The Clone

O Clone is still one of the boldest things TV Globo ever put in primetime. Glória Perez fused a sweeping love story with science: Lucas, secretly cloned by his own godfather, and Jade, a Muslim woman raised in Morocco, live a forbidden romance across two decades and two cultures. Murilo Benício doubles as the twin brothers with real technical control, and Giovanna Antonelli makes Jade’s longing the heartbeat of the show.

The scope is the point. Morocco and Rio both feel lived in, the production treats Islamic culture with a care that was rare on television in 2001, and the themes of addiction and identity give the melodrama a jagged, realistic edge. Vera Fischer and Reginaldo Faria hold down the family drama with the ease of old pros.

It runs 221 chapters, and the pacing shows; even devotees admit stretches drag. But sold to more than 90 countries, it did as much as anything to export the Brazilian novela, and its biggest scenes still land hard.

Stream it on Globoplay in Brazil, or on ViX in the United States as El Clon. Our score: 8/10. Tonight, watch the first chapters if you want television that is big, sincere and unlike anything else on the menu.