Long-held Secrets are Revealed in 'Hotel Portofino's “Realizations”

In a twist for a series set in the beautiful Italian seacoast, “Realizations” kicks off in New York. Cecil’s stockbroker (and future father-in-law) is admonishing his frantic staff that everyone needs to calm down. (Foreshadowing Take 1). Meanwhile, back from India, Lucian looks like he just got off an 80s yacht rock video, but we knew the sexy long hair couldn’t last long. Bella recommends that he have Constance cut his hair. That’s a bad idea all around, but Lucian can’t say no to his mother. Constance responds by purposely spilling hot tea all over him, demanding to know why he’s acting like they are strangers.

“It’s 1929, for Christ’s sake!”

Lucian’s guilt seems to have gotten the better of him as he tries to tell Constance that what they had was just a fling. (Dear Lucian, two seasons of Hotel Portofino would indicate otherwise.) Later, Lucian goes to the church to visit Rose’s grave. He confesses to Nish’s brother, Virat, that he spent the six months he was married to Rose thinking about somebody else.

Lucian is back in Portofino with Virat because he doesn’t know Nish’s whereabouts. He is beginning to accept that it’s possible Nish and Gianluca never made it out of Italy and into France. Poor Virat is very self-conscious about being vegetarian and not having the right clothes. He’s only an apprentice to a carpet seller. Bella assures him it does not matter; her father worked in a drapery shop.

Speaking of Bella’s cranky father, he gives Bella an ultimatum: If she goes through with the divorce, she has one month to pay her father back the money he loaned her to start the hotel. Bella quickly realizes she needs another source of income. Claudine points out that she really likes the lotion Bella has been concocting for hotel guests, so the two decide to go into business together. After some tough negotiations they agree to a 60/40 split in Bella’s favor. Constance talks to Vito about using his lab to ramp up production of all the products. They want it ready in time for Claudine’s launch party for her new perfume. The head of cosmetics for the fashion house will be attending.

While Bella is off with Claudine, Cecil decides this is the perfect time to invite Danioni to the hotel. Danioni arrives with his never-before-seen wife, Letizia. (Letizia, for the record, doesn’t speak any English, seems perfectly lovely, and doesn’t seem to realize she’s married to a monster.) Danioni tells Cecil that his friends in Detroit want to invest a million more dollars in the stock market but are concerned since the market has been so volatile lately. “Putting their money into Wall Street is as close to a sure thing as they are going to get,” Cecil tells him. (That, my friends, is Foreshadowing Take 2!)

However, when Bella returns, Cecil notices that Letizia is wearing Bella’s mother’s ring. Danioni’s wife may not speak any English, but she understands what’s happened perfectly and returns the ring to Bella with her apologies. Cecil wants to know how Danioni ended up with her ring. Bella tells him Danioni bribed her when he intercepted the letters she wrote to Henry. It suddenly dawns on Cecil how much Danioni has been manipulating his life. (Better late than never, I suppose.)

Billy is very suspicious about what is happening between his mother and Salvatore. She finally tells him that they are engaged. Billy is not a huge fan of this news and rejects Salvatore’s efforts to smooth out their relationship. Billy’s not the only one struggling with a parent; Bella practically begs Cecil to pay attention to their son. Meanwhile, Amelia tries to convince Alice to return to London with her, stating nothing is left for her in Portofino. Alice wants to think about it. She’s still reeling from learning that Count Albani lives on a horse farm and has asked Billy to teach her how to ride. 

Cecil may be utterly useless, but Marco steps up, helping Lucian and Virat figure out what might have happened to Nish. But every avenue they pursue leads to a dead end. Given the last time we saw Nish, he was being led out into the woods by Danioni, and then we heard shots ring out; I am not optimistic.

But then again, it’s October 30, and optimism has just been declared “very last decade.” Nellie and her aunt arrive, demanding to see Cecil, waving a newspaper with the headline “Wall Street in Freefall as Stocks Crash.” Upon reading the paper, Bella’s father collapses. 

Hotel Portofino Season 3 continues with new episodes every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations and streams on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. As always, check your local listings.