[Review] Borgia Faith & Fear - Episode 2: Ash Wednesday

I'm going to keep today's review short and sweet, given that I'm exhausted and feeling somewhat worn down. Episode 2 of Borgia's second season is named "Ash Wednesday" and based around the symbolism of Ash Wednesday. For those not entirely sure of what Ash Wednesday actually is, it is the first day of Lent and the name itself comes from the practise of placing an ash cross shape upon the forehead of the worshipper in a gesture of moaning and repentance to God. This is shown very clearly at the beginning of the show when Cesare is taking mass. He places ash crosses upon the congregation's forehead, except on Carlotta. He places an ash 'C' upon her forehead, and states it means "Christ". Come on Cesare, we all know you are marking her as your own.

We see Cesare continue his mission to get Carlotta. Of course it fails and Cesare angrily stomps off to see the wounded Guy de Leval in his bedchambers. Cesare offers him wine, which Guy refuses to drink thinking that the wine is poisoned. Of course Cesare loses his temper and tells Guy that he isn't worthy to drink his wine, and nor is he worthy of Carlotta. We also see yet more of Cesare's instability. When Sancia is told to seduce Cesare so he will marry her and be able to take the crown of Naples she goes to his rooms. Cesare then attacks her with a fire poker, branding her forehead with the sign of the cross. This scene is particularly shocking as you see the range of emotions in Cesare's eyes only for them to disappear and be replaced with a cold indifference.

We have another character introduced in this episode: Isabella Metuzzi. She arrives as Lucrezia is approaching the time for her child to be born. Isabella is brought in to try and convince Lucrezia that the best option would be for her to give her child over to Giulia Farnese. The reasoning behind this is so that Lucrezia isn't tainted with having a bastard child, and so she can move on and get married. Isabella is actually Lucrezia's half sister who has been shunned by Rodrigo for years - she says it is because Rodrigo disliked how she was unable to bare her husband children, that she was barren. We find out that this is a lie and that she has a son, but the only reason she told Lucrezia she was barren was to win the argument. Lucrezia is convinced, and as she gives birth to her child - a boy named Giovanni (the famous Infans Romanus who will get his very own post at some point) he is taken away from her straight away, leaving her completely hysterical.

This episode also deals with the attitudes of the Roman Catholic Church towards sodomy. We see a man publicly executed for the crime of sodomy, the Pope saying that as God punished the townspeople of Sodom for their crimes, so should they as sodomy is "the most grievous of sins". The man in question is then executed with something known in the show as "The Pope's Pear". This was an actual method of torture and execution used during the Renaissance and even before, and known as the Pear of Anguish...

The Pear was inserted up the offenders anus and opened. This would rupture the lower intestine and cause a very very slow and painful death. The execution scene in this episode using this device made me shudder, and even though you don't see much, you really get the idea of what was happening. You hear the man screaming, and the last shot is of blood dripping from his body. Nasty stuff. Following this we then see the cardinals sorting out the perfect way to get rid of Gacet. Gacet is accused of sodomy in front of the Pope and a large crowd. Gacet is arrested, but Bishop Flores (the man who accuses him) ends up digging himself into a hole and admitting that actually he lied about it. Gacet is freed, and Flores placed in prison in his stead. We then find out that actually Gacet is homosexual and has been having liaisons with Della Roverre. But we then find out that Gacet believes he is homosexual due to the thoughts he has been having, and Pope Alexander is all "oh well". 

One of the final scenes of this episode involves Cesare having it out with the King of Naples over the agreed marriage between Lucrezia and Alfonso, Duke of Calabria. Cesare states that only a prince is good enough for his sister and the episode ends with the King agreeing to make his nephew a Prince, and Cesare departing for Rome as well as a shot of Giulia Farnese looking upon a distant Castel Sant Angelo, vowing that she will never stray so far from Rome again.

Another top notch episode. Amazing sets, beautiful costumes and fantastic acting from the entire cast. Standout this episode has to be Mark Ryder for the sheer fact that we are slowly starting to see him unravel to the malicious Valentino that is so well known.

[Review] Borgia: Faith & Fear ~ Season 2 Episode 1: "The Time Of Sweet Desires"

I'm sure you will all remember my review of Borgia: Faith & Fear's first season and that I was rather impressed with it. I found it much more riveting, and much more accurate than the equivalent Showtime series "The Borgias". And so when I had the second season of Borgia arrive through my door back in April, I couldn't help my excitement. I probably should have reviewed them all sooner, but I'm getting a bit lax with updating this blog. So, given that I have two weeks off work, I thought I would rewatch Season 2 of Borgia and do a daily (except tomorrow because it's my birthday) review of the episodes.

The first episode, named "The Time of Sweet Desires" is set in 1494. Right at the very beginning we see an event that actually happened in history (although at the moment I am unable to find an actual date, I will work on that). We see Rome in the middle of a huge storm, and a bolt of lightning strikes the statue of Michael the Archangel and it explodes into pieces. It was seen as a bad omen, pointing towards the overthrow of the Papacy of Pope Alexander VI (John Doman in this series). As the storm rages we see Pope Alexander VI praying before the alter in St Peter's basilica. As he does so he is approached by two individuals. As he turns he sees that the men are his sons Juan and Pedro-Luis. They accuse him of besmirching the name of Borgia, that he is bringing the papacy to its knees. Rodrigo ends up stabbing his sons, only to be stopped by his friend and manservant Gacet. As Rodrigo comes to his senses he sees that the two men were in fact travelling monks, and he leaves the basilica with a scream. Later on we see that he has been affected by "melancholia" or depression, which has been making him hallucinate, and he ends up being given a concoction by the name of "vitriola" which will apparently cure him. The importance of this is seen much later in the series.

