'Hotel Portofino' Crosses the Point of No Return in “Experiments”

Once again, Hotel Portofino Season 3 opens on Wall Street as what feels like the endless collapse of the stock market rolls into it's second week. (The market finally hit its nadir on November 13, 1929.) Cecil is making a trunk call (British for long distance) to his stockbroker/future father-in-law, who tells him that his portfolio has so far lost two-fifths (or 40%) of its value. There's nothing to do but ride out this crash. “We need to keep our heads,” he tells Cecil right before he’s informed that one of his employees has jumped from the 8th floor.

Bella and Amelia’s father collapsed at the end of last week's episode at the site of the headlines from America. The doctors have said he’s had a minor heart attack. Amelia is keeping Bella from her father, blaming Amelia for their father’s financial loss when it was he who decided to invest with Cecil despite Amelia’s warnings.

Alice is still trying to befriend horses and learn how to ride them, perhaps hoping to become one step closer to a real relationship with Count Albani. (I’ve seen Gone with the Wind too often and get nervous every time Alice rides the horse.) Cecil’s fiancee, Nellie, is very upset to be heading back to London, not one step closer to being Lady Heddon. She’s also not thrilled that Bella is “more beautiful” than Cecil let on.