mojotastic

So as many of you might have noticed from my general red-alert level of squee, I've been pretty excited about Showtime's The Borgias. AND IT IS JUST AS AMAZING AS I THOUGHT.

I urge everyone to watch it. EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE. It is filled with beautiful scenery and history and Francois Arnaud's FACE. I've already watched the pilot twice is two days. And thus I present in picspam form why this show is so fantastic.


First of all, to explain my excitement level I should probably explain that I read not one, but TWO books about the Borgias. I read Christopher Hibbert's Borgias and their Enemies and Sarah Bradford's Lucrezia bio. Both of which I'd recommend even though I think Hibbert flies through the history a bit too much and Bradford focuses a bit too much on the minutiae like lists of jewels. ANYWAY. The point is that at this point I am at least moderately well versed in Borgia knowledge.

And I can tell this show is perfection already. I mean, I can tell they are going to take some liberties with the actual history but they are doing pretty well so far and after hearing some stuff about the Tudors I was starting to get worried. But the Borgias are so crazy and awesome that I don't think they need to take too many liberties because lol bitches be crazy.

Why should you watch this show? OMG LOOK AT IT. Seriously, it's like watching a painting. The shots are just so pretty! As you can tell, this is going to be a very profound picspam. EVERYTHING IS PRETTY!! But seriously, all the sets are so lush and beautiful and the costumes are amazing. They really went all out to make it seem like Renaissance life.

And the performances are AMAZING. I was ridiculously happy that they picked Sanjay from the amazing Slings and Arrows to play Cardinal della Rovere. The Frog Hammer storyline was one of my favorites on Slings and Arrows and he was amazingly hilarious, but I didn't realize he was such a good dramatic actor. I'm going to really enjoy him as the torn in the Borgia side.

I also love how they've set up Juan, as well as the already strained relationship between Juan and Cesare. You can see that there's affection there but the truce between them seems so uneasy. Now I wish I capped the scene where Juan is talking about his armor and how Cesare wears all black and it "suits him". ALSO stanning this like crazy but I love the little details like Cesare's black wardrobe and Juan talking about putting a BRIGHT YELLOW Borgia bull on his armor because LOL Juan + flashy ridic clothes is totally going to become this show's OTP.

Also already in love with the narrative choice to focus on their outsider nature as Spaniards in Rome. THIS SHOW YOU GUYS, I WANT TO HUG IT.

Speaking of amazing performances? JEREMY IRONS I LOVE EVERYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO BE. Basically everything Jeremy Irons does is perfection. I could just watch an hour of Jeremy Irons chewing scenery and be perfectly content. There's this great moment when della Rovere calls the election of a new pope a "contest" and J.Irons goes eleCTION! in this really great way. Oh Jeremy Irons, the way you say your words is so ~magical~.

This moment above might be my favorite random Jeremy Irons amazing acting choice in the whole thing because a.) hilarious and b.) really cute! Sure, he's back room bartering to become pope but he just seems so TWEE about it, pushing his finger against the wall and practically giggling. LOVELOVELOVE.

ALSO THERE IS INAPPROPRIATE SIBLING LOVE. Judge me all you want but look at their LITTLE FACES! With all the inappropriate touching and how he calls her 'my love' and said he would die if anything happened to her! And he doesn't want her to get married even though Rodrigo is all "LOL dude she's practically an old maid at 14 LOL"? Also Holliday Grainger is sort of flawless perfection. I mean, look girlfriend is OBVIOUSLY not 14. But she does a really great job at playing Lucrezia as more childlike and that ages her down. Which is not to say that Lucrezia is totally naive and innocent. You can see her Borgia-ness, even in the first episode. Also LOL SPYING. I died when she asked if Cesare was going to marry the random chick he was banging. ALSO love that they managed to encapsulate Cesare's whole army vs clergy issue in his first line. A++ show writers.

I can't believe I'm shipping them. I'm officially one of THOSE PEOPLE. But...but! He bops her with his nose and it's adorable! They are the most inappropriate siblings ever and I love them so much.

ALSO THERE'S THIS SCENE which is such an amazing Lucrezia scene because it's like she's a BAMF in training:
Lucrezia: Why the dove Cesare?
Cesare: It has a dual purpose my love, like many things in life. It serves as both a symbol and a messenger.
Lucrezia: A symbol of what?
Cesare: The uncorrupted soul.
Lucrezia: And a messenger of what?
Cesare: Corruption
Lucrezia: You mean to say it bares news of how many votes we must buy in the papal election?
Cesare: You are criminally well informed sis. I trust your soul is still of the purest white.
Lucrezia: How many votes must we buy him Cesare?
Cesare: You know too much already don't you?
Lucrezia: You're wrong, I know too little.

UGHHHHH! I cannot even talk about how much I love that shot of Giulia Farnese shot through the cross in the confessional. Dear show, you are too pretty to exist. I also love Giulia's introduction scene.

Lucrezia: Can I kiss you then?
Giulia: Only if we are to be friends.
Lucrezia: We are friends already.

Also perfection? All the Giulia/Lucrezia scenes. I love how at-ease Lucrezia is with the idea of some random lady being all up in her father's rooms. And her telling the painter that he wasn't doing a good enough job! LOL! And her random tangent about wanting to get painted with a seahorse was so bratty and amazing. Oh pretty ladies, you are the greatest. I can't wait to see where the show takes both of them. It seems like it's willing to go interesting places with the female characters. I love it when lady characters are awesome in period-appropriate ways.

Which brings me to one of my favorite scenes! LOVEEEEEE this scene. I loved it when they just released a small part of it over one of the promos but I love the full version EVEN MORE. I love that Giulia can see that Lucrezia has a great wit and intelligence about her already and the end was so ominous and Oh Lucrezia, girl, things are going to be getting weird for you soon.

Lucrezia: Am I your love?
Giulia: I would dearly love you to be.
Lucrezia: My mother hates you.
Giulia: You will learn my dear, as women we control so little of our destiny, men do. And the outcome is we hate each other, but we should not.
Lucrezia: Who should we hate then? Men?
Giulia: No my love, it's in our nature to love them but we should protect ourselves against them, against our feelings towards them. We will, all of us be replaced.
Lucrezia: Are you giving me instruction?
Giulia: Would you like me to?
Lucrezia: I think I would. What weapons do I have with which to protect myself?
Giulia: Your beauty.
Lucrezia: Is that a weapon?
Giulia: It can be deadly, when well used. But beauty doesn't last forever, gone like the snows of last year.
Lucrezia: What else?
Giulia: When beauty fades your wit, your intelligence.
Lucrezia: And I have those weapons?
Giulia: Oh, in abundance.You should cultivate them. You will be married someday, you may need them. Sooner than you think.

In summary: The Borgias. Watch it. PRETTY PEOPLE WITH PRETTY FACES IN PRETTY PERIOD COSTUMES BEING SCHEMING AND PRETTY AND SHIVING PEOPLE AND BEING INAPPROPRIATE WITH FAMILY MEMBERS. What more could you ask for?

Note: Please don't steal or hotlink my caps. It would make my photobucket sad, and then angry and then I would have no more photobucket. Also please don't repost my graphics to tumblr. I have a tumblr and I'll probably cross post them there if you want to reblog or whatever.