My Brilliant Friend: Season 4 Episode 2 – Review & Recap

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Storyline Recap

Played For A Fool – Nino, Elena

With Nino forced to reveal everything because of Lila, he finds himself begging, pleading, calling, just outright harassing Elena for forgiveness but with being made such a fool, she refuses him. After all, she has to humble herself with living with her ex-husband’s family after she left him for a man who didn’t lave his wife for her!

As for why? Well, apparently his wife, Eleonora, would harm herself and that’s an issue, far more than the true reason he stays, which is the financial benefits of doing so, never mind, similar to his father, having his cake and eating it too.

Licking My Wounds – Adele, Elena, Dede, Elsa, Mariarosa, Franco, Pietro

Elena finds herself taking calls, hanging up, cursing, mad, and after a certain point, Adele’s judgement becomes too much so she decides to live with Mariarosa. Things, in the beginning, are okay there, despite what Elena has done to Pietro and said to Adele, including noting Adele’s own infidelities.

However, it could be said the grace and hospitality Elena was given was because of Franco. It isn’t clear how much Franco said, did, or intervened when it came to Mariarosa, but when Pietro came to visit, he was able to calm the man down as he questioned Elena as a mother. For during this time of Adele no longer having custody of the girls, Dede and Elsa didn’t have school, they experienced some of the liberties Mariarosa has in her home, and while Pietro would never damn his sister’s ways, extensively, he wouldn’t want his children in such an environment for the long term.

But, again, Franco makes reassurances that Elena follows up on, and while Elsa takes some time to adjust, Dede seems glad to be away from the drama.  

Maybe In Another Life – Nino, Franco, Elena, Mariarosa

While Franco and Elena share moments, and Franco even speaks of the world where Dede and Elsa were their children, their reconciliation isn’t forever. For reasons not made 100% clear, Franco decides to end his life and with that, Mariarosa seems to lose whatever reason or rein was keeping her back from holding Elena accountable for the chaos she caused in the family.

This ultimately leads Elena to have to take the kids to the home Nino made, and for her to challenge how far different her personal life is from what she preaches in her professional career.

Collected Quote(s)

• In love it’s over only when you can become yourself again, without fear, or disgust. — Franco

Review

On The Fence

Elena’s Self-Imposed Misery

We’ve been here before. Elena, despite signs, signals, and warnings, ends up in a situation where she is absolutely miserable and we watch her. It’s not a fun experience, it doesn’t built her up, it just shows how there are multiple intelligence and when it comes to Elena’s romantic intelligence, or social intelligence rather, she is lacking.

But the real problem here is that it reminds you how annoying Elena is to watch and it makes it so you end up longing for Lila. I would even say that it makes you not hate Elena, but definitely lose your patience and ability to give her grace. Hopefully though, with this being the final season, they don’t delay us getting to know what is going on in Lila’s life for, while we often see Elena on screen, we know who is the brilliant friend the title of the show references.

The Gist

The TLDR Recap/ Review

1. With learning Nino is still with his wife, Eleonora, Elena is distraught and mad as hell. What doesn’t help is Nino’s various excuses which are completely undone by revealing Eleonora is 7 months pregnant.
2. But, with Elena refusing Lila, as usual, she finds herself leaning on Pietro’s family, MariaRosa in particular, despite what she did to her brother.
3. Luckily, it seems Franco, Elena’s college sweetheart, is able to help keep the peace, including when Nino shows up, but with him being a deeply troubled man, there is only so much he is able to offer before he decides to take his life.
4. And with that, Elena loses her champion, MariaRosa loses her patience, and Elena, despite recently signing a new publishing deal, ends up with Nino, and her girls, close to the old neighborhood, and living the life of a well-kept mistress.
5. When it comes to Elena, seeing her be this brilliant woman so easily manipulated or led astray by men has been an issue for a long time but now she knows what is happening.
6. With that, it becomes a sadder situation for she is no longer young, potentially naïve, and being messy because she can be, but now she has children and you can see from Dede’s stares how she feels.
7. Now, whether Elena truly cares is worth questioning, though she did reveal she does seem to love Nino more than her children but whether that will remain true as she continues in her misery is hard to say.
8. The only thing we can say for sure is that, hopefully, “My Brilliant Friend” does a time jump or brings Lila in, because I don’t think I can survive another episode of Elena’s self-imposed misery.

General Information

• Previous Episode: Season 4/ Episode 1
• Series Page

Episode Title	Chapter 26: Dispersion
Release Date (Max)	September 16, 2024
Director(s)	Laura Bispuri
Writer(s)	Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci, Saverio Constanzo