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Day 04 ~ Favourite antagonist

Well, no question about that. Mind you, this is a show which on the one hand isn’t exactly subtle about who the heroes and who the villains are – hint: members of the old nobility going on about their privilege and calling for war aren’t the white hats - , but it still does quite well in letting its villains be three dimensional. In season 1, the main antagonist, Rinaldo d’Albizzi, at first seems to be your avarage one dimensional scheming bad guy, but then it turns out that he might be a stiff-necked conservative unwilling to compromise, but he does have a personal code of honor (and thus is not responsible for the murder that starts off the show); also, our protagonist Cosimo screwed him over first (however inadvertently). It’s also Cosimo who before the season is over crosses his own ethical guidelines, not Albizzi. (Doesn’t mean one roots for Albizzi, not just because of his political goals but because he’s utterly devoid of a sense of humor or a sense of empathy with anyone outside of his own personal circle. Cosimo can be a jerk, but he does have compassion for people not of use to him.) So while as far as straightforward villains go, he’s relatively well done one, he’s not serious competition for the main contender.

Young Rinaldo and young Cosimo were friendly for about five minutes, and clearly the scriptwriters thought they could improve on that one for season 2. Come the second season, the role of chief antagonist gets divided into three characters. There’s the boo-hiss-worthy evil old patriarch, Jacopo Pazzi, played with Sean Bean with just a very few flickers of humanity. (His s1 equivalent isn’t Albizzi, it’s old Giovanni de‘ Medici, who might be our first season hero’s father but is responsible for a great many miseries of the plot.) There’s the young schemer with an understandable motive, Salviati (the motive being that his parents were financially ruined by the Medici and as a consequence ended up dead), who, however, is also minus any virtues such as courage to endear himself to the audience.

And then there’s the show’s first tragic antagonist, who gets to be conflicted, have a friendship backstory with the main protagonist and a present day enemies-to-friends-to-enemies storyline, and gets to show positive emotions (concern, tenderness) towards other people (to wit, his brother and for a while his wife). (Also, depending on your slash goggles, he's got UST with the hero.) So naturally, I’m joining the vocal majority of viewers here and have Francesco de‘ Pazzi as my favourite antagonist. With the caveat that going by what I could find on fanfiction and on tumblr, I see him somewhat darker than said vocal majority does. (You can draw a straight line from the season opener in which he’s responsible for something very brutal to the season finale where he’s – well, that’s history. For starters.) Hence also this story of mine, which is probably the darkest bit of m/m I wrote since that (unrequited) Londo/Cartagia thing.



Day One ~ Picture or gif that expresses your reaction to the show.
Day 02 ~ Favourite female character
Day 03 ~ Favourite male character
Day 05 ~ Favourite quote from The Medici
Day 06 ~ Who do you ship?

Day 07 ~ Three words that describe The Medici

Day 08 ~ Favourite moment so far.

Day 09 ~ Least favourite character.

Day 10 ~ Would you rather be an artist or a banker?

Day 11 ~ Favourite outfit worn by anyone.

Day 12 ~ Historical Crackship: Who belongs together, time and space be damned?

Day 13 ~ Re-Write History: Something you wish had happened.

Day 14 ~ Re-Write History: Something you wish never happened.

Day 15 ~ FREE DAY - Anything you’d like

Day 16 ~ Link to an interview or video you think is funny.

Day 17 ~ Favourite episode.

Day 18 ~ Give some advice to one of the characters.

Day 19 ~ Character that’s the most like you.

Day 20 ~ What do you like best about The Medici?

Day 21 ~ Link to a Medici blog.

Day 22 ~ Make or link to a graphic of your favourite ship.

Day 23 ~ (S1) Cosimo, Lorenzo, Marco Bello, (S2) Lorenzo, Giuliano, Francesco Pazzi: Shag, marry, stab - what would you do?
(Ladies edition: Contessina, Lucrezia (T, not D), Clarice)

Day 24 ~ Favourite quote about the Medici.

Day 25 ~ Good riddance: Who have you not been sorry to see killed off?

Day 26 ~ A scene you can watch over and over again.

Day 27 ~ Fightin’ words: Who would you like to see in a fight to the death?

Day 28 ~ Fancast: Who would you like to see in a role on The Medici?

Day 29 ~ Link to a fanvid you like.
Day 30 ~ How would you end the show?

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