User Reviews

Sylvia randomly bumps into a familiar face from back home, archaeologist Mallory Bell. Sylvia agrees to help out with a dig, and uncovers a body, believed to be that of a going woman that went missing some years back.

So, it's obvious now that Sylvia is staying in Italy, and not returning home, which is good news for us.

After a very strong debut, we're treated to another excellent, compelling case, for me, everything was on point, the acting, story, visuals, conclusion, character play, I thought this was genuinely hard to fault.

Sylvia is definitely black Mini Cooper kind of girl, she's not a red Alfa Romeo kind of girl.

How amazing does Tara Fitzgerald look in that black outfit!

I do appreciate the characters conversing in Italian when Sylvia isn't present. They are capturing the culture of Italy well, the food and al fresco dining, it feels pretty authentic.

Traffic Wardens are monstrous the whole world over.

9/10.

Secrets & Sacrifices is the best of the three Signora Volpe episodes in this first collection - just under 90minutes, each mystery is different while the lynchpin is former MI6 spy Sylvia Fox adjusting to Umbrian village life and family. This one focuses on the Comune di Panicale's history through the stories of two local women. The Italian cast is wonderfully authentic throughout (no quirky caricatures). The writers have a sophisticated sense of humor - loads of details given in an easy-to-miss casual way, the relationships are refreshingly understated and surprisingly layered. When the dialogue is not stating it, the music speaks volumes. In all three episodes, the cinematography and the music score meld making Umbria one of the central characters. Brava!

I love foreign shows because I didn't get to experience a lot of them growing up, and they're so much better-usually-than most of the shows here in the states. A lot of times you can actually pick up snippets of conversation. This one was intriguing because it's set in Italy, home of my maternal grandparents so I thought I'd give it a whirl. A bit far fetched in spots, but the women are beautiful and so is the scenery. Sort of believable, but again, in some places you have to suspend disbelief, which is typical of a lot of shows. Things were going quite well, but I had to stop watching at the beginning of episode 3 when the main character's car broke down, and while she was waiting for the breakdown service, a cop showed up, looked at her engine for 3 minutes, then told her "it's fine now, your spark plug was loose." lmmfao a car would not stall because of one spark plug, and you wouldn't be able to tighten it by hand even if it was loose. So stupid.

In trying to be too many things, this fails at all of them. Heavily stereotyped characters abound in a trite cliché detective story bound up in a romance against a backdrop of overused landscape shots.

As I began watching this episode, it occurred to me that this show feels, sounds, and looks like something that should be on The Hallmark Channel. Watch the first three minutes or so and see if you agree. The previous episode required a substantial amount of willing suspension of disbelief with its plot gaps, discontinuity, and inexplicable accomplishments and actions by the title character. Now the story has turned into a trite, totally non-engaging pseudo-mystery/drama. It's simply not possible to care about the characters or what happens to them.

Why? Maybe unknown in UK, not even well known in US. Just a small school offering basic degrees- nursing, business administration, no archeology. Bad research or just who cares? I hate misinformation.