Hotel Portofino - General Discussion

[magdalene]

I am enjoying this season even less than the first one.  The writing has actually gotten worse which is quite an achievement.

It would please me if Cecil and Danioni killed each other. Good riddance.

The Nish actor should stick to his other show which is much better.

[surfgirl]

I know this shows writing isn't up to snuff, but the scenery, the costumes, the set decoration, it's enough to keep me coming back. I hope Lucien and Rose split because let's be honest, Rose is a wet blanket in pretty much every situation and seems clinically depressed IMO. Lucien and Constance are lovely together and I'm baffled aa to why Bella hasn't attached herself romantically to the Count, he seems like the only man who could actually protect her from Cecil. The sister is being taken advantage of, that dude has no riviera manse. 

That's all I got.

Edited November 6, 2023 by surfgirl

[magdalene]

Isn't the Count pining for Bella's dumb daughter?  I agree that the daughters fiance is either a gangster or a scammer.

Divorce was invented for couples like Lucien and Rose. In another 10 years Rose will turn into her mother, there's a cheery thought.

I hope Constance makes him use a condom.

Nish will leave the show to cause trouble for a vampire.

Dare I hope that my sweet dream of Cecil face down in the sea will come true? Die already!

[sugarbaker design]

Bella and Cecil's daughter is dating a younger version of her father.

[kikicat]

Tragedy at sea divorce: Lucien should take Rose on a long boat trip from which she never returns. Maybe Constance wasn't the person to give her swimming lessons?

Oops, he was drunk divorce: Bella pushes a tipsy Cecil off the balcony.

Poor Count Whozit, languishing alone. I hope he doesn't vanquish the daughter's sketchy fiance to win her hand. Go for Bella instead, you fool. The architect is sort of a bore.

I like Claudine but she doesn't have much of a story line this season.

Cecil putting on pillow cases is the most work he's ever done at the hotel. Naturally this should qualify him to take control and put the little wife in her place.

Best couple: the cook and the laborer.

And most important of all, I must have Bella's bike with a wicker basket.

[magdalene]

Someone please reassure me that Bella got a clue-by-four and bamboozled Cecil by having him sign over the hotel to her rather than vice versa. Not only is he vile he is also a dumb-ass who doesn't read through what he signs! 

Hoping fervently the mob offs him in the season finale. That or maybe a fatal stroke - he always gets beet red in his smug face.

Lucian and his wife are painful to watch. If I liked her better I would feel awful for her.

[surfgirl]

On 11/13/2023 at 2:22 PM, magdalene said:

Someone please reassure me that Bella got a clue-by-four and bamboozled Cecil by having him sign over the hotel to her rather than vice versa. Not only is he vile he is also a dumb-ass who doesn't read through what he signs! 

Hoping fervently the mob offs him in the season finale. That or maybe a fatal stroke - he always gets beet red in his smug face.

Lucian and his wife are painful to watch. If I liked her better I would feel awful for her.

Yes I was assuming that Cecil got played and signed over the deed to her. I was hoping the Italian version was really divorce papers too. He's such a schmuck.

Lucian needs to come clean with Rose and divorce her already, enough. 

I don't get why Carlo isn't more interested in Bella TBH.

Edited November 21, 2023 by surfgirl

[Dowel Jones]

On 11/13/2023 at 2:22 PM, magdalene said:

Someone please reassure me that Bella got a clue-by-four and bamboozled Cecil by having him sign over the hotel to her rather than vice versa.

Plus, maybe, a contract to work undercover spying on those mob guys.  That'll go over real well if they happen to see it.

[zoey1996]

I'm certain that Bella somehow hoodwinked Cecil, and eventually she'll be the sole owner. 

Lucien and Rose need to divorce. Her mother is a piece of work and did her no favors. I don't want L and Constance together either, but it might solve her dilemma with leaving her son behind.

 

[bluestocking]

I assume we're meant to think Rose is dead?  But her "corpse" is pristine, so I dunno. 

