kamreadsandrecs | Screw the dinner knife: he deserves a rusty spoon to the heart.

In a continuation of the last review I made about Neil Jordan's/Showtime's lavish miniseries The Borgias, I've just finished watching the most recent episode, titled Lucrezia's Wedding - which is a very clear indication of the main event of this particular episode.

First, the facts that make up the major events of this episode: in an attempt to unite Italy through marriage, Rodrigo Borgia arranges a marriage between his daughter, Lucrezia, and Giovanni Sforza, a scion of the powerful Sforza family of Milan (and it helps that Ascanio Sforza engineered the whole thing, which only means more advantage for him at the Vatican). In the meantime, Savonarola is busy preaching the apocalypse in Florence, while Piero de'Medici sits in wait. Also, Giuliano della Rovere is making plans of his own: an attempt to call the French army down to sweep through Italy in order to take Naples - and in exchange for allowing the French to do this, the French must make him Pope.

So: those are the facts. But this series is about the drama and intrigue behind the facts - I mentioned in the first review that this is what made this series great. And in this particular episode, your heart is going to be broken - if the last episode didn't do that already.

The episode opens with Giuliano della Rovere riding into Florence, where Savonarola is preaching blood and death and the apocalypse from his pulpit. Savonarola, played by Steven Berkoff, strikes me as being a bit too plump to be cast as an ascetic monk, but again, just like casting Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia despite Irons not looking the least like the real Rodrigo, Berkoff has a presence similar to the one the real Savonarola might have had. And, to be fair to Berkoff, he has Savonarola's nose, and when he speaks to della Rovere about his visions in one interesting scene, one can see the crazy (or holy?) light in his eyes. What's scary about Savonarola (and people like him, before and since) is that it's obvious he really, truly believes what he's saying.

Something that many of Savonarola's contemporaries debated were the authenticity of his visions. It appears Jordan is going in the direction of them being probably true, because the visions Savonarola describes to della Rovere will strike an eerie chord in anyone who's followed the history of the Borgias. He describes - quite well, in fact - the condition Rodrigo's body will be in when he dies, and his talks of a "clergyman in red" leading "armies from the north" and spreading bloodshed and tragedy seemingly echo Cesare - who was made cardinal in the last episode - and his conquest of the Romagna and his attempt to conquer all of Italy in the future. However, it's already been made known that della Rovere has approached Piero de'Medici with a request not to stop the French he's inviting down to help him sweep the Borgia off the face of the planet, and as a Cardinal himself, della Rovere wears red, so Savonarola's vision could just as easily apply to della Rovere himself.

And speaking of Florence, at this point in time Lorenzo de'Medici is already dead (which means Showtime is, thankfully, really sticking to historical fact, compared to the job they did in The Tudors), so it's Piero de'Medici, played by Cesare Taurasi, running the show. He is also apparently assisted by Niccolo Machiavelli, played by Julian Bleach. The discussion the three of them (or mostly Machiavelli) have with della Rovere is quite excellently done, in my opinion, with none of them really saying outright what Florence is to do (or not do) when the French come until the last minute. It's hard to believe at any point in this discussion that della Rovere is as virtuous as he seems, but Colm Feore plays his duplicity really well.

But this story is about the Borgia, and this particular episode is about Lucrezia, in particular. It would have been a blind person that missed the chemistry between Lucrezia and Djem (played by Elyes Gabel), and it's easy to understand Lucrezia's heartbreak at the beginning of the episode. While it's hard to be certain if she was in love with Djem, or if she looked upon him as a friend (I personally lean to the former, but that's just me), either way this only proves that Lucrezia is a kindhearted, good-natured girl - and the ending will break hearts in more ways than one.

coffeebased said she couldn't watch, and had to put the video on mute - not because it was badly shot, or even graphic, but because of what happens to Lucrezia is something that no woman, least of all someone like her, should undergo. While such things were common enough historically, this scene is proof-positive that in shows like this, historical accuracy is indeed important, but it doesn't mean the viewer won't be upset when "historical accuracy" happens to a character the viewer likes.

I know I mentioned in the last review that I felt uncertain about Giulia's treatment of Lucrezia, that I didn't know whether to feel good or uncertain about it, but this episode proved to me that Giulia might not be so bad after all. She was only trying to prepare Lucrezia for a world wherein women had no choice but do what their husbands and fathers wished them to do, a world where a woman must do what she can with her significantly limited options in order to survive. I kind of wanted to thank Giulia for that, especially given what happens to Lucrezia at the end of the episode.

It made me wonder if Rodrigo could see anything beyond his nose, but in the end it's really just that he wants the best for his children and the future of their family, and there is something admirable in that. Still, it results in ambivalence regarding him. On one hand, it's easy to love him for what he does for his children - in particular, what I like to call "the geopolitics lesson" scene with Gioffre (who is still a darling without having to try). But then there's that scene with him and Lucrezia and Cesare wherein he says Vannozza will not be attending Lucrezia's wedding, and it's easy to be ticked off at him all over again. This is not including the fact that he married Lucrezia to her jerk of a husband in the first place.

For those who weren't in love with Cesare before, this episode will only make you want to love him more, despite the fact that he can be quite evil when he wants to. His concern and care for his sister may indeed border on the incestuous, but there's a part at the wedding reception that just might convince others that he's not interested in Lucrezia romantically, and is just really concerned for her and her happiness (or it might reinforce the belief that he was in love with her - just depends on your point of view). There is also a scene wherein Cesare makes a quiet remark about a Native American captive (who does not look in the least bit Native American) brought by the Spanish delegation to the Vatican, and it just reminds the viewer that Cesare is a wise young man - wiser, I should say, than his father.

But one thing is certain about this episode: your "People Who Should Die" list will get longer by at least one person. Juan was already on mine, and I would absolutely love to kill him, but I threw Giovanni into that list as well. Historically he wasn't killed (and I feel certain he won't die in this series, either), but I still wish Cesare could fulfill his promise to Lucrezia to "carve his heart out with a dinner knife."

Except personally, for what he did to Lucrezia, Cesare shouldn't stop with the dinner knife. He ought to take Giovanni's eyes out with a rusty spoon.