Hotel Portofino - General Discussion

[chitowngirl]

Set in the breathtakingly beautiful resort town of Portofino, this series is one of personal awakening in the aftermath of World War I and of the liberating influence of Italy's enchanting culture, climate and cuisine on elite British travelers. "Hotel Portofino" tells the story of the Ainsworth family that has relocated from Britain to open an upscale hotel on the Italian coastline.

First episode airs Sunday, June 19th on PBS.

Edited June 19, 2022 by chitowngirl

[magdalene]

It looks beautiful, I am not compelled by the characters yet - but I will continue to watch for the gorgeous scenery and the costumes.  I saw it's getting a second season.

[Suzysite]

4 hours ago, magdalene said:

It looks beautiful, I am not compelled by the characters yet - but I will continue to watch for the gorgeous scenery and the costumes. 

I agree with this.  Gorgeous scenery, and I like Natasha's lead character, but there are just too many villain types for me to fully enjoy it.  And some, like the the blackmailer, are completely mustache-twirling.

[sugarbaker design]

It's only a six-episode season, it has beautiful scenery and Natasha McIlhone, It's a perfect Sunday night show, and in my PBS market it's over at 9pm.  I'm in!

[12catcrazy]

The location is stunning and love the house, and costumes.   It seems as if everybody except Rose and maybe the Irish maid, Old Lady (she is still dressing as if it's 1902) and the young girl (niece of the old lady) all have secrets.   I'm kind of feeling that Lucien is "supposed" to fall in love with Rose (at least his father and Rose's mother want that) but will instead wind up falling for the new Governess with A Past (and not a penny to her name).    And this being 2022, I wouldn't doubt if the young medic is in love with Lucien.    Whatever, this is an eye-candy soap opera and there isn't much else on TV during the summer.   My main complaint is that there are so many characters that you need a written program or spread sheet to keep track of them all. 

[BuckeyeLou]

On 6/21/2022 at 11:28 AM, 12catcrazy said:

The location is stunning and love the house, and costumes.   It seems as if everybody except Rose and maybe the Irish maid, Old Lady (she is still dressing as if it's 1902) and the young girl (niece of the old lady) all have secrets.   I'm kind of feeling that Lucien is "supposed" to fall in love with Rose (at least his father and Rose's mother want that) but will instead wind up falling for the new Governess with A Past (and not a penny to her name).    And this being 2022, I wouldn't doubt if the young medic is in love with Lucien.    Whatever, this is an eye-candy soap opera and there isn't much else on TV during the summer.   My main complaint is that there are so many characters that you need a written program or spread sheet to keep track of them all. 

ITA, there are so many characters, I had trouble keeping them all straight, especially all the gentlemen.  But, it is great viewing for the eye-candy location, the hotel/home is fabulous(Love all the lemon colors), great costumes.  But, I am confused about the 'exotic" young woman in the large hat & skimpy bathing suit, what is her story? And the American man she is traveling with?  Is the Indian doctor in love with Lucian?  Where is the little girl's father?(the little grand-daughter?)...So many questions, but I will tune in again for the scenery...

[12catcrazy]

I think that the "exotic" lady is going to be a Josephine Baker type of person (singer/dancer/possible actress).  The man she is traveling with alluded to being a high end art dealer - I think that is going to be just a cover story.   For some reason, I'm thinking that maybe the little girl's father (Bella's daughter's husband) was possibly killed in WW1, but not sure if the child is old enough for that to be the case.    So many women of that generation were widowed young because of the war, and so many young women never married because there was a shortage of eligible men.    

Americans today really have no idea of what a horror WW1 really was and the terrible loss of life involved.  And then you had the Spanish Flu of 1918/19 that followed in the wake and killed many millions of more people.  

[gingerella]

Ditto you all, gorgeous scenery, villa, etc. but too many characters and too many sourpuss characters. I'll watch because nothing else is on. Maybe it'll get better. 

[Kath94]

On 6/21/2022 at 8:28 AM, 12catcrazy said:

The location is stunning and love the house, and costumes.   It seems as if everybody except Rose and maybe the Irish maid, Old Lady (she is still dressing as if it's 1902) and the young girl (niece of the old lady) all have secrets.   I'm kind of feeling that Lucien is "supposed" to fall in love with Rose (at least his father and Rose's mother want that) but will instead wind up falling for the new Governess with A Past (and not a penny to her name).    And this being 2022, I wouldn't doubt if the young medic is in love with Lucien.    Whatever, this is an eye-candy soap opera and there isn't much else on TV during the summer.   My main complaint is that there are so many characters that you need a written program or spread sheet to keep track of them all. 