This episode is set 8 months after the end of the last season, and Cesare is in the Kingdom of Naples trying to avoid being sent to Valencia and to win the heart of Carlotta D'Aragona. This is another part of Cesare's story which is true to the history. Cesare became obsessed with Carlotta and believed himself to be truly in love with her. Yet she spurned him. Even in the first episode we can see the obsession that Cesare has built up over this woman, and the jealousy that he faces over the man she is in love with Guy de Leval. Our first sight of Cesare is in a room with a lady by the name of Maria Diaz Garlon (known here as Contessa). Three guesses what they were up to...

Just when things are about to get incredibly steamy, Cesare's eyes fall upon a map of the Romagna. He picks the map up, saying that he is a poor imitation of his dead brother Juan (don't make me laugh, Cesare!) and that he wants to be King of Italy, that he doesn't simply want to be Cesare Borgia now...he wants to be Caesar! This is a nice throw forward to the motto that Cesare will eventually take for himself: "Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil" - "Either Caesar, Or Nothing". As he is studying his maps, he is burst in on by the Prince of Naples and told he is wanted at mass.

The Mass scene has to be one of my favourites in the entire episode. This is one of the first times we see Cesare's full out atheism come to the fore. The Mass is to celebrate the feast of St Valentinus, and as Cardinal Caraffa is telling the congregation the story Cesare begins to make snarky comments about how we don't even know if this Saint existed, and how the Christian church actually stole the Saints day from the Pagans, that it was originally a Pagan fertility festival and an "excuse for fucking". He then leaves the service in a huff, leaving a shocked silence behind him. In history, Cesare was the biggest atheist you could ever meet, despite growing up within the Catholic Church. And as he grows throughout the series we will see him come to believe more in the Goddess Fortuna, rather than any Christian God.

Not a screencap from Episode 1, I just felt like putting it in...

In the meantime, Lucrezia Borgia is holed up in Rome. She is heavily pregnant with the child of Perotto (the guy who was stabbed by Cesare at the end of Season One), grieving for Perotto and dealing with the guilt of killing her own brother. She refuses to let anyone in her room, even her own mother. When Vanozza de Cattanei can't even get Lucrezia to open the door she seeks out the help of the famous poet and musician Pietro Bembo (after randomly meeting him when she goes to see her grandson)

Well, Bembo does the trick. After being a creeper and playing his lute outside of her window, she invites him over and they begin a very strange friendship. Lucrezia seems to fall head over heels in love with him from the start, and asks him for a kiss. He refuses, saying they are better off with a platonic sort of love. Yet before he leaves, they spend their time playing music together and she grows to trust him; even going so far as to show him the daggers that were used to kill Juan. This bit of the story is way off the historical record however. Lucrezia didn't meet Bembo until she was Duchess of Ferrara many years later. It seems as if Fontana may have been struggling with ideas for Lucrezia's storyline and so pushed Bembo's part in the story forward. However, as with everything Fontana does, it really works. 

Bembo & Lucrezia

Another rather excellent story arc I found within the first episode was how the consistory was trying to make use of Pope Alexander's weakness. They all seemed to have an ultimate agenda so that they would be the power behind the papal chair, and Alexander would be a puppet Pope. Ultimately it is Giuliano della Roverre and Cardinal Riario Sansoni who are the ones heading the plot to try and find the dirty secrets behind Gacet. They end up convincing young Alessandro Farnese to help them, but in the end Farnese's loyalty to the Borgia wins him over particularly after he is given a sword lesson from General De Cordova and told that in the end, loyalty should win above all. One of the main aims of both the conspiring Cardinals AND Pope Alexander is to get De Cordova and his Spanish troops out of Rome. The Pope comes up with a very interesting approach to this, saying that he had a dream in which a lion was eaten by a green camel, yet de Cordova slew the camel and saved the lion. Farnese interprets the dream as the Turks attacking Venice (which is precisely what the Turks are planning to do) and de Cordova immediately leaves Rome with his troops. Mission accomplished for both sides. Yet the cardinals are irritated that Farnese took part in the "fine piece of theatre". 

Of course the majority of this episode circulates around Cesare in Naples. I particularly enjoyed the jealousy and hatred between him and Guy de Leval over Carlotta. Indeed it gets so bad that Cesare pulls Leval into a very clever trap, talking him into a bullfight. Of course, as a native Spaniard, Cesare was brilliant at bullfighting and never lost a fight. Leval willingly walks into it, ending up with Carlotta trying desperately to call the whole thing up, saying that if Cesare really loved her then he would back out even if it meant embarrassment for him.

Cesare & Carlotta

One of the final scenes in this episode is Cesare practising for said bullfight. After successfully stabbing the fake bull in the side, Leval appears and begins to taunt Cesare. He has heard that Cesare has withdrawn from the fight. Cesare mentions that yes, he has withdrawn for personal reasons. And Leval begins to taunt him even more, calling him a coward and half a man. Cesare warns; "careful monsieur, I have killed men for saying less". Yet Leval keeps on and we see our very first glimpse of the man who will become the famous Valentino. He proceeds to beat Leval to a bloody pulp before tearing the head from the fake bull and stabbing Leval with one of the horns. The icing on the cake is when Cesare takes hold of Leval's arm and twisting it so hard you hear the bone snap. 

