Season 1, Episode 2
Date of airing: September 21, 2020 (Sky Atlantic)
Written by: Furio Andreotti, Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia
Directed by: Maria Sole Tognazzi
”A new development in the case?”
“No, that's just Coward's veterinarian.”
“A friend of yours?”
“No, just someone I'd like to fuck.”
Possibly not a good episode for dog lovers, as the felines go from being cute and ready to cuddle to being victims of illegal breeding and selling, let alone dog fights. And let's not forget the one big twist that a dog was ordered to attack and kill a woman. While this is still a TV show that wants to be watched by the entire family (even though PETRA is more of a mature show), the scene of a dog killing a person happened off-screen and in-between scenes, but the wounds were still visible and not suitable for viewers who don't like to faint when seeing such stuff. When the episode started with dogs, I was hoping for it to be a cute story, in which Petra Delicato and Antonio Monte learn how to love the four-legged pets (Petra more so, because she already has an eight-legged pet she just lets exist in her house), it turned into more of a brutal story, in which the genre-usual twist and turns were employed for the sake of surprises.
And there were definitely a few surprises here, which, as a regular watcher of American crime shows, I kind of saw coming. Both Petra and Antonio got into new relationships during this episode – Petra with a veterinarian, Antonio with a dog trainer – and as the story and murder investigation developed, I saw it coming that either of the love interests, or both, had something to do with Fregi's murder. After all, this being more of a self-contained crime series, I couldn't imagine that either of the two leads would end up with a steady and possibly permanent relationship, even if I would have wished it for them (Petra and Antonio need love in their lives – if not with other people, then maybe with each other). Who knows, maybe Antoni's experience with Valentina will be something that causes his change into a different person – something to show me that PETRA was in fact not a self-contained crime drama, and instead a depiction of two lonely characters on their journey to realize that they have never been lonely after all.
 |
| Petra only has one working relationship, and it's with animals. |
