Family Problems
Episode 3 of Il Processo begins 10 months earlier with Elena’s interrogation with Linda. She explains that she was fearful of having freedom. Back in the present, Silvia faces perjury charges and as she explains herself to Elena, she tells her she made everything up; no one forced her into a confession. Her motive was to become famous and she made up the claims about being threatened too. Disgusted, Elena tells her to leave and get a lawyer. Ruggero visits Linda and warns her the trial isn’t over, despite their stroke of luck. He tells Linda she needs to confess all of her sins to him but she bites back, telling him Claudio thought he was a liar. He looks at her sternly though and tells her he cares about her and she can trust him. January 19th sees the fourth hearing begin and Elena struggles to keep a grip on the case as Ruggero tries to grant Linda house arrest. When this is turned down, the next witness is called to the stand, Rosa Wozniak, a woman who worked at the estate as a maid. She goes on to talk about how Linda’s mood was off weeks before the incident occurred. She then relays what she saw on the 3rd March, including evidence that Linda was involved in a car crash and looking flustered when she returned home, rushing past her on the way in. Ruggero goes on the defence and mentions how Rosa wasn’t paid during this period of time and as such, may well have a motive not to be wholly truthful. As he continues to probe, they go back to the moments before where Rosa overheard a fight between Claudio and Linda, ending with the latter telling him she doesn’t care. After finding nothing with Gabriele Monaco’s finances, Fabrizia questions Elena’s tactics in pursuing this case, telling her to catch a breath. As she steps out the station, her Father speaks to her privately, now knowing why she’s pursuing the case so desperately, and tells her to stop as it’s a conflict of interest. Elena doesn’t though and instead brings Marco in for questioning. It’s here they manage to stumble upon the name of Olivia Francioso, who may have been antagonized and forced to keep quiet. Elena heads up and meets her but for now, the context of their conversation is kept hidden. Instead we cut forward to the fifth hearing where Elena introduces her as a surprise witness. Olivia wheels in and confidently and tells the court that she used to date Claudio. Only, on her way home one night she was hit by a car. That car was driven by Linda Monaco and she paid her off with 4000 euros a month to keep her quiet and the Monaco name intact. Ruggero inevitably challenges this, questioning just how she could be so sure that it was Linda who hit her. Instead, he tells her it could have been Claudio as the one who orchestrated this instead. Given it was the night and the dazzling headlights would have obscured her vision, it’s a valid point and one that court clearly sees too. Elena makes her choice and decides to see Giovanni again while Mara and Ruggero talk about his personal interests in this case before the two sleep together. In the morning, Ruggero awakens and sees the news broadcast, which discusses Olivia but in the background, is the familiar white catering van we’ve seen before. With a lot more familial drama thrown into the fold this time, Il Processo slows down during its third episode, with 50 minutes of drama that flesh out our characters and bring a more soapy, melodramatic tone to proceedings. Every episode so far has had a love-making scene and at times this actually cheapens the drama. While Elena’s familial ties to this case adds a personal touch, given the gritty edge and realistic slant to proceedings this manages to achieve, it’s actually not really needed here. The equal footing these two lawyers manage to achieve and the interesting back and forths, as we see two alternate takes of the same scene, are definitely the highlights of the show and this continues into this episode too. It’s still an intriguing whodunit and the courtroom drama is good enough to keep watching but the soapy melodrama definitely holds this back from being a sharper law drama.
