‘Deceitful Love’ Recap And Ending Explained: Did Gabrielle And Elia End Their Relationship?

Deceitful Love or Inganno is the brand-new Netflix Italy Original about an older woman falling in love with a man who is much younger to her. She is a rich heiress, and there are concerns about whether the man is marrying her for her money. Her family gets involved, and it turns into a giant mess for the newly in love couple.

Spoilers Ahead


How did Gabriella and Elia meet?

The six-episode miniseries began with Gabriella and her daughter Giulia out shopping for a wedding dress. It was soon revealed the wedding dress was for Gabriella. During the payment, her credit cards were found to be blocked. Gabriella learned her older son Stefano had blocked her cards in his bid to stop her from getting married, and he was planning to take control of her life by putting her under vulnerable adult protection. The story moves back a few months to when Elia ran into Gabriella during her walk with her dog as his car had broken down. There was a simmering tension between the two during their first meeting, which eventually led to both sleeping with each other. 

Their first few meetings were a bit sensuous, as Gabriella was not sure about him, but Elia did not stop himself from forming a strong, physically intimate connection with her. Even though Elia had a brief kiss with her youngest son Nico to help him win a bet, Gabriella’s new admirer could not help but get closer to her. Soon she began to open up to him, but she was livid at Elia for introducing himself to Nico at her home, which was partly a plush hotel closed for renovation. 


What were Stefano and Nico’s reactions?

Stefano and Nico had a negative reaction to their mother openly flaunting her new partner. Despite initial friction between Gabriella and Elia, she was comfortable showcasing him as her new lover, while Stefano was suspicious of him. Stefano, as her older son, had memories of his mother going through prolonged periods of sadness, which made him want to take care of her and stop her from making a mistake. He manipulated Nico into believing Elia was a gold digger who was after Gabriella’s money. Stefano was married and had a daughter, and simultaneously he was having an affair with a police officer, Mattia Bonomo. Mattia was the person who let Stefano know about Elia having had to escape Spain for the nonpayment of a huge debt. 


Did Gabriella trust Elia?

Gabriella wanted to trust Elia, but there were many instances thrown at her that made her doubt his intentions. She initially believed Stefano when he mentioned Elia being on the run from Spain. There was also the issue of a gold bracelet that Elia purchased for her, but the check given to the jewelry store bounced. This freaked Gabriella out, but the matter was sorted out again. The trust issues followed by Elia’s nonchalant responses to everything led to a lot of them breaking up and making up. Gabriella and Elia’s relationship forced Nico to move out and live with his father. 

Elia had a plan to start a business of putting yachts on rent, and as a result, he needed money from Gabriella for an initial investment. This also caused friction between the two, and Stefano was suspicious if the money was going to be used for the purpose stated by his mother’s new lover. He tried to stall the plan. Gabriella trusted Elia and agreed to invest her money in his business plan. Stefano and Elia and Giulia followed Elia and took photographs of him meeting another older woman. Gabriella revealed that the lady was his mother, whom he meets frequently.


Was Elia trying to get closer to Gabriella’s children?

Elia tried to get closer to Nico, but that plan backfired, which led to the young boy moving in with his father. Elia tried to get Giulia to his side by asking her to be there for her mother, as Stefano was making her life miserable. Giulia was not sure if she could trust Elia, but she was surprised he was concerned about her mother’s well-being owing to the nagging from her older brother. Elia and Stefano, however, never got along as the latter went out of his way to dig into his past with his police officer boyfriend Mattia. Stefano found out Elia had cheated on his business partner Francesco Rossetti and left him to deal with their debts in Spain. Francesco Rossetti had an accidental death, according to Stefano and Mattia’s research, but they were wondering if Elia may have killed Francesco. 


Who was Marina?

Marina was a girl who showed up at Gabriella and Nico’s home to safely return their dog. Gabriella was thankful to her, and the young woman began to spend a lot of time with her. Marina turned out to be Elia’s ex-lover, who showed up and revealed she was pregnant with his child. Both were involved in debt-related showdowns in Spain, and as a result, she followed Elia to Italy and walked into his life.

Marina was the only person who knew that Elia was with Gabriella only for the money he needed to kick-start his business. Elia had also begun to make several business decisions in the hotel without keeping Gabriella in the loop. Since Gabriella was getting closer to Marina, she was unsure if Elia would be attracted to the younger woman. She caught them together in the pool and tried to get intimate with both, but it failed as Elia was not comfortable. Gabriella confronted him with his feelings for Marina, and he denied it. However, Nico caught Elia and Marina kissing in the hotel and informed his mother about the same. Gabriella asked him to leave, and they briefly separated.


Did Elia fall in love with Gabriella?

During the brief separation, Stefano roped in his father, Mario, to build up a case against Gabriella and Elia and prove her lover to be a gold digger in court. Gabriella and her ex-husband Mario had separated many years ago when he had had an affair with her best friend, who now was his current wife. As Mario and Gabriella got briefly intimate with each other, she was struck with memories of her with Elia. This instantly made her realize she loved him but was not sure if they would reconcile. Elia and Marina were getting briefly intimate with each other on his old yacht, but he soon was overwhelmed by the memories of Gabriella. This also made him conclude that he loved her, and he had to decide for Marina to keep her mouth shut about his past. Elia showed up at Gabriella’s home, and both reconciled and confessed to being in love with each other.


Why did Stefano file the case against Elia?

