Previously, on The Borgias... Rodrigo Borgia bought and bribed his way to the papacy to become Pope Alexander VI. Once safely ensconced in Rome, he made his eldest son Cesare a cardinal and his middle son Juan the commander of the Papal Armies. Then, he set about forming alliances. He made Ascanio Sforza his Chancellor, married his daughter Lucrezia to Ascanio's cousin Giovanni Sforza, the Lord of Pesaro and married his youngest son, Joffre, to Sancha, the illegitimate daughter of the King of Naples. Unfortunately, things began to unravel when Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere refused to accept him as Pope due to his bribery, blasphemy and lechery with his mistress, Giulia Farnese. Cardinal della Rovere eventually convinced King Charles VIII of France to depose the Pope and take up his claim to the Kingdom of Naples. As the Pope's allies are either defeated by the French army or willingly allow him passage through their country, panic grips Rome and the city empties. When Charles finally meets the Pope, he is taken in by his (put on) humility, devotion to the church and flattery. The two form an alliance and the Pope recognises Charles as King of Naples. When he arrives in Naples, he finds the place struck with plague. Meanwhile, Cesare's relationship with Ursula Bonadeo ends badly when he kills her husband in a duel and she becomes a nun; Juan begins an affair with with Sancha and Lucrezia's marriage to the beastly Giovanni Sforza is annulled. The series ends as she gives birth to the child she conceived with a stable boy and the family gather round her bed.
The new series begins with the poisoning of Cardinal della Rovere (Colm Feore). He is not killed, just taken very ill. Cesare (Francois Arnaud) warns him that wherever he goes, they will find him and if he does not drop his opposition to the Pope, next time the poison will be fatal. Outside, Cesare's mercenary assassin, Micheletto Corella (Sean Harris) drowns the altar boy who delivered the poison in a well. In the Vatican, the Pope (Jeremy Irons) is bathing a beautiful naked woman called Bianca (Melia Kreiling). She is merely his stand-in mistress while Giulia is away and when she unexpectedly returns, he panics and rushes Bianca out of his chambers. As the Pope tends to Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) and her son and receives the French ambassador, Giulia discovers a red stocking in his bed that definitely doesn't belong to her.
When his sons return and report that Cardinal della Rovere is bed-ridden and King Charles has been struck down with plague, the Pope reveals his determination to have revenge on the families and states that abandoned them. At the top of the list is, of course, the Sforza family. His sons bicker and he reiterates the importance of family. In the armoury, Juan is forging duelling swords and when Cesare joins him, he teases his brother about being unfit to hold one. Cesare goads his brother and they duel, much to the delight of the watching soldiers. Juan seems to have the upper hand until right at the last moment when Cesare catches him off his guard and disarms him. Micheletto intervenes and reminds them that their father forbid them to fight. Their father, meanwhile, is out hunting with Giulia. When pursuing a deer, the come across an abandoned and overgrown Roman temple, its walls covered with beautiful frescos that he decrees must be moved to the Vatican and restored.
In Naples, King Charles (Michel Muller) is bedridden with plague and learns of the late King Ferdinand I's torture chambers. With the frescos moved to the Vatican and under restoration, the Pope seems more interested in an ancient Egyptian bronze bull than in Giulia. Nostalgic for the pagan ways, he decides to hold a festival for the common people of Rome to enjoy. That night, unable to sleep, he ventures out into his chambers and interrupts a young boy: an apprentice artisan practicing his trade. The boy turns out to be a girl in disguise called Vittoria (Jemima West) who has taken the name Vittorio so as to be able to study art, a subject only boys can practice. As the Pope puts his arm around her shoulders and they walk off, Giulia watches them from the shadows.
The next day, the Pope informs his cardinals of plans for a celebration for the ordinary people of Rome. Included will be the "Borgia bull", a giant wooden bull to be burned in celebration. Some cardinals raise concerns over the cost and the timing: on the same day as a Roman festival but the Pope dismisses them. Upstairs, Giulia confronts Vittoria, telling her that she knows her secret and then undressing her, making it clear to her that she is still on top. Down in Naples, King Charles has recovered sufficiently to be able to use a rudimentary wheelchair. Taken to see King Ferdinand's macabre tribute to the last supper, he notes that there is no corpse in Judas' seat and tells his men that he wants Prince Alfonso to fill it, cackling like a madman as he does so (the best evil cackle I've heard in quite a while, too).
The feast day begins with much drinking and celebrating. Cesare and Juan take part in a horse race through the streets of Rome. Juan cheats his way to victory over the other riders, taking out his brother's horse with caltrops. That evening, the Pope sets the massive wooden bull on fire and hosts a masquerade ball for the great and good (and the not-so good) of Roman society. Giulia seeks out the Pope's former mistress and mother of his children, Vannozza dei Cattanei (Joanne Whalley). Concerned that the Pope is growing tired of her and more interested in other women, she seeks her advice. The older woman advises her to not act as she did: becoming jealous and angry and only forcing the Pope further from her. Instead, she tells her that she should ignore his indiscretions and yet always hold his attention. Taking her advice to heart, Giulia befriends Vittoria and then seduces her as the Pope gleefully looks on.
In Naples, Prince Alfonso (Augustus Prew) is running for his life in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius (no sign of Ashur's severed head though). He cannot escape the French soldiers' dogs and he is captured. Taken before King Charles, the Prince is commanded to take the King on a tour of his father's dungeons. After being shown through all the instruments of torture, Charles emerges alone as Alfonso' screams harmonise with the playing of a lute, much to the King's pleasure.
I love The Borgias. It's wonderfully silly and gloriously over-the-top like a cross between Game of Thrones and Desperate Housewives. Jeremy Irons is back on prize pig form as the sex-crazed, vengeful Borgia Pope (although it looks like Michel Muller will be giving his ham a run for its money!) and I look forward to another series of classy nonsense. As far as the episode itself goes, it was pretty good. The brothers' rivalry, Cesare's uncomfortably close relationship with Lucrezia, King Charles' madness, Giulia's jealousy and the Pope's lust for vengeance are all delicious plot strands and if they can intertwine as well as they did in the first series, we should be in for a treat. Not to mention Cardinal della Rovere... there's no way we've seen the last of him!
In many ways, it's a typical "first episode back", not much happens as time is spent reacquainting us with the characters and exploring what directions the series will go in. This series, incidentally, is ten episodes long, one more than last series' nine episodes, which was a very strange number to pick. Here's to another fine series!
7 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment