The Borgias

one of the best medieval shows. jeremy irons' pope performance is phenomenal.

S1: 55| S2: 65| S3: 50

(Estimated rating long after watching.) Over the course of the series, I found myself drawn away from it.

Starts getting into a rhythm in the second season after the death of a major character, unfortunately cut short with the axing of the fourth. For the most part Jeremy Irons carries this on his back, and early on any family scene without him is pretty dire. Take a drink every time not-Bronn gets naked, every time Lucrezia says "Borgia" and every time a Roman prostitute sounds like she's about to break into rhyming slang, you will soon wish you were dying of cantarella poisoning instead.

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 and gets bogged down with melodrama at times. Didn't love it, but definitely liked it.

Was pretty entertained through most of the first and second season although it had already started to decline by then. By the third season it was little more than softcore porn. S1: 80 S2: 60 S3: 40

Good production values and entertaining Jeremy Irons. I enjoyed its epic scope... right up until they canceled it with absolutely no warning or resolution at the end of season 3, pretty much every plot thread up in the air. This makes it hard to recommend.