We all like to think we know who our parents are, but they live their own lives. Sometimes it’s not until they’re gone that we truly get the full picture of their life.
The second episode of Hotel Costiera, “Richard,” dives deep into that topic as Daniel (Jesse Williams) helps a son come to grips with the truth about his departed mother.
A sudden loss
We begin this episode with Augusto (Tommaso Ragno) learning that a guest has passed away. There’s nothing suspicious—she had a bad heart. But it’s still a tragic loss. Soon, her son Richard (Ed Stoppard), arrives from the states and is shaken. He didn’t realize that the hotel was a place his mother had visited each year for the last decade. And he doesn’t understand why she took out $300,000 before she arrived.
Richard turns to Daniel for help. He not only needs help to fast-track a path to take his mother home, to bury her within a day according to their religious views, but to find out why she was there. Daniel turns to his team (Jordan Alexandra, Sam Haggarth, and Antonio Gerardi) to learn more. And it doesn’t take long to accomplish both goals.
Genny (Alexandra) is able to secure the needed permission to take the body out of the country right away. Tancredi (Haggarth) follows the money to a local named Massimo (Massimo Ghini). Meanwhile, Daniel and Bigne (Gerardi) manage to secure a coffin, though that last part proves the trickiest. Upon their return, they bring Richard the news, and he’s interested in meeting Massimo to learn more.
The truth about mom
Turns out, Massimo and Richard’s mother have been friends—perhaps more—for a decade. Each year they’d meet at the hotel and share a life together. It’s a part of her life she kept secret from Richard, but a meaningful piece. The $300,000 was to buy a piece of land to build a cottage to spend the rest of her days. That land—along with a letter explaining things—are left to Richard.
But he isn’t yet willing to accept that he didn’t know his mother’s true wishes. Instead, he prepares to take her back home. It isn’t long before Richard turns up at Daniel’s place. He’s had time to reflect and read his mother’s letter. He changes course and arranges, with Daniel’s help, to have her buried on the property she bought overlooking the sea. It’s a beautiful and profound ending to the guest-of-the-week story.
The hunt for Alice
Meanwhile, Daniel keeps on the hunt for Alice (Amanda Campana). He follows last week’s clue to the bar where Alice was photographed. He connects with a helpful and flirty bartender (Rebecca Coco Edogambe), offering to help with her cat if she can connect him to a co-worker who might have more information.
Later, he follows up with Alessandro (Nicolo Passetti), the bartender who spoke with Alice. Turns out she visited three days earlier, meeting a woman. It doesn’t take long for Daniel to discover the woman was her sister—Adele (Maria Chiara Gianmetta)—who works alongside Augusto at the hotel and said nothing about the search for Alice. When Daniel grills her, she admits to giving her sister $15,000. She asks Daniel not to mention it to their father.
One mystery is solved, but it doesn’t yield much of a clue for Daniel. Still, he decides to head back to the bar. After sweet-talking the original bartender, he gets a look at the footage. There, he spots a man who is talking to Alice—the same man in the photo from the first episode. There is more to the story, and Daniel has a new target.
Thoughts on Hotel Costiera episode 2
I like the guest-of-the-week conceit. So far, both mysteries have been fun and have enabled Daniel to branch out and use his team. I’m hoping that as we move forward, we see the team a little more, or at least learn a little more about them.
Aside from that, I’m curious about what happened to Alice. Hopefully we’ll learn more soon!
Hotel Costiera is now streaming on Prime Video. The entire six-episode season is now available. Check back here as we recap the season!