meditions142 wrote: Sun Mar 02, 2025 12:59 pmStormtrooper1990 wrote: Sat Mar 01, 2025 12:58 pm
Indeed, the fact that Alessia was wearing mascara and was all made up for sentry duty is a reference to Mussolini himself who was a notorious womaniser, and was infamous for his many lovers. I reasoned that he would probably want his elite female bodyguards to put looking good, over actual combat skill. (Like Gaddafi with his Amazonian Guards) Plus, it reiterates the fact that Alessia (and Giulia) are just normal pretty young women who aren't really cut out for a life of soldiering.
Yeah, I know what you mean our heroines were quite rough on the Italian cutie. Not only will she have a sore neck but one hell of a black eye, that will take a lot of makeup to hide the poor dear.
I would say early twenties is about right for Giulia and Alessia. In fact I envisaged Alessia to be no more than 20 years old and Giulia is a little more seasoned, but not by much, at 23.
It does make is interesting the way their leaders care about making them look pretty but not about making them skilled. Basically, making them easy targets.
As for the treatment of Aleesia, indeed Liz and Susie may want to avoid killing if they can. However, these women are the enemy so they are detached to the point they really don't care about what they do to them. And we get Susie's cold and kinda funny comment: “Nighty night, love.” And prior to that Liz's comment: “If she wakes up, just put her back to sleep with another sleeper hold. Or failing that, just give a good punch to the face.” Clearly, the women don't mind hurting the two sentries even though they don't want to kill.
I do like Alessia being a bit younger. That explains being even less skilled than Giulia.
Indeed, their leaders want them to look pretty to make an impression and for art appreciation but don't really care about training them up. So inadvertently making girls like the Lei Lupi or Elite Guards perfect targets for any infiltrator.
Definitely, Liz and Susie are professional SOE agents historically trained in the art of 'ungentlemanly warfare' as we British put it. Like you said they don't want to kill Alessia or Giulia but much prefer to humiliate them in the eyes of their superiors, without caring about their enemies welfare and if that means roughing them up a bit then so be it. At the end of the day, these girls are still their enemy and are treated as such. Liz and Susie must remain detached to completely their mission, but that doesn't mean they can't have a little fun on the way.

I always envisaged Alessia being a cute girl from Napoli who joined the Lei Lupi naively wanting to serve her nation and the regime. ( And the uniform helps with attracting the boys...or girls perhaps) But she had no idea that effectively she was chosen for her looks and that her beloved Duce considered both her and Giulia expendable.