The Borgias Recap 'Nessuno (Nobody)'

Season 1 Episode 9

Upon entering the empty streets of Rome, King Charles asks Lucrezia for a private audience with her father the pope. Cardinal Della Rovere is visibly displeased with Lucrezia's sway on the French King; Lucrezia rubs salt on the cardinal's wound by handing him the reigns to her horse before escorting the King to the cathedral.

Inside, King Charles mistakes the simply-clad Rodrigo for a friar, and even apologises for interrupting his prayers. When he realises his mistake, the King falls to his knees and kisses Rodrigo's hand. King Charles is obviously surprised at finding the Pope thus attired. Wily Rodrigo skillfully establishes a common ground with the French King and speaks of the burdens of great office. When Rodrigo enquires whether King Charles has come to relieve him of the burdens of the papacy, the French King quickly denies it. Rodrigo offers to grant King Charles the papal investiture of the kingdoms of France and Naples.

Though he may have been taken by Lucrezia's charms and Rodrigo's simple clothing and talk of burdens of great office, King Charles is no fool. He forces Rodrigo to appoint Cesare as papal legate, to travel with the French army to Naples, and to remain there with the King. Cesare is angry at being a hostage. Rodrigo calmly tells his son to bring Micheletto ('For entertainment. For protection.') with him and, if the rumours of plague in Naples prove true, find his way home.

During a night time pause on the ride to Naples, Cesare and Micheletto school the two soldiers guarding them on killing. One of the soldiers asks for a demonstration of the garrote; Micheletto kills him, whilst Cesare uses a piece of wood to batter the head of the other. Cesare tells Micheletto they must ride to Pesaro, and to Giovanni Sforza.

Lucrezia has a brief reunion with Cesare in Rome; she informs her brother she is pregnant with a child who is not her husband's. Cesare takes Lucrezia to the Convent of St. Cecilia's, and leaves her in the care of Ursula. Cesare promises to get Lucrezia's marriage to Giovanni Sforza annulled.

Disguised as peasants with a vegetable cart, Cesare and Micheletto wait for Giovanni Sforza inside the walls of Pesaro. Micheletto knocks the lord of the castle unconscious, places him in a sack, and carries him to the cart where Cesare awaits. Not one of the other peasants milling about notice this. Cesare and Micheletto drive back to Rome with the bound Sforza. Cesare roughs Giovanni up a bit before presenting him to Rodrigo.

With Burchard in attendance, Rodrigo tells Giovanni of his desire to have the Lord Sforza's marriage to Lucrezia annulled. Since the only ground allowed by law for an annulment is non-consummation, a heavily pregnant Lucrezia testifies from behind a screen to the College of Cardinals that Giovanni Sforza is impotent. Giovanni asserts he can prove consummation but stops short of speaking of the wedding night; instead, he says simply that Lucrezia is lying. A demonstration of consummation between Giovanni and Lucrezia is immediately nixed; Burchard suggested that a public demonstration of Giovanni's potency with one or two willing maidens would suffice. Rodrigo magnanimously spares Giovanni the public sufferance, and says the audience of the College of Cardinals would do, in lieu of members of the public.

A mattress is brought in, followed by two overweight courtesans. Giovanni finally puts a stop to the humiliating proceeding (there is open laughter from amongst the cardinals), declares himself impotent, and asserts his marriage to Lucrezia is not consummated. Lucrezia gives birth at the convent. The episode closes with the whole Borgia clan around Lucrezia's bed side --- Rodrigo, Vanozza, Cesare, Juan, Gioffre, Giulia, Gioffre's wife Sancia, and Ursula.

Strays

■ King Charles arrives at Naples and finds stacks of bodies whose lives were claimed by the plague.

■ Rodrigo gets Burchard to find precedent for the punishment he gives the cardinals for leaving Rome: to present themselves in sackcloth and ashes at the next convention. With the members of the College of Cardinals back (and in rough brown robes and ashes on their forehead), Rodrigo calls on them one by one to kneel in front of him and show their penitence by donating large sums to the Vatican coffers.

