The premiere of My Brilliant Friend's Season 4 opens with Elena, ensconced in the bustling cityscape of Paris, her heart heavy with the weight of her marriage to Pietro and the uncertain pull of Nino's presence. Her insecurities are ignited when she overhears Nino's hushed conversation with his wife, igniting a sense of urgency to resolve their tangled web of emotions.
Returning to Naples for Christmas, Elena finds the house eerily vacant, her solitude punctuated by unanswered messages from Lila, pleading for her company. Instead, she reaches out to Pietro's sister, who reveals Adele's scheme—to create space for Pietro and Elena to reconcile.
Elena, resolute, attempts to broach the subject of separation with Pietro, her intention clear: she desires custody of their children. This revelation stirs up a tempest of emotions within him. As the storm rages on, Elena's mother arrives, a beacon of tradition and family values, desperately trying to quell the divorce's tide. Yet, Elena's declaration of love for Nino ignites a fury within her mother, unleashing a torrent of insults and blows. In the heat of the moment, Elena pushes back, a gesture that shatters the bond between mother and daughter, as Immacolata disowns her and claims Pietro as her own.
Left to grapple with the aftermath, Elena turns to Adele, who stands firm in her conviction that the girls belong with their grandparents. Adele's doubts about Elena's ability to juggle motherhood with her literary aspirations only add fuel to the fire.
At a triumphant literary event in Milan, Elena shares her poignant tale of growing up amidst poverty and patriarchy, her words echoing with the resilience of her past. But as she dines with Silvia, a phone call from Nino interrupts her reverie, inviting her on an escapade to Argentina. Faced with a choice between retrieving her daughters from Turin or embarking on a journey with Nino, Elena chooses the latter, casting her into a new existential quagmire: how to reconcile her love for Nino with her responsibilities as a mother.
As Elena and Nino's sojourn unfolds, the narrative weaves in snapshots of Italy's turbulent socio-political landscape in the 1970s, mirroring the chaos they seek to transcend. Elena finds solace in the thought that their love, rooted in Florence, transcends the tumultuous times, a beacon of hope amidst the storm.
At the conference, tensions flared as Nino inadvertently cast blame on Aldo Moro's abduction, igniting the ire of the assembled audience. Compelled to withdraw from the heated scene, Nino and Elena found themselves estranged from the crowd. Elena, her voice tinged with a wistful note that bordered on hubris, mused that their idyllic life had been so immaculate that even criticisms failed to mar their shared bliss. As they walked, Elena's thoughts wandered to a serene vision of the future where she, Nino, and her cherished daughters would coalesce into a harmonious family unit.
However, the tranquility of her dreams was shattered when Elena learned of Pietro's hospitalization, a grim aftermath of a fascist attack. Reunited with her daughters, she discovered that Pietro had embarked on a new chapter, his heart captivated by another. He confessed to Elena that he had not felt such profound happiness in ages, a revelation that she accepted with empathy. Sharing her intention to forge a new life with Nino and her daughters, Elena received Pietro's understanding, though unbeknownst to her, Nino's own life was far from settled; he had parted ways with his wife, oblivious to Elena's aspirations for their collective future.
Elena's bond with her daughters, particularly Dede, seemed frayed, and her plans to relocate the family to Naples, housed at Adele's Turin abode, met with resistance. Adele's skepticism and outright disapproval echoed Professor Airota's assessment of Nino as unreliable and insignificant, further complicating Elena's decision. Torn between loyalty to her daughters and her love for Nino, Elena was haunted by Lila's prophecy that Nino would ultimately abandon her.
As she journeyed back to Naples, Elena's thoughts churned with pragmatism, weighing the feasibility of her relationship with Nino. Disclosing her aspirations for a unified family life, Nino's enthusiastic response momentarily eased her doubts. Yet, Nino's revelation that Lila had been seeking her for petty reasons sparked a new resolve in Elena to shield her personal affairs from Lila's interference.
In a reluctant yet decisive move, Elena agreed to meet Lila and Carmen at a café. Lila's arrival brought forth a bombshell: Nino had never truly left his wife, still residing with her amidst his newfound success as the director of a prestigious bank research institute, a position secured through his father-in-law's patronage. The truth unraveled, leaving Elena shattered by Nino's deceit and betrayal, her world crumbling around her.
