The first episodes of The Borgias, with its endless rounds of voting, and covert dealings, seemed more like an average afternoon at F.I.F.A. than 15th century Rome. But then again, F.I.F.A. make the Borgia's look like the Waltons.
Yes, the show looks fantastic and has a strong cast, headed by Jeremy Irons, whose performance is not a million miles away from his Scar in The Lion King. But the trouble with The Borgias is where is its unique selling point? This whole blood, sex, and treachery, costume drama has almost become its own genre over the past seven or so years. Starting, really, with Deadwood and then Rome through to The Tudors, Spartacus and all brought beautifully together earlier this year with Game of Thrones. And now The Borgias, but like I said, where is its u.s.p.? Perhaps the answer is that it doesn't have one and both opening episodes did have that 'seen it all before' feel to them.
Of the above list, The Borgias is probably closest to The Tudors, and I think we all know how dull that could get at times. But it always had a high profile execution to look forward to and no show ever did executions better than The Tudors. Problem is, we're very familiar with this kind of bonk, blood, stab in the back, stuff. So these days, it has to really do something special to both catch and hold our attention. Spartacus does it by ramming the sex and gore at us, then sneaking the storyline underneath so you become hooked, but not too sure how. Game of Thrones went about it by combining all the elements and then balancing them magnificently.
Unlike the others, Game of Thrones does have the advantage of being based on a series of bestsellers, so knows where it is going. Something you hesitate to say about The Borgias, which looks like it will trundle along The Tudors path, but minus the excellent set piece executions.
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