Detective Montalbano (TV Series) La piramide di fango (2016) User Reviews

Montalbano and the Mud Pyramid

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 21 October 2017]

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.

Saying that "The Mud Pyramid" is one of my least favourite 'Inspector Montalbano' episodes is in no way a bad thing, because it's still very good if not quite brilliant like most 'Inspector Montalbano' episodes are. Some of the evidence for my tastes is illogical as well as scant and the denouement is severely under-cooked, pizza that hasn't been cooked all the way through is less underwhelming.

However, one always expects 'Inspector Montalbano' to look good. As always with 'Inspector Montalbano', "The Mud Pyramid" 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 if more eccentric than usual (namely from Catarella as ever), some tension and some charming drama with Montalbano's complicated personal life. The English subtitles are not hard to follow at all and helps one to really understand the Italian language. There are admittedly more logical and easier to follow stories in other 'Inspector Montalbano' episodes, but it's suitably brain-teasing and absorbing still with a lot of atmosphere.

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 and Angelo Russo are joys, while Sonia Bergamasco is my personal favourite of the three actresses playing Livia, not just because she's authentically Italian but she is charming and fiery with great chemistry with Zingaretti.

Overall, a couple of misgivings but very good on the whole. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Montalbano's Metaphor

[DoctorStrabismus · 8/10 · 1 February 2023]

An unusual episode of Montalbano, very thought-provoking, and with lots of loose ends.

The central characters are absolutely on their usual form. Mimi is after any female under about the age of 60, Fazio is full of the usual wearisomely encyclopaedic explanations, and Catarella still can't handle that office door, and gets people's names wrong. For one of those, the subtitles fail to explain that the name Catarella gave, as a result of getting the initial letter wrong, is in fact rude Italian slang for two particular items of the male anatomy. That's why Montalbano looked quizzically at him and said with a laugh "You don't have someone named that???" But Catarella nodded and said "Si". Yes, he did.

And of course Montalbano and Livia - does anything ever change?

But the Pyramid of Mud is so obviously Montalbano's metaphor for the mafia. Through series after series he has been attacking their power, and we have been seeing how the ordinary citizens of 21st century Sicily have reached the point where they have had enough of their constricting mediaeval grip on every facet of life on the island. This no doubt reflects the success of anti-mafia forces over the last couple of decades. Maybe the rain is at last washing down that huge pyramid of mud!

Lots of elements in this, as it draws to its conclusion, make it look like it was planned to be the final Montalbano, the final episode of the final series, and maybe that is why he expostulates this metaphorical summary.

But that didn't happen, and there still remain 9 episodes over 5 future series. For Montalbano addicts, that can only be a good thing!

8/10.

Inspector Montalbano – The Mud Pyramid

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 26 August 2017]

As this episode opens a man cycles through town with blood on his back; when he can go no further he crawls into a large pipe on a construction site. The next day his body is found; he has succumbed to a gunshot wound. Montalbano is soon on the case and learns the man was an accountant who had worked for a company involved in some shady construction deals. These could prove a motivation but there is also the question of what happened to his German wife; somebody is keen that the authorities believe she has returned to Germany but Montalbano is sure that she was murdered as well. The mystery only deepens when we learn that a mystery man had been living with the dead man and his wife; a man who stayed out of the way and left not a single fingerprint in the house. Before the case is solved a secret room containing an empty safe and links to two local mafia families will emerge as well as a rather unlikely confession.

This was a fine episode that had me gripped from the opening sequence. There was a good sense of mystery and some good red herrings; some intriguing, some amusing. For a change when the episode opens it is pouring with rain and thundering; this isn't a sign of a new darker tone though; by morning it is glorious sunshine again… it is almost as though it only thundered so that the sound of the gunshot could be obscured! There are the usual amusing moments, including a twist on usual affairs when Mimi doesn't want to talk to a woman because she had previously dumped him! As expected the main cast does a really fine job; after so long in the roles it feels as if they are the characters they play… of course it helps that I've not seen them in anything else. The supporting cast as pretty solid as well. Overall I found this to be a really enjoyable episode even by the high standards of the series.

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