'The Trial'/'Il Processo' Season 1 Review: The Italian thriller series is a visual treat and binge-worthy
Spoilers for Season 1 of 'Il Processo'
Think crime drama and you think of 'The Sopranos', one of the greatest Italian mafia stories to have graced our lives. However, with Netflix's latest offering, viewers get to go all the way to the motherland. 'Il Processo' or 'The Trial', created by Alessandro Fabbri, focuses on the titular trial of the murder of a 17-year-old girl, Angelica Petroni. The show stars Vittoria Puccini, Francesco Scianna, Camilla Filippi, Alessandro Averone, among others.
When Angelica's murder is first revealed in the first episode, the viewers and even the characters themselves would not have known how it turns out. Prosecutor Elena Guerra is put in charge of finding who could have killed Angelica.
Over her investigation, she learns that Angelica was adopted and had gone looking for her birth parents before she died. Angelica's father turns out to be Stefano Lanzoni, Elena's former boyfriend and it is finally revealed that Elena herself is Angelica's mother.
This changes things for Elena. While before she was set to leave Italy for New York with her then-partner, learning that Angelica was her daughter prompted Elena to put her marriage at risk and stay to solve the case. At the end of the first episode, Linda Monaco is arrested. Linda was Angelica's suspected boyfriend's wife.
The second episode picks up months after the end of the first episode -- Linda has been in jail all this while -- when the trial begins. What follows over the next few episodes is how the trial proceeds. Linda's lawyer is Ruggero Barone, a rampant man eager to succeed no matter what.
Ruggero and Elena clash many times over the season, trying to one-up each other in their desire to win the case. However, when Ruggero learns that Elena is Angelica's mother, she is taken off the case.
Throughout the season, viewers are introduced to a multitude of characters including Gabriele Monaco -- Linda's father --, Claudio Cavalleri -- Linda's husband --, Giancarlo Guerra -- Elena's father --, and Giacomo Andreoli -- Elena's colleague --, among others. These characters play important roles throughout the story, often taking the case one way and another as the show proceeds.
It is because of this that the story is intriguing and keeps the viewers on their toes. Sure, it might get a little slow at times, but not so much that the viewer would lose interest. In fact, many of the twists that come at the end of each episode tend to keep the story refreshing over the course of the season.
Of course, it helps that the show is Italian and with beautiful settings, the viewer might even lose themself in the beautiful architecture. The series was filmed in the city of Mantua, precisely at Palazzo Te, Piazza Sordello, Palazzo D'Arco, Palazzo Beccaguti, Palazzo Cavriani, Palazzo Andreani and in the lakes of Mantua. Some scenes were also shot in Rome.
With the show being released this Friday, 'The Trial' is the perfect watch for the weekend -- pace it out over the next few days or watch it in one go, either way, viewers will not be disappointed.
All episodes of Season 1 of 'The Trial' / 'Il Processo' are now streaming on Netflix.