 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
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.
The show opens in 1492, as Pope Innocent VIII lay dying. Cardinals who will be vying for his post surround him, including bitter rivals Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) and Giuliano Della Rovere (Colm Feore). Supporting Rodrigo's bid for the papacy are his sons the dutiful, dangerous Cesare (Fracois Arnaud) and the volatile Juan (David Oakes). When the Conclave meet following the death of the Pope, Rodrigo woos votes on the inside while Cesare and Juan execute the family's long-planned strategy of massive bribery. Rodrigo wins and becomes Pope, much to the consternation of Cardinals Della Rovere and Orsini. Cardinal Orsini (Derek Jacobi) in particular seethes at being denied the office of the Vice Chancellor, given instead to Cardinal Sforza (Peter Sullivan), and invites the pope and the cardinals to a banquet at his palace.
Cesare brings a monkey as taster at the banquet, and meets Micheletto, the assassin Cardinal Orsini hired to kill both Rodrigo and Cesare. This meeting is one of the primary reasons why I wanted to go back to the first season; I wanted to see once more how the enduring partnership of Cesare and Micheletto started. It begins, apparently, with both men being impressed with how fast the other drew their blades. Micheletto gave up Cardinal Orsini fairly quickly; in mere minutes the assassin has sized up the young Borgia, and pronounced him a worthy master (more on the Cesare/ Micheletto relationship below, under Strays). Cesare has Micheletto poison Cardinal Orsini. With Rodrigo safely away, Cesare and Micheletto stop the two men tasked on killing the rest of the Borgia family.
Meanwhile, Rodrigo meets the beautiful, aristocratic, unhappy Giulia Farnese (Lotte Verbeek), and installs her in Cardinal Orsini's old palace. Their s#xual affair gets back to an angry Vanozza (Joanne Whalley), Rodrigo's erstwhile paramour and mother of his children. Giulia wisely befriends young Lucrezia.
Cesare sets Micheletto the task of finding out what Cardinal Della Rovere's plans are. To gain the Cardinal's trust, Micheletto tells Cesare to whip his back. With Micheletto's help, Cardinal Della Rovere presents the maid at Cardinal Orsini's palace as witness to other cardinals; Rodrigo's affair with Giulia provides grounds for his deposition. Rodrigo, on the advise of canon law expert Johannes Burchard (Simon McBurney), appoints 13 more cardinals, including Cesare, thereby ensuring that Cardinal Della Rovere's faction remains at the minority.
Micheletto dismisses Cardinal Della Rovere's staff for the day, sh@gs the maid on his bed, and kills her. Cardinal Della Rovere comes home to a palace in darkness; as he kneels in prayer he discovers the maid's blood-soaked body. The episode closes with Cardinal Della Rovere having fled Rome, and Cesare conferring his trust on Micheletto.
Strays
■ Can someone please explain this to me --- Why do the Italians look down on the Spanish at this period? Is this simply because the Italian cardinals want an Italian on the papal throne, or something else?
■ When Cardinal Orsini snipes, 'You swear thus, a Spanish Marrano? A white moor?' I had to Google Marrano because I had no idea what it meant. The Internet says it refers to Jews who converted to Christianity.
■ According to this, real life Lucrezia was born in 1480, which makes her 12 years old in 1492. Lucrezia is 14 in this show, and Holliday Grainger pulls off her youthfulness very well.
■ When Cesare realises his sister Lucrezia has been spying on him sh@gging, he chases her and playfully pulls her to the ground. This scene involves sh@gging, spying on sh@gging, popes having children, and siblings having more chemistry than many lovers on screen, yet there is exquisite sweetness and innocence as well. Francois Arnaud and Holliday Grainger are just perfectly cast.
■ The nose bump between Cesare and Lucrezia is all kinds of adorable.
■ Lucrezia: 'Maybe Papa will become pope, and you can be who you want to be.' Cesare: 'If he does become pope, I'll be what he wants me to be.' Poor Cesare, ill content with his life.
