Whenever we hear that a show takes place and was shot on the Amalfi Coast, we’re on board for it. The visuals will always be gorgeous, and the setting gives any show a continental feel that even other locations in Europe can’t accomplish. A new action series starring Jesse Williams takes good advantage of its location.
Opening Shot: A shot of Positano, on the Amalfi Coast. A man in a scooter rides down the shore-hugging road, singing “Just A Friend”.
The Gist: Daniel De Luca (Jesse Williams) is going to a house on the coast, pretending to be a lost American tourist. But he’s actually there to rescue someone: The dog of one of the guests at Hotel Costiera, the ultra-exclusive resort where he works as a fixer.
Daniel is a former US Marine intelligence officer who actually grew up in Positano before moving to the United States when he was a kid. In essence, he’s back home. He’s working for the hotel’s owner Augusto (Tommaso Ragno) and his daughter Adele (Maria Chiara Giannetta). Over the past few weeks, one of the cases that’s been driving Daniel is that Augusto’s younger daughter, Alice (Amanda Campana), has gone missing. Adele seems unfazed, thinking that her sister doesn’t want to be found. But Daniel, who found himself taken with Alice when he first came to the resort, thinks she’s in trouble.
An American business mogul (James Faulkner) arrives at the resort with his two daughters, his grandsons, and his very young wife Sheryl (Alejandra Onieva). When he goes missing while diving to hunt octopus, suspicion immediately falls on Sheryl, especially from the mogul’s daughters. It gets even more intense when a hand wearing his wedding ring washes up on shore.
Daniel sets out to find the mogul, with the help of his crew: Genny (Jordan Alexandra), Bigné (Antonio Gerardi) and Tancredi (Sam Haygarth). Genny is the most daring of the group; Tancredi is a know-it-all but had family money at one time and has the connections it bought; and Bigné knew Daniel when he was growing up in Positano. Unlike Daniel, he’s lived there his whole life and can do things like grease the palm of the medical examiner in order to get access to that random hand.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Hotel Costiera has a bit of a noirish mystery feel like The Sommerdahl Murders, mixed with Amalfi Coast-set shows like Ripley and Deceitful Love and character-based detective shows like Magnum P.I.
Our Take: Hotel Costiera has an easygoing vibe and stunning visuals that are punctuated by Williams’ confident performance as Daniel. As he moves through scenes, whether he’s investigating Alice’s disappearance or the case of the week, Williams shows that there might be some darkness in Daniel’s backstory, but that’s not going to prevent him from being suave and in control.
Part of that backstory is what happened between him and Alice before she disappeared. Like we said, he seemed to fall for her when he first came to the resort, and we suspect we’ll see more flashbacks that show how things between them progressed before she vanished. Daniel’s search for her is the throughline for the season, and it seems that he’ll be able to juggle that search with the work he does for the hotel.
The best scenes are when Daniel is together with Genny, Bigné and Tancredi. They kind of act like Rick, TC and Higgins did on Magnum, being able to give Daniel the information or access he needs to solve the cases he’s brought, while also being the “found family” that Bigné refers to in a scene. Augusto and Adele are likely part of that too — and it feels like Sheryl will be hanging around after her case is resolved — but the rich people in Daniel’s life aren’t nearly as compelling as the people in his crew.
Sex and Skin: Daniel sleeps with people, but all you see is post-coital bed time, with covers pulled up over the naughty parts.
Parting Shot: Sheryl shows a picture of Alice she took while she and her husband were in Naples, and we flash back to seeing Alice being forced into a car at gunpoint.
Sleeper Star: Positano and the Amalfi Coast are always the stars of the shows that are shot there. It’s so ridiculously gorgeous that we get all Liz Lemon and chant “I want to go to there” over and over.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Money grabbing bitch!” one of the mogul’s daughters says to Sylvia after they suspect that she has something to do with him going missing.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Hotel Costiera is a fun and visually-stunning series with Jesse Williams in his element as the half-Italian, half-American fixer.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.