I have to say I was highly impressed with the first episode of Season 2. They have really stepped up their game after Season 1, and you can tell that the cast have really grown into their roles. Stand out performances from Mark Ryder as Cesare Borgia and Diarmuid Noyes as Alessandro Farnese, although of course the entire cast did a marvellous job! Here's to episode 2!

Review: The Borgias ~ Siblings ~ And A Bit Of MythBusting

It seems that after Showtime aired the third episode of The Borgias Season 3 that this blog has had quite a few hits searching for things like "were the Borgias really incestuous?" and even odder requests searching for members of the Borgia family without any clothes on. Considering as how the searches brought people to older mythbusting posts; I thought I would take the opportunity to do another one. And thus, I shall be killing two birds with one stone today ~ a review of 3 x 03, and a Borgia mythbust! I must apologise for my lack of a review for 3 x 02; we can blame Da Vinci's Demon's for that one. However, enjoy!

Rumours have filtered down to us throughout the centuries that the Borgia family enjoyed a closer than close relationship. Anti Borgia propaganda has told us that Pope Alexander VI enjoyed incestuous relations with his daughter Lucrezia; but the rumour that has stuck is the one that Cesare Borgia was involved with his own sister. We even have tales that the famous Infans Romanus was actually the child of Cesare and Lucrezia as well as a whole heap of secret bulls stating that the father of the child is Cesare's and in another bull that it's Pope Alexander's. This episode belongs to a post entirely of its own and so I shan't go into it here in too much detail. The important thing to take from this is that the rumours stated that the child belonged to Cesare and Lucrezia. Did it? We don't know. Personally, I hold little store in the rumours and am more of the opinion that the child belonged to Cesare and an unknown woman. But again, this will be spoken about in more depth in a future post.

Holliday Grainger doing her best lion impression

"It seems only a Borgia, can truly love a Borgia"

The main origin of the incest myth is really rather simple. In 1493, Lucrezia married Giovanni Sforza - it was a marriage of politics, Pope Alexander VI believed that having the Sforza's as his allies would help him in his political endeavours and it was a way of thanking the Sforza family for their help in electing him as pope. However, Pope Alexander soon grew tired of the Borgia/Sforza alliance, it was doing nothing for him politically and he needed more powerful allies. Annulment proceedings began and of course, Giovanni Sforza refused. Lucrezia was sent to a convent, and it is said that Giovanni begged the Pope to have his wife returned to him. Alexander refused on the basis that the marriage had never been consummated. Sforza was asked whether this was true or not, and he of course replied that this was untrue; that he had known his wife an infinite number of times and that the only reason a divorce was on the cards was so the Pope could keep his daughter for himself. Add this onto how obviously close Lucrezia and her brother were; and the flames began to spread. 

There are stories throughout the Borgia history of how close Cesare and Lucrezia were. One of my personal favourites is when he rode to Ferrara when she was sick and sat talking to her, holding onto her foot. 

There are thousand other anecdotes I could quote from the smallest up to the moment of Cesare's death where Lucrezia locked herself in a room, crying out her brother's name. But again, this could take up a whole post on its own or even a series of posts (there's an idea!) and so that will have to wait. At any rate, I hope from a brief overview I have managed to put across that the whole "borgiacest" anomaly is based entirely on rumour with no substantial evidence to back it up. And indeed in all my years of researching the family, I have never read a credible report of any such rumours; just propaganda from anti-Borgia factions. Were the stories true? We will never know, not without being handed a hand written note from either Cesare or Lucrezia stating that this actually happened. And what's the likelihood of that? It is down to us as researchers and historians to draw our own conclusions...

Francois Arnaud making Cesare look all broody again.

These two are big fans are the sex eyes. Have been since season 1

And this is where I come onto the latest episode of The Borgias. This episode has been the talk of the "fandom" ever since it was announced that Neil Jordan was going down the incest route and I have to say, I really didn't want to watch it. I will say now though, that the actual incesty bit is very short and actually very well done, not seedy at all. That whole part of the storyline, whilst based on little more than rumour, actually ended up being very interesting and I felt ever so sorry for poor Alfonso D'Aragona. He discovers that his marriage into the Borgia family isn't going to go as well as was first planned, and after discovering Cesare's political manoeuvres already coming into play he abandons his new wife on their wedding night. Already finding that her love for her brother is getting more and more intense, she finds herself drawn to his chambers where the two of them spend the night together. Lucrezia echoes the words she spoke to him in the first season, "I shall never love a husband as I love you, Cesare", by telling him that for that night at least he will be her husband.  

........

Poor Lucrezia; she believes that everyone is out to get her. Then her brother comes in and snogs her face off.

Can I see why Jordan went down this route? Yes, I certainly can. It certainly makes for riveting viewing and a story arc that is quite frankly, rather mind blowing. Mix that in with stellar acting from the amazing cast, beautiful costumes and the most mind blowing sets I've ever seen; The Borgias is certainly one of the best shows on television at the moment. What I can't quite forgive however, despite the fact that this is a historical fantasy, is the complete mess that the script makes of the history. In the first episodes alone I counted more inaccuracies than I could shake a stick at; but when the incest angle was brought into play I honestly felt physically unwell. Neil Jordan always said that he would never go down that route because it wasn't a story about incest. But it seems he caved and went down the routes that the fans of the show wanted. What makes it worse as well is that there are those fans of the show who honestly believe that the history is true, and refuse to pick up a book because they believe everything that they have seen on The Borgias. I've lost count of the amount of snotty emails and comments I've had because the things I write on the family aren't what are on The Borgias. 

