We finally have a continuation!
Cúmplices Além um Resgate (Accomplishes beyond the rescue in English) is a soap opera that takes place two years after the events of the last episode of the previous series.
The main plot is about Manuela and Isabela who live happily with their mother Rebeca and stepfather Otávio in the Village of Dreams but everything is about to change and new emotions are about to come.
New characters are also introduced in the plot: Jacob: a Jewish boy who is smart and no nonsense, his adopted younger brother Ethan, the tomboyish Angie, the timid Mexican guy Diego, his younger sister Dulce, brainy African Brazilian girl Celine and Big Fun Rosália. Oh, and there’s Pamela, a Girly Girl who happens to be an aspiring kart racer and Henrique: the new bully in the village and Omar’s former classmate and best friend…sort of.
This series only lasted 188 episodes and despite having much poorer ratings than the previous series, it still remains a Cult Classic in the eyes of many people who grew up with it.
This sequel series has the following tropes:
- The Ace: Subverted with Jacob, he’s very kind, does well in school, has really impressive athletic abilities and is a good role model to his brother Ethan. However, he does have his fair share of flaws, is deeply insecure himself and most of the village citizens doesn’t seem to like him or his family that much, making Jacob to be a Broken Ace.
- Alpha Bitch: Pamela is a self centered diva who likes to antagonize the twins and Celine.
- Beta Couple: Once again, Isabela and Téo are this to Manuela and her new Love Interest Jacob.
- Be Yourself:
- Manuela toughen up after getting mad at her grandmother’s antisemitism as well as her family not approving her dating a Jewish boy(except for Isabela, who is shown to be very supportive) but later on, she goes back to her old self after realizing that she doesn’t need to act like Isabela to be appreciated and learns to be more assertive on her own terms.
- Angie tries to become a Girly Girl to get Andre’s attention but it ends up backfiring so badly that she gets over it very quickly and learns that Andre loves her the way she is.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Jacob may not understand Ethan’s patriotism to his birth country and can sometimes tease him(albeit playfully) but he IS extremely protective of his little brother and does a really good job to keep him out of trouble.
- Diego cares deeply for his little sister Dulce as she means the world for him and won’t let ANYONE dare to hurt her.
- Female example: Isabela often shows this towards her twin Manuela and always defends her from Pamela.
- Black and Nerdy: Celine has nearly all the characteristics of a typical nerd: she wears glasses, is very clumsy, prefers books over socializing and is good at science.
- The Bully: Henrique sure makes Omar’s earlier self look like a straight up saint in comparison.
- Canon Discontinuity: Due to it being nearly a complete failure, SBT often goes out of its ways to bury this series and pretend that it never happened to the point that the sequel for As Aventuras De Poliana named Poliana Moça is consistently advertised as the FIRST continuation of a kid friendly soap opera made by them.
- Childhood Friends: The very first episode blatantly states that Omar and Henrique used to be friends ever since they were much younger…sort of. Later on, it’s revealed that Omar’s bullying caused Henrique to become what he is today.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Celine.
- Darker and Edgier: Although the first series didn’t shy away from showing serious topics, it was still mostly light hearted(especially in the beginning). However, this series heavily explores certain topics such as discrimination, religious bigotry, sexism, anti-black racism/misogynoir, xenophobia, drug abuse, parental neglect and freedom of speech. It also has a much darker and more depressing tone than the previous series.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Pamela becomes much friendlier after she starts dating Omar and even apologizes to the twins and Celine for making their lives miserable.
- Demoted to Extra:
- So many characters who used to be prominent in the first series are either minor characters or barely have lines, the most egregious example being the siblings Doris and Mateus who usually contribute very little to the plot, however, Doris ends up befriending Diego’s sister and gets a bit more screen time than her brother solely because of that.
- To a lesser extent, Rebeca and Otávio have 80% of their screen time reduced and most of their shining moments are about them being seen as a loving couple.
- Despite initially having a small plot line about her wanting kids, Helena and her husband Pedro are completely shafted from the series and they hardly appear aside from a few scenes where they discuss their marriage. They are also no longer part of Manuela’s musical band.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first twelve episodes are more or less similar to the previous series with Isabela being the main focus and having a more light hearted tone in spite of still showing more mature topics, Jacob is most of the time shown to be a minor character and Henrique is nothing more than a pathetic excuse for a bully to the point that Omar mocks him in one scene from the second episode for being "too weak". After episode 12, the series shift its focus to Manuela instead, Jacob becomes a major character, the lighthearted tone has been tuned down quite a bit to the point the series itself becomes a lot darker and Henrique becomes a much more serious threat to the village citizens and even outsmarts Omar with his cruel antics several times.
