'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2 Episode 6: Lila and Elena leave neighborhood together but one comes back pregnant
Spoilers for 'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2 Episode 6 Chapter 14 'Rage'
At the end of the previous episode, Elena Greco aka Lenu (Margherita Mazzucco) decided that once they return from Ischia to Naples, she wouldn't seek Lila (Gaia Girace) or Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico). Both of them had hurt Lenu immensely with their affair and repeated requests at being covert. More than that, Lenu's feelings — that both Lila and Nino were aware of — were completely disregarded in the face of their lust.
In Episode 6, Lenu is shown working hard to leave the neighbourhood. At the beginning of the episode, Pasquale Peluso's (Eduardo Scarpetta) mother commits suicide by hanging. With her husband in jail for decades now, she finally gives up and breathes her last. Witnessing this plight was enough to propel Lenu to make the decision.
At school, Lenu gains interest in going to the University of Pisa for further studies, thanks to Professor Galiani (Clotilde Sabatino) and another teacher who assures her that if she were to pass the exam, she would earn a scholarship that will take care of her lodgings. Galiani also inquires about Nino, who had abruptly broken up with her daughter Nadia over a short letter that rendered her heartbroken. The mother and daughter were under the impression that Nino did so for Lenu, but Lenu acquits herself from the charge.
Shortly afterwards, Lenu finds herself just outside the Solaras' shoe store and goes to meet Lila. Inside, she discovers that Nino has been hiding in the closet and their affair is stronger than ever. She expresses her decision to leave Stefano Carracci (Giovanni Amura) and for Nino and her to live together. This pushes Lenu further to leave everything and everyone behind. And she drops the news that she will be going to the University of Pisa — something that completely shocks Nino.
Back home, however, it is difficult to convince her mother Immacolata Greco (Anna Rita Vitolo) to permit her to leave for the University of Pisa. They have an argument, which ultimately ends with Lenu getting the money for the train ride to Pisa. She is a good mother and makes the train ticket happen. Immacolata is still struggling with Lenu's educational aspirations but she tells Lenu that if she were to go to Pisa to take the exam, she better get in.
Lila, on the other hand, finally breaks the news to Stefano that she wants to leave him. Devastated, Stefano and the rest of the family assumes that Lila left for Pisa to spend time with Elena - conveniently lying to themselves, particularly Stefano, who very well has an idea of what is happening.
But Lila and Nino's relationship was meant to be doomed. They lived together for no longer than 23 days - ending their relationship on a sour note as Nino leaves her following an argument that highlights their differences.
Directed by Saverio Costanzo after two consecutive episodes by Alice Rohrwacher, 'Rage' brings back the pain, suffering and poverty of the neighbourhood and the intense urge to leave it at once. Over the last two episodes, the Rohrwacher documented the playfulness of youth and the sting of desire and lust with brilliance. But the reality is supposed to catch up sooner or later. Written by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo, episode 6 is a product of both Elena and Lila's rage - one desperate to leave the neighbourhood, the other desperate for love.
At the same time, it depicts Antonio (Christian Giroso) finally getting his revenge on Sarratore for stealing Lenu from him. He was hired by Michele Solara (Alessio Gallo) to hunt Lila down after she quit working at the shoestore suddenly.
Lila is brought back to the neighbourhood by Enzo (Giovanni Buselli), who also confesses his feelings for her. It looks like a case of 'Everybody Loves Lila', as she jumps from one man to the other. Once back at home, she tells Stefano that she is pregnant but the joy is wiped off his face when she tells him he is not the father.
What this is going to unleash, we do not know yet. But it only reeks of turmoil for Lila. With Lenu inching closer to her way out, the lives of the two best friends are about to change forever.
'My Brilliant Friend' airs on Mondays on HBO at 10/9c.
