1994 - Willkommen in der Zweiten Republik

I started on this season without knowing that actually this was the third season of it! The TV company had seemed to show it as being a single season but I don't seem to have lost out on much.

Anyhow, what we have is supposedly is a peak behind the curtains of the Italian political sphere, and you know what, we don't actually learn anything new. In Europe, with all due respect to the Italians, the country has long had a reputation as a political joke with what is felt to have been more governments than years post-WW2. This film concentrates on a 'faction' look at Berlusconi's key year in charge with a goodbye episode years later at the end.

Our lead is a young Berlusconi look alike, who is supposedly to be some kind of spin doctor extraordinaire. Yet I couldn't buy into it. I never found him charming, and I found his co-stars mostly all unlikable too. The whole story didn't show me political intrigue but just bad romantic relationships and childish grown-ups. There is more to politics than celebrities, and that very much includes the much parodied Italian political circuit.

The show is beautifully filmed, although relies heavily on Britpop music for the soundtrack, which I'm not sure works too well (not for me here). Some very good writing at times with great lines, but as an arc it's poor. It's just a soap opera and you won't learn anything new on Italian life or politics, if anything it's another series that panders to the worst views.

Really, pass up on this one. I don't think i'll go out my way to watch the other two seasons, but then again they're not long seasons. So I might.