Back to 15, the Brazilian coming-of-age drama is adapted from Bruna Vieira’s novel of the same name, and it makes us privy to the life of a 30-year-old woman named Anita who wishes to get an opportunity to go back in time and start over her life. One day, her wishes are granted, and she is transported back to when she was 15 years old. She tried to make amends in the past, but she realized that things were not as simple as they seemed. Everything she did in her past had a huge impact on her present life, and no matter how much she tried, there was some aspect of her life that she wished wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. So, let’s find out what Anita ends up doing and if she is ever able to come out of the loop and be satisfied by her choices in life.
Spoilers Alert
How Does Anita Go Back In Time?
Anita might have been living on her own terms, and she would have been independent, but her life was a mess. She had been completely cut off from the people who were once part of her life when was growing up. Anita didn’t have many good memories from her teenage days and all she could remember was how she embarrassed herself and how she was bullied. Her sister, Luiza, was getting married, and it was traumatizing for her to even think about going back and facing all those people who once went with her to school. Anita somehow managed to reach Imperatriz for her sister’s wedding on time, and though she was feeling terribly out of place, she just kept telling herself that the charade would be over soon, and she would be able to go back to her safe place. During the celebration, Anita found Eduardo, one of the bullies, who was also married to her cousin Carol, making out with another woman. Anita lost her cool, and she created a scene because she got very agitated, and Luiza got angry witnessing that, as it was her special day, and Anita couldn’t even control her impulses for one day. Anita ran back to her old room, where she had spent so much time in her teenage years. She opened her old computer, and suddenly, something snapped inside her and she remembered that when she was 15, she had made an account on a social media platform named Photoblog that worked pretty much like Instagram. Anita surprisingly remembered the password even after 15 years, and seeing her old pictures got her very nostalgic. She was still lost in her memories when something strange happened.
Anita was transported to the year 2006, back when she was 15 years old. Anita first thought that it was a dream, but soon realized that it was happening in reality. Anita realized that, though she was 15 years old, she felt mature from within. She could think and feel like a 30-year-old. She decided that she was going to use this opportunity to rectify things, as life had given her a wonderful opportunity. She felt strange when she had to go to school once again with her sister but this time she didn’t let the seniors bully her, and she gave them a piece of her mind. Fabricio, Joel, and Eduardo, Luiza’s batchmates, were stunned, as they hadn’t expected Anita to retaliate in such an aggressive manner. Anita made friends with Cesar, Fabricio’s brother, who had always felt that he was a woman trapped inside a male’s body. Cesar was often made fun of and bullied, so he could understand what Anita, Henrique, and Carol were going through.
Anita was adjusting to her 15-year-old life when one day, she uploaded her picture on that social media platform, and once again, she came back to being 30 years old. She had changed certain things in the past, and it had an impact on her present life as well. Anita realized that she was no longer living in the apartment alone, and Cesar, who had sex reassignment surgery and was now called Camila, was her flatmate. After going to and fro a couple of times in time, Anita realized that whenever she uploaded a picture in the past, she was transported to the present, and whenever she opened her Photoblog account and stared at the picture and thought about all those memories she had made at that time, then she went back to the past. Anita now knew that she had a time-traveling machine at her disposal and that she could shape her life the way she wanted and rectify all the mistakes she had made in the past.
What Happened Between Fabricio And Luiza?
Anita tried to save people’s lives, but it didn’t have the kind of impact that she had expected. She made sure that Carol and Eduardo broke up with each other, and she took Fabricio’s help to do that. Fabricio, in return, had asked her to set him up with her sister, Luiza. Fabricio and Luiza shared a close bond at one point in time, but now she was dating Douglas, who belonged to one of the richest families in the city. Fabricio always felt that because he was not as rich as Douglas, Luiza wouldn’t date him, but that was not true. Luiza had started feeling the burden of expectations. She didn’t want her life to turn out like her mother’s. She had seen how her mother had given up everything to bring up her two daughters, and Luiza didn’t want that for herself. She wanted to break the shackles and live on her own terms. Luiza liked Douglas as a person, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to live her entire life with him. She felt trapped in the relationship, but she was scared that if she broke up with him, her mother would be disappointed in her.
