91 Days – 07

Avilio’s machinations are truly coming to fruition and his plan is looking more Monte cristo-eqe as it unfolds. Fango has a new hairstyle and is itching to take down the Vanettis and the Galassias but I must admit that for someone as psychotic as him it’s strange how he allows his girlfriend to steal his lines. As she continued to cut him off I was expecting him to pull out a gun and kill her, or at least get her to shut up. Yet it seems he is more whipped than expected or has a soft spot for her. Either way it looks like his craziness has calmed down and I would personally prefer it that way. The big focus of today’s episode is a falling out between Nero and Frate as tensions between them lead to one taking out the other. The true victim in all this is Fio whom got a lot of screentime before she was put on a train and likely out of the plot forever. From the looks of things, she married Ronaldo to protect her brothers despite having no real love for him. Yet despite her efforts Nero and Frate ended up fighting each other with Ronaldo pushing for Nero’s death despite Fio’s pleas.

A lot of reasoning was happening to try and work for a peaceful outcome, which Nero wasn’t all that against. They sent his uncle to smooth things over and even Fio tried to talk the two into a truce and very nearly succeeded. But peace isn’t in Avilio’s plan and this is where is revenge gets muddy. He fooled Nero’s most loyal man into attacking Frate and killed any chance for a truce. Though heres what I don’t particularly like about this episode as it appears a large amount of time passes after the attempted hit and the two appear to have been in a gang war for quite some time. However this is all represented in a few newspaper page montage before returning to the story within seconds and suddenly Frate is worn down by a war that only started a few seconds ago. It felt far too sudden and that moment would have been perfect to have a good old mob massacre montage like in the opening.

Frate was a pawn though and though. He never truly realised it though. When things got tough he ran to Ronaldo who pretty much dictated his decisions and appeared to have gotten him hooked to a drug which he supplies. What that drug is, is a matter of debate. It doesn’t seem to be cocaine seeing how he attempted to ingest it through his mouth. Opium is a safe bet though considering Frates symptoms I would think it was some sort of drug to keep him submissive, like toluene. Despite Fio’s efforts it looks like even if Avilio didn’t push for this outcome that Ronaldo likely would have. Perhaps that’s what lay in the note Avilio gave her along with the flowers and the gun. Ronaldo underestimated the level of stress he was putting on her and likely didn’t quite realise that having a child be a bridge between mafia families wasn’t the best way to rescue his wife. Still this move was a big risk for Avilio as while he did give her a nudge in the right direction, there was no guarantee than she would have what it takes to shoot Ronaldo. But perhaps he had more contact which her than was suggested based on how he whispered to her before boarding the train. Honestly Avilio’s plans seem to require a lot of luck and great foresight or just him rolling with the situation.

Him removing the bullets from Frates gun with slight of hand looked to be an impulsive move to stop Nero getting gunned down. The beauty of it was that Frate pulled the trigger first before Nero shot but the gun only clicked. It was almost as if it was a test to see if he really would kill Nero but I am uncertain if Nero was truly aware that the gun was empty. Having killed his brother Avilio steps up to be Nero’s most trusted companion but it’s possible that he intends to get rid of him soon. He has taken out one of his targets with Nero’s father, Nero and the mystery man remaining. I am having second thoughts over Corteo being the fourth man, thematically it would make sense of his reaction to the letter and his efforts to convince Avilio off the path of revenge as well as being a kick to the gut of Avilio’s motivation. I would actually prefer it as he is one of the few in the story to have a constant presence and thus the reveal would have more weight to it rather than some person introduced at a later date or someone who has stuck most to the background. I don’t think he was a gangster back then but perhaps played a role in informing the murderers for money or in a potentially interesting turn, revenge. However i admit the reasoning is somewhat flawed and it’s highly doubtful he sent the letter to Avilio. Though it’s possible the letter was not sent by the fourth man but rather an outside party. We have had a slow burn of a story so far but I hope with the coming episodes we can have some great set pieces to give 91 days a memorable note to go out on.