SEVEN MONDAYS is in a sense two episodes in one. In the first, Montalbano (Michele Riondino) investigates the death of a local bourgeois. Ostensibly it looks like a filial crime involving an alcoholic married to a money-grasping spouse, but it turns out to be a crime of passion. In the second, and perhaps more interesting plot, our hero investigates a series of animal murders over a seven- week period in which the victim gets bigger and bigger each time - first a fish, and culminating in an elephant. Eventually he becomes embroiled in another family affair, only this time it involves an extreme form of Christianity that can only be explained by an ancient mystic (Sergio Graziani).
The attraction of this episode stems from an exciting ending, where the Inspector and Fazio (Andrea Tidona) are in real danger of getting blown to bits in a historic theater. There is also several instances of comic repartee involving Montalbano and Augello (Alessio Vassallo), a would-be stud with a high opinion of himself. Sometimes it seems that sex assumes more significance than his job. Catarella (Fabrizio Pizzuto) flits ineffectively in and out of the action - on one occasion Montalbano gives him the herculean task of finding Livia's (Sarah Felberbaum's) whereabouts by searching the entire telephone directory of the Alps.
Eventually the episode ends happily, although we fear for the future of Montalbano and Livia's relationship. Although he professes love for her, his work keeps getting in the way of any future intimacies between the two.