Talia’s back with another round of twenty episodes in telenovela format.  While the series premiere isn’t until Monday night, Nick offered us a half hour sneak peek of what’s going to happen in Espanola Way (which is either in Miami – or Miami Beach).

The show runners here do a good job telling approachable stories (even if they involve magic spices) with believable characters who have understandable motivations.  There’s a strong sense of family (or should I say, la familia here) and a strong sense of competition as well.  Its harmless fun.  Nick has had a lot of success with these teen telenovelas and they are all smartly shot and well-paced.  Outside shots are nicely integrated into scenes and the young cast has grown nicely into their roles.

In the sneak peak, Miami (or Miami Beach) is still under the influence of the major hurricane (which apparently  puts out lights and cell phone service at Calle Tres).  Everyone is worried about Talia, who is magically rescued by a mystery man named Jayden whom she magically rescued from the storm  (I smell a love triangle with Tyson here).  They hide out in the space under the stairs to ride out the storm (this apparently is a popular place to hide).

Dolores, Julie and Rudy all fret over the loss of cell phone service (although I don’t believe Rudy can call up the commander of the space station on his Zack Morris phone) while Tyson battles with Frenchie to go out and find Talia.  Frenchie’s karate moves are a riot and his flip of Tyson onto the floor looked painful. (it didn’t appear that there was a stuntman but does give Tyson a classic line: “I did not see that coming!”).  They both do physical comedy quite well. Dolores decides to go out in the storm to find Talia (which would he highly improbable in a major hurricane; Tyson was supposed to go with her but apparently chose not to).  Dolores gets conked on the head and gets pinned under a trashcan (or as she would “the pinning of the trash.”)

After the storm passes, Rudy and Tyson venture out to Espanola Way (which Rudy says is in Miami Beach, but previous episodes suggested it is in Miami).  Their little game of one-upsmanship continues and they battle to see who will find Talia first.  Talia is finally rescued – along with Jayden – from under the stairs and you can see both Rudy and Tyson turn green with envy.  For a major hurricane, though, Espanola Way looks like it survived (there’s not even a window blown out at Lola’s)

As with any telenovela, we need a cliffhanger.  Jayden’s brother Michael pulls up in a food truck and there’s some discussion about Talia being a SpiceMaster.  Will engages in a conversation on the phone with someone named Alexander about opening his own restaurant in two spaces.  I’m not sure why we need this Jayden/Michael story and the Jayden/Tyson/Talia triangle when the Tyson/Rudy/Talia triangle is somewhat in place (but needs to evolve beyond the Tyson/Rudy squabbling).  But as with any soap opera, we never try to predict where stories will take us.

I look forward to another season with a winning company of actors and some well-plotted storylines.  The previews suggest it will be good to see Talia back in the kitchen!