12catcrazy, are you in my head?  I made all of these same observations!

[HappyHanna]

I have PBS passport so watched the whole thing (it is only 6 episodes) and in general, meh. It is beautiful to look at, the scenery, the clothing... But the plot and most of the characters -- tropes, anachronyms, and yawns. Keeping it to the first episode, since I know that is all that has broadcast on PBS so far, but that starts with the "spendthrift Englishman wants to marry his troubled son off for money, but son is drawn to the scrappy maid" my eyes can't roll that far back.

[BuckeyeLou]

On 6/23/2022 at 11:45 AM, 12catcrazy said:

I think that the "exotic" lady is going to be a Josephine Baker type of person (singer/dancer/possible actress).  The man she is traveling with alluded to being a high end art dealer - I think that is going to be just a cover story.   For some reason, I'm thinking that maybe the little girl's father (Bella's daughter's husband) was possibly killed in WW1, but not sure if the child is old enough for that to be the case.    So many women of that generation were widowed young because of the war, and so many young women never married because there was a shortage of eligible men.    

Americans today really have no idea of what a horror WW1 really was and the terrible loss of life involved.  And then you had the Spanish Flu of 1918/19 that followed in the wake and killed many millions of more people.  

I think you are correct, tonight(June 26) we see Bella looking at a picture of a man in a locket...her child's father?  And yes, I think you are correct about the singer/dancer woman traveling with the "Art Dealer".  The Italian 'mayor" really was mean to blackmail the owner of the hotel(I still havent figured out her name) and her husband is a terrible person.

[cardigirl]

10 hours ago, BuckeyeLou said:

 The Italian 'mayor" really was mean to blackmail the owner of the hotel(I still havent figured out her name) and her husband is a terrible person.

Mean?  He's a fascist. He's going to be awful to her.  

[sugarbaker design]

13 hours ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I think you are correct, tonight(June 26) we see Bella looking at a picture of a man in a locket...her child's father?

Bella has two children that we know of...Alice and Lucian.  Alice is the mother of Lottie.  We don't know what happened to Alice's husband.  Bella was indeed looking at a locket, but I thought it was a picture of a kid, not a man.  Maybe she has a secret kid.  The locket had two spaces for pictures, the other space was empty.

Edited June 27, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[12catcrazy]

1 hour ago, sugarbaker design said:

Bella has two children that we know of...Alice and Lucian.  Alice is the mother of Lottie.  We don't know what happened to Alice's husband.  Bella was indeed looking at a locket, but I thought it was a picture of a kid, not a man.  Maybe she has a secret kid.  The locket had two spaces for pictures, the other space was empty.

I thought it was the daughter, Alice, who was looking at the locket, and yes, one space was empty and the other had a picture of a very young child.   Maybe it will turn out that Alice was never married and had a child out of wedlock or that who ever the child's father is, he would be thought of as "unacceptable".  And Alice was snubbed by some hoity toity Englishwoman in town.  

I suspected that the new governess/maid had a child - from what we saw of her letter I think I'm correct.  

[sugarbaker design]

12 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

I thought it was the daughter, Alice, who was looking at the locket, and yes, one space was empty and the other had a picture of a very young child.   Maybe it will turn out that Alice was never married and had a child out of wedlock or that who ever the child's father is, he would be thought of as "unacceptable". 

You could be right!

12 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

I suspected that the new governess/maid had a child - from what we saw of her letter I think I'm correct.  

There is definitely a story there.

So many young women of a certain age!

1. Paola, who's having a torrid affair with Lucian.
2. The niece of her ladyship, always ready with a glass of "Italian lemonade".
3. The snob's daughter who's being pushed on Lucian, who gets very nervous when her clothes are stained.
4. Constance March, the governess with a story.
5. Alice, daughter of the proprietor.

Edited June 27, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[12catcrazy]

26 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

You could be right!

There is definitely a story there.

So many young women of a certain age!

1. Paola, who's having a torrid affair with Lucian.
2. The niece of her ladyship, always ready with a glass of "Italian lemonade".
3. The snob's daughter who's being pushed on Lucian, who gets very nervous when her clothes are stained.
4. Constance March, the governess with a story.
5. Alice, daughter of the proprietor.

