The Borgias - The First Season

"Sex. Power. Murder. Amen!" So reads one version of the promotional text for "The Borgias," a Showtime series that fills the void once occupied by "The Tudors." Another blurb declares, "The original crime family."

As far as tag lines go, both are good; concise, to the point, and decent summaries of the series, which centers on the intrigue and political machinations surrounding the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia (Jeremy Irons), also known as Pope Alexander VI, who rose to the head of the Catholic Church in 1492 and remained there for the next 11 years.

Like "The Tudors," "The Borgias" is costume porn of a highly entertaining order that hews closer to the demands of drama than the letter of history, offers some impressive locales, and fills in the gaps with a spot of CGI here and there. The series is replete with power plays, strained relations among heads of state, and assassins (eldest son Cesare Borgia (Fran�ois Arnaud), a Cardinal, employs a killer for hire named Micheletto (Sean Harris), a thin, ginger-haired fellow who is as doggedly loyal as he is lethal).

It's also a murky reflection of today's Church. We hear repeatedly of how the faith cannot bear to be the object of further scandal, and there's reference to some sort of corruption. Alexander VI sees it as his Divinely appointed role to bring honor and dignity back to the Church, but he does not see any contradiction between this mission and his ruthlessness (or the fact that he flagrantly takes on a new paramour).

But a rival for the Throne of St. Peter, Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere (Colm Feore), has much the same mission in mind also. Since he was not clever enough about bribing the College of Cardinals to get himself elected in the first place, Rovere takes a different tack: He appeals to the King of France, King Charles VIII (Michel Muller), to invade and help him seize the papacy for himself. The deal goes much as any such arrangement does, quickly spinning out of the cardinal's control.

Season One provides little of the sort of psychological complexity that "The Tudors" did, but this series--created and executive produced by filmmaker Neil Jordan--does drop some juicy family dynamics into the juicy political pots that it keeps at full boil. Second son Juan (David Oakes) is the soldier of the family, a role better suited to Cesare, who in fact does fight his father's battles behind the scenes with the passion and ruthlessness of a master tactician.

Then there's lovely daughter Lucrezia (Holliday Grainger), who is as radiantly beautiful as they come... and still very much a Borgia beneath that milky complexion. As much as any of the rest of the cast, she makes "The Borgias" pure, sometimes nasty, fun... just the sort of thing we need in a rousing historical drama.

The Season One box set collects all nine episodes, but provides hardly any special features. The only extra of note is a featurette on "The Casting of Cesare," which makes sense; after all, Jeremy Irons brings the show gravitas and anchors the cast along with Feore and, in the first two episodes, Derek Jacobi, but it's Fran�ois Arnaud who dons the occasional pair of leather breeches. And while Irons does a fantastic job of plotting from within his layers of vestments it's Arnaud who sheds his kit for the occasional steamy love scene. (When we do see Irons in bed, it's less lust than lecture, as he uses his mistress' body as a living map in explaining Italy's geopolitical situation.)