Can NOT get behind Lucian and Constance.  He ignored her so rudely when she came back and flaunted his infatuation with Constance right in front of her in the calisthenics exercises last episode.  

Agree with everyone who thinks Carlo and Bella are a better match than Carlo/Alice.  And what was the point of Henry in the last episode?  

Anyway there IS a Season 3, so hopefully that'll be the last.  

 

[magdalene]

I would prefer Carlo with Bella but he loves Alice and I want him to get what he wants.  Speaking of Alice, she rose in my esteem this episode, in her final interaction with her conman fiance she showed class and common sense. And she has caught on who the real prize is.

That execution does not belong tone-wise in this glossy soap opera.

I ain't rooting for Luce and Constance, their relationship does come across as a tawdry affair and they may have bad juju, especially if Rose is really dead.

Is that drip Rose dead?  Water corpses don't look that dewy and pretty.

Show, show, show - why do you do me like this? Cecil lives into the third season. Pouts.

Edited November 20, 2023 by magdalene

[Dowel Jones]

I would have thought that Rose's body would have been pinned in the rocks below the casino and thus brought infamy to Dannioli and his mobster friend.

Jeez, Victor.  I know the game was rigged in your favor, but you went all in on Aces and Eights?  Ain't you got no culture? (Although the actual hand was 2 pair, not a full house).  You were lucky to get out of Portofino with your life.  All told, it was delicious watching Cecil's fall from power.

Nice review of the hotel for the faux-Michelin guide.

Oh, and for those fans interested in the scenery and such, PBS has a special episode next week (at least my station does) of a tour of the actual villa.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Dowel Jones

[HappyHanna]

Is anyone actually shipping Lucian and Constance? Why do the writers want this so badly? It does not make sense as an actual relationship, sure an affair (Lucian follows his father's footsteps, although at least(?) Cecil's main(?) affair is with a woman of his social class, whom he wanted to marry but their families didn't support) but upper class gentleman is not going to marry a servant who already has an out of wedlock child. Not going to happen. Not in 1920, heck not really in 2020.  And the whole "look, Rose wrote a letter, she supports us" with its weird echos of Downton Abbey -- Rose is not Lavinia, Lucian is not Matthew, Connie is not Lady Mary...stop trying to make fetch happen Hotel Portofino writers!

[BuckeyeLou]

So, Rose's body is just going to float out to sea?  I thought for sure her body would wash up on the rocks below the hotel & Lucien would find her & feel guilty. I agree that the scene of the execution was stomach turning & really did not belong in this other-wise 'romantic" drama.  I am assuming there is another season since they left many story-lines dangling...

 

 

[surfgirl]

7 hours ago, HappyHanna said:

Is anyone actually shipping Lucian and Constance?

Me. I wouldn't mind them getting together and bucking class bullshit.

[magdalene]

This show is actually not filmed in Italy, it's filmed in Croatia, with a Croatia crew.  Well, it certainly looks gorgeous.

Edited November 21, 2023 by magdalene

[surfgirl]

Yeah, S03 will be coming. This is a rather vacuous show, but I do love the looks of it. It's arm chair traveling at its best.

https://www.comingsoon.net/guides/news/1409547-hotel-portofino-season-3-release-date-rumors-when-is-it-coming-out

[chitowngirl]

Season 3 trailer  New season begins July 28 on PBS.

[surfgirl]

On 6/23/2024 at 12:53 PM, chitowngirl said:

Season 3 trailer  New season begins July 28 on PBS.

After watching that trailer, so much for a lighthearted romp on the Italian Riviera, eh?

[chitowngirl]

All 6 episodes of Season 3 are available on Passport.

[Dowel Jones]

Well, I would call Cecil a lowdown dirty pig, but that would be an insult to pigs.

Is Carlo the straw man that they used last year to wrest control of the hotel from Cecil?  I have forgotten.

They couldn't have dropped a heavier anvil about the coming crash, could they?  "Be careful about investing with Cecil", "I need 100,000 pounds.  Sell the stock."

