Thursday, January 7, 2016

Borgia (TV Series)

First thing's first: This is Borgia the one that's listed as a Netflix Original, not The Borgias the Showtime show. Starring: Mark Ryder, Isolda Dychauk, John Doman, Diarmuid Noyes, and Marta Gastini among others. Spoilers from here on.

 Borgia Poster

I just finished the final season of this show today and among the first things I did was go on Goodreads.com to find any books I could about the Borgia family. This show had me so captivated from the start. However, this show is not for the easily disturbed. I am not one of those people, therefore, I had no problem with the content. Gore, nudity, language, it was all probably 10/10 so heads up. 

Let me start with the not-cast things. This show had some good costumes, backdrops, and great music. The cameras were always positioned in a perfect way, like making me feel suffocated at the conclave, or in battle with Cesare. I think the way it was filmed was great. I can't speak to authenticity because well, I wasn't there in the late 1400's. The music was fantastic for every scene, that is what really drew me in. I have a think for music in shows in general but still, this was great too. The scenery was good. I wouldn't say fantastic. Often, it felt less spectacular, probably more realistic and less glorified even.

Despite these awesome behind the scene pieces, the thing about this show that I believe hooked me the most were the realistic characters (I mean they WERE real since it's based on the Borgia family but I think you know what I mean). In season one, we see the family really beginning to understand their places among society. 


Rodrigo (Doman) becomes Pope Alexander VI through devious means. The conclave went on through so much time (I think it was almost two full episodes. Don't quote me on that), I felt the pain Rodrigo felt each time he didn't get the required amount of votes. And this long time isn't boring old men sitting in chairs. These scenes are an intense game of political chess happening before your very eyes. As the show goes on, he struggles to find the balance between duty to the church, and to his dream of seeing a Borgia dynasty. When almost all hope of that collapses when his son, Juan, dies, I really felt bad for him. Then later on, he struggles with an addiction to vitriolo (if I'm spelling this wrong, I am sorry). I was so nervous for him the more he came to rely on the drug. I was with this man every step of the way. Doman was brilliant in making this questionable man someone to root for. I wanted to dislike him. I wanted to say, "You are the Pope. Act like it!" But the more bad choices he made, the more I just felt for the guy. Truly well acted. 

     
Cesare (Ryder) had the biggest character arc, in my opinion, that made this show worth watching. In the first season, he is living under the shadow of his older brother, Juan. I absolutely couldn't stand Cesare in this season. He was riddled with self-guilt, something his later sociopathic self would laugh at, he was self-abusive, and he was confused. But sadly, it wasn't confusion I rooted for. He left his son on a mountain as a sacrifice so his father might become Pope. It was only thanks to my favorite character, Alessandro, that the baby didn't die. In season two, Cesare FINALLY becomes a character I want to see more about. He's less whiny and childish. He cares less what people think of him and soon leaves the clergy and basically conquers the world as a military genius. It's great fun until season 3 when he becomes a sociopath! He is charismatic, deadly, fearless, and he steps on everyone but his sister to do whatever he wants. This put me in a love/hate relationship for the final season. He was either going mad, or fighting. Verbal fights totally count in my book, by the way. It all felt very intentional on Ryder's part to make the character truly grow and finally fall.

 
Lucrezia (Dychauk) was probably my second favorite character in this show. She starts out naive, wanting a husband, being a strong-willed brat about everything, and unable to take orders, but she is still not someone you can hate because she's so good! She ignores Guilia, the Pope's mistress, every time she gives advice (not that it was a bad thing since half the time it was sabotage anyway). But she realizes that she wants to be a nun, to serve God, to be in prayer all the time, and no one else supports her. This is her deepest desire, but because she is better used as a political wife card, she is not allowed this. I felt so bad for her. She was just thrown around the entire first series and she finally snaps in what I though was the best murder reveal: she killed her loony bin brother Juan! She gives up on the nun's life, realizing it'll never happen, and gets knocked up by some squire. I think he was a squire. Honestly, I never figured out his position other than not-her-husband and totally-below-her-station. This girl never quits though. She becomes governor, chief papal adviser, princess, duchess, and probably more. She seriously managed to weave her way through the man's world. I started to get annoyed toward the end, however, when she was more obsessive than anything. 

Honorable Mention: AKA not one of the three main leads/my favorite character=
     
Alessandro (Noyes) was without a doubt my favorite character. I rooted for this guy since the beginning. I feel like he was the only genuine character. He played by the rules, but he wasn't passive. He cared about his family, yet he wasn't obsessive. He gave council, but no one listened. He was looked down on by Cesare, his sister, Guilia, and the Pope. Under more pressure than he could sometimes handle, he was expected to be the breadwinner and build an empire. Yet every time his "wife-ish" had a baby, he cried and was so happy and I couldn't help but be so happy too and ugh he was just so great! I was seriously ready to cry with him when Sylvia died. After that, his character took a dive into depression, it seemed. He became more devious and ambitious for prideful reasons. But still, that lawyer scene? If he had a fair judge, he would have killed it! 


SO those are my thoughts on the characters and the show. It's my first post so I'll see if I actually like the way I've set this up. I don't feel like I talked much about the actual show, but the characters were the soul of this series, so in a way, I really did. If you have any other opinions or similar ones or just have a comment, leave it at the beep! Kidding, there is no beep. But you already knew that. Verbum incarnatum.



Introductions May Be in Order

It may be completely absurd that I try my hand at blogging. I've done it before and failed miserably, mostly because I had nothing to say. I hope to talk about shows and books as I see them. I'd love to hear others thoughts as well because I love gushing about books and shows!

I guess a quick intro may be in order at least. I'm Casey. I study English. I have a POP Figurine addiction.Three of those shelves are of Star Wars Pops (I did say "addiction", right?). My favorite color is... well, you don't care about any of that nonsense. I read mostly fantasy stories though I'm not limited to them, and as for shows, I love period pieces, fantasy, sci-fi and a healthy combination of the three.

That's all I have to say for now. I could really bore you with facts about myself, like how I have a Stitch phone case or a Doctor Who calendar, but then you would hate me and that's not what I want. So, with this first post done, I hope to see you again (even though I can't see anything but the amount of views I have which sounds like there are too many sense words in one sentence which is now getting long and sounds so similar I can scarily stand it). Phew!