Giulia and Gabriella were at the bridal wear shop, and this could be connected to the first scene of the show as Stefano attempted to take over his mother’s life by blocking her credit cards and filing an indictment against Elia. He also filed for vulnerable adult protection to prove his mother was incapable of making sane life decisions. Stefano’s case went to trial, and there were many things said and unsaid about Gabriella as a mother. While Giulia spoke in favor of her mother and her life choices, Stefano claimed he had watched his mother going into a deep depressive state right after his sister was born. Stefano claimed he did not want his mother to go back into a catatonic state after Elia left her. He used this reasoning to back his decision to file a case against Elia and her mother. 


What did Gabriella reveal about her past?

Gabriella had learned that Elia had not paid the full amount for the purchase of the new yacht for his business venture, as a significant amount of money was remaining. She was quick to deduce Elia may have given the money to Marina without her knowledge and decided to confront her about it. Marina was straightforward and helpless, who claimed she wanted the money as she had nothing on her to have the baby and raise it on her own. This triggered a memory of Gabriella, and she showed up at the court for the hearing of her case. Elia testified that Gabriella was of sound mind, as she had been running the hotel and managing the staff on her own for many years. Elia’s testimony made her believe that he loved her and would support her in every endeavor.

When Gabriella was given the chance to testify, she spoke about the reason for her depressive state when Giulia was born. Gabriella revealed she had had a daughter when she was seventeen, and her father decided to give the child up for adoption. She was in a bad state mentally for many years and tried looking for her child, but in vain. She went through a similar depressive stage after Giulia was born, as she feared her second daughter would be taken away, and the fear never left her. To get rid of these thoughts, she was dousing herself in many medicines, which made her sleep for hours, incapable of taking care of Stefano and the newly born Giulia. 

Gabriella’s episode was a classic case of postpartum depression she faced twice in her life. The first occasion was the result of having to give up her child as her father had instructed. Gabriella felt she had no control over her life, and her father was making all the calls for her. She may have married Mario out of obligation, but it could have been the children with him that brought her happiness until Giulia was born. She had a postpartum relapse, and it made her go through terrible times that were witnessed only by Stefano, and he kept that memory with him to remind himself that his mother was fragile. He forgot Gabriella got herself out of it and carried forward the business left to her by her father. Gabriella was forced to give up her first child, and it affected her now-adult children Stefano and Giulia. This was a trauma that would be hard to recover from for the family. Gabriella, unable to find her daughter, was a realistic take, indicating the pain would probably never go. 


Was Elia acquitted of charges?

All the charges against Elia were dropped as nothing presented by Stefano amounted to criminal activities, as it was proved Gabriella let him in her life. Elia was happy, as he figured this could be the turning point in his relationship with Gabriella. He had hoped to do things right with her in the wake of her knowing of him giving away some of her money to Marina. He was not sure if Gabriella would forgive him, but he was hopeful she would give him a lot, just like many other times in the past. 

Elia tried to converse with Gabriella, but she chose to walk away from him. It indicated she needed some time off from the relationship. Elia was surprised, as he felt after what she said in court, he assumed their relationship would go back to how it was before. Gabriella may have realized her relationship with Elia started off as toxic, and only some time away from each other will help them recuperate. Stefano apologized to his mother profusely for trying to imply that she was incapable, as he had been unaware of the history that had broken her for a long time. He realized his mother was far stronger than he ever imagined, and he wanted to support her life decisions going forward, including her plans to marry any man of her choice, including Elia. 


Did Gabrielle and Elia end their relationship?

Deceitful Love ended with Gabriella meeting Elia. It was assumed both had met after a long gap ever since Gabriella took a break from their relationship. Elia was elated to see him, and he believed she was here to ask for the money he took from her for the yacht rental business. Gabriel revealed she had offered money to Marina and the child with financial support so that the child was given all the facilities to grow up. Since Gabriella was never given the chance to meet her first daughter and she never knew where she was, she planned not to make that mistake this time. Even though the child would be raised far away, she and Elia would know the status of the mother and the offspring. 

Gabriella finally expressed her desire to live with Elia going forward, as they were indeed in love. Gabriella had been through a lot in the past few months, thanks to Elia’s unstable past and Stefano interfering. Since all of this was in the past, Gabriella wanted a fresh start with Elia and hoped he would not cheat on him. Elia was elated as he was given a chance to showcase his love for Gabriella. Both of them came together after a gap, which was much needed. After everything Gabriella went through, she chose to go back to Elia, which was odd considering he was displaying many red flags, including gaslighting her at one point. The fact that a woman of any age would go back to a man who wronged her because of love was odd. Even though Gabriella was rich and financially independent, Gabriella was not shown as someone happy but a sad rich woman who had no man by her side. Since she had Elia not by her side, her life was complete; it is a sad narrative. 

Deceitful Love comes to an end with Gabriella’s family gathering for her birthday a year later. This time she had Elia as her lover/partner, and Stefano, Giulia, and Nico accepted him as the new family member. It was odd, as there were many uncomfortable truths that came out in the last year. Just like any other family, this was dysfunctional, but they were slowly accepting it. 


Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan is a cinema enthusiast, and a part time film blogger. An ex public relations executive, films has been a major part of her life since the day she watched The Godfather – Part 1. If you ask her, cinema is reality. Cinema is an escape route. Cinema is time traveling. Cinema is entertainment. Smriti enjoys reading about cinema, she loves to know about cinema and finding out trivia of films and television shows, and from time to time indulges in fan theories.


 

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