Television | Comedy
‘The Decameron’ — A Story about the Plague and Stupidly Selfish People
Review and Analysis of the Netflix dark comedy show revolving around the Black Plague and a group of peculiar people
For a show that is centered around a plague-ridden country, The Decameron is quite hilarious and completely unserious most of the time. Yes, that plague. The Black Death, one of the worst pandemics in human history.
The Decameron manages to pull off the tragedy of the plague with a story of a handful of selfish and greedy individuals who manage to escape to a secluded villa.
But fate can only side with you for a little while. After that, you’ve got to find your own way and survive.
This show will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a cup of tea with a dash of humor, and a spoonful of violence, nudity, sex, and of course, absurdity. (Spoilers ahead)
Escaping Pestilence (fancy word for the plague) to Party
The plague is everywhere as we are introduced to one of the main characters, Licisca, who is a handmaiden/servant for Filomena. More on them later.
Since the show is decentralized from a single character and focuses on the entire ensemble, we also meet several of the characters who have one thing in common with one another. Well, two actually. One; they are mostly nobles who are stuck in a plague-ridden Firenze, and two; they are all invited to the Villa Santa by some Leonardo guy.
This is where our journey begins, with an actual journey to the villa so that the nobles can have a holiday while poor people can die from the plague. What fun!
An Introduction to the Characters
Despite all the characters being remarkably selfish and self-centered, they all have a certain charm which actually makes you sympathize with them when they face grievances.
But not for Pampinea, she deserves NO sympathy.
In a brief introduction to them all, we first have Licisca, who is Filomena’s handmaiden…until she throws Filomena off a bridge and impersonates her when she arrives at the villa. Filomena, on the other hand, left her sick father behind just because she didn’t want to die from the plague herself.
Similarly, we have pairs of characters who arrive at the villa or already reside there, like Stratilia and Sirisco, the cook and the steward of the villa. The two are the only servants left behind after Leonardo’s death from, you guessed it, the plague.
There’s also Pampinea and Misia, the noblewoman and handmaiden duo. They are in an abusive relationship where Pampinea uses the push-and-pull method to berate Misia and then make everything okay with her.
Aside from these three pairs, we also have Dioneo — a doctor — and Tindaro — a sickly, self-centered nobleman. They are complete opposites of one another, both in the physical and the mental sense. While Dioneo is more attractive and relies on that attractiveness, Tindaro talks a lot — which makes him so unattractive in the eyes of our other characters.
And lastly, we have Panfilo and Neifile — the husband and wife, who are as problematic as everyone else. Panfilo is quite obviously gay and Neifile, clearly, doesn’t want to remain celibate in their lavender marriage.
Those are just short introductions to these characters, but they are more than they seem. It is only when these individuals are faced with dire situations or troubles do they show their true potential, and though they do horrible things, they are not bad people.
Does the Plague remind you of something else?
If you guessed Covid-19, you’re absolutely correct. If you guessed anything else, you might as well be Sirisco (no offense).
Sirisco: I’m an idiot! I’m just an idiot!
Panfilo: You’re not an idiot. You’re just stupid.
The Black Death — where people fell sick and then gradually died — parallels with Covid-19 in the show. Just like all of us back in the peak of Covid, people in the show are social distancing and sitting in isolation in their own homes. Well, everyone aside from our main characters, who find themselves travelling all the way to Villa Santa in an attempt to escape their imminent doom.
With the Villa Santa as the place where all our main characters have decided to settle down at, all of them choose to throw the plague to the back of their minds to party and play games. This sounds familiar since the gaming industry boomed during the height of Covid.
These similarities of the show and real life are fascinating but they are also too burdensome for the show to handle. We all remember how boring it was to stay at home and how exhaustive it became after a while. And to keep that routine from dragging down the show, we have a little too much happening around our characters. This is hilarious until it becomes repetitive.
Chaotic and Excessive
The show thrives on its chaos, but it also falls short because of it. Sometimes there is too much going on in a single episode. Sometimes there is not enough. And let’s not get started on how every episode is filled with nudity or sexual activities. That too becomes excessive over time, but I guess I should’ve paid more attention to the show’s tags before jumping into it. (It’s a sex comedy too, people.)
