'Baby' Season 3 Review: A twisted yet expected final goodbye to Netflix's Italian drama
This article contains spoilers for Netflix's 'Baby' Season 3
The third and final season of the Italian drama was filled with deeply seeded politics on the exploitation of young women and underage girls in one of the most respected localities in Rome. Parioli houses the rich and what most consider role models of society but as the lead Chiara Altieri (Benedetta Porcaroli) said if you live here, you have to live a secret life to survive. The first two seasons followed the life of Chiara and her newfound best friend Ludovica Storti aka Ludo (Alice Pagani) who become immersed in a life of underage prostitution helmed by first Saverio (Paolo Calabresi) and then Fiore (Giuseppe Maggio), both very determined pimps. Loosely based on the Baby Squillo scandal of 2014, the series' final season pushed forward the narrative of how the ring was dismantled by police including all the events that led up to it.
If you watched the trailer, or read the synopsis before the final season was released on Netflix, you would have guessed that the season focused on the police closing in on the ring. So, while the shocks and twists were alarming since the premise is so sensitive, most of the narrative if not the entirety of it was predictable. That, of course, dialed down the fascination that unfortunately comes with such a scandal but it was a definite goodbye for the series. If you're a fan of 'Baby' you would probably agree to the fact that there was no other way to end the series.
Being only 6 episodes, the final episodes of the series delved into two parts - the hunt to take down Fiore, and how Ludo and Chiara dealt with their actions. Both girls, underage at the time, started off a life where the money came easy, protection came from a pimp, and where freedom was never questioned. The season did an excellent job in portraying what it's like for women, especially underage, to be part of a scheme that in the long run only benefits the pimp. That brings us to the pimp of the house, Fiore, who has an obsession with Ludo. Fiore wanted Ludo with him at all times and had even paid a stalker named Martino to scare Ludo into coming back to his protection. He also continued to use fear and proposed advantages to keep the girls he was pimping out in check.
Season 2 brought up the fact of how Chiara was immersed in this life for a reason she herself didn't know, but the power she felt was unmatched. In the final season, her character was explored deeply why she felt the need to continue being a prostitute. While Ludo is also very much a lead, her character definitely played off of Chiara, which we think was the best possible way to end the season. Being predictable isn't always a bad thing, and while we hoped for more plotlines, the series did give an appropriate ending to all narratives the final season explored. The progress of the show was never skewed and as it touched on many social, political, abuse, and other sensitive constructs, it definitely leaves a fan satisfied.
Without giving too much away, the season contained the exploration of consent, underage prostitution, consequences of money, protection of reputations, and the importance of friendship. It allowed audiences to not only invest in Ludo and Chiara as characters but also allowed them an unconventional view of how women can be responsible for their actions. The season ends with a trial, but that wasn't the focus of the series - rather it focused on how Chiara's secret life for the past year and a half was in fact not something she wanted. She took the responsibility for her actions, admitted her hesitancy to leave the life of prostitution, and even protected her best friend who got out to further her future. Ludo was definitely exploited and manipulated by Fiore, who was once her boyfriend but as Chiara mentioned Fiore had no power over her. We as the audiences were not dealing with Chiara as a victim, but rather her journey until she got to the point where she exclaimed, "I'm done."
While the final season was a slow and predictable one, it offers unconventional insight, a great storyline of actions and consequences, and impeccable delivery from the actors. We've already reported many times that the soundtrack and cinematography is fantastic, and this definitely shouldn't have been the final season. But, we have to admit that each character and the narrative in its entirety had reached a natural end, and it felt that while we were following the scandalous life of two best friends, we were in fact following the tragically loyal friendship of two young girls who were coming into their own.
'Baby' Season 3 is now available to stream on Netflix.
