The weddings of Santa Barbara Vanessa DeFranco and Bunny Tagliatti
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When the show was launched in 1984, the slogan was excitement... The unsuccessful wedding between Vanessa DeFranco, heiress of the DeFranco lineage, and Bernardo Giovanni Alexandro Tagliatti, heir of the Tagliatti family is all this : excitement. All the passion, drama and passion of Italy come together in this storyline. If Bunny claims that the blood of Emperor Caesar flows in his veins, it is certain that Montaigu or Capulet blood also flows there. Marriage of love, perhaps... Marriage of honour, certainly. Arranged marriage, no doubt... Dramatic wedding, obviously, but with Tagliatti sauce !

Between Vanessa and Bunny, everything could have been so simple. Both enamored with the art of disguise (they like to dress up), of Italian origin, of mafia families, everything pushed them into each other's arms. Moreover, due to an old debt between Mario Tagliatti and Lyle DeFranco, this arranged marriage, pushed by the families, had to repay the Tagliattis. The honour of this "great" Italian family is at stake. From arranged, it could have been a real marriage of love for Vanessa who ended up sincerely falling in love with Bunny (he is all facets of Italy); out of love, she even gave him her virginity during a night of love. But for Bunny, the family debt does not represent much, neither does Vanessa's love, to the dismay of his promised. Bunny is madly in love with Gina... And, like Romeo or like Juliet, Bunny is ready to sacrifice everything if he can't see the one he loves. So...

So... Guido and Pino, Vanessa's two brothers, arrive by surprise at The Lair, ending a dispute between Bunny and Vanessa. Vanessa is angry because she has just learned from Gina that Bunny has just bought the Lair for $275,000. The DeFranco brothers are heavily armed and Bunny, like Gina, has no other options but to follow them. They go directly to Gina. They then learn with surprise and amazement that it is there, in the living room of the former Lockridge Villa, that Bunny's wedding with their sister will take place ! After the moment of surprise, Gina is not fooled by the real reason of this hasty wedding, improvised by the DeFrancos : Bunny slept with Vanessa. She even imagines for a moment that the young woman is pregnant. As in the old days, to restore Vanessa's honor, Bunny must marry her.

Even if Pino and Guido threaten Bunny, he does not seem frightened by them; he is more worried by Gina's behavior. Because Gina is not mistaken, this wedding is a matter of honor. But it is not Vanessa's honor that we are talking about, it is Bunny's honor and, with it, it is the honor of all the Tagliattis ! Bunny then explains to Gina that he asked the advice of his uncle Mario to conquer her. And, as at the time the silhouette of Sonny Sprocket floated between them, Vanessa's grandfather - requested by Uncle Mario - took things into his own hands. This is how Lyle DeFranco, Vanessa's grandfather, came on. Gina realizes very quickly that she owes Bunny her aborted wedding with Sonny. Bunny's excuses do not change anything. Bunny destroyed the happiness she tried to build... Suddenly, mad with anger, Gina slaps Bunny for having lied to her all this time. Then she grabs him and places a kiss on his lips as a pledge of vow for happiness with Vanessa. To Bunny's chagrin, Gina does not fight with him to prevent this wedding. As Guido and Pino have said it many times, it is a wedding of peace, a wedding to stop the war between their two families.

The two brothers come back to the room : one armed with a submachine gun, the other playing the wedding march with the accordion. And then, coming from upstairs, Vanessa arrives in a wedding dress, a bouquet of white flowers in her hand. A tulle veil adorns her face and contrasts with her ebony hair, a cascade of pearls surrounds her smiling face. The top of her dress in fine lace covers her shoulders, while the rest of the dress is in white satin. Facing her, Bunny wears his traditional suit with a striped white shirt and tie. Neither Bunny nor Gina seem to realize the situation. Both do not seem to be aware of the situation unfolding before them, as if they were themselves mere spectators of the drama.

Suddenly, a man dressed in black arrives. He is an old man. At the first word he says, no doubt he is a priest. He holds in his hands a Bible and a rosary. The ceremony begins and it is most intimate : Gina, Pino and Guido are the only guests. Suddenly, in a theatrical impulse, Bunny stops the ceremony, doubting the priest's real ability to marry them. Vanessa then introduces the priest to her fiancé : this is Luigi DeFranco and he is really a priest. Luigi cannot hide his rage and anger against Bunny; he resents him terribly for having dishonored Vanessa. It becomes obvious that the whole DeFranco family is aware of the night of love between Vanessa and Bunny. But none of this seems to disturb Bunny; he does not give up his desire to avoid this wedding and he declares loud and clear that he, Bernardo Giovanni Alexandro Tagliatti, will not marry Vanessa : neither for the worst, nor for the best, nor for a sandwich ! Italian passion takes over reason...

Bunny's passion and crazy exuberance have no limit; everything goes there to try to make them all renounce this wedding. To silence him, Guido comes to threaten him again. The mafia faith that animates them is obvious : he must bring peace between their families, otherwise his uncle Mario will be very angry. Bunny is not fooled, he knows that this marriage will not bring peace : no peace for their families who will find other ways to tear themselves apart, no peace for Vanessa who will be married to a man who loves another... Despite this excess of passion, Vanessa swears to him that she will make him happy, that she is the one for him. Vanessa knows it deep down, after their night of love. She loves him, it is a certainty, and the contract between their families has nothing to do with her love for him.

Since Vanessa invokes love, Bunny, inflamed, explains that he cannot get married, even if she offers him happiness, because for several months he has been in love with another woman. His eyes then turn to Gina, who immediately moves away : she does not want to serve as an excuse, because she does not love Bunny. Bunny is surrounded by two women, he the Italian with the tender heart : a woman whom he loves without being loved in return, and a woman who loves him but whom he does not love...

Driven by his duties towards his family and his sister, Guido still insists on pushing Bunny to say yes to Vanessa : how can he refuse to the love angel that is Vanessa for this shrew who does not want him ? Then it is Pino's turn to argue by invoking the family, this Italian institution, with its more pronounced rules among mafia members or Sicilians. Pino's arguments are simple : Bernardo simply has to do what his family tells him to do, he has no other choice.

The family... The famillia... This word resonates again and again in Bunny's mind. The famillia and its rights. The famillia and its duties. Bunny has no other solutions if he wants to hope one day to conquer the one he loves than to free himself from his family. In a dramatic new impulse, Bunny swears that he denies his family and his name. It's over, he's no longer a Tagliatti ! After the cries of the oath, it is silence. Bunny's decision is made. It is irrevocable.

Vanessa, Luigi, Guido and Pino have understood what Bunny intends to do, especially since he mentioned his uncle Rico... who died after 30 years of solitude. Only Gina does not know what Bunny will do. And it is without fear that Gina brings him what he asks : a pair of scissors and a glass of water. Bunny turns away and removes a mirror from the living room. All members of the DeFranco clan cross themselves and Luigi recites his rosary. The tension is at its maximum, the Italians feel, collapse under the weight of the drama that will fall on them. In the middle of the room, Bunny holds the mirror in front of the DeFrancos, then in a fast motion, returns it to him. The mirror reflects back to him his reflection, that of a determined man, that of a man ready for anything out of love. He kisses his reflection mouth to mouth, saying : "I give you the kiss of death". The process of renouncing the Tagliatti clan is underway. The DeFrancos are terrified, Luigi almost faints. But the ceremony does not stop there. Bunny, using scissors, cuts his tie. Then he snatches his family medal, under the terrorized eyes of the DeFrancos. The medal is ornate with the Tagliatti coat of arms : a gun for war, a pasta pan for peace ! Bunny throws the medal into the glass of water and, before throwing them into the old Lockridge fireplace, Bunny, at the top of his game, implores God's and his father's forgiveness. The act of renunciation to the Tagliatti name is over.

The wedding between the Tagliattis and the DeFrancos is canceled. Yet at this moment, Vanessa's look at Bunny testifies of all the love and admiration she has for him. In her eyes, Bunny is the embodiment of all the love tragedies of Italy; he is able of everything for the love of the one he loves. On the contrary, Pino sees only a proof of madness and fears the pain that Bunny will make to his mother. Escorted, pulled by her brothers, Vanessa is forced to leave the villa. Once the DeFrancos are gone, Bunny rushes to recover his medal.

Gina remains impassive, a little disoriented, not understanding why Bunny did all this for her, while she does not love him ! Her heart does not beat for Bunny and will never beat for him... Yet Bunny has all the charisma, madness, passion, disobedience to be an excellent husband for Gina.

Quite dramatic, Bunny and Vanessa's canceled wedding reveals a panel of all the treasures of the show : humour, passion, drama, a fine funny and dynamic writing... In short, a great moment of excitement ! This wedding scene also shows that Joe Marinelli is a worthy replacement for Justin Deas in the show, and that Gina's tribulations are never as good as when she has a game partner who is her equal !

Text written for this site by Lilian