Gabriel's Redemption Part II review: the best yet of the Passionflix franchise

Whether you're a Passionflix devotee or an avid fan of bestselling author Sylvain Reynard — or both — then Gabriel's Redemption Part II is the movie you've been waiting for. The second movie in the Redemption trilogy, and the eighth installment of The Gabriel Series, comes out on October 12 and it's quite possibly the best of the franchise.

For the uninitiated, Passionflix adapted three of Reynard's books — Gabriel's Inferno, Gabriel's Rapture and Gabriel's Redemption — and turned each movie into a trilogy of feature length movies. As the penultimate movie in The Gabriel Series franchise, Gabriel's Redemption Part II picks up where Gabriel's Redemption Part I left off and starts to lay the groundwork for what's sure to be an epic finale.

Melanie Zanetti and Giulio Berruti reprise their roles as Julia and Gabriel. Still basking in the warm glow of the Tuscan sun, the newlyweds are growing even closer while working through the childhood trauma that continues to rear its ugly head. The stresses of their pasts leads to some tension between the couple, but nothing will ever stand in the way of their love for each other. For them, it's a matter of finding the path they were destined to follow.

As Passionflix fans know, each movie follows the events of Reynard's books very closely, so what happens in the story is no surprise. However, seeing Zanetti and Berruti on this journey is pure magic and fans have been lucky enough to have this talented duo bring these characters to life.

While most of the cast has been together since the first trilogy of movies, there are a few new faces in Gabriel’s Redemption Part II. One new face in particular is someone that Reynard fans have been eagerly awaiting for a very long time: The Prince. I won't spoil his identity here, but let me assure fans that you won't be disappointed. The Prince is the main character in Reynard's Florentine Series; whether Passionflix options those books and develops them into a series of movies remains a mystery, but if all fans get is this glimpse of the enigmatic Prince, it's enough.

Gabriel’s Redemption Part II was filmed on location in Tuscany. Director Tosca Musk and her team have always been devoted to finding perfect filming locations for each movie and this time around the Emersons' Italian villa is so perfect that it becomes a character unto itself.

At the end of the day, Gabriel Series fans will have opinions on their favorite movie from the franchise. Mine happens to be Gabriel's Inferno Part I. But when examining the franchise as a whole, there's no question that Gabriel's Redemption Part II is a labor of love that not only features some of the most anticipated moments of the franchise, but it's a crowning achievement for this talented cast and crew that has been years in the making.

Gabriel's Redemption Part II premieres exclusively on Passionflix on Thursday, October 12.