In Prime Video‘s new spy thriller, Citadel: Diana, gorgeous spy Diana Cavalieri (Matilda De Angelis) struggles constantly with the stress and danger of living a double life. For over eight years, she has been posing as a loyal Manticore agent in Milan. Her original mission was to infiltrate the evil terrorist organization to help the good guys, international spy agency Citadel, take Manticore down.
Unfortunately for Diana, Manticore beat Citadel to the punch. In one fell swoop, Manticore takes all of Citadel down, leaving poor Diana stuck behind enemy lines, living a life where she is perennially trapped in a series of bigger and bigger lies. It is only when she finally takes a risk in trusting Edo Zani (Lorenzo Cervasio), the intelligent and idealistic heir to Manticore Italy, does she finally see a road forward. And it is only when she is completely stripped down in Edo’s embrace that Diana finds freedom.
**Spoilers for all of Citadel: Diana, now streaming on Prime Video**
When Decider spoke with Citadel: Diana star Matilda De Angelis last month, she called the Edo/Diana romance “very strange.” At least in how it evolves.
“Well, at first, when she approaches him, it’s a matter of, ‘How do I get out of Manticore? How do I do it subtly and easily and safely?’” De Angelis said, setting up the stakes. “Because she knows it’s impossible to escape Manticore without being killed the day after, basically.”
“Then spending time with him, she understands that they’re more alike than what she thought.”
By Citadel: Diana Episode 5 “Attack,” Diana and Edo have finally consummated their relationship. The two make love immediately after pulling off a daring mission that winds up completely setting them up as de facto leaders of Manticore’s European wing. The only way they both survived the wild plot to take over Manticore France from within was by trusting and helping each other.
In a pivotal moment during the mission, Diana remembers the day that Citadel fell. As a young double agent, she managed to pull off one strategic blow against Manticore; she killed Edo’s older brother, Manticore Italy’s original heir, Enrico (Carlo Sciaccaluga) and framed the sole surviving Citadel agent for it. She recalls this in the exact moment where she could very easily kill Edo, as well. Instead of getting rid of another Manticore heir, Diana saves his life and then later goes home with him.
Even as Diana physically succumbs to her attraction to Edo, she withholds the truth about herself. She never tells him that she is actually a Citadel agent working undercover. Nevertheless, it is in these moments — during, after sex in Episode 5 — that Diana is her most free and vulnerable. She admits to Edo her deepest longing isn’t for power, but freedom. And he promises her that freedom.
Citadel: Diana Episode 6 “Jupiter” takes place about three weeks later, after Diana has left Edo’s apartment and settled things with her sister. She is free, but decides to return to Edo. Their second sex scene is far more revealing, showing the audience a fully topless Diana in the throes of ecstasy. After this, she lies in Edo’s arms and explains why she left and why she came back. She confesses that she wanted to destroy the weapon they’d worked so hard to secure and that she will never stop fighting to make the world a better place. Diana smiles as she says she feels Edo is the only person she feels she can change the world with.
In return, Edo finally reveals the truth about Diana’s parents’ death. He tells her Manticore killed them. (What Diana doesn’t reveal is that she already knew this and it was the reality that set her off on this dangerous path almost a decade prior.) But even with Diana keeping her one big secret caged off, she has been otherwise completely honest with him.
“They built this very strange and romantic relationship because he also needs Manticore to change,” De Angelis said. “In a way, he’s a pure soul more than Diana, because she’s…she’s tricky. She’s more innocent.”
“Edo’s trajectory is almost diametrically opposed to Diana’s in the sense that Diana wants to be free and is slowly convinced by by Edo that his vision for Manticore, which is very similar to what Citadel is all about, actually will make the world a better place,” Citadel: Diana showrunner Gina Gardini told Decider. “Edo, to achieve his goal, actually has to very much dirty his hands.”
“It’s interesting for this character because he’s going through sort of a dark abyss while she’s going into the light. And, you know, I love that.”
Citadel: Diana ends with Edo killing his father, Ettore (Maurizio Lombardi). It’s a power move, sure, but Ettore keeps putting Diana’s life in danger. And Edo can’t have that. Diana, for her part, survives Ettore’s plotting, only to discover in the final moments of Citadel: Diana Season 1 that Citadel has survived. She’s not alone in the fight.
So what’s next for Diana and Edo? Can their love survive their complex spy games? Will Diana ever be freer than she is lost in her Manticore man’s arms?