■ Cesare offers a cessation of hostilities with Cardinal Della Rovere. Cesare recognises the cardinal as a worthy opponent whose strength Rodrigo may need. When Cardinal Della Rovere points out that Rodrigo already has Cesare, Cesare says that surely, the cardinal already knows Cesare will not be a man of the church forever. Cesare points out that he could have had the cardinal killed twice. Cardinal Della Rovere declares his opposition to the Borgia papacy will end only with his death.

■ When the French ambassador complains of the disappearance of Cesare from the French army, Rodrigo denies knowing where his son is. Rodrigo tells the ambassador that the King of France may appoint any other cardinal he wishes as papal legate, and even suggests Cardinal Sforza. At this time, of course, the Borgias are particularly displeased with the Sforzas, and an appointment as papal legate to the King of France means having to go to plague-infected Naples.

■ I wrote this recap in as straightforward a manner as I could, because my health seemed to have gotten better, then got worse again. I enjoyed my re-watch of the first season of The Borgias a lot more than I thought I would. This finale of the first season has its charms, but it is the weakest amongst the three season finales The Borgias has (so far). Curiously, one of the most hated characters when the first season aired back in 2011, Giovanni Sforza, is my pick for the most fascinating character for this episode. The morning after their horrifying wedding night, Giovanni carelessly commented on Lucrezia's virginity. When the question of consummation was raised, Giovanni could have spoken of that, or of any of the many other times he brutally asserted his marital rights on the young, suffering Lucrezia. He did not. However he may despise his wife's origins, he took the humiliation rather than saying a word of about their private time. This is not at all a defence of Giovanni Sforza's character, or an attempt to find something good in him. I do not find him sympathetic. I find him fascinating. He is a proud, cruel man, but there are outposts he refuses to cross, no matter the price. One of them is speaking of his private time with his wife. I do not think his refusal to talk of this is necessarily out of concern for Lucrezia's dignity; rather, it could more likely be that he simply thinks it is beneath him to speak in such a manner about about a lady, especially his wife. In any case, I am going back to bed, and wish you all a happy The Borgias day.:)

Quotes

King Charles: 'We smell politics. We dislike politics.'

Rodrigo: 'Display has its purpose. But simplicity must rule our hearts.'

Rodrigo: 'We did love our children, did we not, my dear?'

Vanozza: 'To a fault.'

Show: The Borgias (Showtime)

Season: One

Episode Number in Season: Nine

Episode Number in Series: Nine

Episode Title: Nessuno

Episode Writer: Neil Jordan

Episode Director: Jeremy Podeswa

Original Air Date: May 22, 2011

The Borgias Recap 'The Art of War'

Season 1 Episode 8

Juan's strategy for defeating the French army is this --- meet them in open field, where they cannot use their cannon. Cannon, according to Juan's understanding, is only used to batter fortifications. Also, the papal army is to feint to the left. Cesare, sternly instructed by Rodrigo to stop denigrating his brother, manages to hold his tongue whilst Juan presents this plan, but his lack of faith in the plan is written all over his face. Still, Cesare puts forth no suggestion to counter the French offensive.

The Borgias Recap 'Death, on a Pale Horse'

Season 1 Episode 7

In the previous episode, King Charles of France warned Cardinal Della Rovere several times about the harsh realities of war. The good cardinal persisted in this design to have the French army march into Italy to depose Rodrigo Borgia. Here, Cardinal Della Rovere sees first hand what King Charles described.

