My Brilliant Friend: Season 4 Episode 6 “Chapter 30: The Cheat” – Recap and Review
As Immacolata reaches what could be her final moments, Elena stumbles upon a secret that changes her life’s trajectory.
| Originally Aired | October 14, 2024 |
| Network | HBO/ Max |
| Director(s) | Laura Bispuri |
| Writer(s) | Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci, Saverio Costanzo |
| Character | ACTOR’S NAME |
| Alfonso | Renato De Simone |
| Elena | Alba Rohrwacher |
| Immacolata | Annarita Vitolo |
| Peppe | Lucio Provenza |
| Giani | Claudio Cacciaglia |
| Marcello | Lino Musella |
| Elisa | Claudia Tranchese |
| Nino | Fabrizio Gifuni |
| Lila | Irene Maiorino |
| Silvana | Daniela De Luca |
Storyline Recap
My Side Of The Story – Alfonso, Elena
While Elena’s home is Naples, she has become an outsider of sorts for never got involved with the central conflicts of what was happening. For the most part, she got third party information from Lila. With that in mind, Alfonso decides to give his story about how he got involved in Lila’s life and his relationships.
To summarize, Lila saw something in him he didn’t see or was rejecting, and while he can be seen as emulating her to a point, he is also in the process of discovering himself. Which is challenging at times considering how ashamed members of his family are of him.
This Is Goodbye – Immacolata, Elena, Peppe, Giani, Marcello, Elisa
Unfortunately, Immacolata doesn’t leave the hospital but does pursue a handful of dying wishes. The first is that her sons, Giani and Peppe, accept Lila’s offer to work for one of her vendors, and leave Marcello and his families organization behind. Yet, despite wanting her sons free of them, Immacolata presses Marcello to marry Elisa, to Elena’s surprise. But, Elena is told to hush and Marcello pushes the idea he and Elisa have already started the paperwork and were waiting for Immacolata to return home.
As for Elena? Immacolata seemingly has no wishes for she knows Elena makes her own luck and her own decisions. Of which, she lets Elena know she trusts her decisions and wants only the best for her.
Is This Finally The End? – Nino, Elena, Lila, Silvana
Despite all Elena is going through from just giving birth to raising two kids, alongside going through a divorce to be someone’s mistress, Nino refuses to budge from how this all benefits him. But, with Elena catching Nino have sex with Silvana, the babysitter/maid, who is much older than her? Elena seems to finally have moved on.
With her going to Lila, who is fresh from having her own baby, and telling her this, she revealed all Nino has said and tried to do to win her over, if not back, while with Elena. Thankfully, even if this proves Elena’s paranoia was more so intuition, she doesn’t seem to want to take this out on Lila. If anything, it might be all she needs to finally let go of this multi-decade fantasy over the boy Nino used to be and give up on the man he became.
New Character Descriptions
Silvana
Silvana helps around the house while Elena is away and as of this episode, we learn she may also help Nino get off when Elena is away – even if it is just running errands.
Giani
Giana is one of Elena’s younger brothers.
Review
Highlights
How Despicable Nino Is & Elena Finally Realizing It
It’s a sad thing to see, in fiction and reality, a brilliant woman fall for a conniving and despicable man. But what makes it worse is being a witness to it all and not knowing what’s the appeal? What is it about this man that allows you to be disrespected continually? With Elena, we’ve seen her grow up and to go from someone who has constantly climbed to higher social hierarchy, get into prestigious institutions, and write what we’re told are best sellers to becoming the mistress to some man? A man who seemingly isn’t respected by too many and is following in his father’s footsteps in being a womanizer, creep, and who knows what else?
One can only hope, with seeing him, in the flesh, sleep with another woman, Elena is done and won’t go back. The teenage fantasy is over, you lived it, now let it go.
On The Fence
Immacolata’s Death Didn’t Feel As Big As It Should Have Been
Immacolata has been a driving force in Elena’s development and one of the toughest relationships she has ever had. Yet, her death felt anti-climatic. I don’t know if it is because we’re adjusting to a new Elena, so while it is the same character, with still getting used to a new actress, maybe the chemistry isn’t there yet? Also, the issue could be because we haven’t seen Immacolata and Elena spend much time together in her later years, so despite being Elena’s mother, it doesn’t feel impactful because we simply don’t know this woman anymore.
I mean, all things considered, who do we really know beyond Elena and to some point Lila? Almost everything is from Elena’s point of view and if you aren’t in her sight, you damn near don’t exist. So as sad as it is for her to lose her mom, while you may recognize the sadness, the impact isn’t there.
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