- Eccentric Artist: Rosália of course.
- Femininity Failure: Angie tries to be more feminine after Isabela and Priscila tell her that she’s not girly enough and that Andre will never date her because she’s too much of a Tomboy but all her attempts to change herself end up in a disaster to the point that she breaks down crying.
- Genki Girl: Rosália is very energetic and cheerful.
- Gentle Giant: Diego is much bigger and stronger than the other kids but he’s sweet and frankly, a bit too cowardly.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Pamela is a Girly Girl through and through but she enjoys kart racing and is a very great mechanic.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Isabela, Jacob and Angie fit this trope, most notably the latter two.
- Hypocrite: Fiorina and Nina tend to disapprove the fact that a Jewish family is living on a predominantly Christian village, however, they completely forgot that they used to be at each other’s throats several times in the past simply because they have different beliefs as well.
- Jerkass to One: Priscila is nice to everyone, including Manuela but she tends to be incredibly nasty to Isabela in any given chance she has.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Despite being intelligent and studious, Jacob is definitely not a stereotypical nerd as he is very athletic and perhaps the strongest boy after Diego.
- Latino Is Brown: Although Diego and his family all have olive skin, this is actually Downplayed since this series is from Brazil.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch:
- Isabela defrosts and becomes more protective of Manuela but she still has plenty of bossy and selfish moments.
- Priscila becomes nicer in this series too, at least in comparison to Pamela.
- Pamela herself fits this trope because she defrosts near the end.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The best friends Angie and Diego. Angie is very tough yet brash and has plenty of masculine hobbies such as sports, skateboarding and playing video games while Diego is very timid yet gentle and has many feminine hobbies such as knitting, cooking and playing with plush dolls.
- Nice Jewish Boy: Subverted with Jacob, he IS very nice himself but has plenty of flaws that he has to work on such as his short temper, Holier Than Thou moments and stubborn attitude.
- No Antagonist: One of the biggest criticisms of this series is that there’s not a single prominent antagonist that challenges the main twin characters, Henrique and Pamela do exist but the former usually doesn’t go after them and the latter gets redeemed near the end, even Pamela’s mother who typically showcases stereotypical Femme Fatale traits, it’s not as threatening as someone like Regina.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Angie and Diego. To a much lesser extent, Manuela and Téo also fit this trope.
- Put on a Bus:
- The Vaz siblings are written off the series with the excuse that their aunt wanted to have a higher education on college and moved with them to another city.
- So are characters like Sabrina, Chloé, Benjamin, Laura and Sandro who are nowhere to be seen and unlike the Vaz siblings, they disappear without any explanation whatsoever.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Henrique strongly despises Jewish people which is why he constantly bullies and harasses Jacob. Thankfully, Jacob is able to stand up for himself.
- Shrinking Violet: Diego is very shy and fears getting too much attention.
- Soapbox Sadie: Manuela becomes this after dating Jacob and starts to rebel against her family for being bigoted towards Jewish people, ESPECIALLY her grandmother Nina.
- Token Minority: Celine is a black girl, Diego is a Hispanic boy, Jacob is an Ashkenazi Jewish boy, and Téo is a blind boy.
- Tomboy: Angie is tough, short tempered, terribly unladylike and somewhat rebellious, she also wears a baseball cap, prefers pants over dresses, has a skateboard and likes to play football.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- Angie is the tough as nail skater girl while Pamela is the frilly Rich Bitch.
- A more subtle example would be the twins Manuela and Isabela, although Manuela is initially as girly as she was in the previous series, she later develops a strong tomboy streak by becoming a Granola Girl with plenty of Soapbox Sadie moments and is overall less prim and proper than Isabela who is usually depicted as being a Valley Girl with a gothic streak.
- Tomboyness Upgrade: After Manuela rebelled against her family since they won’t let her be around Jacob simply because he’s Jewish, she starts wearing more tomboyish clothes, becomes louder, snarkier and more outspoken, develops a strong interest for activism and at one point in the story, she wishes to give up singing to pursue her new dream of becoming a famous writer.
- Weight Woe: One plot line involving Rosália has her wanting to lose weight due to Pamela bullying her for that but she later gets over it.
- You Go, Girl!:
- One plot line involving Angie has her wanting to join the boys football team.
- A much bigger example would be Pamela’s dream of becoming a kart racer but her mother forces her to be a singer mainly because "singing is more ladylike than kart racing".