So therefore I must be lying...

It's my hope that the latest episode brings more people here so that they can find out a little bit of background to what the actual Borgia family were like and the history that inspired the show. Because if I'm honest the real history is much more juicy than what's shown on the series. At any rate, I shall keep watching Season 3 as I'm intrigued to see where they'll go with the story arc; and I'm always impressed by the dynamics of the actors. Is it worth a watch if you're new to the history of the Borgia family? Yes. But I'd recommend reading a good biography of the family first of all.

It's that broody face again

Caterina Sforza and Cesare Borgia. Enemies until the end.

Arnaud is a REALLY big fan of the smoldering broody look.

Having just been abandoned on her wedding night, Lucrezia makes her way towards her brother's chambers.

"You shall be my husband tonight, Cesare"

Further Reading

Sarah Bradford - Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy

Sarah Bradford - Cesare Borgia: His Life and Times

Christopher Hibbert - The Borgias and Their Enemies

Mary Hollingsworth - The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty

Paul Strathern - The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior

Raphael Sabatini - The Life of Cesare Borgia

Review: Da Vinci's Demons Episode 2 ~ The Serpent

This morning I sat myself down to watch episode 2 of Da Vinci's Demons, a feeling of excitement brewing in me. Last week's episode was thoroughly enjoyable, so I couldn't wait to get my teeth into this one. As I mentioned in my previous review, Da Vinci's Demons is a historical fantasy based around the life of a young Leonardo Da Vinci - it blends a mixture of history and fantasy seamlessly, making the show a rip-roaring ride. Even if you're one of those who turns shows off at the merest hint of historical inaccuracy, I'd highly recommend you don't because you'll probably end up enjoying it just as much as I did. And in my very humble opinion, Da Vinci's Demons is, quite possibly, one of the best shows to come out this year!

We ended episode 1 with Leonardo having been given a commission by Lorenzo the Magnificent to built war machines as well as finding himself becoming embroiled in a rather enthralling mystery to find the mysterious "Book of Leaves". Episode 2 begins with Leonardo continuing that search. As actually happened in history, we see Leonardo (or rather, his friends Nico and Zoroaster) digging up a dead body. This body is the Jew who was hanged in the previous episode; Leonardo wanting his body after being told by the myserious Turk to begin his search with the "hanged man". In history, Leonardo was known for his er...graverobbing...as dissection of humans wasn't exactly legal during those times. So a nice though to see Nico and Zoroaster evading the guards to dig up the body for their maestro. We're then treated to a rather gruesome scene in which Leonardo dissects the body to find what he's looking for.

Leo cuts open dead people

Which of course, being brilliant, he does. It seems there's a lot more to the Jew than meets the eye. Of course, Leonardo has a lot more on his plate than interesting mysteries. Not only must he build war machines for Lorenzo, but he has a portrait to do of Lucrezia Donati to paint as well. Lucrezia, being the love interest and a bit of a snake in the grass, seems like she's going to prove a bit of a problem for Leonardo. But we'll see how it goes as the series continues. I have to say, regarding Leonardo's sexuality in the series, I have seen a lot of posts picking at the "change" to Leonardo's sexuality. We don't actually KNOW whether Leonardo was homosexual in history as so little is known about his personal life. Yes, he was locked up for sodomy according to some sources; however he also wrote in his notebooks "The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions" - this likely suggests asexuality. Historians can argue for weeks over whether or not Da Vinci was actually gay or not; but within this show I really like this story arc. Besides, from what I've seen so far it doesn't actually make him out to be straight - if you look at the scene in episode 1 where the male model comes over and Leo says something along the lines of "he's nice to look at", I think that suggests bisexuality don't you? Anyway, I'm ranting when I should be reviewing... *gets back on topic*

Leo and Lucrezia

One of my favourite scenes in this episode was where he's first testing out his famous fan shaped musket. Let's just say that things go catastrophically wrong (despite Leo's smart mouth and his insistence that it'll all be fine), and Lorenzo gets rather irritated; giving Leonardo a week to get it fixed and working. 

Testing the musket

I really thought that Blake Ritson came into his own in this episode. Ritson stars as Girolamo Riario; nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. In history, Riario was a bit of a derp and not the nicest of men. In the show, Riario is positively evil and Riario shows this excellently. In fact, his performance is positively mind blowing. The cold, unfeeling looks that he gave Nico during a rather gruesome scene were so brilliantly done that I found myself hating the man. And that is a sign of bloody brilliant acting!

The Widows Tear, a rather nasty torture device

I was highly impressed with the acting once again in this episode. I honestly couldn't think of anyone better to play a young Leonardo; you can tell that he is really giving it his all and I have to say, as I'm watching I can really imagine that's how Leonardo would have been. The smart mouthed sass helps immensely too!

Being clever. Again.

Zoroaster is such a reprobate

Greg Chillin is another of my favourites from this episode. The character of Zoroaster just makes me laugh so much. He's just one of these characters who you instantly like; he's so full of sass and such a bad boy. He's bloody brilliant!

I was even more impressed with the cinematography and CGI elements of this episode than I was in the first. There is one very simple reason for this; and that can be seen in the screencap just above. This scene, involving a chase with the papal guards and Leo doing a very assassins creed moment with a makeshift lift, was absolutely mind blowing! I was staring at my screen in awe, and as the camera pans out you can really see the work that was put into the CGI.

