Can last stop really become the new Temptation Island?

In a television increasingly devoted to safe second-hand for fear of making mistakes and falling into the cliff of the flop, it is nothing short of commendable that Maria De Filippi and her Fascino courageously accept to take new paths to understand if the seed will attack then sprout tomorrow. The latest of these is called Last stop, a format tested on Canale 5 in the middle of spring, probably to ascertain the possibility that it may or may not be a possible substitute for Temptation Island, whose reconfirmation in the summer schedule is anything but obvious. Also in this round, the program develops starting from couples who, instead of testing the strength of their relationship, they try to figure out if they can give themselves one last chance or say goodbye forever. In practice, it is as if Last stop and Maria offered the participants an alternative to the therapeutic path that leads couples in crisis to understand if they are suitable to face the world as individuals.

Again, as well as in Temptation, the action is concentrated within an enclosed space which here is not, however, “a dream resort”, as Filippo Bisciglia called it, but an apartment divided into two sections inhabited respectively by those who have chosen to contact the editorial staff and by those who have suffered the decision of their partner, agreeing to take part of the program. Although the mechanism is not always clear, getting lost in confessionals and digressions that often deviate from the focus, confusing the waters and ideas, Last stop puts us in front of the crisis of a couple by slipping inside the new companions, the confidants and a series of elements that put the individual in crisis but make the picture clearer to the partner who, secretly, observes the moves of the other through a blackout glass which looks similar to the famous aquarium of the Big Brother.

In Last stop couples look at each other, confront each other, press a button that indicates to the director that the meeting is over and promise to go on with their life, certain that they have done everything possible – what could be more extreme than going on television to blurt out your problems? – to save what can be saved. The idea is strong, but it still seems to be refined. Despite some pearls offered by the participants – such as the girl who says she met her new companion in church, during the Passion of Christ during which she was the Madonna and he was the centurion -, Last stop, which boasts a team of 12 authors, often seems to revolve around the problem rather than tackle it head on. The presence of Simona Ventura, here in the role of narrator rather than “intervening” presenter, she reassures the spectators that they find a friendly face, but otherwise the impression is that the skein is still to be untangled. At least for now.

To receive the other cover of Vanity Fair (and much more), subscribe to Vanity Weekend.