Spectacular. The first two season impressed me, but this was cinema.

All the episodes were directed by the same person and that is perhaps a major part of what gives this season such a clear vision. My jaw was on the ground during that long take in the premiere where Nino and Elena walk and talk at night. A big part of that is the location work, which gives the whole season so much life and vibrancy. The rest are the performances.

I initially thought the show made a huge mistake not aging up the actresses when it had the chance, but the cast really matured into these roles in a way I didn’t expect. Mazzucco is a revelation here. Elena spends so much of the books not feeling like a person outside of being our conduit to Lila. I remember thinking during this book, “oh, OK, I guess Elena really is our protagonist. How disappointing.” And though I often missed Lila while she wasn’t onscreen, I was so engrossed by Mazzucco’s performance here. While Girace never really read to me as a woman in her 30’s, Mazzucco transforms into this woman and mother who is being absolutely smothered by her marriage just as feminism swoops in to help her save herself. (Certainly, the costuming and makeup/hairstyling departments deserve some recognition for not only selling the aging process for all these young actors, but for so brilliantly recreating the ‘70—or more accurately the filmic look of the ‘70s.) I don’t know if Mazzucco just got better or was holding back this whole time, but she sold the major emotional beats Elena experiences here and never left me wanting. I was particularly shocked by how she managed to convince me of the Nino plot line.

I have called Nino a “ghoul” and “the worst thing that ever happened to the girls” for years and only ever accepted him as a means to Elena escaping the awful marriage to Pietro. Yet I was actually charmed and blushed at Mazzucco and Serpico’s chemistry here. Like, there was not an ounce of that chemistry in season 2 and all of a sudden I couldn’t wait for them to consummate all that tension.

That said, knowing what’s coming, I did appreciate that The Graduate-esque shot of them on the plane. And while I wish they could have ended the season on that note, the final shots, when the show literally and figuratively says goodbye to Mazzucco, were so good I watched them twice.

I can’t wait to see how this wraps up and my campaign to harass more people into watching this begins now.