The Borgias (2011)

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Reviewer: Charity Bishop

Since their successful run with The Tudors, the cable station Showtime has decided to continue their exploration into historical dramas by showcasing the scandals of one of the most infamous families in history.

The Pope is on his deathbed and the ruthless, ambitious Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) knows soon the cardinals will enter conclave to select a successor. Intensely disliked by his rivals for his licentious lifestyle and Spanish heritage, he quickly maneuvers himself into a position of power through the outside influence of his eldest son, Cesare (François Arnaud). His success in purchasing the position alters the lifestyle of his illegitimate family forever -- his beautiful teenage daughter Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger) now has become a commodity for marital prospects, his mistress Vanozza (Joanne Whalley) must refrain from affection toward him in public, and his enemies become numerous. Now that he has claimed what he wanted most, the trick will be hanging onto it, with the cardinals baying for blood and seeking reasons to have him removed. The bitter battle for the papacy turns into a bloodthirsty aftermath when one of his strongest opponents (Derek Jacobi) attempts to have him assassinated.

In the meantime, a beautiful temptation has arrived in the form of the lovely Giulia (Lotte Verbeek) -- an unhappily-married woman who chooses to live apart from her husband. Her earnest confession of sin to him leads him to offer her a place near the Vatican, an arrangement that soon draws the attention of those attempting to undermine him and threatens his delicate position…

Everything about this production is sumptuous, from the costuming to the script. The writers have taken much more care than in previous productions to focus primarily on the most important individuals in the story and stay with them; as such, it proves to be a much superior offering in terms of characterization and follow-through than The Tudors. It is predictable in the sense that we suspect we know what may happen (or in some cases, already do if we have brushed up on our history of late) but nevertheless the pacing is such that we are never bored, even with the tediousness of politics. It is both fascinating and horrific to watch the underhanded tactics employed to secure the papacy, right down to notes tucked into freshly cooked poultry. The costuming is gorgeous and it feels very big in scope, with luxurious glimpses into Vatican corridors. The cast is also incredibly strong, perhaps because they have a veteran among them in the form of Irons, whose velvety voice contains just the right element of surprise when considering accusations made against him. His Rodrigo is unforgivable in his actions but so charming that the audience cannot help liking him.

It is a solid first season but not without its faults, most of them having to do with rampant sexual immorality; the majority of the episodes feature sexual encounters and/or nudity in some form, usually to explicit degrees. The most uncomfortable of these encounters involve fourteen year old Lucrezia being manhandled in bed by her uncaring husband (these encounters can be described as nothing less than marital rape and escalate to such a degree that she arranges for him to be injured just to keep him out of her rooms at night). She goes on to conduct an affair with a stable boy of her own age; her father, the Pope, takes a mistress and keeps her near the Vatican. Cesare never keeps his vow of celibacy, and his brother Juan is often in the company of bare-breasted women. The debauchery this family gets up to is unparalleled -- twice, Juan beds his younger brother's wife... once right before her marriage is consummated. Elsewhere, sexual conversations are present -- a man is told to prove his virility by bedding a woman in front of a room of cardinals (he declines); there are bawdy theatrics and a hint of “something” between siblings but it is never fully explored. The violence is sometimes mild (obscured stabbings) and sometimes gruesome (poisoned individuals vomit up copious amounts of blood) and sometimes graphic (a man is stabbed in the eye and blood spurts everywhere; , people are garroted, and a battle turns gruesome with decapitations, men and horses cut in half through cannon fire).

Some might also be offended at the depiction of the inner-workings of the 1400’s Catholic Church in being totally corrupt -- Rodrigo purchases his way to power through bribes and professes “God will forgive us” over their numerous sins (which in his case includes adultery, murder, and fornication), while those of a stronger, more earnest faith fade into the background or are swiftly killed. The show is never shy about revealing the hypocritical behavior of these characters and does not glorify their brutal lifestyle, if anything pricking our conscience in one instance when a man says he would like to become a Christian because they have “treated him so kindly,” not realizing they intend to murder him for financial gain. The history here is good on some points and shaky on others, with certain liberties taken to further the plot. Given the amount of scandal that surrounds this family, its emphasis on immorality is not unexpected. Other than that, it is much stronger and more interesting than I anticipated.

On a minor and purely amusing note, historical buffs may find it interesting to know that Rodrigo was the Cardinal who presided over the official paperwork for the marriage of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. And later, it is he (and various successors) whom Martin Luther referenced with contempt when speaking ill of the evil and corruption of Rome. The Borgias are notorious for having been the first "mafia" family... I'm just not sure we needed to see all their sexual exploits in such intimate detail.