But these are not the only instances which drag the show down. One of the issues I had with the show was how everything revolved around decision-making but no one was capable of making good decisions. With how bad all the characters are to one another, and sometimes bad in general, the show’s chaos suppresses their potential and the healthy interactions between them. Because at the end of everything, these individuals are not inherently bad, they are just what they have been taught their entire lives. And when we place them in a survival mindset, they only act according to what they have always known, which is to be selfish and self-serving.
The Villa Santa is also an object of desire for the guests. The desire to claim the villa is also played out in an over-the-top manner when newer characters (mercenaries, bandits, and Leonardo’s unruly cousin) are introduced (albeit for a few scenes), just to inject more chaos to the already maddening situations.
The show is too busy with new people and events being added into the mix, and because of it, we fail to actually grasp the humanity of the characters we have already become familiar with.
Complex Characters
No matter how simplistically these characters can be described, they are far more than that. Yes, they are horrible and cruel at times. Pampinea is the worst of them all and undeserving of redemption. But they are not entirely horrible people at heart.
Despite their shortcomings and flaws, there are moments when they show their humanity.
Panfilo and Tindaro are the best examples of that. Panfilo sits by a well for his wife, who refuses to be helped out of it because she is waiting for God’s help. Yes, that happens. But Panfilo doesn’t leave her alone in her hardship, and sits by the well for her in silence. He doesn’t abandon her just because she doesn’t want his help.
Similarly, Tindaro is one of the most unlikable characters throughout the entirety of the show, but his character development is both shocking and heart-warming. Some of his scenes force the viewers to see him as more than a one-dimensional character.
In fact, every character is more than what they are perceived to be. They are all searching for something to hope for or fight for while a dire plague ravages their country. So what else is there to fight for if not one another?
‘Love Has Long Claws’
It’s funny how a dark/sex comedy show has an underlying message of love, or perhaps I perceived it to be. But whatever it may be, the show is about love, and it’s mentioned from the very first episode.
It is the reason why Pampinea travels to Villa Santa in hopes to marry Leonardo and fall in love with him. It’s also the reason why Misia brings her sick girlfriend to the villa in a wine barrel. Tindaro also wants to find love despite him being a misogynist, and Dioneo begs Licisca to love him in a later episode.
But it is also love which has them all do stupid things, like how Dioneo tries to kill Tindaro with poison or how Pampinea actually asks Misia to do the unthinkable for her.
Sirisco: If you don’t tell me what happened, I’m assuming the worst.
Misia: I told you, it wasn’t the plague.
Sirisco: I meant murder.
By now, we all know how horrible Pampinea is. She is power-hungry, selfish, and manipulative. But despite everything, Misia still sides with her, if not explicitly then indirectly. They have a toxic and very dependent relationship which makes it difficult for Misia to hate her or defy her.
And their moments together, of Pampinea manipulating Misia or emotionally abusing her, boil down to one scene where we all begin to understand how difficult it really is for Misia to break away from the cycle.
“Love has more than one dimension. Love has long claws.” — Misia
And love does have long claws which dig into a person gradually. It’s painless at first and when these claws begin to hurt, it’s too late to rip them out. Because now they’ve become a part of us.
Let’s end on a happy note, shall we?
The show is not everyone’s cup of tea, as I’ve said before. Sometimes it’s not even a tea-drinker’s cup of tea, but it is a cup of tea, and someone will drink it and enjoy it. Each episode unveils a new story or secret in an eccentric manner. And every character makes this show the hilarious romp that it is.
The Decameron truly strives on serious moments which are followed by equally unserious acts or dialogues. This formula works well most of the time, which is good enough for me. There are many laugh-out-loud moments which come so unexpectedly that it surprised even me. Like when Neifile drops down to her knees to start praying suddenly whenever the plague is mentioned in the first episode.
It’s also ironically hilarious that all of our characters are escaping the pestilence but Misia literally brings it to the villa in the form of her girlfriend, and how Leonardo died from the disease right there in the villa.
The show is good at showing the humanity as well as the inhumanity of the characters and the situations they face. So, we can say that the show is about stupid people who don’t really know what to do in their situation.
I’d say that reflects real life the best, and that’s what matters most at the end. Surviving in a world that is unpredictable and disease-ridden, but also worth it if you have people around who are worth the trouble.
I hope you enjoyed reading this piece on the dark comedy, The Decameron. You can find and support more of my work here on Medium. Thank you for reading!
