I admit last week’s episode wasn’t among my favourites from the series, but it seems they finally picked up the pace a little and made one of the best episodes so far. Death on a Pale Horse is a little different from the rest of the episodes, primarily because some things that were merely hinted at in the previous episodes have come to a head such as the Pope’s lack of support from his cardinals, Cesare’s inability to let go, Della Rovere’s obsessive nature and Giovanni Sforza’s lack of honour. During the show we learn that the french king, who we’ve met in the previous episode has gathered up the army and is now invading the various strongholds of modern day Italy.The desperation is practically tangible from Cesare and to a certain extent Rodrigo in light of the impending war (see below my reasoning as to why I didn’t buy his act). The king is a little blood thirsty and his actions are contemptible to say the least. He doesn’t care about white flags or peace offerings as he tramples over bodies. This was one of the more realistic aspects of the episode, the lack of consideration for human life. [...]
The Borgias – In love
The Borgias, the show about the original crime family, as it was advertised, made yet another great episode with In Love. Last week we learned a little about the way children were pawned to the highest bidder in order to ensure the power of their parents, this week we learned that the ambition of the Pope(Jeremy Irons) knows no bounds. He plans to do the same thing he did to Lucrezia, marry her to the more suitable to his political ambition man, to his other sons – Juan(David Oakes) and Gioffre. The dream he has at the beginning of the episode – concerning Lucrezia, dead and turned into an angel – seems to have no effect on him whatsoever. The dream sequence finally offered Jeremy Irons his chance to shine, albeit for a brief moment. It seems that he’s portraying Rodrigo as a man with emotions only when he is in the safety of his rooms, alone. During all of his other scenes he plays an affable man who runs away from conflicts and whose lack of facial expression is disconcerting. What I find perfect about this show is the fact that they still try to make the characters sympathetic. [...]
The Borgias – The Moor
I have to admit I had very high hopes for the third episode of this historical drama and I am happy to say most of them have been met. We got to see more character development this episode, more drama, more plots and the same fine acting as before. Last week I complained about the lack of character development for Lucrezia. She seemed like the odd one out, shy and pleasant, waiting for the world to be a bright, beautiful place, completely different from what I know about the true Lucrezia, but with Holliday Grainger’s performance it became clear to me that she really might have been just that, an innocent girl that was molded into the villain she later became. We see how her views of the world are slowly shaped by her brother’s influence, by her father’s wishes, by a misstreses advices and all of that. This episode was more about her than anyone else. She is slowly turning from the innocent little girl into a genre savvy person who I can see in the future holding a poisoned chalice or a knife to someone’s throat. Francois Arnaud continues to impress me as Cesare Borgia, to my chagrin [...]
