Hotel Portofino Season 3 took a decidedly dark turn, and then kept getting darker and darker, culminating in a season finale that took a devastating turn with the death of Lucian – Bella and Cecil’s son. During the TCA Tour in July, Fangirlish had a chance to talk to Mark Umbers about the shocking finale, how it almost didn’t happen, and a season that felt like it got progressively darker for a show that couldn’t really escape just that.
“Fascism was kind of lurking in the background,” from the beginning, Umbers told us, but by the time the show started filming Season 2, the world was in a place where the news sort of reflected that side of what the show was portraying. “And we were suddenly presented with the opportunity of showing that, even in the most beautiful setting, evil can lurk beneath the surface.”
“Especially in a hotel where people are going on holiday to sit around and do nothing” but then there are real-world ramifications, “and to watch this country descend into hell, the more that sort of seeps into the lives of these people, the more powerful it is.”
Season 3 of Hotel Portofino really gives us a historical look at the Italy of the time, which Umbers reflected on, adding that the show was “an amazing opportunity to show how the mechanics of populism really work.”
“In Italy at that time, people were dirt poor. Certainly, in the South, they were anyway. And when people are deprived of a voice and of money, that’s when a so-called strong man or strong woman comes in and says, I see you and I hear you and I’m going to pull you out of your situation.”
This is the situation Cecil finds himself in during Hotel Portofino Season 3, and the problem with Cecil is, of course, that he always believes he’s got the upper hand. As Umbers explained. “Ultimately, he’s just incredibly selfish. And he will think I have X amount of money that I need by this date. How do I do it? And who do I have to lie to, to get it? And actually, I don’t think he takes the fascists or the mafia terribly seriously.”
Instead, Cecil goes through life thinking “Well, of course, I’ll, of course, I’ll win this. Yeah, yeah. Who are these people, these Italian peasants or whatever.”
And in a way, he handles his relationship with Bella in the same way – it’s all fake. Or, at the very least, there are layers to it that Cecil himself isn’t interested in people around him understanding, and layers Umbers really loves playing. “I enjoy kind of playing the social customs of the time where a lot of times you’re, for instance, with Bella and Cecil, often, they’re saying one thing, but meaning another, because socially, there are things you just can’t come out and speak. So, it’s like, there’s always a subtitle to the dialogue, which is what they really mean.”
However, Bella (Natascha McElhone) and Cecil are indeed of one mind when it comes to the end of Hotel Portofino Season 3 and that devastating loss, which we had to ask Umbers about because we were also devastated. Umbers confessed it was also very shocking for him and the rest of the cast to learn it was happening.
“Yeah, it was very moving. Everybody, when we first got the scripts, everybody texted each other, I’m crying, crying. This is so sad.”
Umbers even told us; that we almost didn’t get that ending. There was a universe where Lucian survived. “And then it got rewritten. And then we all rebelled and said, you’ve got to put it back to how it was.”
“To the sad one?” I remember asking. Why?
“Well, the other ending was equally as sad. I can’t remember what was changed, but I think Lucian survived in that version. But that version might have been worse, in general.”
Insert unconvinced face.
“But then it was… the whole season had been building up to this kind of tragic climax for him, that it seemed silly to just sort of suddenly not have him be shot at all. You know, but it’s really, really, really sad. It’s one of those things where I know we talked at the beginning about watching the rise of fascism, and we’re watching it at historical events. So, this was the ending that fits.”
And the ending that hurt the most. Let’s not mince words about that.
Hotel Portofino Season 3 is available to stream now on PBS.
How on earth can a show titled “Hotel Portifino” continue when the owner and host has lost her son and her reputation while dealing with the rising tide of Fascism overtaking the setting country? No way Bella can come back to this or the current Hotel Portifino cast return.
De acuerdo con este comentario. Horrible final. Injusto. Habia otra forma de mostrar el fascismo. Despues de todo los unicos verdaderamente malos eran Danioni y Cecil. Creo que la serie no debe seguir.