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A Familiar World of Gentle Lunacy

I stole this ^ from Magda SzabĂł because it perfectly describes what you'll find here. Sign up for emails if you want to receive the same bullshit in your inbox.

My Brilliant Friend ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

'My Brilliant Friend' Season 3, Episode 2: The Fever

Quick summary: When the Soccavo Salami Factory turns into a Communists vs. fascists battleground and Lila (Gaia Girace) is hit with the one-two punch of physical and mental illness, she sends for Elena (Margherita Mazzucco). As a sweaty Lila lies in bed with "[her head] coming unstuck like
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Friday Night Dinner ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

Friday Night Dinner, September 2026

I have been consuming too much internet lately and it's making me feel crazy. Why do I know Andrew Garfield's top 8 drag queens? I mean, his choices are good, but that's not really information I need swimming around in my brain. What I
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My Brilliant Friend ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

'My Brilliant Friend' Season 3, Episode 1: Indecencies

Quick summary: All it takes to rock the relationship between Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) and Pietro (Matteo Cecchi) is a surprise appearance by Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico), who makes a vague comment about sex that leaves her reeling for the rest of the season. Aside from obsessing over Nino, Elena spends
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My Brilliant Friend ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 8: The Blue Fairy

Quick summary: When Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) meets Pietro Airota (Matteo Cecchi), another student at the Normale who comes from an intellectual family, everything falls into place: she graduates with the highest honors, they get engaged, and she writes and publishes a book. While her life is coming together, Lila'
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My Brilliant Friend ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 7: The Secret Notebooks

Quick summary: Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) begins the episode on a high, running through the streets of Pisa with her boyfriend, Franco Mari (Bruno Orlando), but then he loses his spot at the Normale and she once again feels like an outsider. Over winter break, she comes down with a gnarly
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Friday Night Dinner ⸱ Lindsay Pugh

Friday Night Dinner, July 2026

I’m writing this on my way into the city on Metro-North, which is one of many places that makes me fantasize about the event in Marlen Haushofer’s “The Wall” (1963). If I must either live in a world devoid of people or sit next to the elderly
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Yale, janitor, in 100 years we'll all be dead. It's all the same.

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'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 6: Rage

Quick summary: Lila and Nino find a way to keep their affair going back in Naples, but it quickly falls apart once she leaves Stefano and they start living together. As soon as the relationship becomes real — with a pregnancy and commitments beyond just fucking — Nino loses interest. In classic
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'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 5: The Betrayal

Quick summary: Lila and Nino are now engaged in a full-blown affair that grows more brazen each day. Much to Elena's vexation, they quickly move from sneaking around to showing affection in public. As their romance escalates, Elena feels increasingly isolated from them and resentful over how
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Friday Night Dinner, June 2026

It's been six weeks since my last missive, so if you signed up for Friday Night Dinner and wondered where the hell it's been, well... here it is. I'm writing this on the summer solstice in utter disbelief that we have three whole months
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'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 4: The Kiss

Quick summary: After a brief estrangement, Lila (Gaia Girace) and Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) make up at Rino (Gennaro De Stefano) and Pinuccia's (Federica Sollazzo) wedding. In part, the reconciliation is motivated by Elena's sympathy over Lila's can't-keep-a-pregnancy fragility, but
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'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 3: Erasure

Quick summary: After Lila's pregnancy announcement, her dĂŠtente with Elena persists throughout the school year. She throws herself into work at the grocery and designs a controversial avant garde art piece for the shoe store, doing whatever it takes to distract herself from the fact that her cushy
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'My Brilliant Friend' Season 2, Episode 2: The Body

Quick summary: The post-honeymoon goodwill between LenĂš and Lila rapidly dissipates as both girls betray each other in different ways. Lila uses LenĂš, and the pretense of Antonio's impending military service, as an excuse to play mind games at the Bar Solara. As a result, Antonio breaks
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