Da Vinci's Demons Season 2 Finale: Nobody's Business But the Turks

Well, Da Vinci's Demons had a great surprise in store for the very last moment of its second season finale:  Da Vinci at least sees his long sought-after mother - on the lead Turkish ship that Da Vinici has set his cannon to fire upon, in his attempt to save Italy from the Turkish invasion.

It's a nice irony indeed, in a season full of ironies and strange reversals, fortunately for the most part of the political not the supernatural kind.  Last week we discovered that Cosmo's grandson was a bad guy. Earlier we learned that Lucrezia's truest allegiance was not to the Pope, but the Pope's imprisoned brother, who is her father.   But Da Vinci's beloved mother on the Turkish ship takes the cake, especially since Da Vinci's traveled halfway around the world in the opposite direction in his fruitless attempt to find her - in addition to his fruitless attempt to find that strategy-withering Book of Leaves.

Lucrezia and Da Vinci still love one another, and that was good to see.   Somewhere in the future of this series they'll be together, unless one of them gets killed, and that would have to be Lucrezia, if this series remains true to what we know historically of the real Da Vinci's life.

So the stage is set for a third season, with the fuse literally a split second from igniting the cannon, which will destroy Da Vinci's mother.   I don't see how Da Vinci can stop the ignition at this point, but he may have something up his nimble scientifically calculating sleave.

And there are good characters poised to come on strong.   Vanessa's now set to be in charge, as the mother of the only Medici now in the city of Florence.   And did I hear something about Nico being Machiavelli, long before he wrote The Prince?

The second season of Da Vinci's Demons was considerably better than the first, and I'm looking forward to the third.

See also Da Vinci's Demon's 2.1: Science Fiction v Fantasy ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.2: Renaissance Radio ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.3: Submarine ... Da Vinci's Demon's 2.4: Copernican Revelation ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.5: Corn ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.6: Meets Charles Dickens ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.7: Four Stories ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.8: The Talking Head ... Da Vinci's Demons 2.9: The Sword Fight

And see also Da Vinci's Demons:  History, Science, and Science Fiction ... Da Vinci's Demons 1.7: Leonardo Under Water with a Twist ... Da Vinci's Demons Season 1 Finale: History, Science Fiction, Time Travel 



700 years before and 700 years after Da Vinci:  The Silk Code

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The Borgias 3.6: Plague and Belief

Another excellent episode of The Borgias on Sunday - 3.6 - in which Caterina Sforza is revealed to be even more evil than we thought, certainly more evil than Rodrigo.

Her latest plan to cleanse Italy of the Borgias is to get the black plague into the Vatican.  There is a great storyline about how her plan was almost diverted. Cesare comes upon the young Cardinal carrying a box from Caterina with a peace proposal for the Pope.  Unbeknownst to Cesare and the Cardinal, the box also contains the plague.  But Cesare tells the Cardinal to burn the box, knowing that it can contain no sincere peace proposal from Caterina, because she doesn't want peace.  And the Cardinal almost burns the box, but at the last minute can't first resist opening it to read the proposal - and, well, we'll no doubt see the deadly results of this in weeks to come.

The other most enjoyable thread concerned Jews from Constantinople seeking to establish a community in Rome.  Given that the Turks recently took over the city, changing its state religion from Eastern Christian to Islamic, this apparently seemed like a good idea.  But Rodrigo has a price - he'd like a priceless relic from Istanbul, as he startes to make ready his plans to celebrate the coming of the year 1500.   The Jewish delegation shows up with the Spear of Longinus, aka the Holy Lance, said to have pieced Christ.  Here the history depicted on the television series gets a little murky - in our history, the Turks sent the spear to Rodrigo's predecessor in 1492.

What is historically correct and shown in this episode of The Borgias is that there were doubts about the spear's authenticity.   Rodrigo of course is no fool, and in a fine scene we learn that he doesn't really care whether the spear is authentic - all that counts is what people believe it to be.  Machiavelli was in last week's episode not this one, but he would have concurred completely with the preeminence of belief over reality in shaping public opinion.

The spear, by the way, exists in the Vatican to this very day, but the Church makes no claim now about its authenticity.

See also The Borgias Season 3 Premiere: "Blade's Breath" ... The Borgias 3.2: Going Both Ways ... The Borgias 3.4: Incest and Debauchery ... The Borgias 3.5: Normal Love and Lampreys

And see also The Borgias Season 2 Sneak Preview

And see also The Borgias Sneak Preview Review ... The Borgias 1.5: Machiavellian Politics and Marriage ... The Borgias 1.6: Beds, Leg, Cannon ... Borgias  Season One Concludes

 

The Borgias 1.5: Machiavellian Politics and Marriage

A saucy, nasty, conniving episode 1.5 of The Borgias on Showtime - in other words, just like the previous, which I take as a plus.  This one paid more attention than usual to Rodrigo's children, one of whom has a meeting with Niccolò Machiavelli in Florence.

That would be Cesare Borgia, who gets some savvy advice from Machiavelli about how to navigate the treacherous political currents of Florence and other Italian power centers, the goal being to keep Borgia's enemies from inviting/allowing the big French army into Italy.  And Cesare and  Machiavelli make a deal.  This is well before Machiavelli wrote The Prince (distributed in handwritten form in 1513, not published until 1532, five years after his death) - still a relevant handbook for governing after all of these years.  It was good to see the young Machiavelli.

Romantically, Cesare is after Ursula, the woman he met at Lucrezia Borgia's wedding to Giovanni Sforza last week.   Ursula is married, but wants Cesare.  Her husband insulted Cesare's mother at the wedding.  The combustible combination is all Cesare needs to get what he wants.

Juan is having no luck at all.  Even Rodrigo is loathe to insist that Juan marry the unattractive, politically expedient offering ... but politics almost always rules in The Borgias.

Lucrezia's marriage was completely political, and her husband's an insensitive brute.  But she's a Borgia, and soon figures out a way to keep her husband out of her bed.   She can now spend some time instead in the arms of Paulo, the stable-hand.  Wild horses can't keep the Borgias from getting what they want.

But the forces arrayed against them are powerful and not without their own cunning, and it will be fun to see how this plays out ...

See also The Borgias Sneak Preview Review

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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