Episode 3 of The Law According to Lidia Poet begins with an underground match. The winning boxer, Nino Birago takes a break and is drowned in the water trough.
The public berates Lidia and Enrico for defending Grazia. Grazia insists she didn’t write the telegram but it doesn’t matter. Lidia trusts her but asks her to confess to it, claiming that after her foiled escape plan, she wanted to face her abusive husband in a public setting. Lidia asks her to trust her. A flashback shows Grazia hiding a note from Lidia.
Judge Davanzati presides over the trial and it is doomed from the start. He refuses to let Lidia sit on the defence bench, reminding her of her revoked license. When the telegram is brought up, Grazia declares it isn’t hers. Of course, Davanzati mocks Enrico for this strategy and refuses to check the telegram’s authenticity.
Zanardelli wants to meet with Enrico and he panics. Jacopo tries to lighten the mood but it doesn’t work. Enrico is annoyed as usual and tries to kick him out. They are distracted when their help, Albertina asks for a lawyer for her cousin, Ernesto Dozza. He is being accused of killing Nino.
To get over his son’s death, Ernesto would drink and bet on matches organised by Mario Fedelli. He found the dead boxer and while checking on him, he was spotted. Prosecutor Cantamessa doesn’t care about motive and has 9 eyewitnesses claiming the drunk gambler, Ernesto killed Nino. Nino’s younger sister, Romilda is uncooperative and simply claims Mario is like a father to them.
Lidia visits Fourneau in the suite he has booked for them. She knows he is doing his job but they end up arguing about the trial anyway. She is upset that he is not giving Grazia a fighting chance and he thinks she is biased. He brings up Jacopo being in town and she is annoyed by his jealousy.
Teresa sees Jacopo writing a love letter to Consuelo and is glad he has moved on from Lidia. He enthusiastically agrees but is evasive when she points out that Consuelo loves him. She misses Mila and Marianna and he comforts her. They are interrupted by Lidia who needs to go to one of the matches and Jacopo swiftly offers.
She begrudgingly agrees and pretends that Jacopo is a great fighter. Mario falls for it and tells them about his matches. The current winner, Simone offers to fight Jacopo and while Lidia is scared, Jacopo’s pride makes him accept. Jacopo is losing terribly when Lidia sees Mario signal the boxer. After this, Simone loses the match.
Elsewhere, Zanardelli warns Enrico that Grazia’s case could ruin his career and the progress he has been making with the judicial system. He wonders why Enrico has sided with a lost cause. Enrico reveals that he is Waldensian and knows what it is to be the underdog. He also cannot go against his conscience when he knows Grazia is innocent.
After the match, Jacopo and Lidia banter when she reveals the match was fixed. She cleans him up and they almost kiss. They stop and see Simone leaving. She questions him and he reveals Ernesto’s son was killed by Nino during a match. But Ernesto claims that Nino felt so guilty, he told Ernesto about the fixed matches and helped him win enough to pay off his debts.
Suddenly, Jacopo moves next door and Teresa blames Enrico. Lidia is curious and they end up bickering again about the match. He reasons Romilda would know of Nino’s agreement with Ernesto and Lidia asks her.
She theorises that Mario killed Nino to send a message that no one should steal from him. She convinces Romilda to do the right thing and she confesses that she told Mario about Nino’s deal with Ernesto. She hoped her confession would provide mercy and they’d get along. But he killed Nino in front of her. Convinced, Cantamessa releases Ernesto and arrests Mario.
Lidia recalls Mila wishing her parents would get along and figures out the mystery of the telegram. The Poets visit the Fontanas but Pietro refuses to cooperate. In prison, an inmate named Virginia is impressed with Grazia. She tells Grazia to come to her if she needs someone.
Back to the case, Fourneau doesn’t think it is a good idea to bring in Mila but the Poets stand their ground. At the next hearing, Mila testifies that her parents fought often and to help reconcile, she asked a lady to write the telegram. This is undermined when Fourneau has her reveal that she reads newspapers and knew her mother had denied writing the telegram. The judge adjourns the court before Dr Munari can testify.
Jacopo and Lidia argue over his next article as he wants to attack Fourneau for suggesting Mila tried to manipulate the jury. Consuelo shows up and it is awkward till Lidia leaves. Consuelo and Jacopo flirt and have a passionate hook-up. They share a wall with the Poets and their rendezvous is overheard. Teresa feels insecure and wants to try for another kid. But a stressed-out Enrico refuses to sleep with her.
Fourneau and Lidia have a tense dinner as he apologises. But they end up arguing about the trial again and Lidia suggests they take a break till Grazia wins. She is not sure if she’ll want to be with him if she loses and they have a bittersweet parting
The next day, Dr Munari is getting ready for his testimony when some guards show up and insist he come with them.
The Episode Review
Season 3 Episode 3 gradually lays the foundation for the final conflict like Fourneau and Lidia’s break-up, Grazia’s sentence and the effects on the Poets’ career. It also gives mini-conflicts to the supporting characters, rounding out the ensemble and elevating them from cardboard cutouts that most shows nowadays suffer from.
Teresa experiences empty nest syndrome while Enrico struggles between doing the right thing and saving his political career. Jacopo has been hiding his true feelings even from the viewers and seems to be quite enthusiastic about his relationship with Counselo, but we do see the cracks.
But in favour of doing justice to a complicated case like Grazia’s, Season 3 is dropping the ball for the episodic cases. In the previous one, the Poets simply let an innocent man make a false confession without any fight. In this one, it is easily resolved with Romilda conveniently saying everything correctly to save Ernesto. Instead of “showing” the investigation and eccentric methods that Lidia employs, these