Commissioner Ricciardi returns to Rai 1 with the third season of the series based on the novels by Maurizio de Giovanni, set in Naples in the 1930s. The second episode broadcast tonight on Rai 1 continues the narrative journey that combines mystery, crime and superstition. Ricciardi is an extraordinary commissioner: capable of perceiving the last words of the ghosts of victims of violent death, he moves in a city suspended between reality and the supernatural.
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An antihero at the heart of the fascist regime
The figure of Ricciardi represents a modern antihero, because he does not conform to traditional male stereotypes. Lino Guanciale, interpreter of the commissioner, underlined how the character questions the dominant machismo, showing a sensitive, thoughtful man capable of deep emotions. Ricciardi moves with fragility and introspection, far from the classic spotless heroes of detective literature.
According to Guanciale, the character’s strength lies in his alternative way of experiencing masculinity: he is closed, silent and awkward in his affectivity, yet credible and powerful as a protagonist. In a television and literary world often dominated by “alpha male” figures, Ricciardi proposes a different model. The series thus also becomes a critical portrait of the society of the time, showing how machismo was rooted in political and social contexts and how emotional diversity can represent an alternative path.
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What the new season is about
In the new season, Ricciardi faces a serial murderer for the first time, in an era in which the term “serial killer” was not yet part of the criminological language. At the same time, the series explores his personal relationships: his love for Enrica Colombo, his neighbor, his bond with Brigadier Raffaele Maione, and his friendship with the anti-fascist pathologist Bruno Modo.
The plot of the second episode
Tonight’s second episode will start from the murder of a pharmacist, found with an awl stuck in his skull and his eyes blindfolded. A gesture that seems to launch a challenge to the police. Ricciardi, as always, doesn’t just observe: he tries to understand the bond between the victims, who apparently have nothing in common. The commissioner moves through alleys and buildings, assisted by the ghosts of the dead, in search of clues that can reveal the killer’s modus operandi.
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