‘My Brilliant Friend’ Season 3 Ending, Explained

Co-produced by HBO and RAI and created by Saverio Costanzo, My Brilliant Friend is an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s four-part Neapolitan Novels book series (the first of which shares its name with the show’s title). Each book is broken into an eight-episode season, allowing for the full range of the story to be explored and done justice over the course of its run. The finale episode of Season 3 dropped just yesterday, and now that the the series is approaching its last season, you probably have some questions.

Much like the novels, the show revolves around a woman named Elena “Lenù” Greco (Elisa Del Genio, Margherita Mazzucco), who recounts the lifelong friendship and conflicts she had with a girl named Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo (Ludovica Nasti, Gaia Girace), whom she first met at primary school in Naples during the early 1950s. My Brilliant Friend Season 3 sees Lenù and Lila as they grow into adulthood, following diverging paths that lead them through everything from marriage to motherhood to different careers, whilst still trying to support one another through the complexities and challenges of their varied lives.

Keep on reading to see where the Season 3 finale leaves our two brilliant friends (warning: spoilers ahead).

My Brilliant Friend Season 3 Ending, Explained

The final episode of My Brilliant Friend Season 3 begins with Lenù (Mazzucco) in a bind. Throughout this season, we have seen her struggle in her marriage to Pietro Airota (Matteo Cecchi), as their is a distance between them (largely due to Pietro’s passivity and general inability to treat her as an equal) widens, leaving room for her to begin an affair with Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico), whom she knew and crushed on in her elementary school days and has been pining for ever since. Before Pietro brought Nino back into Lenù’s life, she hadn’t seen him since he chose Lila (her BEST FRIEND) over her, got her pregnant, then abandoned her, and even despite all of that misbehavior and betrayal, Lenù still finds herself drawn to the philandering cad (who is also married at the time), and he certainly seems drawn to her now that she is a successful published author and (not quite happily) married.

In their affair, the two use each other, as Lenù finally gets a taste of the passion and intellectual respect her marriage with Pietro lacks, while Nino gets a taste of the power and rush that comes from sneaking around with an impressive, intelligent, and unavailable woman, and they both seem to convince themselves that this is love. Lenù realizes she wants to take action to get out of her unhappy marriage, but when she suggests that they tell their spouses the truth so they can finally truly be together, Nino balks and refuses to come clean to his wife, Eleonora (Chiara Celotto), leading Lenù to end things between them then and there. Much to Lenù’s surprise, though, Nino does end up telling his wife about his affair, essentially ruining his own marriage so he can run off and live a fantasy with Lenù. She decides to come clean to Pietro so that she can finally be free to be with the man she’s loved for so long, and her husband… does NOT react well, to say the least.

Pietro forces Lenù to tell their two young daughters about her affair, leaving both eldest daughter Dede (Sofia Luchetti) and Pietro in tears and disbelief at the words coming out of her mouth (including her promise to return from a trip with Nino in five days’ time). Lenù is on her way out door for her trip when Lila (Girace) calls to inform her that Manuela Solara (Imma Villa) has been murdered, causing unrest, fear, and violence to break out in her neighborhood. As a result, she wants to send her son, Gennaro (Salvatore Tortora), to stay with Lenù and her family so he’ll be kept safe. Lenù says she can’t because she’s leaving to be with Nino, and consider the player’s past with Lila, she’s understandably upset, and warns her friend that Nino will use her until he decides to abandon her, calling Lenù an idiot before hanging up. When they get on the plane to run off together on a romantic getaway, Nino is still wearing his wedding ring, and neither of them look as happy as you (and, likely, they) would expect them to be. Lenù gets up to use the restroom, and it’s only upon seeing an older version of herself (Alba Rohrwacher), standing proud, confident, and alone in the mirror, that she smiles.

A Season 4 is guaranteed and already in the works, so you KNOW a lot of excitement, drama, friendship, romance, heartbreak, and everything in between is on the horizon. For now, just be sure to bask in the greatness that was My Brilliant Friend Season 3.

Where to watch My Brilliant Friend