Hearing Voices
Episode 3 of Luna Nera starts as Cesaria returns to Serra with the book in tow, intending to give it to her father and the priest. Pietro witnesses the exchange and confronts his sister about her ways again. However, she bites back, insisting that Ade is a witch. In the ancient dwelling, the witches gather around the body of Antalia to say goodbye. Valente wakes up and asks them who the woman is. Ade then takes him aside and reveals that she’s their mother. The next day, Ade meets Pietro by the fountain again where they make a promise to never keep secrets from each other. In the evening, Ade relays to Persepolis the dilemma she faces as Persepolis in turn explains that Spirto is thinking about joining the Benindanti. We then cut to Tebe and Janara discussing what their next step is going to be now that Antalia is dead. Ade meanwhile, hears voices of women calling for help during the night. Things become more complicated for Ade the next day as Pietro arrives at their usual meeting place with a solution to their situation – he asks her to marry him, believing this may be enough for his family to stop persecuting her. Shocked by this question, she asks him to grant her a day to think things over and as she heads home, hearing the voices of the same women before seeing a vision of her mother warning about trusting people too easily. In the evening, the voices prove to be too much for Ade who collapses. Janara and Tebe find out about her gift and reveal that these are the voices of other witches who are in danger. This prompts them to rush out on their horses to save the one nearest to them. Frustrated to be left behind, Leptis decides to make use of her non-magical abilities and teaches Valente how to use a bow and arrow. In the middle of the night, the trio of women manage to find the witch who is calling for help but unfortunately they arrive too late as they witness her jump off the top of a tower to escape the Benindanti. After Ade screams, the masked men see the witches and quickly run after them. Using their powers, Tebe and Janara quickly stop them before escaping back home. As Leptis tends to Ade’s scratches, Tebe tries to convince the girl to find the other women. Meanwhile, Sante brings the book to a church where a high priest manages to open it. Tebe and Janara feel that it has been opened which leads them to uncover who managed to do it. In the middle of the night, Ade decides to say goodbye to her brother and Persepolis as she tells her friend she has decided to marry Pietro, believing it is best for everyone. She goes back to the fountain where she’s finally joined by Pietro in the morning. As they hug, she suddenly has a vision of his mother dead so she orders him to go back home as she tells him what she’s seen. After he leaves, Ade looks at her reflection in the fountain which turns into Cesaria as the episode closes. As we reach the midway point of Luna Nera, the pace picks up a little, showing us more of Ade’s powers and connection to other witches around her. She faces quite the difficult situation with Pietro who wants to marry her without knowing what she’s really capable of. We also see that Natalia is indeed her mother and hopefully it’s revealed what she had to do to age so quickly. The witches face a lot of trouble, especially now that the book has been opened. It’s heavily hinted that Marzio is the one who did it, which does add more suspense into the story. The third episode has certainly improved since the last and while it is still not perfect and could develop its magical lore more, Luna Nera remains an easy to watch series, even if it’s unlikely to be a very memorable one.