Edited July 29 by Dowel Jones

[zoey1996]

On 7/28/2024 at 10:23 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Well, I would call Cecil a lowdown dirty pig, but that would be an insult to pigs.

Indeed! Glad it's back!

[chitowngirl]

It’s going to be interesting to see the stock market crash from the European side…

I’m halfway through (I won’t spoil!). I’m enjoying this season more than season 2. I slogged through that!

Edited July 31 by chitowngirl

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Boy was episode 2 a snoozfest!!  The only chemistry between any of the couples was with the cook and her mana’s boy!

 

Bella’s dancing reminded me of Elaine on Seinfeld!

Edited August 5 by Packerbrewerbadger

[Driad]

Scoring system for episodes:  (1) Is Cecil dead?  (2) [for half credit] Is Cecil in extreme pain?

[magdalene]

Anybody else only watch this show as background noise glancing at the scenery and the costumes? Last season I would have said to salvage this dreck they need to kill off Cecil. But Bella is so insipid  this show is beyond saving.

[Dowel Jones]

Agreed about the episode and the show in general.  I love the scenery, both in the hotel and along the coast, but sooner or later they better develop a story that pulls us in.  I suspect it's going to revolve around the '29 Crash.  They don't even have any interesting guests to bounce the plot around.  

I did like the meeting with Mama and the somewhat diplomatic translations.  She knew it, too.

I guess people were tougher back in the 20s.  3 tumblers of Scotch and these two women are just prancing about in the house like a spring day.  And who was paying for it?

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Season 1 was so good, this season ,not so much.

[Dowel Jones]

Well, they finally dropped the anvil.  I was thinking that most of Bella's problems would be solved if George would just die.  Thanks, Daddy-o.  Now Bella needs to rush back to the study and tear up that affidavit.

I hope her little foray into Mary Kay land works out.  Did they have Multi-Level Marketing back then?  She could make a bundle.

I would think the mob's plan to smuggle whiskey all the way from Italy to the US would fall through in the short term with the onset of the Depression.  It would be so much cheaper to get it from Canada (which they did).  We'll have to wait and see.

I'm surprised that Bella was surprised at seeing her mother's ring on Sra. Dannioni.  She gave it to her husband, why is she shocked? I have a feeling there is going to be an interesting discussion at Casa Dannioni tonight.   I would find it very amusing if the Sra. did in fact understand English and has been concealing this fact all the while.

[zoey1996]

When George responded to Bella's intention to divorce Cecil with "Over my dead body," I said, "that could be arranged!" 

I've enjoyed the previous two seasons. The story line this season is intriguing. I like Bella, and I'm enjoying Betty and Salvatore's courtship. Billy needs to grow up a bit and realize that their relationship is a good thing. Loved that Betty took cake to Salvatore's mother, and that Mother was outwardly gracious in accepting it, and Betty.

[BuckeyeLou]

Too many beatings, too much blood & violence in this episode, it was 'too much" for me.  I do admire Isabella for being so determined to build her own business so she wont be dependent on Cecil or her Father.  Danioni is an Evil man.

[Dowel Jones]

I am somewhat conflicted about Danioni.  On one hand he is a soulless, oily, snake of a man.  On the other hand, he did have his goons beat the crap out of Cecil, so there's that.

[magdalene]

Was this the season finale?

[Dowel Jones]

My calendar shows at least one more episode, called Revelations.  The PBS calendar doesn't go any further than next week right now.

[chitowngirl]

19 hours ago, magdalene said:

Was this the season finale?

 

17 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

My calendar shows at least one more episode, called Revelations.  The PBS calendar doesn't go any further than next week right now.

There are a total of 6 episodes this season.

[surfgirl]

This season is a downer. There is something slightly off with this entire show - from the Art Deco opening graphics which I should like but they just cone across as cheesy - to the storyline, thr dialog, etc. I also realized that nearly all the cast are missing cast in terms of the actors hired to play these characters. Danioni is a villain and well cast (though I long for his demise), as is Cecil. Betty. Billy, and whatshername (the maid gal who had a fling with Lucien), and the American actress. The rest feel mis cast. 

Also, don't we already know that Danioni killed Nish in the forest? I thought we did.

[Shanna Marie]

1 hour ago, surfgirl said:

This season is a downer.

I had to bail because it was so stressful and unpleasant to watch. The "beautiful, sunny, vacation in Italy with soapy hijinks" doesn't mesh well with "fascism on the rise and the start of the Great Depression, and nothing seems to work out well for most of the characters, who are never allowed to be happy." I would have been all over a series about a plucky Englishwoman running a hotel in Italy, where her guests find love or find themselves, with maybe a bit of running drama among the staff and family and the occasional challenging guest. That would be perfect summer TV. I'm just not in the mood for unending misery, no matter how pretty the setting and costumes are.

[surfgirl]

5 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I would have been all over a series about a plucky Englishwoman running a hotel in Italy, where her guests find love or find themselves, with maybe a bit of running drama among the staff and family and the occasional challenging guest. That would be perfect summer TV. I'm just not in the mood for unending misery, no matter how pretty the setting and costumes are.

^THIS^ every word of it! They really killed a great show. It would have been so much better if it was along the lines of The Durrell's - sweet, funny, with occasional drama but not heavy dark drama.

[magdalene]

Next episode is the season finale. Quite frankly I am dreading it.  I want that nasty Italian fascist to get his but since I never get what I want on this show I am not holding my breath.  Instead I have the bad feeling that they are going to kill someone off which is going to make this show even darker.

I too would have preferred a sweet show like the Durrells - or at least to stick being a shallow soap about a British expat running a hotel in Italy and meddling in the lives of her guests.

Instead we get dark contrived drama where nice guys get brutally murdered by fascists and buried in shallow graves. Who asked for this?

[surfgirl]

17 minutes ago, magdalene said:

I want that nasty Italian fascist to get his but since I never get what I want on this show I am not holding my breath.

I hate that character too, and I wish he would be killed off,  but we will probably lose Marco or Nish's brother because they are nice folks. I think too many shows, like GOTs and Outlander, drag out these really unpleasant villains way past their expiration date and that's what is happening with Danioni and this show. Kill the mofo off already and let's move on.

[Dowel Jones]

I really dislike the trope of lover (male or female) wailing over a grave when the bad guys are fast approaching and it's not going to end well if they stick around.  He's dead, Jim.  Beat feet while you can.  You shouldn't need your friend to physically drag you off the grave.  

I wish they had thrown in a bit more historical note of how the 1929 Crash and the ensuing Depression impacted Italy and the rest of Europe.  I don't need a complete course in economics, but a solid reference or two would have been a helpful side note instead of the "The New York Stock Exchange has crashed.  The whole world is doomed" sword that is hanging over the plot.

[BuckeyeLou]

Yikes, I jumped off the couch when Danioni jumped out of the water alive!  Gads, he cant be killed.  What a horrible ending for a beautiful party.  I did enjoy Claudine's performance & the decor of the party.  Anna was a fool to go off with Lucien who had turned into a total Fool in this episode...I just could not deal with him & his cowardice, he could not even help his Father drag Danioni's body to the water.  Here, Isabelle's dream of her own perfume company had finally come true, it was a happy night for her, then it turned into a Night of Horror :(

[magdalene]

Well, it took 3 seasons but Cecil finally did something I liked by trying to kill the Nazi swine - and he would have succeeded had Lucian just helped him in the crucial moment. But Lucian was a coward when it counted most, and then he died in the most senseless stupid fashion at the end.

Shakes head. I may be done with this show.  And the show may be done anyways because as far as I can tell there is no season 4 renewal. What an infuriating and frustrating way to end this contrived mess.

[Dowel Jones]

Unfortunately for Bella, her investor may run because of the potential scandal surrounding the party.  Maybe she should sell the hotel and just go into the perfume business.  She could probably buy the hotel back for cheap after the war.  That is, if she survives the gut shot that she took.

Agreed about Cecil.  And, he was dumb enough to row the boat about 20 yards off the dock before trying to sink Danioni.  Even if it had worked, guess what happens with the tide.

Well, at least Lucien the wannabe hero doesn't have to live with the fact that he's a spineless coward.  And, Virat?  If you're going to be the heroic sacrificial lamb, take some lessons from the Mafia and walk right up to your target and put one in his head.  You're right, Buckeye Lou, Danioni really can't be killed.

I thought old man Heddon died.  How long has it been since his heart attack.  Back in the 30s, you didn't just jump up from the hospital bed to go waltzing back to the party.

When I started the recording, I noticed it ran for 1:30, so I wasn't disturbed by the chaotic ending.  "They'll sort it out," says I.  Turns out it was a 30 minute pledge break from my local station.  How could you do that to me?

[zoey1996]

Well, darn, I was hoping both Danioni and Cecil would be done for. 

I enjoyed Bella's success with her lotions and potions. The build-up to the party and the party itself were well done. I do like Claudine using her talents for entertaining the guests, and the idea of sisterhood as the basis for the company name.

I had hoped for a happy ending for Marco and Bella, but that lies in ruins for now. I also hoped Constance, Lucien, and Tommy would get away. Alas! Not to be.

If there's another season, I will watch it if only to see how this mess is resolved. 

[KittenPokerCheater]

So they killed off Lucian?  If so, I hope the show does a time jump post world war 2 so we don't have a season of intense (and justified) grieving from Bill and Cecil.

So sad they didn't kill off Dantanioni.

I may be done with the show too.

[Driad]

As far as I'm concerned, the series ended with Cecil and Danioni thrashing in the water, and I'll pretend they both died.  After that, it was too dark to see who did what to whom anyway.

I watched this season in the hope that they would resolve things. I won't make that mistake again.  There are a lot of good books in the world.

[surfgirl]

I finally watched this shitfest last night and I should have just taken y'alls word for it and just left well enough alone. That was such a depressing end to a downer of a season. Never has one show been given so much glorious scenery and fucked it all up with terrible stories and awful characters. I'll bet with all the cocking up done by Cecil, Virat, and Co., Carlo is thinking thrice about helping this stupid band of idiots again!

Everything was so vague and confusing once Virat started shooting. Did he die immediately? I thought Danioni looked like he was dead because he was laying there with a huge blood stain right over his heart - hey, a girl can dream, can't she?!? Lucien and Virat are dead, yes? But we don't know if Marco is alive and got away, and I'm not certain Danioni isn't dead, and Bella has been shot as well. What a clusterfuck. I mean, how do you come back from a season closer like this?

Also, I did NOT like Billy making Salvatore prove his worth as his mother's husband but implicating him in telling a lie to the black shirts, that's not going to bode well for Salvo, and I want Mrs. Whatshername to be happy and if Salvo makes her happy then so be it!

Constance really chose the wrong guy didn't she? I wonder if her Italian suitor will learn of her almost going off with Lucien, or if she will choose him as a back up. He seems like a nice guy, but who wants to live there under these current conditions? What a mess!

[Driad]

1 hour ago, surfgirl said:

Never has one show been given so much glorious scenery and fucked it all up with terrible stories and awful characters.

It's even worse than "[something] House" which was set in India. Beautiful scenery and costumes, but I wished it was in Hindi, because I don't speak that, so I would be less bothered that the show didn't make sense.

[surfgirl]

3 hours ago, Driad said:

It's even worse than "[something] House" which was set in India. Beautiful scenery and costumes, but I wished it was in Hindi, because I don't speak that, so I would be less bothered that the show didn't make sense.

Yeah I watched that one too, and you're right, had ut been in Hindi us non speakers would have been spared so much horrid dialog! Portofino is like someone took The Durrell's in Corfu, moved it to Portofino, then shit all over it before running a back hoe through the scenery.