Season 2 Episode 10
It is not easy to recap so emotional an episode as this. Here, deep wounds within the family are culled, leading to some truly great scenes, especially between Jeremy Irons and Francois Arnaud.
The episode opens with Savonarola's screams. He is on the rack, being tortured. Micheletto walks in and tells the friar to sign his confession and end his pain. Savonarola, surprisingly, says yes, and his torturer helps him sit up. Instead of signing. Savonarola pours ink on the paper. The torture continues.
Rodrigo, playing the disappointed father, tells the weary Cesare he is to bring him two things --- Savonarola's confession, and Juan. Cesare says Savonarola will confess, and that he has had all of Rome searched for Juan. Rodrigo orders him to make more effort to find his brother.
Outside, Cesare is with the ever present Cardinal Sforza. Cesare tells one whom I assume to be a member of the papal guard to search everywhere again, then walks off. Cardinal Sforza rattles off the places that have been searched, then orders the guard to start with the mortuaries. Cardinal Sforza's gaze trails to the arrival of an obviously wealthy personage.
Within the palatial halls Lucrezia runs into this new face, a young man of apparent high birth. In the voice of one used to being mistress of her every environment, she commands him to stop. He does. Obedient boy. She asks him who he is. He introduces himself as Prince Alfonso d'Aragona, Duke of Biscoglie and Prince of Salerno. He says he is suitor to Lucrezia Borgia. 'Poor boy,' Lucrezia murmurs.
Lucrezia takes her new toy to a bedroom, then orders him to take off his coat. He tries to play with her, but she is too good, too self-possessed for him. She next orders him to turn around, and when he asks, she turns too. They are both pleased with each other, and, though I realise it has a purpose, I am bored with this scene.
Inside a small chapel, Antonello kneels for confession and details his failure to kill the Pope to Cardinal Della Rovere. The Cardinal gives him more poison.
Inside the torture chamber, Savonarola tells the eerily relaxed Micheletto that he knows what he is, and that he has had his kind stoned to death in Florence. Savonarola is referring to Micheletto's sexuality. I wonder how the friar could have known this. Savonarola says he will never confess to Micheletto, but he will confess to Micheletto's master.
In the gardens, Lucrezia and Alfonso are walking, with Lucrezia carrying a huge umbrella. Alfonso is obviously smitten with Lucrezia. He asks her to tell her Lady Lucrezia that he is 'inept or coarse or beyond ugly' He wants her to come with him and be his alone. Lucrezia asks him why he would turn down the Pope's daughter for her. The prince gives a properly besotted response. Lucrezia murmurs, 'Poor boy,' kisses him, and leaves. There is a shot of Alfonso holding a big umbrella, another innocent caught in the Borgia web.
Cesare complains to Machiavelli about Savonarola's endurance under torture while Machiavelli peels an apple. Heh. I am loving their bromance. Cesare rants about the need for a public confession and recanting of Savonarola's accusations. Machiavelli tells Cesare to simply give the confession to the public.
Rodrigo plays with baby Giovanni while Lucrezia offers some comfort about Juan. She says he will come home, as he always does. Wars begin and end, history marches on, yet baby Giovanni remains unchanging, never growing. What is up with this? Did the writers forget to age the kid?
Rodrigo says he has other things on his mind. Lucrezia correctly deduces he is referring to her possible marriage. She agrees to meet Alfonso, just as a matter of duty, she emphasises.
At court, the great and the good await Lucrezia. There is much pomp to this meeting. The lady arrives accompanied by song. Alfonso stammers in her presence. Before the poor prince could mutter a coherent sentence, or even a phrase, Lucrezia declares she will marry him. Rodrigo is ecstatic.
Rodrigo's joy is interrupted by the arrival of the guard earlier seen talking to Cesare and Cardinal Sforza. The guard tells Cardinal Sforza that they have a body.
The Pope and Cardinal Sforza view the body on a cart. It is not Juan. Rodrigo asks if Cesare ordered the search of mortuaries. Does he already have an inkling that his eldest son committed a crime against his brother? Cardinal Sforza says he ordered the search, and that he considers the possibility that Juan may be dead. Later, Rodrigo and Giulia are seen dressing for a night into town.
In the torture chamber, Cesare, with Micheletto in the background, tells Savonarola to end his pain. Savonarola seems to lose consciousness. Cesare angrily yells at Micheletto that he went too far. Micheletto props up Savonarola and shows the friar is alive. Cesare quickly signs the confession himself and leaves.
Left with Micheletto, Savonarola says he will damn the pope with his last strength and shout the falseness of the confession. Micheletto takes out the friar's tongue.
Devoted, strong Giulia goes with the Pope to look at bodies brought into a mortuary from the night before. I hope Giulia will have more to do next season. We have only been given glimpses of her strength and intelligence, and she is beautifully portrayed by Lotte Verbeek.
Rodrigo finds Juan's body, bloated from being in the water. Giulia goes to him; she looks at Juan's body as well. The heartbroken father orders his son's body to be brought home.
Cesare triumphantly presents Savonarola's 'signed confession' to his father, only to be brought back down by the sight of his brother's corpse. Giulia, his family and three cardinals (Cardinals Sforza, Versucci, and another one I do not know) are also in the room. Cesare orders the cardinals to leave.
