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So, the other day I was poking around Netflix, as you do, and I saw something that said "Borgia," and I remembered that I'd been sorta interested in The Borgias and was in the mood for something full of blood and betrayal, which is sorta a Borgia thing, so I clicked, and about, ten minutes in thought, hmm, Rodrigo Borgia (probably better known to most of you as Pope Alexander VI, but in the first episode he's not pope yet) REALLY sounds off, and about twenty minutes later, thought, wait, where's Jeremy Irons, and then realized, thirty minutes later, that I was watching the wrong show.
Yes, yes, it took that long to click in my head, but in my defense, I've only seen the promo material for the Borgias and had no idea who Jeremy Irons was playing (as it turns out, Rodrigo Borgia), nor was I was aware that two separate production companies had decided to film the lives of the Borgias at about the same time and air it at about the same time.
So. This Borgia piece is called Borgia, not Borgias, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Showtime series. It does, however, have several of the same elements advertised for the Showtime series: blood, violence, sex, nudity, betrayals, rape, that sort of stuff. The Borgia period is really not my field, so I can't tell you if it's historically accurate or not, but I can tell you it's Nicely Dramatic. People are having fun sexy times in bed, and then they are Bleeding Everywhere and Feuds Erupt and people March Naked Through Rome and Whip Themselves all over. So far, so good.
The problem, and it's a big problem, is Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander I. Most of the cast in this production are European, speaking with light to thick accents, which really works for the show -- I realize it goes against the usual belief that all period actors speak in perfect Oxford accents, but I liked hearing the mix of accents here, giving a very cosmopolitan sense of Rome, which pretty much fits in with the multiple languages/dialects that probably would have been heard in Rome in the period (lots of people travelled in and out of the city.)
Rodrigo Borgia, however, is played by an American, speaking in a flat American accent -- not even that cultivated mid-Atlantic accent that some Americans put on when attempting to fake British accents, or when they somehow end up with a hybrid accent. Surrounded by European accents, it REALLY stands out here, and not in a good way. I get that the show is trying to convince us that Rodrigo Borgia is an outsider, blah blah, but the thing is, he's an outsider from SPAIN, so if he's going to have a different accent than the rest of the cast, it should be a Spanish accent. He's also the only character from Spain with an American accent; the others have Italian or Russian accents.
And, bluntly, he's not very good.
So I'm not sure if I'm going to be continuing. Bits of the show are very good indeed, but the narrative is choppy and the main guy is distracting me. I'd feel more encouraged if I could believe he's going to be a sidenote in later episodes, but if my dim memory of the period is at all correct, and the show is even mildly following that dim memory, Alexander VI played a rather large role in what followed. And Netflix does offer other temptations.
Yes, yes, it took that long to click in my head, but in my defense, I've only seen the promo material for the Borgias and had no idea who Jeremy Irons was playing (as it turns out, Rodrigo Borgia), nor was I was aware that two separate production companies had decided to film the lives of the Borgias at about the same time and air it at about the same time.
So. This Borgia piece is called Borgia, not Borgias, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Showtime series. It does, however, have several of the same elements advertised for the Showtime series: blood, violence, sex, nudity, betrayals, rape, that sort of stuff. The Borgia period is really not my field, so I can't tell you if it's historically accurate or not, but I can tell you it's Nicely Dramatic. People are having fun sexy times in bed, and then they are Bleeding Everywhere and Feuds Erupt and people March Naked Through Rome and Whip Themselves all over. So far, so good.
The problem, and it's a big problem, is Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander I. Most of the cast in this production are European, speaking with light to thick accents, which really works for the show -- I realize it goes against the usual belief that all period actors speak in perfect Oxford accents, but I liked hearing the mix of accents here, giving a very cosmopolitan sense of Rome, which pretty much fits in with the multiple languages/dialects that probably would have been heard in Rome in the period (lots of people travelled in and out of the city.)
Rodrigo Borgia, however, is played by an American, speaking in a flat American accent -- not even that cultivated mid-Atlantic accent that some Americans put on when attempting to fake British accents, or when they somehow end up with a hybrid accent. Surrounded by European accents, it REALLY stands out here, and not in a good way. I get that the show is trying to convince us that Rodrigo Borgia is an outsider, blah blah, but the thing is, he's an outsider from SPAIN, so if he's going to have a different accent than the rest of the cast, it should be a Spanish accent. He's also the only character from Spain with an American accent; the others have Italian or Russian accents.
And, bluntly, he's not very good.
So I'm not sure if I'm going to be continuing. Bits of the show are very good indeed, but the narrative is choppy and the main guy is distracting me. I'd feel more encouraged if I could believe he's going to be a sidenote in later episodes, but if my dim memory of the period is at all correct, and the show is even mildly following that dim memory, Alexander VI played a rather large role in what followed. And Netflix does offer other temptations.