■ The moment I fell in love with Cesare --- Cesare politely saying 'Excuse me' before taking someone's sword, then coolly disarming Juan's opponent and saying, 'My brother speaks before he thinks. He begs your pardon.' Cesare is all quiet competence and thinly veiled impatience at being surrounded by fools and lesser beings.
■ Cardinal Sforza: 'Let him without children cast the first stone.' I have mentioned this on this blog before --- I wonder how different a show The Borgias would have been had it explored this one line and showed that Rodrigo Borgia was not the only prelate with children at that time.
■ Before the examination of the new pope's privates --- Cardinal Orisini: 'I have heard rumours of a rhinocerous horn.' Cardinal Sforza: 'That small?' Heh, heh.
■ Rodrigo seemed genuinely bothered by the 'great silence of God' after he became pope. This is one of the aspects of Rodrigo's character I find intriguing --- his lust for power is as real as his belief in God, his enjoyment of worldly riches is as important to him as his piety. Even as he condones the basest of sins, he loves, truly and deeply, and fears God too. He is a man of almost startling contrasts.
■ Why did Micheletto almost immediately confer absolute loyalty to Cesare? Was it because of an instant powerful physical attraction? Could be. Was it the lure of serving the pope's son, and by extension the pope himself? This could be, too. In this day and age, it is difficult to fully grasp just how powerful the Pope was in those days. For someone like Micheletto, who is lives in darkness even as he struggles with it, being close to the sun that is the mighty papal office could be a powerful draw.
There is also the possibility that the hyper competent Micheletto may already be tired of serving those whose methods he cannot respect (he made a point of telling Cesare the bungled plan to kill the Borgias was not his, otherwise, the Borgias would be dead). In Cesare, Micheletto recognised a man who is his kin in ruthlessness and competence. Cesare does not bother to hide his darkness under his cleric's robes; he wears them both, the former more easily than the latter. Micheletto found in Cesare a young man who could be master, equal and student, all while giving him a chance to fully utilise his considerable skills, and have a front row seat in the machinations of one of Europe's most powerful offices.
■ I find it amusing that Juan, who cannot even win a street brawl without Cesare's help, is called 'General' by his troops.
■ Did the show imply that Cardinal Della Rovere was gay?
■ Cesare: 'Give me control of the papal armies, and I will protect us all.' One of my frustrations about The Borgias not having a fourth season is not seeing more of Cesare as a military leader.
■ Expanding the College of Cardinals is just one way of protecting Rodrigo's papacy. He also declares that Lucrezia, at the age of 14, must marry, a development that decidedly does not please Cesare.
■ The first time I saw these episodes, I thought they moved slowly, and almost grounded to a halt in the conversations between Giulia and Lucrezia. On re-watch, however, those conversations actually revealed a lot about Giulia's character, and even foreshadowed her position in the second season.
■ If you would like to vote for the fourth season of The Borgias, please click here.
Quotes
Rodrigo: 'I do tend to win whatever battles I fight.'
Micheletto: '...you'll never meet another assassin like me.'
Micheletto: '... someone as pitiless as you needs someone as pitiless as me.'
Micheletto: 'I do not have a kind. And I suspect neither do you.'
Rodrigo: 'Well, all the others bought and sold. We merely proved ourselves better at the game. But we draw the line at murder, do we not?'
Cesare: 'Whom can one trust in this Rome of ours?'
Micheletto: 'I believe trust needs to be earned, my Lord.'
Cesare: 'Perhaps. Perhaps it has been.'
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
Meanwhile, Rodrigo meets the beautiful, aristocratic, unhappy Giulia Farnese (Lotte Verbeek), and installs her in Cardinal Orsini's old palace. Their s#xual affair gets back to an angry Vanozza (Joanne Whalley), Rodrigo's erstwhile paramour and mother of his children. Giulia wisely befriends young Lucrezia.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
Micheletto dismisses Cardinal Della Rovere's staff for the day, sh@gs the maid on his bed, and kills her. Cardinal Della Rovere comes home to a palace in darkness; as he kneels in prayer he discovers the maid's blood-soaked body. The episode closes with Cardinal Della Rovere having fled Rome, and Cesare conferring his trust on Micheletto.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
■ Can someone please explain this to me --- Why do the Italians look down on the Spanish at this period? Is this simply because the Italian cardinals want an Italian on the papal throne, or something else?
