Thoughts on Borgias, Thrones

Since my last television post was a bit rant-o-rrific, I'll keep this brief. If there's any specifics you'd like to discuss, we can do so in the comments.

The Borgias, Finale - Showtime.

First and foremost, all those promotional clips featuring soldiers and bloodshed were pretty darn misleading. Annoyingly so.

Here it comes! The big battle!!



Oh wait. Next episode. No, wait. Next season. No, really. We promise?

Annoying.

However, let's be positive! Loved the finale. Holliday Grainger continues to amaze and astound with her acting range (the girl can scream, wow!). We see the more subtle and conniving Pope defeat the French through intellect and cunning. Jeremy Irons is much more suited to this.

Cesare' gives us a glimmer of the risk taker he was in the beginning of the season. And Juan, forever useless, shows up to stand around while the French army is camped outside of Rome.

I was wondering where they were going to go with the story, seeing as the promo videos seemed to indicate WAR (you naughty liars), but the resolution was not only convincing, but necessary.

A few more thoughts, but ... eh. Truly, why are "seasons" so bloody short?

A Game of Thrones - HBO

For those who are new to the series, it should be obvious anyway: It's ALL running downhill, at breakneck speed, from here.

Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon - this is solid, perfect, wonderful. Ned's added assertion? Yes, let's see "Winter is Coming" Stark! The man who rules the north, as Hand of the King.

Oh, Cersei, and her badge of honor? Without her brother (who has skipped town)? Enter Tywin Lannister. Lions and Wolves are just beginning to ... it's not looking good for mending fences. Fantastic scenes, there.


The story will push forward now. Episode 7, some of you have seen on HBOGO. NOT the one to watch for. It's Episode 8, the one directed by Martin himself (as I understand).

I am noticing one sad little trend. Where are the Direwolves?

The scene with Bran, Robb, Theon and (new character) Osha played by Natalia Tena? Great! Excellent! Why would Bran leave the company of his brother? To go search for Summer, his wolf. Who would summarily chew up and eat one of the wildings.

The lack of direwolves is going to be an issue for story continuity. The direwolves are pivotal in this series, they are reflections of the Starks. Especially for Bran, because of his physical condition.

Troubled indeed, dear Arya.

Everything else is fine. Fun. Exciting. The way I've imagined it in all my readings. Not sure of the scene between Theon and Ros, but it was a small thing. And nudity to facilitate exposition.

Tyrion's fight for freedom. Bronn, his new accomplice. Mord! Some variation from the book, (turtle stew, ha ha), but not enough to matter. What's relevant here is the new, tentative alliance between Tyrion and Bronn. In terms of character development - what do you think Tyrion will do, with his newly found freedom? Keep an eye on the little man.

In all of this so far, I suspect that Catelyn is not gaining friends at this point, but - without saying too much - I didn't care for her too much at this point in the book, either. Don't give up on her just yet.

The crowning moment of this episode was the beautiful uh... crowning... of Viserys Targaryen. Anyone that annoying must needs die. That is why I love GRRM.

Hat's off to you, Harry Lloyd. You absolutely sold the creepy little horror that was Viserys. There's a great interview with him here. And now, Dany is free to soar!

(Even with the blatant foreshadowing, I think the first time viewers are going to go apesh*t over Dany before the end of this season.)




Episode Six was a large improvement in maintaining the story's integrity while providing visual stimulation and the certain simplicity required for visual media. Yes, you'd get more depth and understanding if you read the books.

But, frankly, it'll be pretty hard to mess things up from here. Buckle your seatbelts, the rest of the season is going to be a helluva ride. I can't wait!

Aside, Winter is Coming does a Twitter recap each week. I was booming laughter reading some of the responses and commentary. Check it out for yourself, you won't be sorry.

Reading Journal, Borgias, Thrones

Monday morning musings...

Finished The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) last night. Damn it. Super duper cliffhangers. Rawr. Grrrrr.


Moving on to positivity, here's what Mr. Abercrombie accomplishes in his breakout novel. He does write excellent fight scenes, by the way (noted in one of the back cover blurbs). He compels the reader to root for the underdog. That's a skill, a talent. There's a nice balance between action and narrative, the plot moves forward and the protagonists' lives become interwoven in an interesting way.

He breaks many of the rules that we unpublished writers read again and again in all these ever-so-helpful writing tip blogs. That, in and of itself, is a statement. If you have the talent, it will show. He does. So, instead of taking everyone's advice and having your unique style and voice get washed out in a vanilla coated style compendium of zero risk storytelling - just do what you're gonna do.


This is the lesson I'm finding, again and again, every time I pick up a genre novel. At the end of the day, you cannot argue with success.


Having said that, I get really frustrated with reading 500 pages and not having any resolutions. I won't be doing that. That's not likely to stop me from picking up Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two). Dang it. :-p

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Ah, the Borgias. They're going down! I think they rather dragged out last night's episode, considering next week is the season finale... hmm. They're going to leave me on a cliffhanger, too, aren't they?


Damn it.


What can I say after last night's episode? I like Holliday Grainger all the more these days.


And, I told you so, Juan Borgia's an idiot. "Hey, let's just wait for the cannons to fire!" Actually what he said was, "Who gives the order to charge?"


Which, really, says more than any commentary I could add at this point.


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Thrones.


