Suburra: Blood on Rome is one of those shows that really gets you. It’s addictive, it’s layered, it’s meaty. It begs for you to sink your teeth into. It’s also very heavy. I remember being so deeply invested when the first season came out in 2017, but was so worn out by the end of it that I had a hard time getting excited for its second season when it was released in 2019.
That is until Season 3 dropped last week and I decided that it was time to go back to Rome and see what was going on. And boy did I fall back into that addiction.
Suburra: Blood on Rome is Netflix’s first Italian-language original series, and a prequel to the 2015 film Suburra. Both were inspired by true events and focused on the deep connections between politics and organised crime in the Italian capital.
The series starts with a land deal. Specifically, a deal to buy land in the coastal town of Ostia, outside of Rome, and the complicated web of interests involved in it – from the Vatican to Rome’s Municipal Commission, to a local Ostia based gang, a rival Gypsy gang, the Sicilian Mafia, and the Mafia’s man in Rome trying to broker a deal and pull it all together. From warring rival gangs, to the behind the scenes horse trading between the Vatican and Rome’s local politicians, Season 1 of the series focuses almost entirely on this land deal, while setting up the future of the series moving forward.
Season 1 felt really full. It wasn’t so much that it was overly busy or complicated, just that there were a lot of moving parts. Not only were we concerned with the land deal in question, but there was also the story of three guys with different loyalties coming together for their own side interests, and how all of that comes crashing into the main plot.
Season 2 picks up with the story of those three guys, the younger brothers of the rival Ostia and Gypsy gangs, and the son of a Roman police officer, and how they begin to consolidate power within their own ranks, while keeping their friendship together. Throw in an influential radio personality, the issue of immigration, a local Roman election, and you have a raising of stakes and balancing of power.
Season 3 starts to pull together these threads, and without having seen the film that this series is a prequel to, the endgame starts to get a little clearer. These openly opposing sides, with quiet behind the scenes links, and even more behind the scenes horse trading, feel like they’re heading for a culmination that may be explained in the 2008 film. Or not.
Something non-Hollywood shows do so well is to not be afraid of introducing a mess of people without treating anyone as named background characters. Over the course of its three seasons, Suburra: Blood on Rome has always featured a big cast of revolving characters. As is the reality of these situations, many hands are involved, and all of them get dirty. Suburra: Blood on Rome is also unafraid of killing its characters. People we’ve been following for multiple seasons get killed off, thus raising the stakes for the story and the audience, who now realise that everyone, regardless of their relationship to the story, is expendable.
Much like Dark before it, Suburra: Blood on Rome is a definite must watch. And at a total of 24 episodes over three seasons, it is really very manageable. Just give yourself the time to take it all in.
Bahir also wrote about other Non-English shows on Netflix to binge here.
Suburra: Blood on Rome
Netflix, 3 season, 24 episodes
Developed by: Daniele Cesarano and Barbara Petronio
Cast: Alessandro Borghi, Giacomo Ferrara, Eduardo Valdarnini, Francesco Acquaroli, Filippo Nigro, Claudia Gerini, Adamo Dionisi, Barbara Chichiarelli, Elisabetta De Palo, Carlotta Antonelli, Renato Marchetti, and Jacopo Venturiero
Follow Us