Yes!  And wanna place any bets that Paola is going to wind up "in a family way"?   The triangle between Lucian, Rose, and Constance will wind up a rectangle (or we can also throw in the Indian guy and now have a pentagon).  

[HappyHanna]

45 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

We don't know what happened to Alice's husband. 

I assumed Alice's husband was dead, war or otherwise (though if it was like 1926 and Lottie is what, 4 or 5? (I am so bad at ages), that would be post-war.) Her last name is Mays-Smith, which is different than her parents and brother, and sounds poshy-British to me, based on my watching off too much British period dramas!  

[sugarbaker design]

1 minute ago, HappyHanna said:

I assumed Alice's husband was dead, war or otherwise (though if it was like 1926 and Lottie is what, 4 or 5? (I am so bad at ages), that would be post-war.) Her last name is Mays-Smith,

I'm assuming the same thing.  I was only saying that Alice's husband's status hasn't explicitly been explained as of yet.  And you can't get any more posh than Mays-Smith!

[HappyHanna]

Slowly remembering, but in one episode (I don't remember which one, but it was one of six!) Bella mentions I think a pension and an annuity that Alice gets. So she was married, and he is dead. 👻

[sugarbaker design]

16 minutes ago, HappyHanna said:

Slowly remembering, but in one episode (I don't remember which one, but it was one of six!) Bella mentions I think a pension and an annuity that Alice gets. So she was married, and he is dead. 👻

Maybe I missed it, or maybe it hasn't aired yet, I'm only on episode 2.  

[proserpina65]

I tried watching this, but while the scenery is lovely, the characters and the story are just uninteresting to me.  And it doesn't help that it's a time period I don't usually find compelling.  I have way too many things on my dvr I can watch instead, so I'm out.

Edited June 27, 2022 by proserpina65

[12catcrazy]

Opps!  I think that the woman with the locket with the baby photo was actually Constance, the nanny/maid.   Or am I now totally confused?  The young English women in this show  all kind of look alike to me.  

[JudyObscure]

I'm watching it simply because I'm settled in, waiting for "Endeavor," to come on.  I'm not playing close attention, but it seems like lots of laughably mean older women ordering around timid young women. It's like the beginning of "Rebecca." over and over again.

[magdalene]

It's like one of those hotel soaps - only they forgot to put the cheesy soapy goodness into it. I am watching it as a sort of Rick Steves travelogue without Rick Steves. I still haven't learned all the character names or motivations.  Well, I hope the nazi gets eaten by a shark. Are there sharks there? There should be.  Everything is better with nasty folks being eaten by dinosaurs or sharks.

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, magdalene said:

Well, I hope the nazi gets eaten by a shark. Are there sharks there? There should be.  Everything is better with nasty folks being eaten by dinosaurs or sharks.

If not that, then a handy neighborhood mafioso will do.

[Suzysite]

Ok, who else saw the wood crate marked Fragile, and said out loud, frageelay, it must be Italian!  

[Dowel Jones]

"My English, it is very little."  "That's okay, we're not going to talk."   Oh my.

[magdalene]

As shallow as this series mostly is it does manage to show how the Nazis rose to power. Too many people like that callow young man, laughing and partying, and ignoring it all as "just politics".

[JudyObscure]

On 6/27/2022 at 12:32 PM, 12catcrazy said:

The snob's daughter who's being pushed on Lucian, who gets very nervous when her clothes are stained.

She sure did go from one extreme to another last night.   I'm sure we were meant to be happy for her, but continuing to dance on the table lifting her skirt to show her panties, after her mother walked in was a bit strange to me. Those fringed dresses must have had magic powers. 

[howiveaddict]

14 hours ago, Suzysite said:

Ok, who else saw the wood crate marked Fragile, and said out loud, frageelay, it must be Italian!  

Every time I see the word!

[anniebird]

The actor who plays Lucian is Judi Dench's nephew.

[12catcrazy]

On 7/4/2022 at 5:20 AM, JudyObscure said:

She sure did go from one extreme to another last night.   I'm sure we were meant to be happy for her, but continuing to dance on the table lifting her skirt to show her panties, after her mother walked in was a bit strange to me. Those fringed dresses must have had magic powers. 

I think that the "magic powers" were in the many bottle of alcohol apparently consumed.  I kept thinking, man, those people are all gonna have some awful hangovers in the morning.   Maybe Lucien will have more interest in Rose now that he's seen that she likes to par-tay. 

[Daff]

On 7/4/2022 at 2:23 AM, magdalene said:

As shallow as this series mostly is it does manage to show how the Nazis rose to power. Too many people like that callow young man, laughing and partying, and ignoring it all as "just politics".

The main premise here really reminds me of “Island at War”-a drama about the Nazi occupation of one particular island in the Channel Islands (it was done twice, and I liked the more modern production and actors better). Other than this premise and the outcome, the rest is pretty vacuous and forgettable. 

[Daff]

18 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

I think that the "magic powers" were in the many bottle of alcohol apparently consumed.  I kept thinking, man, those people are all gonna have some awful hangovers in the morning.   Maybe Lucien will have more interest in Rose now that he's seen that she likes to par-tay. 

Yes, but when Lucian melted down during the thunderstorm, I couldn’t help but think Rose won’t have a clue how to deal with that! Seems a doomed relationship from the start. 

[Dowel Jones]

This is getting really confusing.  I need some people to die, or get thrown in jail, or leave town for a week so I can sort out the plots.  Just kidding.  It really is an Agatha Christie novel on a beautiful island, though.  

I loved it when Rose (?) goes to the Count and tells him the necklace gift is unacceptable.  Her face when he tells her that his son actually chose the gift...if they could have had thought balloons, her expression would have been "Ah, shit.  Shit, shit, shit."  And then when she tells his son that the gift was nice, the expression on his face sort of looked like 'what gift?'

I wouldn't be surprised if the corrupt cop has his hand in the possible upcoming theft of the fake painting.  If you look up the definition of slimy in the dictionary, there's his photograph.

[JudyObscure]

5 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

This is getting really confusing. 

It's not you it's the writing. I took notes last night because I thought it was time I got them all straight and it just reinforced my general impression that there are far too many underdeveloped characters milling around and predictable, trite situations.

Too many mean older women, too many stupid young girls, and too many sneaky men.

The freckle faced girl can't do anything but squeal, her mother made to quick a change from totally sour and horrible to, "We must let the young people have their freedom to be happy!" 

The Josephine Baker woman constantly sitting on the beach with her back straight and her little fan is ridiculous and so is the 1950's writing that says her friend whose husband has lost interest in her is now going to reignite his passion through bright red rouge and lipstick.   

Really.  Someone spent a fortune on this beautiful setting and marvelous costuming and stage sets and then hired a writer who is just terrible.  I expect so much better from PBS.

[Driad]

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Really.  Someone spent a fortune on this beautiful setting and marvelous costuming and stage sets and then hired a writer who is just terrible.  I expect so much better from PBS.

I used to, but they did a similar series in India (beautiful setting & costumes, dismal writing) and now this. I would like this better if it were all in Italian, because I could give up trying to understand who the people are and what is happening.

[12catcrazy]

Yes! To both JudyObsure & Driad.   I'm starting to find this series really unengaging.   Too many people to keep track off and it just seems like somebody had the bucks to take a beautiful bunch of young people and photograph them in a beautiful setting and throw in some PG rated sexual situations and call it a TV show.  And yeah, the writing is awful and a waste of some good actors.  

Back in the 80s, there was a show starring Connie Selleca and I think, James Brolin, called "Hotel".  If I remember correctly, it was more of an anthology type of show, where you'd have some drama with the leads but it was mainly about guests who came and went at the hotel, so it would be a mostly new cast week to week.   I think that this show would've really worked out better that way rather than having this cast of characters all staying at this hotel for weeks on end.   Also, how weird that out of everybody at that hotel who isn't Italian, the only person who seems to speak Italian is Bella.  

Oh well, we're already at the half way point of this series, I'll finish it up but don't know if I'll watch a 2nd season.  

[gingerella]

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Too many mean older women, too many stupid young girls, and too many sneaky men.

^This^ sums up the problem with this entire show. I get that people used to go to Italy for weeks/months during the summer to take in the sun, they still do in fact. But having so many characters that are so similar that you can essentially group them into about 4 main categories (the above plus decent folks I suppose) is confusing AF. Freckles seems open minded and can get her crabbity old aunt to loosen up, there's a story there, let's hear it. Lucien seems odd, I mean it's like he's attracted to any female that happens to be near him at the moment, be it the Italian kitchen maid who puts out, Rose, or the English maid he's just discovered. The whole gay trope is so predictable. Let's have a token person of color get with a highbrow English trust fundy, hilarity ensues...not. The only one I care about is the English kitchen maid. Maybe the proprietress, the rest are weird and slightly awful characters.

[BusyOctober]

Finally(reluctantly) watched the latest episode.  The style of the cinematography/ art direction has been bugging me. First, there are scenes of the soapy interactions between the nondescript people at the hotel, then a pullback shot of some scenery (which is gorgeous)…cut to another soapy boring scene, jump cut to a zoom angle on more exteriors - beach/hotel/quaint villagers, and transition into a more “ominous” soapy scene with the villain. And now I know what this artistic choice reminds me of… it’s the same as “The Californians” from SNL

[zoey1996]

On 7/4/2022 at 10:59 PM, anniebird said:

The actor who plays Lucian is Judi Dench's nephew.

I saw his last name was Dench, and wondered if he was related. Thanks for the info!

[magdalene]

By this time into a story I should be able to easily know the names of the characters and care about at least a few of them. I don't at all.  How did this get a a second season?  And how does this pretty dreck have this many episodes when a show like Endeavour which is eons above this in quality had a measly 3 this season?

[sugarbaker design]

2 minutes ago, magdalene said:

And how does this pretty dreck have this many episodes when a show like Endeavour which is eons above this in quality had a measly 3 this season?

To be fair Endeavour had three 90 minute episodes, while HP had six 45 minute episodes, so it all evens out.

[HappyHanna]

On 7/11/2022 at 1:32 PM, JudyObscure said:

The freckle faced girl can't do anything but squeal, her mother made to quick a change from totally sour and horrible to, "We must let the young people have their freedom to be happy!" 

I assumed it was because she is now drunk all the time on the "Italian lemonade"

[sugarbaker design]

10 minutes ago, HappyHanna said:

I assumed it was because she is now drunk all the time on the "Italian lemonade"

Her ladyship is drinking the "Italian lemonade" morning, noon and night.  There was a big pitcher on her breakfast table.

[gingerella]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Her ladyship is drinking the "Italian lemonade" morning, noon and night.  There was a big pitcher on her breakfast table.

Oh, so that's why she's more amenable to fun now? See, I'd forgotten all about the limoncello Rx they gave her. This is the problem with this show, too many little plots that are forgotten!

I'm still not clear about this, is the bitchy mother a former flame of the proprietress's ne'er do well hubby?

Also, I do hope someone offs the corrupt police chief soon. Perhaps it will be a case of him stumbling upon the gay lovers and the Italian guy kills him inadvertently, leaving them both - he and his Indian lover - to run away? Yes, I'm writing aloud, perhaps the show runners will see our ideas and take up a few to improve these abysmal story lines! The last time I watched a series that was this pretty and sumptuous and this poorly written was good old Beecham House...May it rest in peace, because it could have been such a good show...

Edited July 12, 2022 by gingerella

[Driad]

27 minutes ago, gingerella said:

The last time I watched a series that was this pretty and sumptuous and this poorly written was good old Beecham House...May it rest in peace, because it could have been such a good show...

Thank you, that was the one (set in India) that I meant. 

[sugarbaker design]

25 minutes ago, gingerella said:

I'm still not clear about this, is the bitchy mother a former flame of the proprietress's ne'er do well hubby?

I'm fairly certain the bitchy mother is a current flame of the proprietress's ne'er-do-well hubby.  You know you're talking about a Brit drama when you use words like proprietress and ne'er-do-well!

The writing is problematic, but what would really fix things up is recasting the young female roles.  I can barely tell them apart.  When Lucian left for a day of activities, a young woman was staring longingly from a window.  I had no idea who she was.  Was she the mysterious new governess, the bitchy mother's daughter, or her ladyship's niece?  Oh of course not, she's the proprietress's daughter, Mrs. Mays-Smith, the war widow.  I remember the good old days of TV when there were three women of a similar age, one was a brunet, one a blonde and one a redhead.

[Dowel Jones]

4 hours ago, gingerella said:

Also, I do hope someone offs the corrupt police chief soon.

If the hotel owner was really clever, she could set it up to frame him for some crime in the eyes of the local fascists, and he would be taken away, no muss, no fuss.  I could think of one scenario involving the "Rubens".

[JudyObscure]

16 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I remember the good old days of TV when there were three women of a similar age, one was a brunet, one a blonde and one a redhead.

Yes!  Just look at your Avatar!  Of course both Sugarbaker women were brunettes, but very easy to tell apart otherwise.  Speaking of the woman who made the lights go out in Georgia with her baton, will we ever again have a leading lady who is both beautiful and plump?