“An Odd Couple” Between the Renewal of Italian Crime Drama and the Limits of Representation
by Greta Delpanno
Overview
Rai Uno
2018–2022
3 seasons; 36 episodes
Marco Pontecorvo (seasons 1–2), Claudio Amendola and Enrico Rosati (season 3)
Giampaolo Simi and Vittorino Testa
Francesco Amato, Giampaolo Simi, and Vittorino Testa (season 1), Donatella Diamanti (seasons 1–3), Laura Grimaldi, Roberto Jannone, and Michela Straniero (season 3)
Rai Fiction, Cattleya
Vincenzo Carpineta (seasons 1–2), Stefano Palombi (season 3)
Marco Garavaglia (seasons 1–2), Roberto Siciliano (season 3)
De Luca & Forti
Claudio Amendola, Miguel Gobbo Diaz, Mario Muzo, Rosa Diletta Rossi, Alessandro Sperduti, Margherita Vicario, Sandra Ceccarelli, Alessia Barela, Antonia Liskova, Angela Finocchiaro, Nicole Grimaudo, Gianluca Gobbi, Giorgia Salari, Caterina Guzzanti
Rai Uno, Rai Play
Gallery
Poster (first season)
Poster (second season)
Poster (third season)
Audio description
Audio description of the TV series Nero a metà, available on RaiPlay Sound
Representation strategies, rhetorics and stereotypes
Narrative & characters
Nero a metà presents itself as a classic-structured police crime drama set in Rome, but it introduces an innovative narrative element for Rai productions: the presence of a Black police officer as co-protagonist. At the center are Inspector Carlo Guerrieri (Claudio Amendola), an experienced and disillusioned investigator, and his young colleague Malik Soprani (Miguel Gobbo Diaz), born in the Ivory Coast and raised in Italy. Their relationship, built on generational and cultural conflicts, forms the narrative backbone of the series, with crime cases serving as opportunities to question personal relationships and identity tensions.
The first season in particular emphasizes how Malik’s legitimacy as a police officer is constantly called into question. In almost every episode, jokes, suspicions, or explicit acts of discrimination emerge: from colleagues’ or suspects’ remarks about his skin color to Guerrieri’s own implicit doubts, as he initially struggles to accept Malik as a partner. Malik must repeatedly insist that he is “as Italian as anyone else,” confronting the prejudice that identifies him as “other” regardless of his institutional role. This dynamic becomes a recurring narrative choice, explicitly thematizing everyday racism and the difficulty of recognizing second-generation citizens as fully Italian.
Alongside the central duo, the series builds a broad set of characters that further complicates identity tensions. Alba, Guerrieri’s daughter and a forensic doctor, becomes both a mediator and a source of conflict, particularly due to her romantic relationship with Malik, which exacerbates her father’s resistance. The investigative team—featuring characters like Cantabella, Cinzia Repola, and Mario Muzo—illustrates varying degrees of acceptance and skepticism, reflecting the diversity of social reactions to the presence of a Black police officer within the Italian police force.
The representation neither idealizes nor erases the difficulties: Malik is competent, determined, often the first to find decisive insights during investigations, yet he is subjected to a constant scrutiny that his white colleagues never face. His professional path thus mirrors a broader conflict: on one side, the desire to affirm himself as an integral part of Italian institutions; on the other, the weight of stereotypes that relegate him to the role of “guest” or “exception.” His relationship with Guerrieri evolves over time into mutual trust, but without entirely erasing the initial mistrust, which remains woven into the narrative fabric.
Rome itself is not idealized but portrayed as a city marked by conflict: working-class neighborhoods, organized crime, and latent racism. The city becomes a co-protagonist, a stage where both social contradictions and the potential for new forms of coexistence emerge. Malik’s representation, in particular, challenges the stereotype of the “migrant” as foreign or marginal: here he is fully Italian, integrated into the institutions, yet constantly forced to justify his belonging.With Nero a metà, Italian television adopts a hybrid representational strategy: reassuring the audience through the familiar codes of the procedural, while at the same time opening the narrative to the issue of diversity, making it an integral part of the police genre. The fact that Malik’s role is systematically questioned—not only as a detective but as an “Italian”—places the series within a discourse that problematizes, rather than celebrates, inclusion. It is precisely within this ongoing tension that the series finds its distinctive character, portraying an image of Italian society in which belonging remains a field of daily conflict.
Stereotypes & strategies of inclusion
From its very first season, Nero a metà builds much of its narrative tension on the use and reworking of stereotypes. Malik, a Black police officer in an Italian squad, is constantly tested through jokes, insinuations, and mistrust that highlight how his belonging is perpetually questioned. In parallel, the series introduces other narrative threads that tackle the issue of gender stereotypes, particularly through the character of Cinzia Repola.