I won't spoil the ending of the episode for you all. But let's just say it ends with a bang....

Lara Pulver as Clarice Orsini

Overall, another absolutely fantastic episode. I'll say it again, even if you're a historian with an eye for historical accuracy, I highly recommend this for it's mix of history and fantasy. Just as many of you will read historical fiction novels that blend history and fantasy, this does the same and it does it fantastically. Feeling sceptical? Give it a chance, you might be pleasantly surprised. I for one, will be watching this series with interest!

In the mean time, while you wait for Episode 3 please do check out the following:

Tom Riley on twitter - @thisistomriley

DaVincisWriters on twitter - @DaVinciWriters

Da Vinci's Demons on twitter - @DaVincis_Starz

Review: Da Vinci's Demons Episode 1 ~ The Hanged Man

Having long been a fan of Leonardo Da Vinci (sometimes bordering on fangirlism - I'm not sorry for it), I may have gotten a little excited when I heard that Starz were doing a series on the great man himself. Part of me was a little worried that they would tear the history apart, but having watched episode 1 I have to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. In fact, as I watched, I was somewhat in awe. It must be noted in the first instance, however, that the series is a work of historical fantasy. It isn't a historical documentary, and there are many (I counted myself among them not so long ago) that would switch off within the first five minutes for reasons I will come to shortly. However if you watch the show with a grain of salt, and don't expect a great degree of accuracy then I hope you will all find it as enjoyable as I did. As is the same with such historical dramas as The Borgias, I can only hope that newcomers to the period are inspired to pick up books to learn the real history of the period and enjoy the show for precisely what it is - a fun historical drama.

Tom Riley as Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo, being brilliant as always (with Eros Vlahos as Nico in the background)

The show itself stars Tom Riley as a young Leonardo Da Vinci. Those of us who are somewhat akin to the history of Da Vinci are familiar with the ageing bearded self portrait; however the show shows Da Vinci as a young man. Given the events at the start of the episode, we can date the first episode to around 1475/6 or so, just after Da Vinci was made a maestro (master) of art. We also see him working within the studio of Verrochio, whom he continued working with even after he was made a maestro within his own right. As I watched, I found Riley's performance absolutely captivating and honestly could think of no one better for the role of a young Leonardo Da Vinci. Alongside Riley's Da Vinci we also have Blake Ritson as the infamous Giralomo Riario (later the husband of Caterina Sforza, and whose actor recently starred in "World Without End"); Elliot Cowan as Lorenzo De Medici and Gregg Chillin (of Being Human fame) as Zoroaster. Alongside such names we also have the brilliant Nick Dunning who played Thomas Boleyn in The Tudors. Given such a wonderful cast, is it any wonder that one is drawn in from the get go?

I did notice a few historical inaccuracies as I was watching. And normally I'd be all over that sort of thing given my interest in the period, but given how much I enjoyed the show I've managed to overlook most of them. At any rate, I feel like I should briefly go over the inaccuracies that I spotted. I shall do them in bullet point form, so I don't go on for paragraphs:

• The showing of the dome of St Peter's basilica. This wasn't started until around 1505 when Julius II was Pope. At the time of the first episode (1475/6), it was still old St Peter's that was standing - complete with the famous pine cone sculpture out the front. This may be an issue with those not knowing the history of Rome and expecting to see St Peters as we know it today, so I can excuse this.
• The courtyard of the Medici palace is much more fancy than it actually is in real life. You can see in the show a very exaggerated octagonal shaped courtyard when in fact the court yard is much simpler.
• The characterisation of Lucrezia Donati as a secret agent of a Vatican pact is ever so slightly over exaggerated and probably somewhat jarring to those who specialise in the history of women of the period. I myself wasn't too bothered with this, given that it seems to be a very important plot point and it looks like the whole thing will get very very interesting as the series goes on.

All in all however, the series looks incredibly promising. The fantasy aspect of the show looks to be incredibly interesting, combining ancient Roman history (the Mithraic cult) and Renaissance history; as well as building on the growing genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. The sets are, quite frankly, stunning; and the acting has proven to be top notch.

High points so far: Leonardo Da Vinci's sass, Zoroaster and his drunkenness and the creepy Turk.

Very much looking forward to the next episode. I highly recommend checking this show out!

The Borgias - Season 3, Episode 1: The Face of Death

Caterina Sforza - Gina McKee

I'm going to be honest here and say then when I heard what the plans were for The Borgias, Season 3; I was a little loathe to even start watching it. And I'm still loathe to carry on watching the series. However, I have watched both the first and second seasons and, if I must admit it, enjoyed them immensely despite their ah...not so historically accurate storylines. Now then, the creator of the show, Neil Jordan, has said throughout that he wouldn't go down the incest route. But then the promotional videos game out showing the whole "Only a Borgia can love a Borgia" and "It's a game of want, and wanting" thing; and the Cesare/Lucrezia shippers went nuts and it seems that Jordan had decided to cater to the rumours that have been fed down to us throughout the centuries. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in this, and it really put me off the idea of watching the new season. But then I thought, "hang on a minute, why don't I review them so I can do a little mythbusting?" And so here we are, the first episode has aired, and here I am to share with you all a little review. I'm going to try my best to be as balanced as possible, and I'll try my best not to get ranty. If I get ranty, I apologise.

