TheLittleSongbird Have a love for historical period dramas, the cast is an immensely talented one (seeing Jeremy Irons' name on any cast list has me sold) and the period depicted of the Borgias and the Renaissance is truly interesting. Regardless of its historical inaccuracies, 'The Borgias' makes for riveting and addictive viewing, so much so that it is not hard to forget that there are facts played far and loose with. It is a real shame that it didn't last longer when it puts a lot of series and historical dramas in recent years to shame, that it ended as abruptly and incompletely as it did in its prime and there are shows airing now that were not good in the first place or once great shows past their sell by date is really unfortunate. Didn't come watching 'The Borgias' expecting a history lesson and didn't get that, instead an exceptionally well made series that has flesh, blood and guts and, while fittingly melodramatic, there are plenty of thrills, chills, fascinating characterisations (that have far more complexity than a good deal of the black and white treatment of historical characters), tension and emotion to prevent it from being soap-operatic and nothing felt jarring dialogue-wise. Something that already puts it above for instance the recent 'The White Princess'. One may question why the historical inaccuracies were an issue in that and other things like 'Victoria' and not as much here. Basically it's all of the things above and that any inaccuracies did not come as a detriment of convincing drama or characterisation, with characters that are interesting and not distorted. Nothing here took me out of the setting or period and there was a real sense of time and place, whereas there are other historical dramas that are reminiscent of modern soap opera ('The White Princess' was a notable recent example) rather than the wide range of emotions and conflicts that 'The Borgias' had. Didn't find any content gratuitous. Melodramatic? Yes, and unashamedly proud of it (not wrong either, it's a very dramatic period). Riveting? Oh yes. Distasteful? No.As said, 'The Borgias' is exceptionally well made. It is exquisitely shot and the quality of the settings, scenery and costumes will have one gasping in awe. To me it was reminiscent of stepping into a Renaissance painting, a great feeling to have. The music suits the tone of the storytelling to a tee but isn't too intrusive.Writing is incredibly thought-provoking, intelligent and flows beautifully. The storytelling really packs a punch while not going overboard. The characters fascinate in personality and development, Cesare especially.Jeremy Irons heads a sterling cast and his towering acting is one of 'The Borgias' greatest pleasures. Sean Harris and Francois Arnaud leave one on the edge of their seats with their conflicted characters, and Holliday Grainger is a bat-out-of-hell Lucrezia. In summation, brilliant and should have lasted longer. 10/10 Bethany Cox

eva-therese-701-10299 Compared to those two, it's not the equal of Rome, but is definitely on the level of Tudors. If you want to know what Pope Francis is trying to deal with, this isn't a bad place to start. Irons is hamming it up, but it actually works most of the time. Good supporting cast. Costume porn! Murder and lust and betrayal and other kinds of entertainment. More costume porn! Suffers from the same disappearing character syndrome as Tudors, where characters show up, gets introduced and established and then just drop off the face of the Earth and are never seen or heard from again. It gets bogged down with melodrama at times. And since it only got three seasons, it ends rather abruptly, just when things were getting interesting. Didn't love it, but definitely liked it.

napchier Incomplete, though I thoroughly enjoyed the series. A little artistic license should be expected, concerning certain deaths, the time line, and so on, but as a depiction of the events at hand it really does do a splendid job! Season 3 ended satisfactorily, however I feel robbed upon discovering that Season 3 is where it ALL ends. Sadly the production company felt it would be too expensive to finalise the story arc, with it's originally intended 4th and final season. It was meant to dramatise Pope Alexander VI's entire papacy, from 1492 until 1503. The series reached 1500AD, cutting us off from 3 short years, including war between France and Spain (probably where production concerns for the series were mounted), and the death of Rodrigo Borgia (Pope A VI) in 1503. They wouldn't even do a short movie to wrap up. So, what ever happens, if you start this, you'll never, ever finish it. You may just have to pick the rest up in a book.

Roedy Green The most important thing to understand is the movie is about villainy, deeply disturbing villainy, sick to your stomach cruelty and torture.The costumes are magnificent, perhaps somewhat cleaner, sparkling, and well fitting that they were in history.The actors male and female are beautiful. The camera lets you study them to drink in their beauty. The lighting is magical.It has an enormous cast, and many scenes with hundreds of extras.To hear the pope, Jeremy Irons, in 1492 using slang phrases from our day jarred me many times. They were out of time and out of character.Scenes I particularly enjoyed were recreations of what it would be like to walk from the countryside into Rome or Naples. This felt like magic with the wide angle views.They manage to compresses into a few minutes a Romeo-and-Juliet tale that leaves you even more emotionally shaken than Shakespeare's.This is a very high quality, high budget production. However, it left me feeling absolutely ill and in despair.