Switcheroo – The episode opens with the nobles and their servants being cast out of the villa. Pampinea’s (Zosia Mamet) anxiety rubs off on the others. Misia (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) hits and demands Sirisco (Tony Hale) get them back into the villa. An anxious Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin) fondles Stratilia’s (Leila Farzad) breasts and places his head on her chest. Fighting him off, she suggests going to the chapel. Sirsco says the keys are locked inside and suggests they go to the stables. Tindaro claims to have a wood intolerance and refuses to endure the odor. Panfilo (Karan Gill) tells them that he is going to rescue Neifile (Lou Gala). Tindaro warns him against it while Pampinea hopes he falls. Inside, Neifile and Ruggiero (Fares Fares) are preparing to have sex. Outside, Panfilo continues his ascent up a wall. Lorenzo (Giacomo Valenti) appears, scolds them for disturbing them, and screams. When they flee, he laughs. Panfilo reaches the window and sees Panfilo and Ruggiero having sex. He reunites with the others at the stables. Pampinea taunts him when he returns with Panfilo. She tells Tindaro that Filomena (Jessica Plummer) is actually Licisca (Tanya Reynolds), the servant. Pampinea and Panfilo blame each other for their situation. Tindaro is shocked to learn Leonardo is dead and couldn’t have impregnated Pampinea. She refuses to identify the father. Sirsco accepts the blame.

While walking through the dark woods, Filomena becomes frantic. Calm but terrified, Licisca (Tanya Reynolds) says they are going to Firenze. Inside a cave, Filomena blames Licisca for their situation and attributes her being alive to Misia. Licisca assures her that she would have told the truth, eventually. They make a bed on opposite sides of the cave. Filomena claims Licisca and her father, Eduardo (John Hannah) believe she is nothing but she is something. Filomena denies the allegation.

The next morning at the villa, Neifie emerges from her chamber to discover Bruno (Logan Wong), Stecchi (Reis Daniel), Leonardo, and several others deceased. Stratillia suggests they died from the pestilence. Everyone panics while Misia passes out onions. A short time later, Sirisco removes the bodies from the house. Neifile refuses to pray and go outside at the request of Panfilo and Pampinea. They take Ruggiero (Fares Fares) captive. Pampinea demands he be treated with respect. Neifile prays for a deceased Dioneo (Amar Chadha-Patel). Later, Pampinea mourns Leonardo and blames Panfilo for the mess they are in. Misia urges her to go back to Firenze. Paminea says not just yet.

Tindaro asks Stratilia to call him a wretched little pig again. Shocked, Neifile watches Stratillia forcibly grab his face and decline to serve him because he is a nobleman and she is a servant. Distraught, he rushes away. Panfilo tells Neifile that he has a plan to convince Ruggiero to give him the villa. En route to Firenze, Filomena tells Licisca that they are friends. Licisca refuses to share the last lemon with her. Back at the villa, Sirisco is burying the bodies when Tindaro approaches and demands he give Dioneo a decent burial. He haphazardly digs a grave. He later returns to the villa in a desperate mood. Stratillia barges into his chamber and calls him a wretched little pig. They have sex.

Ruggiero wakes to find himself restrained to a bed. Calandrino (Alfredo Pea) barges him and tells him that all of his men are dead. Ruggiero asks him to remove his restraints. Calandrino leaves. Misia helps Pampinea into a red dress. Panfilo exercises. Grabbing her jewels, Pampinea goes to Ruggiero’s chamber but Panfilo and Neifile are already there. After a bit of back-and-forth slurs with Panfilo, Pampinea wiggles her way into the chamber. She offers Ruggiero freedom and her hefty dowry in exchange for his hand in marriage. She suggests they live separately in their own part of the villa. He asks who is the father of her baby. She says they can claim it is his. Pointing out her bad traits, Ruggiero assures her that Leonardo would have refused to marry her and she will never find love. He says everyone despises her there and in Firenze because she is a shrew. He declines her marriage proposal. Pampinea quietly leaves.

Ruggiero tells Neifile and Panfilo that he is considering Pampinea’s marriage proposal. Panfilo asks him to appoint them steward of the villa. Ruggiero tells him that he and Neifile made love. Neifile accuses Panfilo of having an affair with Lord Petti and the boot maker. He describes his affairs as “brotherly activities.” Ruggiero laughs. Panfilo claims he loves her but seeing her happy with Ruggiero made him happy. He apologizes for not being able himself to her before leaving. Seeing the love they share, Ruggiero agrees to sign over the estate to them. He offers her sex but she refuses. Neifile finds Panfilo crying and tells him that Ruggiero agrees. Panfilo vows to never lie to her again. Tindaro orders Sirisco to erect a statue of Dioneo with an epitaph – “Dioneo of Genoa. He pleasured thousands of women physically. Yet he never found love.” Elsewhere, Pampinea and Misia profess their love to each other.

Filomena leads Licisca to a house where Vitrucchia (Rachel Sachnoff) is preparing broth. She gives each of them a bowl and introduces them to her deceased friends gathered around a table. Filomena and Licisca frantically flee. They get into an argument. Filomena tells her that she is returning to the villa and her friend, Misia. Licisca accuses Filomena of unfriending her when they were 12. Filomena realized then that Licisca was her servant. Licisca says Eduardo was always kind, not like her. At the villa, Misia and Pampinea mourn together as friends. Tindaro places a large egg on top of Dioneo’s grave. Stratilia insists they keep separate lives.

Ruggiero breaks free from his restraints. Misia passes a sleeping Calandrino and enters his chamber with a tray. He asks about Pampinea. She claims Pampinea asked her to kill him, so there is nothing between them and the villa. She says there is nothing there for them. He tells her that he is not the heir. She places a bowl to his lips. He grabs her. She stabs him. He collapses and says he is not the heir. Tindaro watches Jacopo (Aston Wray) playing inside a house. Stratilia knocks him out. Covered in Ruggiero’s blood, Misia appears to be in shock.

 

The Decameron Review

Banned from the villa, Licisca and Filomena leave for Firenze. Their relationship is in turmoil. They happen upon a crazed Vitrucchia who unknowingly entertains dead friends.

Tindaro wants more from his relationship with Stratilia. After ending their relationship, she relents to her desire and has sex with him. She believes nobles and servants should live separate lives. When he discovers Jacopo, she knocks him out.

With Dioneo deceased, Panfilo and Pampinea set their eyes on Ruggiero. Nelfie has a brief affair with him. Pampinea offers him freedom if he marries her. Ruggiero had rather die than look at her shrewd face. Pampinea asks Misia to kill him. Having no interest in the villa, Misia tells Ruggiero that Pampinea wants him dead. He tells her that he is not the heir of the estate but she kills him anyway.

 

The quality declines with each episode. As the story grows more implausible, the characters become more unlikeable and desperate. Speeding up the pace did nothing for the editing and cinematography. Night and inside scenes are too dark to see much of what is happening.

The series fails to live up to the mid-1300s bubonic plague epidemic. It is everything wrong with the modern film industry. A near complete flop. The episode deserves a 3.5 out of 10.

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