User Reviews

This episode sees Inspector Montalbano and his colleagues investigating the disappearance of a young woman. She had become estranged from her parents after becoming a prostitute; a profession she appears to have left as she was seeing an older man. He admits that he was jealous about men involved with her in the past but wasn't on Sicily at the time she vanished. As the investigation proceeds they learn how she came to become a prostitute; not long afterwards those who wronged her start turning up dead, shot with an unusual weapon. While this is going on Montalbano has another strange case to look into; a burglar reported that he saw an elderly man sitting next to his dead wife with a gun to his head; strangely when he returns with Montalbano it appears that the man is lying dead and the woman is about to shoot herself! If that wasn't enough to investigate Montalbano gets jealous when Livia mentions that an old boyfriend has got back in touch with her on social media... he can't help trying to find out more about the man, enlisting Catarella to hack into the man's social media account.

This episode was a lot of fun with an intriguing main story, a poignant side story about just what is going on with the elderly couple found by the burglar and plenty of laughs provided by Salvo and Catarella's investigation into Livia's ex-boyfriend. Things get off to a great start during an hilarious dream sequence; this doesn't go on too long and we are soon into the body of the episode. Each investigation is suitably different; the main story has a decent number of suspects as we wonder what happened to the missing woman and who might have wanted to harm her. The story of the elderly couple is answered fairly quickly but remains relevant to things that happened later. Salvo's jealous investigation into Livia's ex provided some of the episodes best moments and meant Catarella had a substantially larger role than usual; Angelo Russo was on really great form in the role. The rest of the cast were as impressive as usual too. Overall this was a fine episode which provides a good mystery, amusing moments and a rather poignant ending. This is the last episode for the time being but I certainly hope further stories are made.

These comments are based on watching the episode in Italian with English subtitles.

Love detective mystery dramas, particularly those from the UK and US ('Inspector Morse', 'A Touch of Frost', 'Foyle's War', 'Inspector George Gently', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Law and Order', 'Criminal Minds', 'Monk' and 'Murder She Wrote' for examples, and non-English/American ones (i.e. The Swedish 'Wallander' and the Danish 'The Killing') also fascinate me.

'Inspector Montalbano' is one of the best and most entertaining examples. It is not easy breathing freshness into a well-worn genre but 'Inspector Montalbano' manages to do so with aplomb. Watching 'Inspector Montalbano' is like eating a delicious Italian meal that immensely satisfies and leaves you wanting more. There may be very familiar tropes, but in a way it's inevitable and doesn't detract from the enjoyment at all.

"Amore" is another great episode, lots of love from me. Not one of the best episodes by all means, the elderly couple subplot is over too quickly, but there is an enormous amount to like as usual with 'Inspector Montalbano'.

One always expects 'Inspector Montalbano' to look good. As always with 'Inspector Montalbano', "Amore" is beautifully shot and the scenery is stunning, making those who've never been to Italy want to book a holiday there as soon as possible and is a treat for anybody who loves all things Italian. The scenery as always is atmospheric and the use of it very clever, the locale as always is suitably colourful. The music is never over-bearing or low-key with a nice atmosphere and flavour, a lot of it is very cleverly used. The sound effects are remarkably authentic.

The script is thought-provoking and intriguing, with a healthy balance of never less than amusing and light-hearted if more eccentric than usual humour, some tension and some charming drama with Montalbano's complicated personal life. The ending is very touching. The English subtitles are not hard to follow at all and helps one to really understand the Italian language. The story is effectively complicated, while still being logical and not too convoluted. The denouement is not an obvious one and not a simple one strictly speaking, but it's cooked all the way through and is comprehensible, almost poetic and sensually enticing in the way it was shot

Characters may be stereotypes but well-written ones, especially one of the most fascinating foreign detective mystery dramas titular characters there is to me.

Acting is terrific, especially from Luca Zingaretti who is a treasure in the title role, having a perfect balance of comedy and drama and playing it straight while always engaging with his material. Cesare Bocci, Peppino Mazzotta and Angelo Russo are joys, Russo in particular is hilarious. The supporting cast are solid.

On the whole, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox