SEX, politics, scandal, sex, God, politics, power, sex, money, sex, scandal. It seems the more things change in the Catholic Church, the more they stay the same. To give a ''Previously … on The Borgias … '' could take quite a bit of space and time. Let's just say season one opened with Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons) ascending to the papacy - after some ruthless shenanigans - becoming Pope Alexander VI and installing his de facto wife and five children in the Vatican. He then spent the entire season trying to protect that position against all the people he'd enraged (and they were many) by fair means and foul.
A Canadian-US co-production, it's the kind of rich, dark, lewd drama fans of Rome and The Tudors know and love. And while you can certainly watch it simply for the sex, swords and frocks, the complex power plays, political intrigues and familial tensions reward a close viewing.
This is Neil Jordan's baby; creator and producer, he also wrote and directed this opening ep to season two. And his hand is evident in the smart pacing, the clever juxtaposition of scenes, the dense script flashing with dry wit. There's a fine cast, too, but it's undoubtedly Irons who carries the tale in a tricky role.
Pope Alexander VI was a pretty ghastly character: lascivious, gluttonous, despotic and brutal. Irons, with Jordan's help, makes him all these things and so much more. He's a man with an enormous passion for life, a lively sense of humour and of the absurd, brilliant and highly educated, and deeply sentimental about his family. So, tonight, having bequeathed Naples to his enemy, the King of France, without telling him the city is riddled with the plague, he's sitting back and waiting for that monarch to die a horrible death.
Read more:http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-good-the-bad-and-the-beautiful-20120509-1ybpw.html
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