“Back to 15” (or De Volta Aos 15 in Portuguese) is a Brazilian teen drama about a woman’s time-traveling abilities. She strives to find meaning in her existence by using time as a catalyst for change and attempting to affect future events. Anita is unhappy with her life and finds that she has the ability to change it. She is surprised when someone else notices.
Netflix brings us a show that plays with the concept of time travel while also informing viewers of the one principle that all time travel has in common. The premise is that if you go back to your history and modify it, the subsequent change has a significant impact on the future, and what the new reality holds is not known to anyone. “Back to 15” teaches you an important lesson: our time on this planet is ours alone, and no one else’s. As the story progresses, several people gently touch on these topics, leading Anita to make the best decision possible. When she finally is aligned with the values truest to her knowledge, everything changes when she finally does.
Plot Summary
What if you could travel back in time, and reach that stage in your life when life was simpler and more carefree than it is now? When you were a child, did you have no worries? Back to the time, when you had your first crush? Or when you first kissed someone? Those moments stay with you towards your future, and you sometimes want to hold onto your past and never let go. Everyone hopes time travel is possible, and Anita unintentionally discovers it.
“Back to 15” is a Netflix coming-of-age series that Janaina Tokitaka adapted and scripted. It is based on Bruna Vieira’s book of the same name. Anita is a 30-year-old lady who has achieved nothing in her life so far in this adaptation of the movie. Her cat, Amelie, is her constant partner in her life, and she lives in a shabby apartment with her. Her phone rings, reminding her that she has a flight to catch back to her hometown for her sister’s wedding. Anita can’t believe she has to go back, and she catches her flight, only to return to her hometown and experience a collective cynicism about her existence.
When 30-year-old Anita returns home, she runs into some old pals, rekindling old friendships and memories. Carol, her cousin, has followed her husband’s advice and given up on her goals. She considers Henrique, who works in the stock market, her best buddy. When Anita stumbles into Eduardo, Carol’s husband, outside the bathroom door, kissing one of the maids of honor, Eduardo starts to hit on Anita, and Carol sees this, thus humiliating Anita. Carol brings the drama to the front of the room in the presence of everyone. Deeply hurt and humiliated, Anita bolts to her room and collapses on her bed.
She recalls her blog and opens it to find the first photograph she shot of herself when she started the blog. Anita reverts in time to her 15-year-old self with the opportunity to choose a new future for herself after the electricity begins to buzz loudly.
Anita embarks on a voyage across time, attempting to impact people’s lives by being actively involved, while in actuality, it is her life that requires guiding and nurturing. She prioritizes her friends before herself on her adventure, with her best friend Henrique by her side at all times. The story starts with her changing the way a trio of boys—Eduardo, Fabricio, and Joel—used to make a Circle of Shame and pick on one person. They would humiliate them in the hopes of keeping them grounded. Anita’s advantage here is that, for the first time in her life, her 30-year-old brain is with her. This fact changes everything.
Anita strives for the best possible outcome in each of her relationships. When she concentrates on Cesar, her closest gay friend, her life changes, and she has a different future without Henrique forcing her to change it by traveling back in time. When she does, she is mindful of her 30-year-old brain as she experiences Day 2 of a new changeable history. Anita makes it a point to be more present in Henriques’ and Carol’s lives once she has experienced Henriques’ absence in the future. Carol is questioned about what she sees in Eduardo. She finally settles on a new goal: to break up Eduardo and Carol’s relationship. Only with the assistance of Fabrizio (Eduardo and Joel’s friend) would she be able to accomplish this.
Fabrizio has feelings for Luiza, Anita’s sister, who also has feelings for him. Carol is hit by a car after seeing Eduardo kissing Fe, Anita’s football teammate, and Carol suffers a fracture. After this, Anita tries to hide her tracks because no one expected this outcome. It weighs heavily on both Fabrizio and Anita’s minds whether or not they should tell anyone.
When Joel tells Fe that Carol and Eduardo were meant to go out on the same day they kissed, Fabrizio’s actions are overturned. Anita is eventually apprehended, which sends her into a spiral of contemplation and guilt. Carol understands Anita’s genuine motives when Henrique intervenes and assures her that Anita has no malice toward her. However, there appears to be a variable in the time-traveling equation that Anita is oblivious to. Joel is that variable. Joel keeps stating, slowly but steadily, that the way time moves forward appears to be incorrect. He even tries to talk to Anita about it, but she dismisses it.
Following a conversation with her father, Anita presses forward in the search for her calling. He informs her that she can’t control other people’s lives, but she can control her own. In her mind, this gives birth to a new perspective, and she embarks on a new journey. When she begins a chat messenger conversation with Joel on the computer, he suggests that it may all be a time machine. Anita suffers a nervous breakdown, unsure if Joel has figured it all out.
‘Back To 15’ Season 1: Ending Explained – Does Joel Change Anita’s Destiny?
Eduardo, Fabricio, and Joel had always been recognized as the school’s alphas. However, each had flaws. Anita gradually reveals their flaws with the goal of improving them as humans. Fabricio has a hidden knack of sculpting. Fabricio was unconcerned when his father praised him for his tiny works of art. Anita, 15, is aware that Joel will appear in her life later and that they will become close, but she is also aware that this does not align with her needs.
Anita struggles to believe that she can construct a more honest and aligned future for herself. She ponders on it and comes to the conclusion that she must pay attention to her sister Luiza’s birthday party. Since he has moved away from Fabricio and Eduardo, Joel shows up on the dance floor to try to talk to Anita and get her to accept his affections.
Henrique is always by Anita’s side, hoping that she will recognize his feelings for her. After Luiza’s 18th birthday party comes apart and she flees, 15-year-old Anita discovers that her father is unwell. After failing to persuade her father to reveal the truth about his illness, she uploads all joyful memories in order to return to a new reality as an adult. This time, 30-year-old Anita is a renowned photographer on assignment for a high-end newspaper to capture the soul of Paris. When she meets Henrique, a 30-year-old man with high cheekbones and a dark complexion, things get heated. Her life is fantastic, but she forgets about a dinner reservation she made with Joel the day before she departs for Paris.
Joel is perplexed as to why he was rejected on his dinner date with her. In a jealous rage, he goes to her blog and logs in as her to look at a photo she took of him when he was 15, flipping the situation and zapping him back to his childhood. This cliffhanger kicks off a brand-new “Back to 15” season 2 plot, making us want to watch it all over again to see if we missed anything.
‘Back To 15’ Season 2: Expectations
Anita wins control in “Back to 15” season 1 by making her life the center of attention, but with the cliffhanger, we see that there’s a chance we’ll jump to another parallel and witness things through Joel’s eyes. Was Anita really there for Joel, who stood out from the rest of the group? It also asks the question of how Joel is constantly present in every new reality that Anita creates for herself. It makes one wonder if Henrique is Anita’s true love, and if so, what are her options if Joel is her one true love? Would we see Anita’s future change if Joel figured out how to travel back in time? Variables are always present in a temperamental equation, as we know.
“Back to 15” Season 2 should come to a satisfying conclusion unless the creators add a new twist to show us that Anita and her companions are more than meets the eye.
“Back to 15” (or De Volta Aos 15 in Portuguese) is a 2022 Romantic Drama Television Series streaming on Netflix.
