So, a show by Neil Jordan and starring THE Jeremy Irons? Must be a hit, don't you think? Not really, unfortunately.
I have pondered what was wrong about the pilot and I found it was simply not immersive enough. The opening sequence is passable but it's not a piece I would yearn to see again. Then we see some evidently (in a bad sense) CGI'ed Renaissance Rome which serves as a background for the short written (but IMO redundant) introduction. And then the characters drown in completely off-character dialogue to explain to the viewers what is going on.
After that I was completely turned-off and didn't even care much that the cardinals' names were in some part made up (Orsino Orsini? the guy that never was a priest and was married to Giulia Farnese?), the fighting sequences were really bad and the pope's coronation theme is Haendel's (sic!) Coronation Anthem No. 1. Oh wait, and they had apparently blunt daggers, as Micheletto doesn't get a scratch from them (or maybe he is just a really tough guy). As for the acting, Feore and Irons rock but the rest of the Borgias family seems bleak in comparison. Arnaud's performance is good but not superb and Grainger's Lucrezia is stiff and not convincing. And this is THE Lucrezia we're talking!
Long story short, watch if:
+ you like costumes; they are amazing in this one, Gabriella Pescucci has done a superb work here
+ you haven't seen The Sopranos or The Godfather, they eat Showtime's Borgias for their breakfast
+ you don't care about historic accuracy and are not turned-off by off- character explanations
Don't watch if:
I have pondered what was wrong about the pilot and I found it was simply not immersive enough. The opening sequence is passable but it's not a piece I would yearn to see again. Then we see some evidently (in a bad sense) CGI'ed Renaissance Rome which serves as a background for the short written (but IMO redundant) introduction. And then the characters drown in completely off-character dialogue to explain to the viewers what is going on.
After that I was completely turned-off and didn't even care much that the cardinals' names were in some part made up (Orsino Orsini? the guy that never was a priest and was married to Giulia Farnese?), the fighting sequences were really bad and the pope's coronation theme is Haendel's (sic!) Coronation Anthem No. 1. Oh wait, and they had apparently blunt daggers, as Micheletto doesn't get a scratch from them (or maybe he is just a really tough guy). As for the acting, Feore and Irons rock but the rest of the Borgias family seems bleak in comparison. Arnaud's performance is good but not superb and Grainger's Lucrezia is stiff and not convincing. And this is THE Lucrezia we're talking!
Long story short, watch if:
+ you like costumes; they are amazing in this one, Gabriella Pescucci has done a superb work here
+ you haven't seen The Sopranos or The Godfather, they eat Showtime's Borgias for their breakfast
+ you don't care about historic accuracy and are not turned-off by off- character explanations
Don't watch if:
- you didn't like The Tudors
- you know the real history
- you are a martial arts geek
- you expected abundant and very graphical sex scenes