The Stakes are High in the Penultimate Episode of 'Hotel Portofino'

For a show that on the surface seems so idyllic (The sun! The Italian coast! The fashion!), this third season of Hotel Portofino has been extraordinarily stressful. The season’s penultimate episode, entitled “Revelations,” took no prisoners. Are you sitting down? I think you should sit down.

Let’s start with the most uncomplicated storyline first. Thanks to Billy, Alice has finally learned to ride a horse. She goes off to find Carlos. “I know better than to come between a man and his pleasures,” she tells them before they take off riding together. But, just as I feared last week, Alice falls off her horse. Thankfully, she’s fine, but the fall makes it impossible for Count Albani to deny his feelings for Alice any longer. “For a moment, I thought I lost you,” he tells her. The two kiss and canoodle, and everything is right in their little world. That is until he tells her, “A thoroughbred horse must be handled like a headstrong woman. You must pretend to ignore her to attract her and make her come to you.” Alice does the math and realizes that’s exactly what Carlos has done to her. She storms off, and their romance is over before it even begins.

After having a breakthrough with Claudine last week in realizing she may hold Amelia responsible for their mother’s death, Bella and her sister have a heart-to-heart. “I think a part of me still blames you for taking her from me,” she tells her sister. Vito delivers Bella’s lotions to the hotel. Bella shares them with Amelia and asks for her sister’s help in developing a product name and trademark. “They’re certainly more than passable,” Amelia tells her sister, who is about as enthusiastic as Amelia gets about anything.  

Claudine’s friend Ernesto arrives. He’s not impressed with the hotel (it’s not the Ritz) or the Italian heat. “I’m not used to working on such a small canvas,” he tells Bella. But he’s still ready for the launch party for Claudine’s perfume, telling Claudine and Bella that the head of the fashion house is coming with his daughter and will meet with them before the party. Speaking of Vito, he tries to propose to Constance but doesn’t even get a chance to ask the question. Constance tells Vito it’s too soon, and she’s not ready. “All right, then I will wait and ask you again,” he tells her. Later, Claudine tells Constance, “Whatever makes you happy. That’s what’s best.”

Cecil goes to see Jack at his hotel, and their encounter is much more civilized this time. Cecil learns that Jack has lost all his money in his divorce. Jack tells Cecil the cops arrested him, impounded most of his inventory, and took away his export license. “I was very lucky to escape jail,” he says. Cecil tells him it was for sure Danioni who sent the police after Jack. Cecil has a plan (not a good one, mind you) to take Danioni out of his export bootleg liquor business and offer Jack the proceeds that once went to Danioni. 

“With Danioni out of the picture, I would only have to pay Detroit back their original investment. You and I could split the extra $40,000 that little bastard is extorting from me,” he tells Jack. It certainly seems like they are talking about killing Danioni. The men shake on the deal, and Cecil declares that they will soon “bid adios to our charming Italian friend.”

Based on the information they received at the end of the last episode, Lucian, Marco, and Virat go to the woods to search for Nish and Gianluca. They find a shallow grave with skeletons. Virat recognizes a bracelet Nish had given him and knows that his brother is dead. Unfortunately, Danioni gets wind of what they are doing, and he and his henchmen are just moments away from finding the trio digging in the woods. Danioni knows they have found the bodies and knows the men must be stopped. All three men grapple with the news that Nish and Gianluca were murdered. Virat is devastated. Lucian wants to avenge Nish’s murder, and Marco wants to bring Danioni down. 

A distraught Lucian visits Constance and tells her, “Everyone I care about is gone except for you. I’m still in love with you, Constance.” They finally kiss, but perhaps remembering what Claudine told her, Constance tells him, "I’m in love with you too, but this isn’t going to work.” Lucian wants Constance to run away with him. She reminds him she has a life and a child in Portofino. Paola (quickly becoming my favorite character) has had it with Lucian trying to drag Constance into his increasingly dangerous nonsense. If, as the saying goes, looks could kill, Lucian would be a dead man just by the daggers Paola is shooting him with her eyes.

Bella tells Marco that before he does anything about Danioni, they should talk to Count Albani first. He knows people and might know the best way to bring Danioni to justice. Marco gets jealous, which isn’t a good look. Constance sees Lucian with a gun. He tells her, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I were to leave Nish’s death unavenged.” Constance responds, “I couldn’t live with a man who chooses to kill in cold blood.” It seems that father and son have the same goal of killing Danioni. 

All of this is very bad. Very, very bad. The episode ends with Danioni’s men breaking into Marco’s house to attack him in his sleep. There’s only one more episode to this season, and everything points to the season-ending with yet another party and yet another tragedy. 

Hotel Portofino Season 3 concludes next Sunday, September 1, 2024, 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.