Claudia Gusmano as Alice in ‘An Atsrological Guide for Broken Hearts’ (Photo credit: LUCIA … [+]
An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts (Guida astrologica per cuori infranti) is back on Netflix
NFLX
Based on the Italian bestseller written by Silvia Zucca, the second season of An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts completes Alice’s search for love using the Zodiac signs. If you haven’t yet seen the first season, the series follows Alice Bassi (Claudia Gusmano), a producer at a local TV station, in her mid-thirties and single, living in the beautiful Italian city of Turin. She meets Tio (Lorenzo Adorni), an actor and astrology expert, who introduces her to the methodology of star signs. He convinces her that she needs to date men with compatible star signs. Through Tio’s influence, Alice conceives a new TV game show that would allow contestants to find their true love using Zodiac signs. The concept is picked up by her new boss, Davide Sardi (Michele Rosiello).
The last episode of season 1 ended with quite the cliffhanger. After kissing her boss, Davide Sardi, Alice discovers that he in fact is already in a relationship with another woman, named Barbara (Euridice Axen). Season 2 picks up right where Season 1 had left us. Alice finds herself in quite the predicament. The man she likes is taken. And, to add insult to injury, she has no idea what his star sign is.
Michele Rosiello as Davide, Claudia Gusmano as Alice, and Lorenzo Adorni as Tio in ‘An Astrological … [+]
The different star signs slowly fade into the background in this second season. Alice only has eyes for her boss, and stops dating men according to their star signs. Alice, instead, looks for guidance in her life choices using astrology, and hopes the stars will tell her what she must do. She tells her best friend Paola (Esther Elisha) that she has spent her life making the wrong decisions, and now wants to use astrology so that these decisions may be made for her. A concept which appalls Paola. She does not need anyone, nor any stars, to make her decisions for her. The series plays with this idea of being guided by the stars in a witty and humorous way, showing Alice’s frustrations with the state of her love life.
Created by Bindu de Stoppani, who also directed the episodes with Michela Andreozzi, and produced by Italian International Film – Lucisano Group, An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts is one of these rare light-hearted romcoms that feel like guilty pleasures. It emulates the genre, even quoting some of its most well-known lines. The series thus unfolds without any great surprises. Everything falls as expected. The trip to Paris to interview an eminent astrologer planned for the presenters of the show, Tio and Marlin (Emanuela Grimalda), of course, at the last minute changes when neither can go, leaving Alice and Davide having to go in their place, turning into an anticipated romantic getaway. Alice and Davide find themselves alone in the city of love.
Part of the success of such shows relies heavily on the lead character. Much like Bridget Jones or Jess in New Girl, Alice Bassi is a fun and lovable character as well as being relatable. She’s messy, dresses in cute outfits, lacks confidence when it comes to making decisions in her love life, but is a confident independent woman in her work. This second season sees Alice particularly thrive in her career as a TV producer, now completely in charge of her new game show. Gusmano is perfect as Alice, portraying her as a quirky and bubbly woman, who inextricably finds herself continually in absurd situations, such as forgetting her purse and then getting lost in the Parisian streets.
With just 30-minutes per episode, this is a series easy to binge. The 12 episodes of the two seasons feel like a complete series that won’t disappoint those who have been waiting months for the new episodes since the big cliffhanger of season 1.