‘Suburra: Blood on Rome’ Season 3 Episode 4 Recap: Order in the Court

Suburra: Blood on Rome, courtroom drama? No, or at least not exactly—that would be too prosaic a direction for a show this bombastic and lush to go down. Though it’s called “The Trial,” this episode’s tribunal is strictly off the books. It’s a gathering of the elder statesmen of the Sinti Roma mob, there to judge whether Nadia had the right to kill one of their foot soldiers at the disastrous party Aureliano and Spadino threw for themselves last episode. And since the episode ends with Nadia catching a bullet of her own, I’m not sure how successful the trial’s outcome really is for her.

It all looks good enough, that’s for sure. Though the judges in this case are at first offended that only Aureliano traveled to meet them, not the woman whose guilt or innocence is truly in question, Nadia takes care of that by defying her boyfriend’s orders and showing up herself. And during the trial they receive the backing of Angelica, who testifies that Nadia had no choice but to kill the Sinti soldier named Leo because she was defending the life of her man, which Angelica says she would have done herself had she been in Nadia’s shoes. Later, Nadia points out to Angelica that she didn’t witness the shooting personally; yeah, sure, Angelica replies, but she trusts Nadia enough to take her word for it. It’s a moment that shows the pair bonding just like their significant others have, and if it weren’t about a murder it would be really sweet. (It kind of is anyway, to be honest.)

Of course, at least a part of the whole trial thing is a sham. Despite his statements to the contrary when he backs his brother Spadino against Alex, Leo’s friend and fellow party crasher, Manfredi Anacleti and his mother Adelaide are still firmly lined up against Spadino in secret. Watching the two of them egg each other on is like watching a dark mirror image of meetings between Spadino and Aureliano; you want the boys to get along, whereas with Manfredi and Adelaide, all you want them to do is sit down and shut up.

And Aureliano’s problems don’t end with Nadia’s acquittal. His Sicilian mafia contact Badali is pissed off after inspecting the building site at the beachfront and finding it abandoned, after Aureliano chased off the workers at gunpoint. Aureliano insists they had a deal that he could maintain his mother’s beloved kiosk in exchange for cutting Badali in on the big Jubilee paychecks that are coming his way; Badali retorts that he’d said he’d consider keeping the kiosk only after getting his cut. “You can’t change your mind whenever you want, Badali,” Aureliano tells him. “Actually,” says the mafia prince, “I can.”

Cinaglia’s problems lie closer to home—or rather, they don’t anymore, and that’s the problem. His wife Alice has taken the children to live in a cliffside convent, of all places, where it seems her latent Catholicism has really moved to the fore of her life. And while she’s there, a little bird named Cardinal Nascari is chirping in her ear, telling her to rat her husband out to the authorities in order to save his soul.

But Cinaglia is no dummy, despite occasional appearances to the contrary. Told by his only remaining friend, an old professor who took pity on him in the flashback that opened the episode, that his insides are rotten, he seems intent on proving the prof right when Alice approaches him and asks him to give up all his ill-gotten power and wealth. Suddenly he’s taking pages from the Walter White playbook, physically intimidating Alice while bragging about how dangerous and powerful he really is. (Seriously, he all but says “I am the one who knocks” to her.)

The episode closes with a murder and a mystery. As Nadia and Angelica, now thick as thieves, wrap up their cash collection in North Rome, a stick-up crew kills their bodyguard and robs them of their money, wounding Nadia in the process.

The big question about this final scene: Who the hell are these guys? Given Manfredi and his mother’s words and deeds earlier in the episode I would have expected them to be Sinti, but their open mocking racism against “gypsies” and Angelica’s inability to recognize them would seem to point someplace else. Perhaps they’re part of Badali’s Sicilian mob, or at least paid by them? Either way, sticking up the significant others of Aureliano and Spadino, and shooting one of them in the bargain, represents a dangerous ratcheting-up of an already precarious situation. It’s yet another fire for the protagonists to put out. At a certain point, will the flames overwhelm them?

Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.

Watch Suburra Season 3 Episode 4 ("The Trial") on Netflix