MY BRILLIANT FRIEND

ITALIA TV SHOW

“It’s difficult to find your best bestie, but if you find it, you’ll stick to her/him, forever.”

Season: 1

Year: 2018

Rating in IMDB: 8.6 (Rated #233 in the end of 2019)

Genre: Drama

The overall story of this series is similar to the title. It tells about the two women who got along since their kids. Elena (often called Lenu throughout the series) and Lila become friends even though they had many differences. They had different situation in their families, especially their social status and financial situation. Despite that, they still become friends, even there are some ups and downs in their relationship.

The series told by old Lenu. Her old self talked about her past self and mainly about her life when she still is friends with Lila. The story started when Lenu was a child in Naples, Italia and it was the Neopolitan era (the 1950s). Lenu was a child with proper financial and supporting family. Her family especially her dad always supported her to take education seriously. Lenu’s condition was different from Lila’s condition. Lila was from a worker family. Her dad and her brother were the cobblers. Her family’s financial condition pressured her not to take education further, even though she is smarter than Lenu.

Many crisis events happened in their childhood. They live in a conflicted neighborhood when two families had been conflicting with each other. Lenu and Lila found their struggle with their school life and living in the neighborhood. They got several clashes, especially when Lenu could continue her studies in high school, but Lila couldn’t. Lila felt a bit jealous of Lenu’s condition, but she was trying hard to support Lenu. When Lenu studied in high school, their relationship got distancing because Lenu studied in Gino. Lenu had experienced her love first sight with Nino, otherwise, Lila had many male friends liking to her.

My Brilliant friends focused on the drama between Lina and Lenu, also their neighborhood conflict. It covers many issues: their friendship, pursuing education, love life, neighborhood life, and family conflict. The drama is satisfying to watch, it sometimes made the viewers feel irritated with some of the characters, but concerned for them too. The story is intriguing and binge-worthy.

The characters especially Lenu has great development character. When she was a child, she wanted to be the smartest child because she was jealous of Lila, at first. But, her motivation changed, she becomes purely pursuing high education based on her intrinsic motivation, not because of Lila’s motivation. Also, Lenu had some trouble with her socialization skills when she was teenager. She often got jealous of Lila too because Lila was friendly and she easily got many male friends liking her. The friendship between Lila and Lenu was developing too. In their adulthood life, they support each other unconditionally. It is different than their relationship in the past, especially when they were middle schoolers.

The story also focused on family conflict while their family was still conservative about the role of women. They still interpreted that women have to become a wife or helping a family. But, Lila and Lenu strove to pursue higher education, even though Lila couldn’t get the chance.

The series took the story from a novel titled the same name, My Brilliant Friend. I don’t know how many the season will release in the future. But, the novel has four series, so it might be taking four seasons. This series made attention from Italian viewers, but not so much from foreign viewers. I love how this series could make the amazing cinematography, from the detailed properties and beautiful scenery when the shooting took place in Ischia Island. Italia is always a lovely and attractive place.

MY FAVORITE SCENES [SPOILER]: