Entitled – As season three of Hotel Portofino begins, nationalists march through the streets of Italy in 1929. Vincenzo Danioni (Pasquale Esposito) watches as the black shirts march through the streets. Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone) tells Marco Bonacini (Giorgio Marchesi) who is still in bed. Vincenzo stops the march to scold Antonio Costa (Francesco Martino). Nellie Gibson-White (Shannon Tarbet) wakes up Cecil (Mark Umbers) to say she needs to return to her room. She’s worried that Zelda (Emma Stansfield) will be awake. Nellie says Zelda will report back to her father and tell her mother that she’s a wh*re. Bella and Marco make out elsewhere. Bella tries to avoid the black shirts when she leaves.
Vincenzo sees her and decides to stop his vehicle. He says they have a parade later and it needs to be perfect. Bella says this is a day of memorial for her family so she hopes he’ll respect that. Later, Bella asks Constance (Louisa Binder) how she knew it was Rose’s birthday. Lottie told her. They visit Rose’s memorial. Bella knows it’ll be a hard day for Lucian (Oliver Dench) wherever he is. She hasn’t heard from him since he boarded the ship in Aden except for a short telegram from Bombay. Cecil joins Zelda and Nellie downstairs. Zelda complains about them being loud last night. Cecil complains about her when she leaves. Nellie wishes Cecil was coming with her instead of Cousin Zelda. Cecil would rather be with her than tend to this miserable business with his wife.
Alice Mays-Smith (Olivia Morris) speaks to Salvatore (Bruno Nacinovich) before going inside to speak to her mother. Bella says the book she’s reading says dresses are another way to restrict women. They discuss the fact that Aunt Amelia and Grandpa Livesey will be arriving today. Even though they’re closed, Bella wants the hotel to look its best for them. Paola (Carolina Gonnelli) tells Bella that she loves her pants. Betty Scanlon (Elizabeth Carling) and Constance talk about George Livesey. Betty knows Mrs. Jackson. They all fell out because of family stuff. Salvatore comes in and gets flirty with Betty who stops him. He doesn’t want to do that in front of Constance until the wedding. Constance and Paola walk the kids to school. They get stopped by the parade.
Cecil’s vehicle is stopped by the parade. Vito (Leonardo Pazzagli) and Bruno (Marko Braic) catch up with Paola and Constance. Paola tells them that the children belong to the English family at the hotel. Later, Constance joins Bella and looks at all the stuff she’s made. Bella believes Livesey and Jackson have arrived an hour early when she hears a car outside. When Bella goes outside, Constance looks through her stuff. Bella finds Cecil outside. She reminds him they agreed to communicate in writing. Alice is happy to see her daddy. Betty doesn’t think it’ll end well with Cecil’s return. Bella tells Cecil that her guests will be arriving shortly so he should leave. She learns he’s traveling with a female friend. They talk about the state of their marriage before Alice interrupts to say the guests have arrived.
Bella greets Amelia Jackson (Camilla Rutherford) and George Livesey (David Schofield). They talk about Bella’s new pants. Cecil says hello. George calls Cecil his favorite son in law. He reveals they had bumped into each other in London. Constance reads with Tommy. Paola wants Constance to go with her, Bruno, and Vito. Betty tells Constance to go out and enjoy herself. George is busy talking to Cecil. Amelia tells Bella they’re talking about the stock market so she doesn’t want to join them. Bella was trying to remember when they last saw each other. Amelia remembers it was the day after Ralph’s funeral. Bella admits that was insensitive of her. Amelia tells her she looks older and worn down. She believes running a motel would be heck.
Bella knows she should’ve written and visited when she came to England. Amelia realizes this place takes priority over everything else. She says George will want to see her more that she’s a viscount’s wife. It’s all he drones on about. Bella asks about the business. Amelia admits she’s not allowed to talk to her about that. George is going to speak to Bella himself. Amelia hangs out with Alice. She asks Alice what happened to the young woman who spent the glorious summer with her in Paris. Alice admits she got drab. They begin talking about Carlo. When Rose happened, they got caught up in the aftermath. Carlo was supposed to visit until there was a death in his family. George says he’s thrilled to be thanking Viscount and Viscountess Heddon for their hospitality. He hopes he’ll get an invitation to Knaresbrook when Isabella comes home to take her place.
Cecil says he’ll be the first on their list. In private, Bella asks what Cecil’s playing at since she has no intention of coming back to England. Cecil knows that which is why he’s come to ask her for a divorce. Bella seems surprised, but she isn’t going to change her mind. She says a woman always has to worry about what people think. Bella is concerned about the mischief Danioni might make. Cecil is going to Florence so that’ll give her time to look over the paperwork. Bella wants him to stay since her father is delighted to have him around. Paola and Constance hang out with Vito and Bruno. Constance and Vito walk in the other direction when they see Paola and Bruno making out. Vito tells Constance that he learned English at school. Constance admits her Italian isn’t very good. Vito heard she was clever and he likes that.
