The soap opera Come back on top has developed a peculiar nucleus: that of characters involved in misdemeanors. The subject has been trending nationally since its debut on Globoplayin November 2023, from the documentary series Vale o Escrito – A Guerra do Jogo do Bicho. Now, the soap opera has brought references and details that relate to the reality of crime in Rio de Janeiro.

Volta por Cima set the main villains in a plot that involves illicit money, collusion and improvements to communities. Violet (Isabel Teixeira) and Baixinho (Rodrigo García) had run the misdemeanor for decades — it’s the family business.

After the boy’s death, the matriarch began to lead the clandestine activities herself and use a figurehead: Osmar (Milhem Cortaz), who she wants to establish as the new all-powerful of misdemeanors, despite him being completely innocent and fearful in this area.

Since the premiere of the soap opera, the public has already noticed the existence of elements similar to the series. Vale o Escrito, a production that will be shown on Globo’s programming starting this Tuesday (29), tells the story of Jogo do Bicho in Rio de Janeiro and the main bicheiros who command the activity in the city.

The production traces a chronology of the events of recent decades, which involved family fights, many murders, investments in samba schools and disputes over the power of misdemeanors.

In the soap opera, Baixinho’s look was the first point that caught attention. Viewers thought the character looked similar to Bernardo Bello, one of the most dangerous bicheiros in Rio, who gave a statement to Vale o Escrito. Their clothes and beard styles do have similarities.

There is also the issue of the bookie appearance. Osmar already liked to wear printed shirts before, but Violeta wanted to give her boyfriend a new look, so that he would be even more in the style used by men in this business sector.

In the plot, Osmar and Armando (Aramis Trindade) enhance looks with elements such as dress pants (sometimes in white), brightly colored or printed shirts, hair (in Osmar’s case) combed back and gold jewelry. The style is reminiscent of Maninho Garcia (1962-2004), another notable character from Vale o Escrito and the history of criminal offenses in Rio de Janeiro.

Maninho’s story, in fact, will be a reference for more characters. In the documentary series, the bicheiro (who died murdered) was described as a very womanizing guy, linked to the Acadêmicos do Salgueiro samba school and who liked horses. The family had a stud farm where one of his daughters, Shana Garcia, trained in horse riding.

In the next chapters of Volta por Cima, two new bookies will appear. They will be Gerson (Enrique Diaz) and Rodolfo Barros (José de Abreu). The first is the son of the second and is responsible for commanding the family business with an iron fist.

Rodolfo is described as a former bicheiro who now dedicates himself to samba and horse breeding, in addition to being an excellent conqueror of women. Any similarity with real life is not a mere coincidence…

‘Easter eggs’ in the soap opera

Finally, there is still the detail of the paintings on the wall. In the first chapter, when showing her house to Osmar, Violeta passed through a hallway with portraits of family members. The scoundrel was scared.

Weeks later, after Baixinho’s death, Violeta gave Osmar a painting with his photo and asked her boyfriend to hang it. In doing so, he knocked over Shorty’s image, which shattered on the floor.

In the Vale o Escrito series, the feature of pictures on the wall was also used. Whenever one of the characters in the narrative died, the painting fell to the floor, and the glass in the frame shattered.

In testimony to TV Newsthe author of Volta por Cima, Claudia Soutotalks about the references to Vale o Escrito in his novel. She comments that she is a fan of the series, which is why she put easter eggs –hidden or implied details for those who also have the ability to retrieve them– at the core of the misdemeanor.

“Still in the creation phase of Volta por Cima, I looked for contexts that were very Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro’s criminals are closely linked to the city’s history, for better and for worse, as the Vale o Escrito series shows”, she points out.

“That’s why, from the synopsis, I already imagined the scene in which Osmar, upon taking Baixinho’s place in the Castilho family, would put his photo in place, as soon as the criminal’s photo fell and broke on the floor, like an Easter egg for who, like me, saw and loved the series“, concludes the author.

Also read -> Summary of next chapters from the soap opera Volta por Cima.

Volta por Cima is written by Claudia Souto, with the collaboration of Wendell Bendelack, Julia Laks, Isadora Wilkinson and Juliana Peres. The artistic direction is by André Câmara, and the general direction by Caetano Caruso.

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