The first episode, aptly named "The Face of Death", picks up where season 2 left off. I'm going to try my best not to spoil the episode for everyone, but obviously given how one must review the content of the episode...that might be a little difficult. At the end of Season 2, Giuliano della Rovere had organised for Pope Alexander VI to be poisoned and the tasting boy (and agent of Rovere's) managed to succeed in getting cantarella in the Pope's wine. Of course, being the taster the boy drank from the wine himself and died a horrifically painful death while the Pope started spitting blood and passed out. Now thinking that the Pope is on his deathbed, the entire consistory gathers around his deathbed. They begin to scheme over who will replace him, Della Rovere being the usual sneaky piece of work. Alas, when Cesare realises that it was Dela Rovere who engineered the plot; poor Della Roverre realises that actually he'd be better off siding with the Borgia family. Now enemies begin to surround the Borgia family and Cesare must do his best to protect his family from those, like Caterina Sforza and her assassin Rufio, who want both the papacy and the lives of them all.

The cardinals gather, just incase the Pope decides to pop his clogs.

Cesare tries to attack Dela Roverre

Regarding the historical accuracy of this episode - there was absolutely no accuracy to this at all. Whilst the Borgias had many enemies and doubtless would have dealt with many plots, Dela Roverre never conspired to poison the Pope and indeed the Pope was never poisoned with cantarella. Caterina Sforza also never sent  her assassins into the house of Vanozza Cattanei; the only assassination attempt she made towards the Pope was actually by sending letters that had been left to fester next to the body of a plague victim! Regarding Dela Roverre, he was always plotting for one way or another to get his hands on St Peter's chair but more often than not he'd run away from Rome at the first sign of trouble. He certainly wasn't taken into custody in such a way, nor did he escape in such a way only to run into Cesare's blade. I honestly wonder where the scriptwriters got half of these ideas because so many of them are just so unlikely it's laughable. Of course as the series goes on, I'm sure there will be many more points I can make about the accuracy of such plot points. And I'm sure you'll all be treated to a bit of a rant when the incest storyline gains a foothold. But we shall cross that bride when we come to it.

In any case, there are a few good points to the episode as well. As always, and as has been proven in previous series', the acting is top notch from the cast. Stand outs for me so far are Francois Arnaud, Holliday Grainger and Colm Feore. With Arnaud's Cesare you can really get a sense of how Cesare has grown - in the previous scene we see him as a cleric determined to be rid of his robes, and giving into the darkness of his soul. In this first episode we can really see how dark he is beginning to become, how important family is and how much he loathes the idea of religion. Grainger seems to have also really grown into her role as Lucrezia although I am sure we will be able to gain further ideas of this as the series goes on. And with Feore, you can really see how Cardinal Dela Rovere will grow to become the infamous Papa Terrible. Yet again the costumes and set designs are amazing, and the cinematography is second to none. Whilst I may dislike the lack of accuracy in the scriptwriting, I can't deny that the rest of the production is always stunning to look at.

Lucrezia

Arnaud is rather good at making Cesare look broody

Cesare and Pope "Irons" Alexander

Cesare and Dela Roverre face off outside St. Peter's.

So what do I think so far? Not massively impressed but that may have something to do with the fact that I really have something against how a drama can be called "historical" if the only historical element is the name of a famous Renaissance family and the rest of the plot is so loosely connected to said family that it can't really be called historical at all. We'll see how the rest of the series goes but if I'm honest I'm not holding out much hope, especially when one of the main storylines is being said to be the incestuous relationship between Cesare and Lucrezia. As I said, we'll see how it goes. I can only hope that the other storylines get less ridiculous as the series goes on and that the acting and cinematography retains it's already excellent reputation. All in all, not as bad as I thought but still enough to make me disappointed enough not to watch the rest of the series.

Review: The Borgias - The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer

They burst out of obscurity in Spain not only to capture the great prize of the papacy, but to do so twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century—as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and breathtakingly ambitious political adventurers—they held centre stage in the glorious and blood-drenched pageant known to us as the Italian Renaissance, standing at the epicentre of the power games in which Europe’s kings and Italy’s warlords gambled for life-and-death stakes. Five centuries after their fall—a fall even more sudden than their rise to the heights of power—they remain immutable symbols of the depths to which humanity can descend: Rodrigo, the Borgia who bought the papal crown and prostituted the Roman Church; Cesare, the Borgia who became first a teenage cardinal and then the most treacherous cutthroat of a violent time; Lucrezia, the Borgia as shockingly immoral as she was beautiful. These have long been stock figures in the dark chronicle of European villainy, their name synonymous with unspeakable evil. But did these Borgias of legend actually exist? Grounding his narrative in exhaustive research and drawing from rarely examined key sources, Meyer brings fascinating new insight to the real people within the age-encrusted myth. Equally illuminating is the light he shines on the brilliant circles in which the Borgias moved and the thrilling era they helped to shape, a time of wars and political convulsions that reverberate to the present day, when Western civilisation simultaneously wallowed in appalling brutality and soared to extraordinary heights.

I received this book as a pre-release copy, for review purposed and so as a first port of call I would like to let you all know that when this book becomes available on 2nd April, if you are interested in the history of the Borgia family, you all need to purchase it. If I'm honest, my whole review could be summed up in those first few lines. This book is utterly fantastic, and offers a brand new approach to much of what we thought we knew about the Borgia family. In fact, it really makes you rethink much of what we have come to know and trust about the family's history.

