shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2024-11-28 08:09 am
shallowness) wrote2024-11-28 08:09 am
Entry tags:
The sun-kissed show
Hotel Portofino 2.2 - Alliances
The first half of this mainly involved Bella avoiding the newly returned Cecil, him trying his best to find her and talk to her, and getting increasingly miffed. We were reminded of stuff like his hold over Billy and relationship with Danioni. When he had his chance to grovel, he didn’t really apologise. He did seem to have an in with Bella by offering to pay for the spa extensions, but the Italian architect didn’t like that idea. (Idealists, huh!? Though, yeah, I don’t think Cecil is the most reliable source of money.) Of course, that was inspired by both chaps’ feelings for Bella, and Cecil (forgetting he spent the past nine months sleeping with Julia) was feeling possessive and resentful of how well his wife was getting on with Signor A N Other.
Claudine made quite an entrance, and by the end of the episode had got Bella drunk on Negroni (and so she ‘liberated’ the pooch of some snooty guests. Poor doggie, but it could have been worse) and confiding the story of her marriage so far to her galpal. We got some clarity on Harry from last season, who had just sent a secret missive to inform Bella that he was now working as a tutor (eh? Wasn’t he an accountant?) and hoped to come to Italy soon. Bella suggested that he’d just been a comfort thing and that she was not unaffected by the Italian architect, who has the advantage of having been on screen longer.
Otherwise, Lucian was…looking like the plausible offspring of Bella and Cecil. He was missing Nish a little, and tried to engage one of the guests in potential friendship, but did put his foot in it, rather. Although we only had the one scene with the lame poet who’s on holiday with his mother, I found his prickliness and contradictions intriguing.
Lucian wasn’t missing his wife, though. Circumstances pushed him and Constance to Genoa together, and once they’d done their errands, they started seeing the sights, getting on, while she appreciated visuals in the same way he did. They ended up getting home really late, and the next night, Lucian decided to tell her how he felt. After giving in to a few kisses, she walked away, and I feel a lot more sympathy for her as he’s the married son of her employer, and it’s not fair to play on her emotions. (We also had another meaningful letter from Constance’s mother to Betty telling her that she had to decide whether to tell Constance she was dying, try to find someone else in the family who could look after her son, or tell Constance to come home. Um, given that Constance is an adult woman now, maybe tell her and let her make her own mind!?)
But this show really doesn’t portray marriage in a shining light. The only people who seem to have had a happy one are now widowed. Still, Betty was trying to encourage Constance to marry a swarthy Italian (even though Constance mainly had eyes for the non-swarthy Lucian), because he’d be more likely to buy that she was widowed and her son was totes legitimate! Casual racism from Betty there, because it would depend on the man and how he might feel about bringing up another man’s son anyway. Also, I guess we still have to presume that they’re all Catholics, and that Betty is hoping this whole fascism thing in Italy will blow over.
We had a lot more Italian and subtitles, mainly showing that Constance has learned a lot. Paola had a thing for Bruno, one of the workmen, who seemed to be willing to carry the heavy washing baskets for the younger ladies, but not the older Betty. What would his stereotypical Italian mamma think?
Meanwhile, in Turin, gentle Nish was tortured by the fact that his boyfriend wanted him to join in a violent act of resistance. The boyf seemed to be manipulative, suggesting that Nish go to Portofino and hang out with his beloved Lucian (ring of truth, though Nish must know that Lucian doesn’t feel quite the same for him as he does) and I know it’s mainly because he’s a true believer, but…Nish is not Italian, and as a brown-skinned foreigner, the stakes would be even higher for him. Some thuggish blackshirted bullies attacking an old man for fun and Nish when he tried to intervene changed Nish’s mind, and he was willing to be a spotter during the attack…until the target’s wife (?) carrying a baby stepped into danger. Nish wanted to call the whole thing off, but there was gunfire and a live grenade right next to him. Er, note to violent anti-fascist freedom fighters, you need a better vetting process if you’re going to be halfway effective.
The first half of this mainly involved Bella avoiding the newly returned Cecil, him trying his best to find her and talk to her, and getting increasingly miffed. We were reminded of stuff like his hold over Billy and relationship with Danioni. When he had his chance to grovel, he didn’t really apologise. He did seem to have an in with Bella by offering to pay for the spa extensions, but the Italian architect didn’t like that idea. (Idealists, huh!? Though, yeah, I don’t think Cecil is the most reliable source of money.) Of course, that was inspired by both chaps’ feelings for Bella, and Cecil (forgetting he spent the past nine months sleeping with Julia) was feeling possessive and resentful of how well his wife was getting on with Signor A N Other.
Claudine made quite an entrance, and by the end of the episode had got Bella drunk on Negroni (and so she ‘liberated’ the pooch of some snooty guests. Poor doggie, but it could have been worse) and confiding the story of her marriage so far to her galpal. We got some clarity on Harry from last season, who had just sent a secret missive to inform Bella that he was now working as a tutor (eh? Wasn’t he an accountant?) and hoped to come to Italy soon. Bella suggested that he’d just been a comfort thing and that she was not unaffected by the Italian architect, who has the advantage of having been on screen longer.
Otherwise, Lucian was…looking like the plausible offspring of Bella and Cecil. He was missing Nish a little, and tried to engage one of the guests in potential friendship, but did put his foot in it, rather. Although we only had the one scene with the lame poet who’s on holiday with his mother, I found his prickliness and contradictions intriguing.
Lucian wasn’t missing his wife, though. Circumstances pushed him and Constance to Genoa together, and once they’d done their errands, they started seeing the sights, getting on, while she appreciated visuals in the same way he did. They ended up getting home really late, and the next night, Lucian decided to tell her how he felt. After giving in to a few kisses, she walked away, and I feel a lot more sympathy for her as he’s the married son of her employer, and it’s not fair to play on her emotions. (We also had another meaningful letter from Constance’s mother to Betty telling her that she had to decide whether to tell Constance she was dying, try to find someone else in the family who could look after her son, or tell Constance to come home. Um, given that Constance is an adult woman now, maybe tell her and let her make her own mind!?)
But this show really doesn’t portray marriage in a shining light. The only people who seem to have had a happy one are now widowed. Still, Betty was trying to encourage Constance to marry a swarthy Italian (even though Constance mainly had eyes for the non-swarthy Lucian), because he’d be more likely to buy that she was widowed and her son was totes legitimate! Casual racism from Betty there, because it would depend on the man and how he might feel about bringing up another man’s son anyway. Also, I guess we still have to presume that they’re all Catholics, and that Betty is hoping this whole fascism thing in Italy will blow over.
We had a lot more Italian and subtitles, mainly showing that Constance has learned a lot. Paola had a thing for Bruno, one of the workmen, who seemed to be willing to carry the heavy washing baskets for the younger ladies, but not the older Betty. What would his stereotypical Italian mamma think?
Meanwhile, in Turin, gentle Nish was tortured by the fact that his boyfriend wanted him to join in a violent act of resistance. The boyf seemed to be manipulative, suggesting that Nish go to Portofino and hang out with his beloved Lucian (ring of truth, though Nish must know that Lucian doesn’t feel quite the same for him as he does) and I know it’s mainly because he’s a true believer, but…Nish is not Italian, and as a brown-skinned foreigner, the stakes would be even higher for him. Some thuggish blackshirted bullies attacking an old man for fun and Nish when he tried to intervene changed Nish’s mind, and he was willing to be a spotter during the attack…until the target’s wife (?) carrying a baby stepped into danger. Nish wanted to call the whole thing off, but there was gunfire and a live grenade right next to him. Er, note to violent anti-fascist freedom fighters, you need a better vetting process if you’re going to be halfway effective.