As we rush up the stairs of our third-floor flat – each step larger than life after an intense playground session – my siblings burst through the door, at the same time annoyingly shoving me to the side. This manic sprint had become a frustrating yet familiar ritual in our household ever since the arrival of Cobras e Lagartos (Snakes and Lizards) on our tiny television screen.

The Brazilian telenovela Cobras e Lagartos was a televised hurricane that swept through Luso-African and migrant households in 2006 and redefined how Millennials of Afro-Latin and Luso backgrounds understood not only television, but also the power of dramaturgy and pop culture in shaping our lives. And although this novela arrived on Portuguese screens exactly twenty years ago, I still vividly recall the anxiety and excitement that accompanied every new episode.