O Clone

Extraordinary¡¡¡ I have never watched something like this. It is a very good history. Eleven compact discs, one book, 280 episodes of 50 minutes each one (too long¡¡), it is the result of writer Gloria Perez. Topics like drugs, two similar religions, forbidden love and ethics are mixed by Gloria Perez very well.

I have also seen this soap opera twice, I just love the settings, the views, the locations, the story and the people in it! In the beginning I got hooked up by the scenery, the story was just too sweet and plain, then it started to change, I learned about muslims and the way they live, and how everything made sense. The dialogs were small poems and life lectures. Time passed and everything started falling into place. 20 years later, the characters slightly changed, and a new neighborhood added new dimension to the story development. I hated Lucas; because of him, his relationship with Jade never took off. She risked everything and he was always a wimp. But that was necessary because his twin brother was the one who supposed to be brave and dare to do whatever he wanted. Leo took months to show up after 20 years, but it was worth it. He really got everybody busy and wondering what was going on.

A fascinating and exotic story, that mix things like human cloning, the muslim culture and drug/alcohol addiction problems. O Clone/El Clon has reached its end here in Brazil last Friday. Obviously, I'm not gonna tell what happened, but I'd like to add that regarding Leo (El Clon) it was a fair ending, considering no one could really tell what would've happened to a real clon! El Clon reached the biggest ratings ever around here. This could be explained because it came in the perfect moment, not only because the human cloning is a recent issue, but also because it premiered 1 month after the attacks of September 11th, when the curiosity about the Muslim culture reached the highest levels. The campaign of author Gloria Perez against the drug and alcohol addiction, featuring 2 teenage characters, Mel and Nando, also was a great success and is helping to show people about all the bad things that come along with the pleasure that drugs bring. A great show. Perfect acting, perfect writing. It's no surprise it was such a big success.

I have always hated south-american soap-operas, but this show is better than Dallas. It has an interesting subject, good actors, absolutely gorgeous scenes, and the music... Ah! the music ! Is the best ! It' also nice to see Islamic people presented as human, and not as "terrorist beasts".

The only thing that bothers me is that the show has so many episodes, and I foresee that many more will follow (at his date - Dec '02 - we are watching the episodes where Xande is falsely accused by Maysa of steeling her necklace). I started watching it because at that hour (10 PM, daily) there is nothing else to see on the Romanian TV stations (except for the third re-run of "Married, with Children" and some horrible news about murders an rapes). It's pleasant detachment, before going to sleep, of all the stress accumulated during the day. P.S. In Romania, the show has 10 - 11 % rating.

The idea of producing a cloned human being, watch this creature grow up to become a twenty-year-old man, and eventually see him meet his genetic `twin brother' is an original plot in itself. Having a few romantic and adult sub-plots added, and a great deal of the whole story taking place in the context of Muslim religious and cultural background in Brazil and in Morocco, can certainly complicate a director's task. Gloria Perez's `O Clone' is certainly well above most soap operas shown on TV. The actors and actresses give good performances, the main plot is original, and the Muslim background adds a curious atmosphere, at least to a non-Muslim audience. Also, drug addiction is crudely brought to the screen, with an expertise we rarely see, and receives the serious treatment such theme deserves. At a certain point, however, Miss Perez seems to have lost grip of the situation, getting lost in the midst of so many intricate and intertwined sub-plots which, one would think, she doesn't know how to end.