The Borgias 3.07 Lucrezia's Gambit
May. 28th, 2013 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which my historical knowledge proves a bit distracting for the whole Naples storyline, but never mind, I determinedly squashed it in favour of enjoying watching Lucrezia do politics. Also, Micheletto's love life goes as Micheletto's love life goes.
You know, after having buried my hope for a genderbend Leonardo, I next hoped Micheletto's new boyfriend would turn out to be Leonardo in disguise - not least because he (historical Leonardo da Vinci, that is) DID work for Cesare for a while, and New Boyfriend's tale about Leonardo's betraying assistant and Leonardo loving him all the more could have pointed towards that. But no such luck, instead, he's a Sforza spy, finding himself actually turned on by Micheletto and giving him a clue with that whole tale. Why do I suspect this storyline will end bloodily again? (Or maybe not, since Micheletto's signature instrument, not having been employed for a while, is the garotte.)
Meanwhile, in Naples, we have Lucrezia trying to suss out the sucession and taking the measure of the candidates for the throne. One of whom is yet another bastard-snubber (this is where I had to squash, because historically, Lucrezia's husband Alfonso was illegitimate, so was Gioffre's wife Sancia, so had been the late Ferrante himself, which was why the Neapolitan succession was disputed in the first place - Naples was FULL of royal bastards, several of whom were married off in great state, so this whole "no bastards in this palace" attitude is completely made up), and the other deceptively mild-mannered and dog loving, which makes me suspect immediately that the jerk Raffaele is probably right when predicting in the end that Lucrezia will regret throwing her support behind Federico. I just can't make up my mind whether Federico arranged for his own poisoning and his doctor was in on it, knowing how to treat it in time (since Federico was the one telling Lucrezia about his brother being a sadist planning on poisoning him to begin with) or whether Lucrezia did it (since it comes so shortly after her conversation with Federico about how it would need a scandal to discredit Raffaele and Raffaele has no scandalous private life). Anyway, I approve very much of the show making Lucrezia so invested in Naples, both because this isn't about her love life (and I always like it when female characters get to care about goverment), and because it puts her on an inevitable crash course with Cesare. (Sorry, but I want a Lucrezia and Cesare rift. A reconciliation later, too, but first I want a genuine rift about the two of them wanting completely different things politically. I live for that sort of thing between characters who have a strong bond.)
(Incidentally, I continue to question the writers' choices of making Alfonso THAT passive because I continue to suspect it's because they don't want the audience to sympathize with him when his historical fate occurs. But otoh all three of the men Lucrezia actively chose for love and/or sex - Paolo, the ambassador's brother with the drawing skills and Alfonso - were the naive, submissive type allowing her control, understandable in sight of the other men in her life. And exploring the downside of passivity via this one isn't out of nowhere, at least.)
I'm disappointed about Benito being unceremoniously offed in this episode. Given his interactions with Cesare and Micheletto last season, I thought we were going somewhere with this, especially since the character is an amalgan anyway - Caterina had several kids, not just one - and thus his fate was up to the writers.
Speaking of going somewhere: I still have no idea whether this will happen with the Constantinople Jews (and just hope that it won't be something like them getting sacrificed to the mob or anything like that), but for now I like the interactions between Rodrigo and the Rabbi.
Rodrigo and Cesare: see comment about this from last week. (Also fanfiction from last week.)
Giulia wanting Rodrigo's blessing for her marriage (and asking Vannozza to tell him): these are the screwed up yet endearing Renaissance dynamics I live for. Also, loved that the one serious question Rodrigo (before getting distracted at the sight of Cesare) asks his ex-mistress' intended is "Can you make her laugh"? Because yes, being able to laugh together is a good sign for a relationship.
You know, after having buried my hope for a genderbend Leonardo, I next hoped Micheletto's new boyfriend would turn out to be Leonardo in disguise - not least because he (historical Leonardo da Vinci, that is) DID work for Cesare for a while, and New Boyfriend's tale about Leonardo's betraying assistant and Leonardo loving him all the more could have pointed towards that. But no such luck, instead, he's a Sforza spy, finding himself actually turned on by Micheletto and giving him a clue with that whole tale. Why do I suspect this storyline will end bloodily again? (Or maybe not, since Micheletto's signature instrument, not having been employed for a while, is the garotte.)
Meanwhile, in Naples, we have Lucrezia trying to suss out the sucession and taking the measure of the candidates for the throne. One of whom is yet another bastard-snubber (this is where I had to squash, because historically, Lucrezia's husband Alfonso was illegitimate, so was Gioffre's wife Sancia, so had been the late Ferrante himself, which was why the Neapolitan succession was disputed in the first place - Naples was FULL of royal bastards, several of whom were married off in great state, so this whole "no bastards in this palace" attitude is completely made up), and the other deceptively mild-mannered and dog loving, which makes me suspect immediately that the jerk Raffaele is probably right when predicting in the end that Lucrezia will regret throwing her support behind Federico. I just can't make up my mind whether Federico arranged for his own poisoning and his doctor was in on it, knowing how to treat it in time (since Federico was the one telling Lucrezia about his brother being a sadist planning on poisoning him to begin with) or whether Lucrezia did it (since it comes so shortly after her conversation with Federico about how it would need a scandal to discredit Raffaele and Raffaele has no scandalous private life). Anyway, I approve very much of the show making Lucrezia so invested in Naples, both because this isn't about her love life (and I always like it when female characters get to care about goverment), and because it puts her on an inevitable crash course with Cesare. (Sorry, but I want a Lucrezia and Cesare rift. A reconciliation later, too, but first I want a genuine rift about the two of them wanting completely different things politically. I live for that sort of thing between characters who have a strong bond.)
(Incidentally, I continue to question the writers' choices of making Alfonso THAT passive because I continue to suspect it's because they don't want the audience to sympathize with him when his historical fate occurs. But otoh all three of the men Lucrezia actively chose for love and/or sex - Paolo, the ambassador's brother with the drawing skills and Alfonso - were the naive, submissive type allowing her control, understandable in sight of the other men in her life. And exploring the downside of passivity via this one isn't out of nowhere, at least.)
I'm disappointed about Benito being unceremoniously offed in this episode. Given his interactions with Cesare and Micheletto last season, I thought we were going somewhere with this, especially since the character is an amalgan anyway - Caterina had several kids, not just one - and thus his fate was up to the writers.
Speaking of going somewhere: I still have no idea whether this will happen with the Constantinople Jews (and just hope that it won't be something like them getting sacrificed to the mob or anything like that), but for now I like the interactions between Rodrigo and the Rabbi.
Rodrigo and Cesare: see comment about this from last week. (Also fanfiction from last week.)
Giulia wanting Rodrigo's blessing for her marriage (and asking Vannozza to tell him): these are the screwed up yet endearing Renaissance dynamics I live for. Also, loved that the one serious question Rodrigo (before getting distracted at the sight of Cesare) asks his ex-mistress' intended is "Can you make her laugh"? Because yes, being able to laugh together is a good sign for a relationship.
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Date: 2013-05-28 06:11 pm (UTC)