Of course, as a pre-release copy, I was expecting to find a few mistakes and I would like to get these out of the way before I launch into how amazing I thought the book was. But to be honest, there really wasn't that many mistakes - the only mistakes I really noticed were a few date discrepancies at around the 6% mark (I had a kindle copy) in which instead of dates reading "14xx" when speaking about Alonso De Borja, they read "15xx". Easily fixed, but could easily be fixed with a bit of proof reading. There were also a couple of grammatical errors that made me have to reread a few sentences a couple of times, but for the most part this can be easily looked over as a reader and doesn't deviate much from the reading experience.

For the most part though, Meyer's writing is fluid and provides a very easy read. As I was reading, it really didn't feel like a non fiction book to me. But then, I have read much heavier tomes than this. Meyers writing is so fluid that at times it really did read like a novel to me, but at the same time I could really see the amount of research that he did into his work. His writing style really did make the story of the Borgia family - from Alonso De Borja right up until the fantastic Saint Francis Borgia - utterly accessible. Easy reading, and doesn't overload the reader with too much politics - although given the era, politics is really a given.

The book itself concentrates on the history of the Borgia family, history's most notorious dynasty, and works its way up from the first Borgia Pope - Pope Calixtus III - right up until the end of the dynasty proper with Lucrezia. As a history that spans well over a century, if not longer (taking into account the varied relatives, particularly of Juan Borgia) it can get quite confusing but thankfully Meyer splits it into very easy sections. You have chapters relating to each family member and what they did, followed by mini chapters which give a great background to what else was going on at the time. I thought this was a really good idea, and gives the reader a bit of context into the political background of the era. There was one sub chapter in particular that really grabbed my attention, and it addressed the apparently paternity of Cesare, Juan and Lucrezia Borgia - I won't go too much into it here as there will be a separate blog post coming but let's just say Meyer's findings are incredibly interesting, and very convincing!

In all then an incredibly interesting and quite frankly brilliant read, and one I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in learning about the history of this fascinating family. An inherently interesting read that offers a brand new insight into this wonderful family, and one that discusses (and quite frankly, disinherits) most of the disgusting rumours of this brilliant family! A must read for anyone interested!

The Borgias: The Hidden History is available right now for pre-order from Amazon UK and Amazon US - Please do pick it up if you can!

Borgia Season 1

As I sit here this morning, I am feeling rather sorry for myself. For the past two days I've been off work with a nasty sicky bug and so am sat here wrapped up in my PJs with a massive mug of tea. It's not helping much and I feel like I should still be hugging the bowl I was hugging for the entirety of yesterday. Now, I realise that's really too much information but it has a point. As I was curled up on the sofa last night, hugging my bowl and running off to the toilet every so often to make best friends with it, I decided to finish watching Borgia. Before I started watching this series, I will admit I was a little put off by some of the reviews I'd read and the things people told me - "don't watch it Sam, it's really inaccurate", "It has Cesare and Lucrezia incest". I wish I had gone into watching the series with my eyes open as when I started watching it, I really wanted to hate it. However, after a few episodes it really did begin to grow on me and a few episodes after that I really started to enjoy it.

So, Borgia itself is a French/German production that was shown in 2011 on Channel + and stars Mark Ryder as Cesare Borgia, Stanley Weber as Juan Borgia, Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia Borgia and John Doman as Rodrigo Borgia. The story itself is, of course obvious - it is the story of the Borgia family, from Rodrigo Borgia's election to the Papacy in 1492 and onwards (I hope in future series) to the Pope's death and Cesare's own imprisonment and death. When I first began to watch the series I was a little unsure about the casting of the show, and the first thing that really got to me was the huge mix of accents - Rodrigo was American, Cesare was English (with the odd lilt of Irish coming through), Lucrezia German and Juan was French. It was kind of off putting for a while, but a few episodes in I was able to look past it. Other than this though, after a few episodes as well I found myself really liking some of the characters and really hating others - as you would expect in such a television programme. I had exactly the same issue when I watched The Borgias and Los Borgia, and I think when actors manage to make their viewers love the characters or hate them to such an extreme, then they are doing a good job.

Mark Ryder as Cesare

Mark Ryder is the young man playing Cesare Borgia (and I'm allowed to say young because I'm a little bit older than him!) and right from the get go you can really see that Ryder has done his utmost to step into Cesare's shoes and get right into the man's psyche. A consequent conversation with Mark Ryder on twitter the other evening lead to a discussion on books about Cesare which was awesome. Anyway, even in the first episode you can see the extreme emotions that haunt Cesare - one moment he can be having a laugh and the next he can be in a murderous rage, and these extremes get even worse as the series goes on, finishing up in Cesare committing murder right in front of his father and the college of Cardinal's and claiming that his name will echo throughout history and shouting that he is "CESARE BORGIA!" whilst just moments before he had been in floods of tears with his sister. In history, Cesare was well known for these extremes of emotion, I thought that Ryder did a really excellent job of showing this side of Borgia's personality. 

Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia

Lucrezia is played by Isolde Dychauk. The character of Lucrezia in this was one that I started out really disliking, probably because her parts of the story were really quite inaccurate. Saying that though, by the end of the series I had begun to like her - you see Lucrezia go from this innocent young girl to a woman with her own thoughts and minds, to a woman who will do anything to protect her family. Although her story was hugely inaccurate, I really loved how the script showed her change. Plus, when you compare Isolde to the representation of Lucrezia in Pintruccio's murals, they really did a very good job in casting her. 

