The Law According to Lidia Poet – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

3rd November 1883. Torino. The first case in episode 1 of The Law According to Lidia Poet is that of Adele Valery, an up-and-coming ballet dancer of D’angennes theatre. She is found murdered in a chest in the storage room.

The staff learn that the key to the room is also missing. They use the master key to open the room and discover the body. Lidia Poet has sex with her boyfriend Andrea in her rented flat. She is a lawyer and is approached by the mother of the man arrested for Adele’s murder, Pietro. She visits him in jail. She learns that Adele was about to be married to Claro, the son of the Marquis of Clermont.

Pietro says she was in love with him and not Carlo. The police say he was stalking her. Lidia goes to court and we meet her brother, Enrico, who is also a lawyer. The judge informs Lidia that General Ruggero Valery, Adele’s father, filed the missing person’s report. Pietro strangled her because he was rejected by Adele. She asks if the judge has gathered fingerprints from the scene but he does not know about this concept. The Prosecutor is a chauvinist and admonishes Lidia for taking the case. She sees the body in the morgue and wonders who took off Adele’s ring.

Poet’s registration with the bar association has been declared null by the court. The court says the following: “Women are not supposed to meddle in a man’s world. These duties are not suited to their organic design and prevent them from performing and carrying out other tasks within a family role.” Also, that women’s fashion will make the gown look bizarre.
She has gone back to her family house as she is destitute. Enrico lives with his wife Teresa, daughter Marianna, and Teresa’s brother, Jacopo, who is a journalist. Enrico refuses to help her. The past shows that Lidia’s father was not supportive of her either. Poet might appeal in the Gazette but has promised Enrico she won’t. At Adele’s funeral, she talks to Carlo and the family.

She introduces herself as a teacher at the Rosseau, the school where Adele went. Poet sees Carlo talk to a lady; the dancer who replaced Adele as the principal dancer after she died. Jacopo writes an article about the position of women to support Lidia. Poet talks to that girl and learns that Adele secretly liked Pietro’s attention.

The prosecutor gives Enrico evidence: nude drawings by Pietro of Adele. He fantasized about her. Poet says they did not find the keys to the chest in which Adele was found. Enrico is unmoved and drops the case. She talks to Pietro about the ring. “I believe in the journals”, says the guard calling her out, and voila, Poet is intrigued. An idea dawns upon her and she rushes to Jacopo.

She asks for Carlo’s residence and also for Jacopo to publish an article about the judge taking fingerprints from the chest in the storage room. She asks Carlo about the engagement ring at his residence. Adele broke off the engagement a few days ago. Poet lies about the judge ordering fingerprints to be taken off the chest. She plays a gamble.

They attend the Giselle night show. Poet has also invited the judge, Jacopo, and Enrico to the show. She says to Enrico to bring the judge and two police officers to the backstage area during the interval. Poet and Jacopo hide behind a cupboard right in front of the locked storage room. According to her, Adele broke off the marriage a few days ago. That is why she did not have the ring on her finger. Adele loved ballet more than Carlo. Jacopo and Poet enter into a bet to see if Poet’s doubts are right. They see the Marquis trying to open the door. Poet deduces that he came to visit Adele that night to convince her to marry his son.

The Marquis wanted to unite his family with general Valery’s but Adele rejected the idea. He strangled her in his anger. Poet points out that the Marquis forgot the key was with him and was convinced the room had to be knocked down, not knowing that a master key was used instead to open it. He said this to her at the funeral. The judge arrives in time and arrests him. Pietro is released the next day. Enrico is impressed but only shows it faintly, allowing Poet to copy his letters. That night, Poet waits for Jacopo to come to dinner as promised in the bet. He sends a messenger to say he will not be able to make it.

In another scene, we see Jacopo going to meet Nicole. Poet is heartbroken but has a steely voice inside that pushes her to go alone in the bar, raising eyebrows. She has a drink and starts drafting her appeal to the decision to get reinstated.

The Episode Review

Episode 1 of the series about Lidia Poet has definitely defied expectations. For those – including yours truly – who were expecting a well-behaved classical period drama rooted in tradition, the makers of this new Netflix series have surprised us. Who expected rock and roll to play in the background for a show set in the 1800’s? It seems that the story format is an anthology, where Poet and her brother will solve a new case every episode.

These new procedural sensibilities have become a trend in the recent past and the ever-shortening attention spans are to blame here! Lidia comes across as the grown-up version of Enola Holmes in some way. She definitely has big ambitions and we can expect strong feminist commentary on the side. This Italian drama seems poised to be a pleasant experience.