My Brilliant Friend
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At least, thats what she tells him to get in his pants.
Crucially, Antonio tells Lenu that Ninos strategy is to never break things off with anyone.
He keeps emotional tabs on women, leaving them when its convenient but never committing to a definitive break.
If Lenu wants him to regret the day he was born, Antonio will ensure he does.
He has always loved Lenu, even if she has always loved Nino.
Lenu is so embarrassed all she can do is attempt to keep herself from fainting.
Antonio is reluctant at first.
But ultimately, he gives in for his own reasons, too.
I just screwed Antonio.
Its enough to ward him off, at least for a time.
Lenu lets herself get swept up in the rhythms of motherhood.
She hires a new housekeeper, Anna, to help with the girls.
For an already fragile psyche, would a return to the neighborhood make things better or worse?
Its not only her personal life that needs to be reordered.
This moment is framed in the book as a stroke of sudden inspiration.
Good Lord, what had I done … To plug one leak I had created another.
When she gets home from the post office, Nino is there, looking scruffy.
She doesnt even look stirred when he tries to make a perverse sex game out of it all.
Quite simply, she kicks him out and calls Lila to say she will take the apartment below her.
Now we know time has passed because Lila has bangs and Lenu has grown hers out.
Dede, Elsa, and Imma have all grown too.
There is a new ease between Lenu and Lila, too.
The neighborhoods power imbalance comes to a head at Elisa and Marcellos wedding.
Making a speech, Lenus dad looks fragile yet grateful.
He talks sweetly about how happy Immacolata must be that the day has finally come.
Its when Michele takes the microphone that things spin out of control.
Dressed in a red dress not unlike Lilas, Alfonso walks in crying, his eyes puffy.
Seeing him, Marcello nods to two henchmen, who kick Alfonso out while everyone watches.
Lila activates her own acolyte by locking eyes with Antonio.
Lenu gets the girls instead.
After Michele toasts, Lila storms off and Elisa tells Lenu, See?
My brother-in-law has changed.
Hes no longer under Lilas spell.
Lenu follows Lila outside to speak to Alfonso, who is out of his mind.
He wants to know the reason for Micheles sudden change of heart.
Is there something wrong with him?
Does he not look like Lila anymore?
He tries to get Lenu to look at his ass, which hurts all over.
For better or worse, she used Alfonsos vulnerability as a chess piece so that checkmate the Solaras.
Its brutal to watch, yet thats what everyone does.
Enzo wants to defend Alfonso, but Lila physically restrains him.
He gives up on interfering only when Tina asks him not to go.
Right after this chaos, a photographer from a magazine arrives looking for Lenu.
She has always coveted the public eye.
Of course, Lenu is being delusional.
What does she expect from a wide readership?
That everyone will read her exactly as she intended?
In so many words, Lila encourages her to own up to her shit.
There could be another, stronger earthquake, Lila says.
The universe could fall in.
And then, who the fuck is Michele Solara?
Imma and Tina want to know which one of them is Lenus real daughter.
Lila and Lenu dont find this disturbing; they find it sweet.
Were mammas to both of you, Lila explains.
We love you both.
And they leave it at that.
Thats her father, Lenu and Lila point out, but she doesnt remember.
Another actor whose intensity really comes alive in this episode is Massimiliano Rossi, who plays Antonio.
What a striking face!