Rodrigo embraces Cesare and tearfully asks who would dare harm Juan. Lucrezia quietly replies that it could have been anyone Juan harmed. Rodrigo snaps out of his grief and asks his only daughter to repeat what she said. Cesare immediately goes to Lucrezia, the sibling he will always protect. Lucrezia tries to take back her words, but Rodrigo is insistent. Lucrezia snaps too, and honestly, emotionally, answers Rodrigo's query. Lucrezia confesses that she has wished Juan dead a thousand times. Rodrigo turns his anger on Cesare, another sibling who seems to not mourn his favourite. Finally, he orders Cesare and Lucrezia to take themselves away from his sight.
Later, Cardinal Sforza is alone with Juan's body. Some people arrive, and he orders them to clean the corpse up.
Rodrigo and Vanozza sit on a bed, their hands touching. Rodrigo wonders how he could have missed such enmity within his family. Vanozza says he saw them with a father's eyes. Rodrigo asks if Vanozza wanted Juan dead too. Vanozza replies no, but there were many times when she wished he had never been born. She then tells her erstwhile lover to let go of Juan and bury him. Rodrigo refuses.
Savonarola in a cage is wheeled through Rome. Micheletto casually leans against what is to be Savonarola's funeral pyre. Savonarola is brought in front of the Cardinals, then walked to his death. He seems particularly peeved that Micheletto awaits him there. Micheletto straps him and hangs a HERETICUS sign around his neck.
Before Savonarola is burned, Rodrigo goes to his enemy and urges him to repent. Rodrigo says he is disposed to grant Savonarola absolution. Savonarola's response to this is a bloody spit to Rodrigo's face.
Lucrezia lies on a bed while Cesare rests his head on her thigh. Their hands touch. The pose is both innocent and intimate. Lucrezia asks Cesare to marry her. 'As you wish,' Francois replies, and the fangirl in me swoons. Cesare then weaves a fantasy of the two of them running away, changing their names, living in a little fishing village. They then discuss Lucrezia's marriage to Alfonso d'Aragon. Lucrezia thinks he is a good man, and that she believes she can love him. She wants Cesare to marry them. Cesare says no. He says his hands have seen too much blood and sin.
Cesare finds his father alone in a darkened room with Juan. Rodrigo has not been eating. He refuses to bury Juan until he finds out who killed him. He says that Rome is to be scoured for the murderer. Cesare says there is no need for that. Rodrigo asks him if he knows who killed Juan and Cesare says he does. Rodrigo sits down, waits to hear what in his heart he must already know.
Before he tells his father the identity of the murderer, Cesare first asks that Rodrigo hear his confession, release him from his Cardinal's vow, and forgive him for his sins. Rodrigo asks his eldest son what sins he has committed. Cesare rattles off his achievements --- he protected the papacy, made the family strong, brought Savonarola low, outwitted the French king. Rodrigo insists that Cesare tell him his sins. Cesare kneels. Rodrigo looks as though he recoils at the nearness of Cesare. There is some very fine work here by Jeremy Irons.
Finally, Cesare, in a voice that is both matter-of-fact and pained, confesses to killing his brother. He begs Rodrigo to release him from his Cardinal's vows.
Rodrigo grants Cesare's request to be released of his Cardinal's vows, but says nothing of forgiveness. Cesare hands his father his Cardinal's ring, but Rodrigo does not take it. Cesare places it on top of the body of the brother he murdered, then leaves. Rodrigo is left sobbing over the body of his second son.
Cesare, in black now rather than the red Cardinal's robes, finds his mother and sister pouring over some papers. He declares that a funeral for Juan is being arranged, and that the celebrations for Lucrezia's betrothal are to go ahead. Vanozza protests, but Cesare says it is for him to decide. Since when has all these been up to you, Cesare?
Rodrigo holds a solitary vigil over Juan's body while the celebrations for Lucrezia's betrothal to Alfonso commences. Cesare is very much the man of the house here. Lucrezia dances with her betrothed, Cesare with his mother, Giulia with some guy.
Rodrigo carries Juan, now in the body of a child, to the palace grounds, serving two purposes: (1) It shows how Rodrigo sees Juan, forever his beloved young boy; (2) It is easier for Jeremy Irons to carry the body of a child than drag poor David Oakes to the garden. A sobbing Rodrigo digs a shallow grave with what looks to be a pickaxe, then drags Juan's body to it. With his palms that must not have had any contact with manual labour in years, he covers his son's body with the recently dug earth. He also says some stuff in Latin --- prayers, most likely --- and for the nth time I regret not studying Latin as a teenager in school.
Young Alfonso watches as Cesare and Lucrezia dance, outside the glow of these siblings who are joined by more than blood. Later, Vanozza confronts his eldest son. She asks him what they are celebrating --- Lucrezia's betrothal or Juan's death? A full-on tiff between mother and son is interrupted by the appearance of Rodrigo, his papal robes caked in dirt. He wants to speak to Cesare.
Away from the dancing, Rodrigo and Cesare sit across each other. Rodrigo asks for wine. Antonello drinks some, pronounces the wine good, and pours some for the Pope. We already know where this is going, but Francois Arnaud and especially Jeremy Irons still have one more scene to showcase what great actors they are. Rodrigo tells Cesare he has buried Juan. He then acknowledges that he did grant more favours to Juan, but this is because Cesare is too much like him. Cesare, both little boy and man, asks his father if he could have his forgiveness. We do not hear Rodrigo's answer because just then the poison takes effect. Blood runs down Antonello's eyes. The young poisoner falls to the floor. Rodrigo clutches his throat. Cesare screams for help. Rodrigo falls as Lucrezia, Vanozza, Giulia, Alfonso and three cardinals rush into the room.
Show: The Borgias (Showtime)
Season: Two
Episode Title: The Confession
Episode Writer: Guy Burt
Episode Director: David Leland
Original Air Date: June 17, 2012
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