herself was a monstrous mother to Lara and never actually tried to be good when the opportunity showed up.
- Flora forged his own kidnapping with Lara so that he could gain the trust of Irene and Gonçalo and go live on the ranch, in the kidnapping Flora pretended to be in danger and was amused to see Lara's worry and sadness and even murdered the two thugs she hired for the kidnapping when they were no longer useful. Along the story, Flora had several minions to execute her plans in a (less intense in comparation) sequence of schemes to get control over the Fontini's empire. But, as long as they were no long needed, she disposed of then whenever she feels necessary. Killing was not a problem, in fact, Flora even found joy doing it as a way to cover her actions. Even her more loyal allies, Dodi and Silveirinha, were targets of Flora's rage when they were between she and Donatela, showing the little Flora cared about the most important allies she ever had.
- Flora exchanged Gonçalo's meds for sugar pill along several weeks and in the night that he confronted she about her true colors, Flora indirectly murdered Gonçalo by causing him to have a heart attack inside his office like in a horror movie scene. To do so, Flora used a big amount of blood from filet and steak making it looks like that she murdered his wife and granddaughter and now he is the next (the image of said scene can be seen at the infobox). Using that lie, Flora forced a traumatic death with a fatal heart attack and after it, took control over all of his company.
- Right after taking control of Fontini's company, Flora began to research and (quickly) found an American company which was secretly almost broken (named W Paper) and offered a deal: Fontini and W Paper will make a fusion and Fontini will take all debits and pay for they before an unavoidable complete bankrupt. In exchange from this deal, Flora received five hundred million dollars and W Paper' shareholders took all profits from Fontini not to pay the company's debts, but to themselves before runaway and vanish letting a complete broken fusioned company.
- This particular action would make hundred, if not thousands, of workers lose their jobs. Remembering that (inside of the story) Fontini was the brazilian biggest paper industry, employing huge amounts of employers and there was even a country side town named Triunfo that relies completely on one factory to keep the most of its population working and have a regular income. If that plan had come to a complete fruition, the total impact of it could cause a devastating effect in an incalculable number of people that Flora and the W Paper's shareholders even imagined (or cared) at all when one consider the impact that all this immense amount of jobless people could force in the general economics and the end of a city's financial health.
- As soon as receiving her money for the deal, Flora used a random minion as front man to indirect buy the Fontini's ranch, all horses and employes as a way to control even more of her enemies' lives. Not satisfect with it, in the moment that her minion became the ranch's new owner, Flora appeared and started to brag about her plan, tormenting the Fontini family and friends by explain (step by step) how she won against them again and promising to turn all ranch into rumbles.
- She doesn't genuinely love neither Zé Bob nor Marcelo, the ''love'' she had for them was merely her obsession with Donatela and the sick desire to take away everything she has, given both of the men loved Donatela, especially considering that she killed the latter in cold blood and nearly succeeded in kill the former.
- When Silveirinha redeems himself and tries to convince Flora to give up to her plans while standing up for Donatela, she stabs him with a kitchen knife, however thankfully he survived.
- Although she claims her father used to mistreat her and always had more affection for Donatela than for her in their childhood, this doesn't make her tragic in the slightest, given the only reason Pedro loathes Flora is because he always knew she was a horrible person even when she was only a child.
- Once again, her supposed tragic past never actually made she even try to be a good mother herself, as Flora just showed a fake caring around Lara when trying to manipulate someone when in fact she despite her own daughter way more than her father could have despite her once the public figure out how far Flora hated Lara. After Floras' true nature come to surface, Flora let all her despite from Lara become clear, shocking Irene and tormenting everyone whenever the opportunity showed up. In their last encounter, after Lara shot Flora in the shoulder, Flora tormented her daughter claim that it was only bloodlust and revenge that made Lara use a gun, not justice or the need to protect her family.
- One could say that the clear mental problems that Flora showed could prevent she to become a PE, but it would be a weak prevention in the long range. Flora indeed has mental problems, and they are an intense driving force in her general goals; but she has no real moral agency problems. Flora understands what is good and evil and the difference between one and another, she just believes that manipulate and kill lead to her goals in the better way than the opposite. Flora is plenty aware of the impact that her actions had, the consequences of her acts and how they affected all victims. But, in spite of all it, Flora actually felt good, motivated even, to follow that way because she believes that every other person, beside from Donatela, deserve nothing more than being used and disposed.
- Going to the specific point of what is supposed to be a love that Flora fells to Donatela, and how much of Flora's mind set was built around it: Indeed, Flora suffer from a clear obsession with Donatela, and all of her actions are based in a hungry of Donatela's love and (most important) approval. In the last chapters, Donatela was able to perfectly manipulate and control Flora based only in the latter needs to be her best and most important friend. But that was the main reason of all problems that Flora caused along the story.
- Every murder, incrimination, and manipulation that Flora made was to get rid of every and anything in her way to be with Donatela. The main reason to Flora to get the Fontini's fortune was because she assumed it as one obstruction to keep Donatela around forever, unless Flora control that fortune and use it herself as a tool; just to show how extreme her measures were to control Donatela's live. Ultimately, Flora's version of "love" is a toxic, twist and possessive driving force that will stop at nothing to have all of Donatela's live under her control and to eliminate whoever she assumes as a menace to this sick vision of a future.
- Going to the specific point of what is supposed to be a love that Flora fells to Donatela, and how much of Flora's mind set was built around it: Indeed, Flora suffer from a clear obsession with Donatela, and all of her actions are based in a hungry of Donatela's love and (most important) approval. In the last chapters, Donatela was able to perfectly manipulate and control Flora based only in the latter needs to be her best and most important friend. But that was the main reason of all problems that Flora caused along the story.
Trivia[]
- Flora Pereira da Silva is one of the Brazilian soap opera villains to be Pure Evil, along with Santiago, from Avenida Brasil; Josiane Sobral, from A Dona do Pedaço; Magnólia Costa Leitão, from A Lei do Amor; Julia Zaccarias, from Os Mutantes; Regina Junqueira from, Cumplicies de um Resgate; and Livia Marini, from Salve Jorge.
External links[]
- Flora on the Villains Wiki