A brilliant crescendo/climax to the brilliant original 4-part series with Michele Placido's Corrado Cattani; full of betrayals, murder, love, loss, suicide and madness, no one lives happily ever after at the end of this, with the possible exception of the sinister Espinoza. The 6-part arc starts out slam-bang, with Cattani conducting a drug raid on a warehouse where street children are being held as runners for the Mafia, veers into the story of Salvatore Frolo, whose wife and small daughter years ago were supposedly murdered by the mob, and Frolo's revenge killing of the man he mistakenly believes was responsible for their deaths. It then plunges on to Cattani's quest to find Frolo's daughter who is still alive, and in the hands of the shadowy Il Pupare...sound complex? Running parallel to this, the story of Tano Cariddi's quest for power in the Antinari banking empire continues, with the marriage of Tano to Ester Rasi, daughter of a powerful banker who who is blackmailed into giving over his beloved child to Tano in a marriage of convenience that has tragic consequences for all. And from there, the series moves into high gear, with the beautiful Judge Silvia Conti becoming ever more deeply involved with Corrado, Tano's machinations becoming ever more complex and grandly corrupt, and the bullets flying and bodies falling at a rapid-fire pace. The climax in Episode 6 is virtually that of tragic opera, with the penultimate scene of Ester's hysterical confession of her betrayal to her husband-of-convenience Tano Cariddi, and his reaction to it--a terrific scene, and almost painful to watch; Remo Girone evokes great sympathy for the character of Tano throughout this series, whether it's deserved or no--and no fan of the series will ever be able to forget the final images of Corrado Cattani's ultimate fate. La Piovra 4 is better if you've already viewed the preceding three series, but it's not absolutely necessary; Part Four is mesmerizing and an exciting viewing experience even on stand-alone terms.
Review of La piovra