■ When Cardinal Orsini snipes, 'You swear thus, a Spanish Marrano? A white moor?' I had to Google Marrano because I had no idea what it meant. The Internet says it refers to Jews who converted to Christianity.
■ According to this, real life Lucrezia was born in 1480, which makes her 12 years old in 1492. Lucrezia is 14 in this show, and Holliday Grainger pulls off her youthfulness very well.
■ When Cesare realises his sister Lucrezia has been spying on him sh@gging, he chases her and playfully pulls her to the ground. This scene involves sh@gging, spying on sh@gging, popes having children, and siblings having more chemistry than many lovers on screen, yet there is exquisite sweetness and innocence as well. Francois Arnaud and Holliday Grainger are just perfectly cast.
■ The nose bump between Cesare and Lucrezia is all kinds of adorable.
■ Lucrezia: 'Maybe Papa will become pope, and you can be who you want to be.' Cesare: 'If he does become pope, I'll be what he wants me to be.' Poor Cesare, ill content with his life.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
■ Cardinal Sforza: 'Let him without children cast the first stone.' I have mentioned this on this blog before --- I wonder how different a show The Borgias would have been had it explored this one line and showed that Rodrigo Borgia was not the only prelate with children at that time.
■ Before the examination of the new pope's privates --- Cardinal Orisini: 'I have heard rumours of a rhinocerous horn.' Cardinal Sforza: 'That small?' Heh, heh.
■ Rodrigo seemed genuinely bothered by the 'great silence of God' after he became pope. This is one of the aspects of Rodrigo's character I find intriguing --- his lust for power is as real as his belief in God, his enjoyment of worldly riches is as important to him as his piety. Even as he condones the basest of sins, he loves, truly and deeply, and fears God too. He is a man of almost startling contrasts.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
There is also the possibility that the hyper competent Micheletto may already be tired of serving those whose methods he cannot respect (he made a point of telling Cesare the bungled plan to kill the Borgias was not his, otherwise, the Borgias would be dead). In Cesare, Micheletto recognised a man who is his kin in ruthlessness and competence. Cesare does not bother to hide his darkness under his cleric's robes; he wears them both, the former more easily than the latter. Micheletto found in Cesare a young man who could be master, equal and student, all while giving him a chance to fully utilise his considerable skills, and have a front row seat in the machinations of one of Europe's most powerful offices.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
■ Did the show imply that Cardinal Della Rovere was gay?
■ Cesare: 'Give me control of the papal armies, and I will protect us all.' One of my frustrations about The Borgias not having a fourth season is not seeing more of Cesare as a military leader.
■ Expanding the College of Cardinals is just one way of protecting Rodrigo's papacy. He also declares that Lucrezia, at the age of 14, must marry, a development that decidedly does not please Cesare.
■ The first time I saw these episodes, I thought they moved slowly, and almost grounded to a halt in the conversations between Giulia and Lucrezia. On re-watch, however, those conversations actually revealed a lot about Giulia's character, and even foreshadowed her position in the second season.
■ If you would like to vote for the fourth season of The Borgias, please click here.
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
Rodrigo: 'I do tend to win whatever battles I fight.'
Micheletto: '...you'll never meet another assassin like me.'
Micheletto: '... someone as pitiless as you needs someone as pitiless as me.'
Micheletto: 'I do not have a kind. And I suspect neither do you.'
Rodrigo: 'Well, all the others bought and sold. We merely proved ourselves better at the game. But we draw the line at murder, do we not?'
Cesare: 'Whom can one trust in this Rome of ours?'
Micheletto: 'I believe trust needs to be earned, my Lord.'
Cesare: 'Perhaps. Perhaps it has been.'
 |
| Image from The Borgias, streamed via iFlix |
Show: The Borgias (Showtime)
Season: One
Episode Numbers in Season: One and Two
Episode Numbers in Series: One and Two
Episode Titles: The Poisoned Chalice and The Assassin
Episode Writer: Neil Jordan
Episode Director: Neil Jordan
Original Air Date: April 3, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment