The Borgias

The series is one of my favorite HBO "history" series, alongside Rome and The Tudors. Even in this case, the creators didn't let themselves be too bound by the actual events and bent history according to their needs. But that’s what I’ve come to expect of HBO, and I don’t let it ruin my overall impression. Plus, all the more reason for me to look for deviations from historical events, so I might even educate myself in the process :-) As a bonus, I was served various hypocritical church practices, so all the more reason to be satisfied. (07/21/2019)

I've never intended to watch every fashionable historical series, but it's not out of place to change the storyline of one format or another from time to time, and I always keep Showtime series in mind as a better choice. But what is a real surprise is the work of Neil Jordan, who remains for me an inscrutable filmmaker. I still love his Interview with the Vampire, but most of his other work has very different strengths and appeals to different audiences. So does The Borgias now belong to the parade of such titles as High Spirits, The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto, and Byzantium? If we were to analyze this, we would probably conclude that the invisible thread of those first turbulent years of the papacy under Alexander VI is the theme of the bastards. This is a traditional theme for Neil, to work on material about those on the margins of society, about their ambitions and feelings. Through this lens, then, it's a slam dunk. I can therefore recommend all 3 series full of renaissance morality, fashion, and desire. (06/24/2019)

A dream come true for lovers of historical “intrigue" shows that do not shy of using cinema language and don’t treat the viewer as an idiot who has have everything served up in front of him (but maybe a couple of dates would have be useful, because this seems to have happened over a matter of weeks and not years), but later it moves from intrigues to deeds. And the best thing about it is that this is primarily about the illustrated living characters and emotions. The first three episodes are rather sluggish, nothing much happens in them and they contain this insensitively grafted on “connecting" figure of the mercenary. Not that it’s bad, but I did say to myself “what have you got yourself into this time, Neil?". But letting such strong material as the fates of the Apennine Peninsula under the rule of the Borgias slip between your fingers like this is unforgivable. But from episode four (still a far cry from the quality heights that the series achieves in season two, which is on a level with the best productions in this genre), the Borgias become exactly what they should have been from the very beginning, in other words a model piece of intrigue and subterfuge-related historical series, even though they have a “funny" way of looking at history and often this follows history only very loosely. And although the creators keep to the “spirit of characters and events", for an authentic experience you must look elsewhere. All of the actors (even Irons’ controversially" conceived bored Pope) are worth a mention, but we find Arnaud’s Caesar at the head of the unusually quality pack of players. Season three is also good, but a little weary in the first half. But as soon as it gets going, it’s well worth a watch. And it still applies that Caesar is one of the best written and constantly development controversial characters on our TV screen. The greatest negative of this series is that it was axed just when it was about to get to the most interesting parts of the fates and deeds of the Borgia family. Grrr... (06/09/2011)