“The gaze of others” – stereotypes, bodies, and relationships
In S1E6, a woman ironically asks: “So now you even take Africans into the Italian police?” Guerrieri replies: “Deputy Inspector Soprani is more Italian than both me and you, madam.” The scene exemplifies the way the series thematizes the stereotype: Malik is constantly identified by the color of his skin, and his Italian identity must be reaffirmed by others in order to legitimize him.
Beyond external discrimination, the series also stages the weight of internalized stereotypes. Malik is often forced to defend himself with irony, as in S2E4, when he replies to Lisi’s announcement—“there’s a woman of color at the entrance”—with: “Well, we’re all people of color, even you, or do you think you’re transparent?” This line highlights the character’s awareness, but also the constant need to overturn the labeling imposed by others.
Even more significant is the sequence in S1E2, when Malik, locked by a criminal in a basement that is flooding and close to drowning, relives the traumatic memory of the boat journey and his mother’s death. The scene enriches the character’s biography but at the same time fits into a recurring narrative pattern that ties Black or migrant protagonists to a past of suffering and loss. This device, while giving dramatic depth, risks reinforcing an already entrenched media stereotype.
“Being a woman in the police” – the Cinzia Repola storyline
Alongside Malik’s storylines, the series opens up a reflection on gender stereotypes through the character of Cinzia Repola. In S3E4, the policewoman denounces the weight of the male gaze on the female body: “you have no idea how heavy other people’s gaze on a woman’s body can be. Do you think there aren’t agents here who rate their female colleagues, or colleagues who will do anything to get a good score?” In other scenes, Repola’s pregnancy becomes a source of tension: Guerrieri reproaches her for not stopping, accusing her of being a “mother before an officer,” and she turns the accusation around, calling out his paternalistic attitude.
Also in S3E4, the storyline on eating disorders triggers a parallel with her condition as a pregnant woman: Repola shares a pastry with a girl suffering from anorexia, underlining how for her too the social pressure on the body remains a constant challenge. In this way, the series expands the discussion on stereotypes, linking gender discrimination and aesthetic constraints.
Conversations
Backstage of the first season: director Marco Pontecorvo and the cast of Nero a metà talk about the series and their characters (RaiPlay, 2018).
Backstage 2 of the first season: director Marco Pontecorvo and the cast of Nero a metà talk about the series and their characters (RaiPlay, 2018).
Interview with actor Claudio Amendola, who, while revisiting some scenes from the first season of Nero a metà, talks about his character and shares a few insights about the series (RaiPlay, 2018).
Interview with actor Manuel Gobbo Diaz, who, while revisiting some scenes from the first season of Nero a metà, talks about his character and shares a few insights about the series (RaiPlay, 2018).
Interview with actor Fortunato Cerlino, who, while revisiting some scenes from the first season of Nero a metà, talks about his character and shares a few insights about the series (RaiPlay, 2018).
Interview with actress Rosa Diletta Rossi, who, while revisiting some scenes from the first season of Nero a metà, talks about her character and shares a few insights about the series (RaiPlay, 2018).
Business strategies and communication rhetorics
Strategies
Nero a metà was born as a co-production between Rai Fiction and Cattleya, with the collaboration of Netflix. This industrial configuration highlights the intention to position the series in an intermediate space: on one side, consolidating the model of the crime drama, a genre with strong appeal for Rai’s generalist audience; on the other, ensuring an international scope thanks to the involvement of a global partner.
The decision to introduce a Black police officer, Malik Soprani, as co-protagonist is not only an authorial choice but also reflects a production strategy: updating the traditional police drama by incorporating the issue of multiculturalism. In this way, the series combines the reassuring codes of the procedural (weekly cases, an experienced and gruff lead character, family dynamics) with a novelty element that aligns with diversity policies and the transformations of Italian society.
The success of the first season (2018) led to the confirmation of a second season (September 2020) and later a third (April 2022). These renewals testify to the solidity of a narrative model capable of maintaining high ratings, thereby justifying further investments. Although a fourth season was initially discussed, the decision was canceled due to new commitments involving several members of the main cast.
Communication rhetorics
The communication apparatus that accompanied Nero a metà emphasized two main elements: on one side, familiarity with the crime genre; on the other, the innovation represented by the presence of a Black protagonist in the police force. In interviews and promotional materials, the series is often described as a “classic” police drama but updated, capable of reflecting the complexity of contemporary Rome and of including new faces within the institutions.
The launch campaigns played on a balance: reassuring the general audience with Claudio Amendola, a popular and recognizable actor, while at the same time presenting Miguel Gobbo Diaz as a symbol of a new generation of performers, representative of a multicultural Italy. This dual rhetoric allowed the series to be legitimized as both continuity and rupture at once.
On the communication level, inclusion was not presented in militant or radical terms, but as an integral part of a collective, everyday story. Official statements and promotional articles tended to describe the Guerrieri–Malik pair as an “odd couple” of investigators, playing more on their character and generational differences than on their ethnic difference. Yet, it was precisely this choice that made it possible to normalize diversity, placing it within a reassuring, highly recognizable narrative context for the audience.In this sense, the promotional rhetoric of Nero a metà confirms Rai’s strategy: to highlight the inclusive element without thematizing it explicitly, but instead integrating it into a popular and mainstream communication style, where the theme of diversity is implicit in the very construction of the leading duo.
Conversations
“Nero a metà: Claudio Amendola, a slightly worn-out commissioner in a crime series about intolerance”. In Coming Soon, November 16, 2018. Carola Proto interviews Eleonora Andreatta, Director of Rai Fiction, Riccardo Tozzi of Cattleya, the director, and the cast.
«Eleonora Andreatta explained the reason for a title like Nero a metà and admitted that without Claudio Amendola, the investigations of Commissioner Carlo Guerrieri from the Rione Monti district would never have reached the small screen.»
«“In the series,’ says Riccardo Tozzi of Cattleya, ‘there is an unusual perspective on intolerance, a secular and non-Manichean perspective.’ Pontecorvo, on the other hand, explains: ‘This fiction shows us that integration is possible, because Malik has integrated. The problem is the small prejudice, which in our present is hard to eradicate. To overcome it, we must start with ourselves, with our stupid jokes about Blacks and whites, about Jews and non-Jews, about the South and the North. Our society is not as multiracial as others because it has not gone through a long colonial process, and so paradoxical situations still occur.”»
Circulation and audience responses
Circulation patterns
Nero a metà was broadcast in first run on Rai 1, with the first season airing between November and December 2018, the second beginning in September 2020, and the third in April 2022. Alongside linear programming, the episodes were also made available for streaming on RaiPlay, confirming Rai’s strategy of using the digital platform as a complement to traditional television broadcasting. The series also circulated internationally thanks to its acquisition by Netflix, which made the seasons available in several countries. The distribution path of Nero a metà thus reflects a multiplatform logic that intertwines public service mission and openness to the global market, combining the centrality of prime-time programming on Rai 1 with the possibility of reaching a younger, more connected audience through RaiPlay, and with the international reach guaranteed by the global platform.
Reception
The reception of Nero a metà was overall positive, with good audience results and favorable comments from critics. The series was often praised for the chemistry between Claudio Amendola and Miguel Gobbo Diaz and for its ability to situate the police genre within a recognizable Roman context, updating it with family and generational dynamics that gradually brought the seasons closer to the family crime model. The second season reached an average of about five million viewers, while reruns and subsequent broadcasts maintained solid ratings, around 1.5 million viewers with a 12–13% share.
Critics especially highlighted the solidity of the format, the recognizability of the characters, and the tone halfway between crime and comedy, but only rarely did they explicitly thematize the issues of inclusion and diversity running through the narrative. The figure of Malik, though central to the plot, was more often read as part of the dynamics of the investigative “odd couple” than as a symbol of a broader identity discourse, a sign that critical debate was oriented more toward narrative and genre dimensions than toward socio-cultural ones.
Conversations
Ahead of the third season’s premiere on Rai 1, Nero a metà star Miguel Gobbo Diaz sits down for an interview (MadMassIT, April 4, 2022).
Italian and foreign press
Italian Press
Sara Crecco, “Nero a metà – The review of the 1st and 2nd episodes of the 3rd season, increasingly introspective,” Hall of Series, April 4, 2022.
«The cornerstone of the story is in fact racial prejudice; but also diversity and the clash of worlds that appear distant. Even though, at times, the narration tends to become didactic. Likewise, several stereotypes still remain, watering down the original intentions. Yet, at least in Italy, Nero a metà is a fiction destined for a heterogeneous, generalist audience. Therefore, perhaps this was the most effective way to address an urgent theme, namely that of integration».
Emanuele Ambrosio, “TV ratings, Monday, August 12, 2024: Nero a metà (12.6%), Zelig (15.5%) | Auditel Data,” Super Guida TV, August 13, 2024.
«Rai 1: Nero a metà, the Italian television series starring Claudio Amendola, accompanied 1,531,000 viewers with a 12.6% share».