Marta Gastini as Giulia Farnese

The character of Giulia Farnese is the character who I probably hated the most in the whole series and right from the get go. Played by Marta Gastini, Giulia was shown as a nasty, manipulative little girl who came across as obsessed with keeping Pope Alexander to herself. In all of my reading on the Borgia family, I have come across very little on Giulia but what I did read pointed out that Giulia was actually quite a nice person and friends with Lucrezia. I have also never ready that Giulia used Pantisilea to try and manipulate Lucrezia and gain more love from Rodrigo. However Gastini did a really good job as coming across as nasty and manipulative and even though I despised her character, it takes a really good actress to make a viewer hate them quite that much.

John Bradley as Giovanni de Medici

Cardinal Giovanni de Medici played by John Bradley (Sam Tarley in Game of Thrones). I loved this casting from the outset. Giovanni de Medici was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and made a cardinal in 1492 and was known as a man who loved the pleasures of the table. Top notch casting here, and Bradley is a top notch actor too!

Mark Ryder as Cesare and Stanley Weber as Juan

Played by French actor Stanley Weber, I absolutely despised Juan Borgia in this adaptation. And I really think I was supposed to. Whereas in The Borgias I felt quite sorry for Juan, in Borgia I hated the man with a passion and thought he was the world's biggest derp. And it was awesome. Why? Because in history, Juan Borgia 2nd Duke of Gandia was a massive derp and a bit of a failure. There is no doubt that Cesare was the better man that he, and that if anyone should have been the one in Cardinal's robes, it was Juan. However, the series dealt with Juan's death really very well and (almost) sticks to the facts - you see him ride off in search of further pleasures with another man; and he is never seen again. His horse returns with the saddles cut, and a search begins in earnest. When they find his body floating in the Tiber with 9 stabs wounds and a slit throat, Pope Alexander flies into a paroxysm of grief and investigations begin into who killed Juan. Alright so in history we won't ever know who killed Juan, but historical investigation shows that the most likely candidate was the Orsini family who Juan really managed to piss off. It wasn't likely to have been Cesare but rumours abounded due to the apparent jealousy between the siblings; and whilst I was rather pleased they did not show Cesare offing his brother I was a little shocked that they showed Lucrezia as the guilty party. Still, well done to Weber for getting into the character of Juan and in my opinion, doing a damned good job of it!

John Doman as Rodrigo Borgia and Isolde Dychauk as Lucrezia

The last character I want to discuss in a bit more detail is Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI played by John Doman. When I first started watching the series I was a little taken aback by their portrayal of Rodrigo, mainly because of the whole accent thing. But like with many of the other characters, I soon found myself really liking their portrayal of him. He certainly looks a lot more like Pope Alexander than Jeremy Irons (although I adore Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander and he's become affectionately known as "Pope Irons"). Yet again, the extremes of emotion showed by Doman were second to none and I particularly loved his show of grief after the death of Juan - it was so well done that it almost moved me to tears.

The sets during the show were also top notch. I was particularly impressed with their depiction of the Sistine Chapel:

The Sistine Chapel

Having been to the Sistine Chapel I was really rather impressed in the set used here. They even got the ceiling correct, which in 1492 hadn't been worked on my Michelangelo, rather it was painted blue with stars. The detail shown in the chapel was just stupendous. In fact, the majority of the sets were done in such a way right down to the CGI of what Rome would have been like in 1492.

A brilliant CGI rendering of Rome as it would have been in 1492

The old basillica of St Peters, not the one that exists today

Beautiful set pieces

Alessandro Farnese at Orvieto

The churches and chapels were superbly done

Another brilliant CGI rendering of the approach to Rome

The Colosseum

Laocoon and His Sons - this wasn't excavated until much later (and Michelangelo was present) but I thought it interesting they put this in the show. And the copy of this amazing work is second to none!

Whilst the historical accuracy of parts of this series leaves a lot to be desired, I have to say that I am very pleased that they got the chronology of what happened mostly correct. Of course, you need to leave room for dramatic license and I can understand this there were a couple of parts that made me shake my head. First of all, and probably the biggest crunch for me was Cesare leaving his young son on a mountainside to die - dramatic license yes, but I have no idea where the writers got this idea from. Secondly, Cesare being raped by Marc Antonio Colonna. Well done yes, and done for dramatic license but again, I have no idea where they got this from. In my opinion, it added nothing to the story as this never happened. In the same way, although this is a tad more understandable, they have Juan's death in 1493. This actually happened in 1497. I can however understand why they have done this and at least they didn't have it happen after events that Juan was never at anyway. Such as the Siege of Forli which happened in 1498 - although The Borgias had it happen much earlier with Juan at the head of the army. Didn't happen. These little things however are easily able to be overlooked and I am really glad that I decided to watch this show. I was rather disappointed by the make-out session between Cesare and Lucrezia though - although the script makes it clear that this is based on rumours so they might as well prove everyone right. Thankfully it didn't go very far but I was cringing throughout that entire scene (and as you will know I have fought the NO BORGIA INCEST fight for a while, so anything that shows it just makes me go all fhjsdkhfjsdfhsdkfdsk).

Excellent casting, beautiful costumes and a story that tries as best it can to stick to the historiography. I will most definitely be watching Season 2 when it comes out. If you're interested in the Borgia family and looking at watching something on the family for a bit of drama, then I would highly recommend this. It's not perfect of course, but they give it a damned good go. 7/10.