The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 Review: A Less Strong Plot But a Perfect Guilty Pleasure
Starring: Matilda De Angelis, Eduardo Scarpetta, Pier Luigi Pasino
Creators: Guido Iuculano, Davide Orsini
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2, The series returns to Netflix with six new interesting and multifaceted episodes of which we offer you a preview of our review. After the success of the first, aired in March 2023, which also won the Nastro d’Argento Grandi Serie 2023 as Best ‘ Crime’ Series, this second season allows us to enter once again the adventurous life of the Lawyer Lidia Poët played by Matilda de Angelis. Freely inspired by the homonymous figure of the first woman who tried to make her way and assert herself in an exclusively male way, such as that of the law, Lidia was the first woman to be registered with the Bar Association. It’s been almost two years since The Law According to Lidia Poët debuted on Netflix, giving audiences a modern tale of a piece of Italian history dating back to the 19th century. Lidia Poet was the first woman to enter the bar association in Italy and to play the role of this female and feminist figure, more than 200 years later, she is one of the most sought-after Italian actresses of the moment: Matilda De Angelis.
The second season of the series was presented at the Rome Film Festival in the Alice nella Città section but will be officially released on the streaming platform only on October 30. What should you expect from The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2? It is a light, romantic, and mainstream story that harks back to the style of the great American costume productions but also maintains that investigative spirit is typical of old detective stories in which each episode offers the comfort of being self-contained but also the intrigue of being linked to a larger plot. In the 6 new episodes of the series, Lidia fights against a male chauvinist political system that prevents her from practicing her job as a lawyer. But she wants to revolutionize this system by changing the law itself.
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 Review: The Story Plot
In the second season of Lidia Poët, the vertical plot of the individual episodes merges with a horizontal plot: the protagonist, together with Jacopo Barberis (Edoardo Scarpetta), a journalist from the Gazzetta Piemontese who helps her in the investigations and who is also her love interest, must discover what happened to a person known to both of them and who mysteriously disappeared. To them – forming a triangle not only at work – a new character is also added: the prosecutor Fourneau, played by Gianmarco Saurino. The trio doesn’t miss a thing: we have serial killers, suspicious priests, attacks, and there’s even a cameo by Cesare Lombroso! The real doctor and criminologist studied the inmates in the Turin prison and here we see him confronting Lidia who, above all, expresses several doubts about the theories of the luminary, who has based much of his career on physiognomy, or the claim to deduce the psychology of people based on their appearance.
Beyond a political manifesto on women’s rights, expect from The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 sparkling dresses, sumptuous balls, new loves ready to make your dream, and old loves that never stop making your heartbeat. And then there are those fun family dynamics that are the great distinctive and winning element of this series and, above all, the contradictions of a woman struggling between the search for her independence and a more visceral need for love. What is immediately noticeable in The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 is the very strong influence that the Bridgerton colossus has on the Italian series that almost becomes an extension of it, a new Made in Italy version that is not a copy but a tribute.
The photography of these new episodes is beautiful and knows how to give light and, therefore, enhance the expressions of the protagonists, the details of their clothes, and the splendid Turin locations that form the backdrop to this story. The direction is also excellent and, even more so, the choice of costumes that have such a visual impact that they manage to communicate, at times, better than a dialogue or a shot. And Matilda De Angelis also proves to be good in the role of a more fragile and less idealistic Lidia Poet but more interesting for this very reason. Even better, however, is Pier Luigi Pasino, who plays Lidia Poet’s brother Enrico, the real gem of the series and the character without whom the great strength of this story would be lost, which lies entirely in the very strong and hilarious relationship between a brother and a sister.
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 Review and Analysis
The only flaw of this second season of The Law According to Lidia Poët is the plot. It loses a bit of brilliance and is less compelling than the first episodes of the series. The crime cases told are less strong, the game of twists is less intense, and the focus is much less on the magnet effect but more on wanting to include the audience in a universe in which it is so pleasant to spend time even just to admire costumes, locations, hairstyles, and love intrigues. The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2, created by Guido Iuculano and Davide Orsini and written by Orsini himself together with Flaminia Gressi and Guido Iuculano, is certainly less impactful than its previous chapter but confirms itself as a breath of fresh air, a perfect guilty pleasure, a title that dares to shake off the weight of having to be a feminist manifesto at all costs to give the public what it needs most: pure entertainment.
Lidia Poet is light and universal like pop music, made to give a moment of lightheartedness that does not necessarily have to have a deeper meaning. Then between the lines and under its apparent lightness, there is interesting food for thought but it is up to the audience to choose whether to go and pick them up or enjoy the pleasure of staying on the surface. And it would be fine even like this because in the end a TV series does not necessarily have to be a psychological commitment but above all a diversion from reality and Lidia Poet, in this, is perfect. What is striking is the fluidity of the narrative rhythm in this season, an element absent in the previous one. We get straight to the heart of the matter: a murder case, a suspect who is probably innocent in prison. Lidia and Jacopo lose a friend and find themselves, once again, working closely together after the certainly not-peaceful breakup.
So much so that Enrico and the rest of the family’s resentment towards Jacopo for selling the house officially prohibits Lidia from seeing the journalist. But we know how much prohibitions influence Lidia’s decisions… Unlike the first season, where it was necessary to introduce the setting and the characters, in the new episodes the authors have the advantage of having already established the narrative rules. Lidia’s activism, as she asked to be registered as an elector and fought not only for women’s suffrage but even for a law that would equalize the rights of men and women, continues to be one of her defining traits. Lidia is a free woman, nonconformist, devoted to progress, and for this reason considered, despite her intelligence, a visionary. In the 6 episodes of the second season, how all this is recognized by the public is much more natural, coherent, and successful.
The new entry, Prosecutor Fourneau, is an intelligent and polite man with modern views: despite having been struck off the register, he seems to have great respect for Doctor Poët. His impartiality is a sign of hope in a world where one tends to obtain the maximum result with the minimum effort, always accepting the first impression as the established truth. The character of Lidia, thanks to her interpreter, increases its charm. Matilda De Angelis seems to have really entered into Lidia’s shoes. She is simply adorable, far from stereotypes with that slightly hoarse and certainly not shrill voice, magnetic in capturing the gaze and attention of the viewer while everyone around her gives more convincing interpretations. As we know from the first season, by refusing Jacopo’s marriage proposal, Lidia has determined the fate of her entire family. In the new episodes, we try to deal with the consequences of the situation, gradually making the characters try to at least clarify things among themselves.
As the horizontal plot of the season is carried forward piece by piece, the new cases faced by Lidia and Enrico range from the unfortunate end of a girl in an all-girls school to an attempted escape from prison. Marianna, grown up, seems ready to settle down and Lidia asks Enrico to do something very important for her, putting himself on the line with a new challenge. But everything always revolves around Lidia. Either because her opinion is needed, or her supervision, or because the characters involved in some way need her intervention: the intervention of a woman who looks at the facts and people with an unprejudiced gaze. Now that we know not only the protagonists but also the narrative context in which they move, the contrast between the late nineteenth-century past and an extremely modern soundtrack is much more effective.
A man lurks in the shadows as a series of identical murders (reminiscent of the crimes of Jack the Ripper) keep the season’s plot in check. We find Professor Lombroso during the investigations, in a season in which the dose of humor increases: very serious sequences alternate with moments of lightness and jokes. Almost always thanks to the character of Enrico. It is impossible not to notice an assonance: Lidia seems to have become the Jessica Fletcher of the situation, that is, the one who, when she arrives – for example at a wedding – always ends up finding herself where someone dies… There are still some small things that have to be overlooked (for example, the use of the term “advocate” in the late 1800s, an unlikely fact), but the episodes flow by. The best is the first and the last, the sixth, which heralds a sequel with a change of setting.
What emerges from a complete view of The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 review is a more complex picture but also a more interesting narrative structure with themes that, unfortunately, are still current even though years have passed. Lidia finds herself having to solve cases related to different themes; the femicides that make us reflect on a deeply current theme that has its roots in a lack of civic and cultural education as a society; and then again corruption and the disparity between social classes. But at the heart of the story, there is always Lidia’s desire to know she is free, to be able to carry out her work without having the guarantee of her brother who in this season proves to be more willing to support her and above all aware of what Lidia’s cause really represents. The only flaw in these new episodes is the development and resolution of the horizontal plot that runs through all six episodes. You can perceive the various scattered clues from the first episode, but its resolution seems too sudden and hasty.
Undoubtedly praiseworthy points are the characters. Lidia appears more solid and aware than in the first season concerning her feelings and goals. Matilda de Angelis embodies Lidia’s rebellious spirit very well and does so with wit and irony, giving funny, irreverent, and intelligent jokes that strengthen the charisma of her character and become a key element of the series. Also interesting is the development of the brother and his wife Teresa who seem to break out of the categories in which society and expectations have pigeonholed them. Equally interesting is the addition of the character of Gianmarco Saurino who appears willing to collaborate with Lidia by going beyond prejudices and working for the sense of justice that unites them.
Another advantage of the series is the possibility of showing the public not only a historical period such as the late 19th and early 20th century, little covered in Italian audiovisual products, but also a city like Turin, often left aside. It is enhanced by elegant photography and flattering directions that stand out with panoramic views of the city and glimpses of the countryside and wonderful villas. Equally excellent is the work of the costume department that gives splendid clothes for both Lidia and Jacopo, witnesses of great attention to detail. The icing on the cake, which we must point out in The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 review, is the soundtrack, modern, pressing, bombastic, and perhaps not very suitable for some, but which perfectly reflects the voice of its protagonist who tries to make herself heard surrounded by those who do not want to listen.
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 Review: The Last Words
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2, from October 30 on Netflix, sees a marked change from the debut season of the series. Now that we know the main characters and the setting, the authors no longer need to exaggerate, resulting excessively only to attract our attention. They can finally focus on the plots of the episodes, gripping for each new case faced by Lidia (an enchanting Matilda De Angelis) and her brother Enrico (the excellent Pier Luigi Pasino), while at the same time carrying forward a case whose horizontal plot runs through the entire season. After the sale of the family villa by Jacopo (Eduardo Scarpetta), many changes await Lidia and her family, grappling with exciting investigations (and the new, lovable Prosecutor of the King) and with new challenges to face, in a climate that alternates tension and smiles.
The Law According to Lidia Poët Season 2 Review: A Less Strong Plot But a Perfect Guilty Pleasure - Filmyhype
Director: Guido Iuculano, Davide Orsini
Date Created: 2024-10-25 17:12
3.5
Pros
- The high production value of the series.
- The magnetism of Matilda De Angelis.
- Directed by Matteo Rovere.
- The photography and the costumes.
- The soundtrack by Massimiliano Mechelli.
- The cast: in this second season the new entry Gianmarco Saurino stands out.
- Good performance by Matilda De Angelis who embodies the essence of the protagonist very well
- Current and interesting topics
- Excellent costumes, cinematography and soundtrack
Cons
- These new episodes are more of the same, but if you enjoyed the first season they won't disappoint.
- Too sudden resolution of the horizontal plot of this second season
