This will actually be an episode review, just bare with me while I go off on a tangent first.  One of the things I find most amusing about this “80-85% actually happened and the rest is embellishment” quote from series creator David S. Goyer is the fact the source material he’s ignoring is more far fetched than the series.

Look up Cosimo de Medici.  He was the Italian Renaissance’s Chuck Norris.  There are so many stories about his adventures, what he managed to accomplish, his tricks, his battles, it’s a wonder he hasn’t been the main character in a series of period action films YET.  His grand son Lorenzo Il Magnifico de Medici is no different.  A little historical spoiler for you:  Lorenzo and his family are thrown out of Florence.  Yup, the patron who saved the city and brought it into Enlightenment was cast out for several years.  While I’m pretty sure we’ll see this reflected in Starz’s historical fantasy drama series Da Vinci’s Demons, it’s interesting to keep that little tidbit in mind while watching the stories unfold.

I recently watched and reviewed the season two premiere, adding in my personal connection to why I get so animated about this show’s subject matter.  I can’t help it, I’m sorry!  I DO however really love the drama and art of Goyer’s creation for Starz.  The only thing that comes close to touching on these historical figures is Assassin’s Creed and both series about the Borgia family (there is the Showtime series The Borgias with Jeremy Irons as Daddy Borgia and the French/German version Borgia, both of which are available on Netflix).  Aside from the main aesthetical issues I have (THE MEDICI HATED PEACOCKS!  THEY WERE BAD LUCK! There are so many accounts of this being a thing, and the ladies’ fashion.  I just….I can’t, you guys, I can’t), I absolutely love these characters and the actors who portray them.  Vanessa, Nico, and Zoroaster being my favorites.

What we know so far going into “The Blood of Brothers” is that the Pazzi family along with the current Pope have schemed to rid Florence of all Medici (including Clarice Orsini, Lorenzo de Medici’s wife).  They go full force into this hostile takeover at the tail end of season one with the Easter Massacre that claims the life Giuliano de Medici and almost the Grand Duke Lorenzo himself.  As we return to the Florence at the beginning of season 2, the city is in flames, the rest of the family is in mortal peril, and Da Vinci performs the first blood transfusion to keep his Patron alive (insert your own incredulous WTH expressions here).  Count Riario freshly raw from the embarrassment of not managing to off Leonardo and Lorenzo while they were practically giftwrapped, takes out his anger on Lucrezia Donati, who I have lost any and all sympathy for.  Nico and Zoroaster transport all Leonardo’s toys and research onto a ship in the hopes of setting sail for the “Undiscovered Country” (no, no Captain Kirk climbing a mountain sadly, BUT THERE ARE INCA), only to be captured and imprisoned by Riario and his classy non-Venetian glass sunglasses.  There is also a brush with death for two of our characters aboard the Ballistik, the ship Riario has taken over.

In episode two, we discover that Clariece Orsini’s Cardinal brother is a coward (this is a big duh moment for those of us who are familiar with the family’s history, as in one Cardinal Orsini tried to poison the Borgia Pope at a dinner party, and ended up ingesting his own poison instead), that our two supposed drowned friends are not in fact dead, that Leo thinks he’s Ezio with his running up and down the terra cotta roof tiles of Florence, and that Riario is not totally without male passion as his attache Zita (played by Estella Daniels) allows us to glimpse during a retelling of the story of King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba.

I think my favorite most incredulous part is the amplification of Lorenzo’s voice using the “Aziz, LIGHT!” method from high atop the Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo) and a flare sword.  I will forgive almost everything in this episode for the use of the Medici warcry, “Palle Palle Palle”, which translated means “balls balls balls”, and refers to the crest/coat of arms of the family.  A seemingly back from the dead Lorenzo returns to his family home and greets his wife with a compliment to her bravery and strength.  Also,  for the “Let’s go hunt the Pazzi traitors”, because the REAL frescos that exist of Francesco di Pazzi dangling naked from the walls of the Caponi Library “kicking and writhing along side the Arch Bishop” are fantastic, and make for good cinema.  But, they forego the grand theatrics when offing the offenders and go for simple public hanging.

We also have a new historical addition; the explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia’s eastern outskirts as initially decided upon from Columbus’ voyages, Amerigo Vespucci.  Immediately you can see the kinship between Vespucci and Leo, they share a laugh and knowledge easily and quickly, devising a plan to steal another Pisan ship to chase Riario across the sea.

Vanessa is sequestered within the Medici palace after Clariece begrudgingly accepts her claims of carrying the late Guiliano’s child, and becomes for lack of a better term, a piece of family property.  She says a tearful goodbye to Leo and Zoroaster, looked after by Piero Da Vinci and reminded of her newly acquired station.   Lorenzo asks for one further moment of Leonardo’s time, and over the lifeless form of his deceased brother’s body, shows Da Vinci the sword of Cosimo de Medici, “The Magician”.  The sword is large and the overuse of whetstone sound when unsheathing the blade was a tad much, but the true secret of the massive two handed weapon is it’s release mechanism triggered by a small inset of the seal of the Sons of Mithras  that allows a smaller more elegant blade to detach itself.  Lorenzo speechafies about how the sword was always meant to serve both Medici brothers, but he never understood the possibility of how until now, and continues the bromance by saying “men who’s blood flows through each other’s viens” plainly referring to the transfusion between he and Leo.  He grants Leo his blessing to continue his quest for the Book of Leaves, but also requests his return to Florence upon completion to impart his knowledge and again take up the Palle banner.

There are three fantastic quotes within “Blood of Brothers”, and the most likely to be a direct-from-the-archives one being from the King of Naples:  “Rome has her priests, Florence her art, Genoa her trade, but it is Naples and our forces who have been tasked by God as a first line of defence against the Ottomans.”  If the series keeps up the pace set by this second episode, we are in for a fantastic journey, and not just one to South America!

Da Vinci’s Demons is an original Emmy winning series from Starz Network in it’s second season, and airs on Saturday nights.

ABOUT >> Mary Anne Butler
  • ACCOUNT NAME >> Mab
  • BIO >> Mary Anne Butler (Mab) is a reporter and photographer from San Francisco California. She is a lifelong geek, huge music nerd, occasionally cosplays at conventions, does Renaissance Faires, and in general lives the life of a True Believer. She may be short, but she makes up for it with a loud voice.
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