From Scratch starring Zoe Saldana and Eugenio Mastrandrea as the leading couple Amy-Lino brought Tembi Locke’s memoir of the same name to life on Netflix with the latest limited series. Following the journey of the two characters, the series not only depicts the hardships faced by them during the pursuit of their respective artistic endeavors but also the growth in their relationship despite the wavering ideologies of their families.
Eventually forming a long-extended family who’s always beside them as their constant support system, a heartfelt development is presented through the family drama. However, achieving this doesn’t come without its share of sacrifices along the way. Amy and Lino’s lives are overturned when a fatal plot twist endangers all that they’ve worked for and built together. Let’s take a closer look at how the series’ end shapes up these characters and their arcs.
Netflix describes the intimate love at first sight drama as:
An artist finds romance with a chef in Italy and embarks on a life-changing journey of love, loss, resilience and hope across cultures and continents.
-From Scratch Ending Explained Contains Spoilers-
From Scratch Ending Explained
After striving to make it as a happy couple in Los Angeles, Amy and Lino finally find their way around their dreams. Lino’s aspiration of establishing his repertoire as a professional chef is kickstarted as he gets his opportunity to transform the diner he worked at into a restaurant of his design. Amy, on the other hand, is presented with a fork in the road when Chloe promises her a raise and promotion at the gallery and conversely, she’s also offered a full-time job at Watt Towers, bringing her closer to art on a personal level as opposed to her original position at the gallery.
However, the latter is less-paying compared to the former and her conflict arises out of making the choice between her dream or Lino’s dream (more money would help fund his open night at the restaurant).
Though tense about discussing the issue with her husband, the issue is finally brought up and Lino is proud of all she’s done at Watts Towers and asks her to accept the job. Both start their respective professions as they’d hoped to, but soon things start crumbling down as Lino’s knee gives away and a formal diagnosis reveals him to be at risk of a type of cancer. Despite just having embarked on the path of his dreams, Lino is compelled to hang up his apron and let it all go to make time for his chemotherapy.
Amy’s family is as supportive as ever but in a significant feat, Lino’s parents make it all the way to Los Angeles after all. This presents a chance for Lino and his father to bridge the gap between them. Although the two have their own inhibitions initially which also pushes them against each other in a confrontational argument at one point, they gradually start coming closer than ever and mend their bond.
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During the course of his treatment, both Amy and Lino are tested to their limits but after the many trials put in their way as obstacles, they finally return as victors. Seeing it as a rebirth, the two decide to expand their family and due to Lino’s health conditions, they finalize on adopting a child after assessing that the concept of family isn’t always restricted to blood ties. After a long wait, they’re shortlisted in the program and get a call for the same on the day of Zora and Ken’s wedding ceremony.
Receiving Zora’s nod of approval, they rush to the hospital where they meet their new family member. Naming her Idalia Rose, the three begin a new chapter of their lives wherein Amy continues her job at Watts Tower and Lino stays at home to look after their daughter. Even after his survival and the complete extraction of cancer from his body, they’re constantly haunted by the name of the fatal disease, owing to the endless check-ups he has to undergo after the interval of a few months.
Each check-up conveys a happy continuation of their lives, however, their battle is far from over. His condition starts deteriorating again, with cancer having been transmitted to the lungs this time. All his former procedures are put into motion, pushing them back into a state of deja vu and reviving the old wounds, but with even higher stakes this time, especially because Idalia had become extremely attached to her ‘Babbo’.
Their extended family pitches their own time one way or another, switching the responsibility of looking after both Lino and Idalia. Nevertheless, a wall looms between Amy and her mother-in-law even after the death of her father-in-law. They can’t seem to meet each other halfway owing to their different ways of upbringing and timelines.
The inevitable moment crawls closer and closer with Lino’s condition only worsening, elevating the anxieties of Amy and her family. Despite the magnitude of treatments happening at the same time, nothing seems to come to his avail so Amy decides to take him back home to Idalia, where he can at least be at peace.
All their friends and family get together to celebrate his return but his visible fragility can’t escape Amy’s vision. Remembering all the good times spent together, Lino bids his farewell, leaving Amy and Idalia grief-stricken. Still learning to come to terms with her loss, Amy loses sight of the balance in her life, as a response to which Zora reminds her of her promise to Lino. She picks herself up and alongside Idalia, carries his ashes back to his homeland, Sicily.
Upon their arrival, the mother and daughter are welcomed by the entire community as a whole, a sight they’re not familiar with. Taking her own time, Amy, though initially resistant to accepting their conventional ways and customs, eventually learns to find peace on the island with her mother-in-law by her side. She decides to stay back, despite her former adamant urge to go back, for a religious procession that falls on her birthday. Her side of the family also visits them on her birthday, once again forming a community in itself and she finds her sense of belonging in her grand family union, feeling closer than ever to Lino’s roots.
Not only are her ties strengthened with her own mother but also with Maxine and Filomena (mother-in-law), in a way, finding three mothers along the way. What started off as purely a tale of romantic love, later shapes itself as the love for one’s family – for one’s mother(s), for one’s daughters, and for one’s family of choice, the one that isn’t ascribed to us at birth but is nevertheless family.
From Scratch is now streaming on Netflix.