Last night captured the essence of the relationship between Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon superbly well. And while *I* don't think Maisie Williams looks much like a boy at all, considering the parallel historical time period, I think it's clever that the viewer gets that perspective: she's dirty and not in a dress = boy with long hair.


I think it's a little funny that "sex scene" = "exposition and backstory time". It's almost insulting! (Truly, a good whore is going to piss off her client? Even if she's trying to be cheeky, repeat business insures her income.) I guess it's a reasonable time to chit chat, but the scene with Cersei and Robert was much better.


Ser Loras and Ser Renly. Varys and Illyrio. I weep. Television forces the giant HERE IT IS spotlight, where a novel allows and encourages the reader to take the clues, the hints and draw their own conclusions. Read the book.


I can appreciate that we didn't see Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen in this episode, though the timing for Dany is a bit off. Crossing the Dothraki Sea should've taken a whole episode. The action should have clung to her more tightly once they arrived at Vaes Dothrak (which they did in the last episode, as I recall.)


But the Wall? No, the viewer can assume that the four new friends are bonding, being beaten up by Aliser Thorne and teaching Ser Piggy how to fight - the next episode will be a good time to let them take their vows. Their lack of presence in this most recent episode works.


Aside! Apparently some viewers were upset by the demise of direwolf Lady in episode 2. GRRM has addressed that on his Not A Blog, in a manner which I must fully endorse. Spoiler alert: There's going to be a lot more death before the end of the season.


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Not to get overly meta, but lately I have seen a number of stories where the perceived ruler is fat and decadent. Is this a trope? Or is this a statement towards modern governments - those we choose become bloated, indulgent and selfish, and the countries are actually run by appointed bureaucrats, who are completely out of touch with (and unaccountable to) the common folks?

I do not like the trope. Medieval times were too harsh. A man (or woman) who could not hold their kingdom would lose it. Having said that, it certainly makes sense as a plot point - because at least the reader can appreciate why the ridiculous ruler is going to see war (there is always war).
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What's next for me to read? I'm deciding between Dune, Songs of Love and Death: All Original Tales of Star Crossed Love, and Kushiel's Scion (Kushiel's Legacy).


In other (personal and irrelevant) news, this weekend marked the first time in two weeks that I was able to eat and not feel pain. The Crohn's has gone back into remission. Huzzah! Now to be a little indulgent myself and regain the weight I've lost... and edit the beast, dang it. ;-)

Thoughts on Showtime's The Borgias

It took me awhile to begin to enjoy Showtime's previous project, The Tudors, but after reading Sara Poole's Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance, my interest was piqued in their project, The Borgias. The only other reason I'm watching it is because it's gritty historical fiction. I like sex, blood, and political intrigue. Anything less is essentially watching the nightly news.

As yesterday, this is no essay or review - just some random thoughts I've had while watching the series. A writing exercise - I've not been blogging, and I feel rusty.



In many ways, the smaller cast makes it easier to follow than fan favorite Thrones. Casting seems pretty solid. I've had some hesitation with Jeremy Irons, an amazing actor - he just doesn't convince me as a sex-starved power monger. I still closely associate him with his role as the stoic in Kingdom of Heaven. His demeanor is too cool and calculating for me to embrace that he's just a horny old goat. Otherwise? Of course he does well.


I think it is safe to assume that if I'm not watching something on the History Channel, or Discovery, or NatGeo, that there's going to be some degrees of interpretation in the interest of making the story more interesting. In other words, I approach this less as a history lesson, and more as an entertaining retelling. I did the same with the Tudors, and if you haven't caught any of the series yet - I suggest you do the same.

Sex. Seriously, there's a lot of sex. Almost too much, almost to the point of "really?" This goes a long way towards portraying the corruption and decadence of the Borgia clan - and so be it.

The story line moves adequately - you have to swallow the info dumps inherent in the pilot - comparatively, all pilots seem to kinda stink for that reason - and by the third episode, it is easy to gather the relationships and the motivations.

Lucrezia Borgia, played by Holliday Grainger, does an excellent job at portraying a young girl, full of youth and mischief and naivete, plagued with the worries of what she's experienced... and yet, growing, evolving and clearly a Borgia.

Cesare' Borgia, played by Francois Arnaud... now this is a more complicated characterization. In the beginning of the series, he seemed tougher than he seems by episode 7. I suppose that the harshness of the way that he follows his father's orders in order that Rodrigo may become pope - softens once Cesare' is made a cardinal.



The least convincing characterization, to me, is Juan Borgia. He seems the most ill qualified for any sort of responsibility, much moreso leading the papal armies. He's not even loyal to his own little brother. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure if it's the acting, writing or directing that has him all over the place.

Overall? If you like this sort of thing, even if you only remotely enjoyed The Tudors, you'll enjoy this. There's really no major flaws in anything. The sets and costumes are beautiful. The characters are interesting, and true to themselves, for the most part.

Perhaps it is not as complicated or intriguing as Sopranos or Thrones, but that arguably works in its favor. What's missing is the sympathy for the protagonists, as well (and maybe even accurately) as they seem to be portrayed. They get themselves into bad positions and I don't really feel bad for them.

At this point, I'll continue to watch, and while I know that the outcome will be tragic, I'm still hoping to be surprised somehow. In this, Sara Poole's novel (mentioned above) is superior to the television production.

Some links:

Borgias Fan Website
Sara Poole's Blog
The Borgias on Showtime