# The Borgias (Showtime) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329 "2011-04-05T23:12:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/21 "2011-04-08T01:34:44Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Here’s the actual portrait of Giulia Farnese that we saw being painted in the episode: > > [File:Lady with unicorn by Rafael Santi.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_with_unicorn_by_Rafael_Santi.jpg) That portrait actually looks more like the actress playing Lucrezia. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/22 "2011-04-08T22:37:15Z")
The first episode wasn’t bad, although I suspect it will have the problem I had with THE SOPRANOS – none of the characters is likeable. Watching a long mini series about the villains in the hive of villany, well, just doesn’t excite me. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/23 "2011-04-08T23:54:31Z")
Have they introduced the guy who will become Pius III (Francesco Piccolomini) yet? If so, do they make him look like a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![exhausted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@exhausted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exhausted)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/24 "2011-04-10T17:09:11Z")
Not sure the visual reference to boys being the pope’s personal attendants was smart in today’s climate. If the show’s going to be historically inaccurate anyway, why not make the pope’s valets grown men? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/25 "2011-04-10T19:55:52Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Have they introduced the guy who will become Pius III (Francesco Piccolomini) yet? If so, do they make him look like a turtle? The future Pius on the left in [this shot](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3607608064/nm0389491). ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/26 "2011-04-10T20:08:56Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Have they introduced the guy who will become Pius III (Francesco Piccolomini) yet? If so, do they make him look like a turtle? I heard [they tried to get Mitch McConnell](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VlmHNP9So5Y/S86arf3VhTI/AAAAAAAAFcI/yZ-JaIaYn2o/s1600/mcconnell.jpg&imgrefurl=http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/2010/07/teabaggers-prove-theyre-not-racist-love.html&usg=__E7fxRzw0602U3rmCX1-25Kl4UrU=&h=383&w=743&sz=60&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=Uyl5HHT509CMHM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=212&ei=5A2iTajfNMOSgQfxgt3aBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmcconnell%2Bturtle%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dubuntu%26sa%3DN%26channel%3Dfs%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D844%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=126&vpy=162&dur=352&hovh=160&hovw=311&tx=78&ty=56&oei=5A2iTajfNMOSgQfxgt3aBQ&page=1&ndsp=31&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0) but he was otherwise engaged. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/27 "2011-04-10T20:15:50Z")
I was not exactly the most sophisticated of students when I was in high school, pretty prudish and naive. But I wasn’t as innocent as a fellow student in my junior year English class. I was doing a presentation on Browning’s poem _My Last Duchess_ and to illustrate I’d found a detail picture of Lucrezia Borgia. She actually WAS the duchess mentioned in the poem as well. When I mentioned she was the daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope as Alexander VI one student raised their hand and asked, “If he was Pope, how could he have children?” to which I replied “Well, just about like any other man I guess.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/28 "2011-04-10T22:10:05Z")
We finally got around to watching this on demand last night. I’ve always had a problem with Jeremy Irons and his emoting, and I was also very tired, which is not good for watching drama. It will probably grow on me, although in the first episode, it seemed they were going too much for shock value with the torture and nudity, and not enough for character development. As I said, it will probably grow on me. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/29 "2011-04-22T09:22:26Z")
Have seen four episodes now and I guess I’m hooked. The only thing I get irritated with these historical dramas is when there are historical inaccuracies. So in episode three after someone dies Lucrezia is in bed crying and when she asks how he died, her brother says it was “Swamp Sickness”. She replies something about how a small mosquito can kill a man. Not the exact words, but something to that effects wherein they had apparently discovered that mosquitoes cause malaria, dengue or yellow fever, or whatever other disease it could have been. (I’m guessing malaria). It would simply have been impossible for Lucrezia to have known that mosquitoes carried diseases in 1492. It was only discovered in early 1900’s. OK, just a small nitpick, but irritating non the same, at least for me. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/30 "2011-05-16T23:47:38Z")
I’ve got to ask, is Jeremy Irons missing his teeth? He has that odd slurry speech that old people who are missing teeth have, but I honestly cannot tell if it’s an affectation he’s putting on for this role or not. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/31 "2011-05-17T11:29:01Z")
Dunno about the teeth, but was nice to see Edward Petherbridge (he played Peter Wimsey in the three-series BBC productions about Peter/Harriett) as Jeremy Irons’ old confessor/mentor. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/32 "2011-05-24T05:03:53Z")
Just caught the last episode of the Season. On whole it was pretty good, and got better as the season progressed. I liked watching the various Borgias basically charm the French King out of ousting them. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/33 "2011-05-24T05:11:45Z")
The ending felt more like The Waltons than the Borgias, but hey, welcome to Naples, Charles! ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329/34 "2011-05-26T21:19:02Z")
I’m an episode behind the finale, but just dropped by to say… Wow…chained cannonballs are nasty business. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-borgias-showtime/577329.md?page=1)