New Globo novela 'Quem Ama Cuida' taps into Brazilian desire for justice and revenge

Claudia Souto knows what will hook a Brazilian audience before the opening credits even roll. On the Monday night her new telenovela premiered on Globo, she could point to the ingredients that have always worked: injustice, revenge, family rupture, the ache of wanting something the world won't give you. But she also understands something deeper about why these stories land so hard in Brazil—they speak to a collective wound.

Quem Ama Cuida, which Souto created alongside veteran writer Walcyr Carrasco, arrives as what she calls a "powerful telenovela" precisely because it doesn't shy away from the desire for justice. In her view, that hunger resonates here because Brazilians carry a shared sense of being wronged by their own society. "These revenge stories that Walcyr loves to make and that I adore watching—and that I hadn't written as an author until now—I think they speak directly to the Brazilian heart," she told Notícias da TV. "Brazilians are a people always wanting justice, I think because they also feel a bit socially wronged."

The story itself pivots on a contrast between two families. Arthur Brandão, played by Antonio Fagundes, comes from a household fractured by conflicting values and damaged affections. Adriana, portrayed by Leticia Colin, belongs to a family that is warm and intact. From that opposition, the narrative branches into multiple family configurations and dramas that will ripple through the entire cast. A flood sequence serves as the story's ignition point—the event that sets everything in motion.

Director Amora Mautner has shaped the production with an eye toward human emotion above spectacle. Yes, the nine o'clock slot demands grandeur, demands events that upend lives. But Mautner keeps the actor, the character, at the center of the frame and at the center of the feeling. Souto has watched the footage as it comes together and finds herself enchanted by how the material is being conducted. "Everything that Walcyr and I have seen, we are delighted, beautifully guided by Amora, who is doing exceptional work," she said.

This marks a shift in how Souto and Carrasco work together. They had collaborated before—on Sete Pecados in 2007, Caras & Bocas in 2009, and Morde & Assopra in 2011—but in those earlier projects, Souto functioned as a contributor while Carrasco steered the ship. Now the dynamic has inverted into genuine co-creation. When Souto came on board for Quem Ama Cuida, they rewound to chapter one and began building from the ground up together. "Now we create together," she explained. "We have our weekly creative meetings where we map out how the block will go, what happens in the block, where the character arcs are heading."

The writing process itself has become collaborative in ways that extend beyond just the two of them. Before scripts reach the actors and the set, they pass through the hands of Wendell Bendelack, Julia Laks, Martha Mendonça, and Bruno Segadilha. Everyone contributes to dialogue, everyone shapes scenes. Souto believes this multiplicity of vision is what gives the novela its scale and resonance. "Walcyr and I lay down the paths, we point the directions, but we all get our hands dirty in the dialogue. And I think that's what makes the novela so grand, because it passes through several perspectives before it gets to the actors and to filming."

For Souto, the richness of this partnership with Carrasco—the pleasure of it—lies in the fact that they are now equals in the room, building the story together rather than one handing material to the other. It is a professional reunion that has given her the chance to finally write the kind of revenge narrative she has long wanted to create, one that understands why Brazilians need to see justice, even if only on screen.