Bella tells Cecil that she was sorry to have heard about Edmund. She asks if he’s going to marry his female friend. Cecil admits that’s part of the plan before saying her name is Nellie or Eleanor Gibson-White. She’s the daughter of his stockbroker. Cecil wouldn’t marry her if she wasn’t rich. He leaves. Vito suggests he and Constance can go out again. Constance doesn’t think she can ask Mrs. Ainsworth for more time off. Paola comes over and says she’ll be there at twelve. Once Vito leaves, Paolo tells Constance she was doing her a favor. Nellie isn’t happy to hear that Cecil is going to stay at the hotel for a week. He offers to help her get settled in before coming back. Nellie tells him to beg for her forgiveness and call her Lady Heddon. Cecil says he doesn’t kneel for anyone. Vincenzo sees Bella so he tells Antonia to follow her and find out where she’s going.
Bella meets Marco and says there’s something she has to tell him. She’s convinced no one followed her. Bella tells him about Cecil wanting a divorce. Antonia overhears them talking about whether a divorce could lead to issues. When Bella sees him Antonia flees from the building. Marco chases him back to Vincenzo. He asks Vincenzo why he sent him to spy on him and a client. Vincenzo claims he’s been operating without a license. He’ll decide whether his license has expired. Vincenzo wants Marco to come to his office so they can see. Alice finds Bella looking at an old photo of herself with Amelia. Alice asks if Cecil said anything about what he’s doing back. Bella says that’s complicated before revealing he thinks they should get a divorce. Alice doesn’t like that because there will be a horrible scandal.
Later, Bella hangs out with Cecil and her father. Cecil interrupts to say he has to go to Genoa. He reveals he has business in Detroit. He’s asked if it’s high risk. Cecil says the New York Stock Market index has risen fivefold in the last decade. Bella learns that her father is dabbling as well. Cecil agrees to let Alice tag along. She invites Amelia to join her. Once they arrive, Alice and Amelia decide to go shopping. Amelia helps her pick out a dress that makes her look more available. Alice is surprised to see Count Carlo Albani (Daniele Pecci) who introduces her to the Contessa di Mazzi. Alice says her mother will be most sad to have not seen him. When they’re alone, Amelia tells Alice that Carlo is dishy. Meanwhile, Cecil calls Randall. Cecil asks him to sell a hundred thousand pounds worth of stock for him.
Randall recommends against it, but Cecil admits he has to because of the divorce. Randall asks if he has what he asked for. Cecil is working on it. Bella speaks to her father. She hopes he knows what he’s doing investing with Cecil because he doesn’t have the best track record with money. George gets upset and tells her not to stick her nose in it. He apologizes and says he’s done okay for himself until now. Cecil brings Bella a perfume later that night. He’s surprised they still sell the perfume after all these years. Bella asks what he wants. Cecil questions whether she’s thought about the affidavit. He wants her to admit to adultery. Cecil reveals that he wants a named party and a given date. He explains it has to be her because Nellie’s father won’t let her marry a named adulterer. Bella argues being shamed publicly will stop people from staying at the hotel.
Cecil offers her a hundred thousand pounds so she can buy a new reputation and a new hotel. Bella gets upset when Cecil admits he thinks she should take the blame. Cecil is stopped by a man who hands him a card from Vincenzo. Cecil visits him. He asks what happened to Farrino. Vincenzo says his time there came to an end. He says he remains the localist party secretary. Vincenzo has photos of Cecil with a woman and says he doubts he wants his solicitor to see them. He wants to suggest a different split of the profits from the whiskey business in favor of himself. Vincenzo wants Cecil to invite him to the English hotel to finalize the details. Andrea leaves Cecil out.
Hotel Portofino Review
The third series of Hotel Portofino started strongly by introducing many interesting storylines. The characters haven’t changed much although there are many new relationships and possibilities. Cecil wants a divorce since he’s interested in marrying Nellie, but he needs Bella to admit to adultery.
Vincenzo has material he’s using to blackmail Cecil so he can get more money from the whiskey business. Amelia and George are visiting the hotel. Alice learned that Count Albani has a female friend. Constance is hesitant to get involved in a relationship with Vito even though Paola thinks it’s a good idea.
The series has a lot going on although it seems like some stories are being rehashed from past seasons. At some point, the Italian nationalism movement is going to get old. After all, it’s been going on for three seasons now. It’d also be nice for the series to settle the whole thing between Cecil and Bella.
Nevertheless, the series is watchable and remains a decent period drama. Another thing, it’d be better if the hotel was actually serving guests who could add a little humor and charm to the show. It’s a bit too much like a soap opera although that’s not really a bad thing. The episode scores a 6 out of 10.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
