“Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso” Returns for a Second Shocking Season

Now, telenovelas are shot in a more modern and cinematic style with heart-wrenching performances and familiar but brilliantly executed plot twists coming at viewers left and right.  Some of Telemundo’s latest hit dramas like Guerra de Idolos and Mariposa de Barrio do exactly that while remaining based in reality, avoiding such common clichés as love triangles, betrayal after betrayal and done-to-death plotlines.  They bring forth original stories, sometimes touching on subjects that are topical in today’s media frenzy.  This rings true for the second season of Telemundo’s red-hot super-series Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso (There Is Paradise Without Breasts), premiering July 25 at 9 p.m.  (A super-series is one that runs over several seasons with as many as 80 or 90 episodes per season.)

In the similarly titled first series Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso (Without Breasts There Is No Paradise), call girl Catalina “La Grande” disappeared and was presumed dead, plunging her expectant mother and family into despair, despite a body never being found.  Catalina yearned for a life of luxury and leisure, even if it meant delving deep into the criminal underworld of drug trafficking and prostitution to get it.  The first series’ plot was inspired by the true story of a teenage girl who was willing to go to shocking lengths to escape a life of hardship and poverty.  It was a story that is all too real for many of the young women who were born into poor lives in Colombia, along with the rest of Latin America, and just want to find a way out.

Soon after, Catalina’s mother gave birth to her second daughter and named her Catalina “La Pequeña,” vowing to protect her from the same fate that her first daughter met.  The family is later framed by the sinister “La Diabla,” a woman seeking to rise in power, for a crime they did not commit and are wrongfully imprisoned.  But the family soon gains their freedom and seeks revenge against the people who wronged them.

Season two takes viewers back to the day Catalina “La Grande” was killed and the audience learns the truth behind her supposed death and disappearance.  Catalina returns home twenty years later, ready to settle a score, sending the lives of her family and enemies into a spiral and kicking off a tale of taking revenge, rekindling old flames and “righting” some wrongs.

I came into the second season completely blind, not having known what occurred in the original series back in 2008 or what occurred last season in this follow-up.  That being said, I was able to catch on fast as the writers did a tremendous job of organically explaining everything that I had missed.  The events of Catalina’s life, her friends, family and enemies and the betrayals made against her are only briefly touched upon, but it’s enough to know what is going on.

Telenovela superstar Carmen Villalobos, who starred in the first three seasons of Telemundo’s long-running hit El Señor De Los Cielos, reprises her role as Catalina “La Grande” Santana, the role that launched her career nearly a decade ago in Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso.  Her performance in the first episode alone is outstanding, particularly in an emotional scene toward the end in which she explains why her life was put in danger.  (I’ll avoid spoilers.)

Roberto Manrique is a newcomer to the second season, expertly portraying the charming Dr. Santiago Sanín, who starts to fall in love with Catalina after caring for her for nearly two months.  His newfound love for her seems very genuine, and it is likely viewers will find themselves cheering him on as the selfless character finds himself falling for a near stranger.

The main antagonist of the series, Yésica “La Diabla” Beltrán, is portrayed by Majida Issa (pictured at top).  It’s a fitting name (it means she-devil) as she is beautiful and seemingly charming yet cunning and rather heartless, willing to destroy anyone that obstructs her path to power.  Issa plays her to perfection as someone viewers will love to hate.

Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso and Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso were both scripted by television writer and novelist Gustavo Bolivar, known for the novels that Paraiso is based on.  Bolivar also wrote the hit Telemundo series Victorinos, which Roberto Marinque starred in, and Ojo Por Ojo, a telenovela that starred Carmen Villalobos.

The edge-of-your-seat revenge tale Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso premieres on Tuesday, July 25 at 9 p.m. on Telemundo.

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