At this point in Back to 15, Fabricio was trying his best to come to Luiza’s attention and let her know how much he liked her. Fabricio was acting quite contrary to his image; he was known as this reckless, pompous and good-looking boy who didn’t care about the feelings of others, but here he was, being all empathetic and romantic toward Luiza. One day, something snapped inside Luiza, and she gave in. Luiza and Fabricio shared an intimate moment and Fabricio just couldn’t forget about it. For Fabricio it was not something that happened in the spur of the moment, and he actually believed that he could have something substantial with Luiza. Luiza had organized her birthday party, and Fabricio got jealous seeing her with Douglas and acting as if nothing had happened between them. He ended up creating a scene after getting drunk, and Luiza was so embarrassed that she locked herself in her room and then, later in the night, decided to run away from her house without telling anyone.
Anita really missed her father in the present, and that is why when she got the power to go back in time, all she wanted was to meet her father and hug him tightly once again. Anita was quite confused about how a person should know whether a choice they were making was right or wrong. Anita always saw that a lot of the time, she did something in the past that she felt was right, but the consequences it had on her present, 30-year-old life wasn’t what she had expected them to be. Her father told her that there would always be regret in a person’s life, but they should know the kind of life they want for themselves. He told her that if she thought that she would not have to face any sort of complications or issues in life if she made all the right choices, then she was wrong. He said that there would always be problems in life that a person would have to tackle and deal with, but by making conscious choices, they could choose which battles were theirs and which were not. Anita had always wanted to go back to the past and get a chance all over again, and by doing that, she believed that she could resolve all her issues, but with time, she realized that it was not possible.
Anita, up until now, had realized that both Joel and Henrique had a crush on her, and she was not able to make up her mind about who she wanted to be with. She had seen how both of them would turn out in the future, and so she was analyzing everything through that lens. It dawned on Anita when she was 15 that she wanted to be a photographer in her life, and she told her father about the same. He supported his daughter’s dream and told her that she could become whatever she wanted to be. This was the time when Anita also got to know that her father knew that he was suffering from a terminal illness, but he didn’t tell anyone in the family for the longest time because he didn’t want them to worry about it.
What Happens Between Joel And Anita?
Towards the end of Back to 15, Anita once again came back to her present life, and she realized that she had become a successful photographer. Being able to find her passion back when she was 15 had a huge impact on her life, and even Anita was mesmerized to witness the kind of opulent life she had created for herself. Anita went to meet her mother and found that Luiza hadn’t spoken to her in years and that the argument that had happened on her birthday night, after which she had run away from her house, was never resolved. Anita got to know from her assistant that she was invited to Paris, and she got excited after knowing that, as it had been her dream to capture the beautiful city at least once in her lifetime. Anita was even more eager to go to Paris as she had gotten to know that Henrique was living there, and he had become a full-time musician now. Anita met Henrique, and it didn’t take long for the both of them to once again get attracted to each other and feel those jitters as if they were 15. Every time Anita came back to her present life, she was unaware of the relationship dynamics she had with everybody since as soon as she tweaked something in the past, everything in the future changed. This time she had no clue that she and Joel were getting close, and they were supposed to go out on a date on the same day she had left for Paris.
In the last episode of Back to 15 Season 1, Anita and Henrique share a very romantic moment with each other while Joel waits in a cafe, for her, back at Imperatriz. A disappointed Joel went back home and saw that Anita had posted a picture on Instagram in which Henrique was standing, welcoming her to Paris, and holding a cardboard box that had her old user ID written on it. He remembered that it was the same name she used for her Photoblog account back in the day. He saw his own picture that she had posted a long time back, and he just felt like deleting it. He tried logging into her account, and after multiple attempts, he was able to figure out her password. Meanwhile, Anita realized that her sister, Luiza, was stuck in a mess and that things hadn’t turned out the way she would have liked them to. On the one hand, Anita had become successful and was having the time of her life, while Luiza was living in deplorable conditions. Anita once again took it upon herself to change things, and she decided to log into her Photoblog account to go to the past once again. But this time, she wasn’t able to access her account since Joel had logged in at the same time. Luiza felt paranoid as she realized that she was now stuck with her choices and had no way to go back in time and change them. Joel, on the other hand, got transported to 2006, just like Anita had, and he was shocked to see that he was a teenager again.
For 15 long years, Joel had loved Anita, and now that he has gotten a chance to go back in time, he would probably like to change a few things so that he doesn’t land up in a similar situation in the future. In the second season of Back to 15, he would end up meeting the 15-year-old Anita, and they would realize that they both are time travelers. Anita will act as his guide because surely, he would not be in a position to understand what is happening to him at least for the first few times. He would realize that whenever he changes anything in the past, it has a gigantic impact on his present life. This time, Joel would probably get a chance to be with Anita and show her how much she means to him. It would be interesting to see in Back to 15 Season 2 how Anita and Joel handle these conflicts, what kind of lives they end up having, and if they are ever able to make peace with their present situation.
