Why ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
liraen wanted to know.
Here's what I haven't watched: the 1981 BBC series The Borgias, and the movie Prince of Foxes, though I do want to see the later, not because I expect it to have to do anything with history, but because Orson Welles plays Cesare. I did watch a French or Spanish miniseries about the Borgias, but that one was so unmemorable that I can't recall anything about it. Which leaves me with the two tv series who premiered in 2011: Showtime's The Borgias, created by Neil Jordan (Rodrigo: Jeremy Irons), and Borgia by Tom Fontana (Rodrigo: John Dorman), broadcast across various European channels. Now back in the day when both shows were in their first season, or had just concluded it, a post was making the rounds which strongly critisized The Borgias while praising Borgia for its "historicity". I found the essay in question so obnoxious, and didn't like the Borgia pilot, that I didn't watch Borgia for years. However, I did watch it some years later, when it was for a while free on Amazon Prime, and found to my surprise I liked it, though certainly not for more "historicity". (Any version of the Borgia tale that has Cesare sacrificing his first born baby so Dad can become Pope (don't worry, someone saves the Baby) in s1, and has in s2 Cardinals seriously debating to keep on Lucrezia in her father's job since she's doing such a good job filling in for him has no room to boast in that regard.) For a detailed review by yours truly of its three seasons, see here.
Years passing also helped me to get over my extreme annoyance and disappointment with The Borgias' third season (a few scenes and one or two episodes excepted). Overall, I'm still quite fond of that show, though in retrospect, you can see signs of the declline in s2 already; I suspect Neil Jordan had the first season - which I still love to pieces - mapped out from start to finish, started improvising and handing over responsibilities in s2, and in s3 wasn't even trying anymore, which is why a lot of it feels the laziest fanfiction. So, looking back, what are my likes and dislikes?
( Detailed spoilers for both shows follow )
The other days
liraen wanted to know. Here's what I haven't watched: the 1981 BBC series The Borgias, and the movie Prince of Foxes, though I do want to see the later, not because I expect it to have to do anything with history, but because Orson Welles plays Cesare. I did watch a French or Spanish miniseries about the Borgias, but that one was so unmemorable that I can't recall anything about it. Which leaves me with the two tv series who premiered in 2011: Showtime's The Borgias, created by Neil Jordan (Rodrigo: Jeremy Irons), and Borgia by Tom Fontana (Rodrigo: John Dorman), broadcast across various European channels. Now back in the day when both shows were in their first season, or had just concluded it, a post was making the rounds which strongly critisized The Borgias while praising Borgia for its "historicity". I found the essay in question so obnoxious, and didn't like the Borgia pilot, that I didn't watch Borgia for years. However, I did watch it some years later, when it was for a while free on Amazon Prime, and found to my surprise I liked it, though certainly not for more "historicity". (Any version of the Borgia tale that has Cesare sacrificing his first born baby so Dad can become Pope (don't worry, someone saves the Baby) in s1, and has in s2 Cardinals seriously debating to keep on Lucrezia in her father's job since she's doing such a good job filling in for him has no room to boast in that regard.) For a detailed review by yours truly of its three seasons, see here.
Years passing also helped me to get over my extreme annoyance and disappointment with The Borgias' third season (a few scenes and one or two episodes excepted). Overall, I'm still quite fond of that show, though in retrospect, you can see signs of the declline in s2 already; I suspect Neil Jordan had the first season - which I still love to pieces - mapped out from start to finish, started improvising and handing over responsibilities in s2, and in s3 wasn't even trying anymore, which is why a lot of it feels the laziest fanfiction. So, looking back, what are my likes and dislikes?
( Detailed spoilers for both shows follow )
The other days
