The Chosen One
Luna Nera really had the potential to be a decent supernatural show, thanks to its interesting and popular premise surrounding witches in the 17th century and how they dealt with people’s ignorance and persecution. Unfortunately, over 6 episodes it quickly turned into a show that heavily relied on agenda-driven writing and lacks a lot of substance. While it does deliver an unexpected and interesting twist at the end, it also finishes with the usual cliffhanger, which is quickly becoming a standardised norm for Netflix Originals. The Season 1 finale of Luna Nera begins with Marzio casting a spell to block the witches’ powers while in his cell Valente tends to an injured Leptis. Cesaria pays them a visit and promises to free them if they tell her where the witches are hiding. Meanwhile, Persepolis convinces Tebe to let her go to find out what’s happening. In the town, she sees Pietro asking for Spirto’s help to save Valente. She also finds out about the execution, which she quickly relays to the witches. Ade and Tebe decide to head to the fountain to meet with Pietro. He tells them that he has found a way to free Valente and Leptis, which is to get the key to their cell. The witches prepare themselves for the candle festival where they plan to free Valente and Leptis. The festivities get underway and we watch as the witches enact their plan in the town. They manage to head down the tunnels but are soon caught by the Benandante. Unfortunately, they’re unable to use their magic as Marzio has managed to block their powers for now. Pietro finds out they’ve been caught and manages to convince Cesaria to take him to Ade and the other witches. He has a quick emotional reunion with Ade before leaving while Cesaria orders the witches to undress and wear the clothes Marzio has previously cursed. In the town square, the crowd gather, eagerly awaiting the execution of the witches. Under the watchful eyes of Sante and Marzio, the women are brought to the stakes. However, Ade is separated and taken to Marzio as Sante gives a speech about evil and the witches who brought it upon them. As he is about to give the order to execute , the people are shocked to see an eclipse, plunging them into darkness. Suddenly the witches are teleported into the crowd and form a circle, with Valente in the middle as his eyes starts glowing. We then see that he had powers all along as he imbues the rest of the witches with it and starts controlling them. They quickly manage to dispose of the people around them as Valente levitates towards Sante. The latter grabs the boy but is soon stopped by Ade, who stabs him in the heart. The sun then suddenly returns as Pietro watches his Father die and the witches fly away. Looking at the town in the distance, Marzio leaves with the book of the kingdoms while the witches perform a baptism for Valente. We then hear Antalia recalling what she did for her second baby, who she knew was the chosen one. She gave up her youth to turn her into a boy in order to protect her. She explains that the spell would only last until the first black moon, which will reveal who she really is; the chosen one and a girl. This angers Ade who finds out that her mum has lied to her, so she angrily banishes her away. In Serra, Pietro decides to pledge himself to the Benandante and vows to never let a woman into his heart again. He then names Spirto as his second-in-command, much to the shock of Cesaria. She protests but it is in vain as the rest of members are ready to follow him. We close the episode with Ade running in the snow, screaming in frustration and anger. She suddenly stops and as she casts a spell, we see that she has chosen darkness as her eyes turn black. What a great twist! Here we find out Valente was the one with powers all along and we find out the reason behind Antalia’s sudden aging too; she sacrificed herself to save her youngest daughter. While Valente being the chosen one was a nice touch, personally I’m on the fence with his mother turning her baby into her boy. This again reinforces the agenda-driven writing the series has been given us and at times the series feels like it could have benefited from toning this down a little. The show started quite strongly though, with a dark episode that hinted towards some interesting future debates between religion and science. Unfortunately, like many other sub-plots, this was quickly forgotten. Both Pietro and Spirto have joined the Benandanti and with Cesaria pushed to the sidelines, it’ll be interesting to see what she decides to do next if a second season is green-lit. This, inevitably is the real kicker. Will Luna Nera be renewed? The show ends with the expected cliffhanger and although there are future books in this series, it all rests on whether the viewing figures match up to rhe demand. With Ade choosing the dark side, this could bring a more intriguing and edgier second season. In the meantime though, Luna Nera will unlikely to be up there with some of Netflix’s better supernatural series.