The Borgias Recap 'The French King'

Season 1 Episode 6

Whilst I was trying to decide what to use as title for this recap (and I picked The King Of France before I realised it is pretty much the same as the episode's title), I was marvelling at how many vivid characters this show has. In this episode alone, we have Giovanni Sforza (cruel lord and husband, proud, considered by other Sforzas as somewhat lesser variety), King Ferrante of Naples (widely known for his ruthlessness and his grotesque supper table, now an invalid), Prince Alfonso (dancing between madness and practical leadership, fond of his family), King Charles of France (plainspoken, steely, clear-eyed in matters of war, an experienced military commander) --- and these are just the lords and leaders. In the previous episode, there was Ludovico of Milan, who kept his nephew shackled and caged, and at one point peed on him. There are also quite a number of auxiliary characters, along with the Borgias themselves, and of course Micheletto. It is to the show's credit that it manages to juggle all these different personalities, each with their own voices and idiosyncrasies, and weave a coherent, engaging narrative for each episode.

The Borgias Recap 'The Borgias in Love'

Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix

Season 1 Episode 5

Perhaps it is because I am now viewing this first season with the benefit of hindsight, but I am finding that the things that I remember annoying me back when I first saw this almost three years ago, no longer do (or at least, not to the same degree). Though I remember Ruta Gedmintas fondly from The Tudors, the character Ursula has never been a favourite of mine. When I re-watched 'Lucrezia's Wedding' last week, the line 'Liberate me' still rankled me. Yet, I did not mind her as much as I used to. She has a lot more screen time in this episode, and as I watched I kept waiting for the familiar feeling of irritation, the one I had back in 2011. It did not happen.

Part of the challenge of the character Ursula is the organic, mesmerising chemistry between Francois Arnaud and Holliday Grainger. Ursula is a woman who wakes in Cesare a hunger that drives him to kill (and yes I know Cesare wanted to kill the Baron anyway because he insulted Vanozza, repeatedly). Ursula may not be Cesare's great love but, for a time, she is an overwhelming passion of his. It is tricky to make this believable, in the face of the Cesare/ Lucrezia chemistry.

The Borgias Recap 'Lucrezia's Wedding'

Season 1 Episode 4

The interplay of political struggles and personal conflict is a near constant presence in The Borgias. In this episode, it becomes more prominent as Lucrezia, to service her father's political needs, marries Giovanni Sforza. Scattered throughout the episode are explanations, seamlessly woven into the story, of the geo-political situation of the time. Italy as we know it now did not yet exist. Naples was a grand kingdom, claimed by both France and Spain. Florence was controlled by the Medicis, a wealthy banking family, yet was also a potential hotbed of religious and social uprising thanks to the passionate preachings of the friar Savonarola.

The Borgias Recap 'The Moor'

Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix

Season 1 Episode 3

Two men, one a declared enemy, another embraced as a friend, find themselves caught in Borgia plots of murder in this episode. It was not too long ago when Rodrigo wearily, warily, brought up drawing the line on murder with his son Cesare. Was it Cardinal Orsini's aborted attempt on the lives of Rodrigo and his family that turned Rodrigo around and hardened his acceptance of murder as a tool of those who seek, and seek to retain, power?

The Borgias Recap 'The Poisoned Chalice/ The Assassin'

Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix

Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2

It was back in January when I was working on the recap of the final episode of The Borgias that I decided to set time aside to recap the first season. Initially, I planned on recapping just the second and third seasons, so I could cover more shows on this blog. However, as I wrote about the last scenes of Rodrigo, Cesare, Lucrezia, Caterina, Micheletto and others, I found myself wanting to write more. The Borgias is that rare show that rewards careful attention. We have come to expect, and have gotten, excellent production values, in this glorious decade or so of television, and The Borgias is no exemption in this regard. However, like other great shows, The Borgias offers much more than prettiness. With The Borgias, the more carefully you listen to the lines, the more beautiful they become. The more attention you give to the mild shifts in expressions of this show's great actors, the more meaning you can discern. Unlike some shows, it holds up on re-watch. I have not always agreed with some of the show's narrative decisions, but I have always respected the care that goes with every episode, and I have loved all three seasons. So, here I am, treading a well-loved road, and hoping others remain to join me.