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thecatsaesthetics · 4 years

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Medici Season 3 Review

So I just want to say this, I love this show. It is by far my favorite Historical Drama to come out in... forever. I mean I’ve been dealing with shows like TWP and TSP so it isn’t that hard to beat, but I enjoyed it more then HBOs Catherine The Great which was amazing as well. But let's get into this review.

Crime Family dynamic: honestly this was historical fiction meets The Godfather. Lorenzo was the perfect mob boss. I felt like this was what The Borgias was going for. Not saying The Borgias wasn’t a good show, but The Borgias promoted the show as “The original crime family” and I never got that vibe from the show. Lorenzo and the slow corruption arc after the loss of his brother hit me with major Michael vibes (who becomes corrupt after the loss of his wife). The Borgias was just “We’re corrupt, we know it, we’re okay with it”. Not that it was bad, but I never got Godfather vibes from it. This show gave me major Godfather vibes, there was even a baptism scene...

Clarice and Lorenzo: last time I said we didn’t get enough of them. Well, they upped their game here. I thoroughly enjoyed there dynamic this season. I loved the corruption and angst in the relationship. One of my favorite scenes was Clarice calling him out “A family built on what” and Lorenzo just standing there because he knows exactly what he’s become. That shit was hot and tragic. I loved making Clarice slowly corrupt herself in order to support Lorenzo. Every step Lorenzo made into darkness Clarice took as well. There was something so tragic about that. I loved the line “I’ve love you, I love you very much, for all the times I’ve hurt you”. Like damn... that’s angst and I love it.

Future Pope Clement (I refuse to call him anything else sorry): I thought it was cool how they brought him in, historically it’s wrong but I thought it fit more with the show they built up. Historically he’s born after his father’s death, but in the last season Giulio isn’t really screwing around so that isn’t believable. Making him the result of years past makes more sense. Future Pope Clement forgiving the man who murdered his mother was the most powerful scene in the whole god damn show. I’m just gonna say it. That scene hit me more than any other scene. That scene was so intense, and the theme of forgiveness is the most powerful thing a person can do is a great theme. Also, him becoming a priest to keep his cousin company... adorable.

Lucrezia’s death: I cried, her calling for Giulio... and her trying to stop it from happening again... I’m gonna start crying again. I can’t talk about that scene.

Caterina Sforza: Adored her. I loved how they showed the complicated situation women were in. Being the wife of a brutal man and how she navigated the situation. Her conversation with Clarice was very interesting and showed just how little agency women had. While it’s historically inaccurate, I fucking loved her getting to murder Riario... the scene “I would have made you my Queen” and her saying “Yes, but I would have been your Queen”...I mean I loved it so much. That line was great, up there with Margaery Tyrell saying “I want to be the Queen”.

Savonarola: I’m not really a fan of the “My friend becomes my enemy” storyline but I think they did a good job with it here. Lorenzo’s biggest mistake in the entire series was giving Savonarola power. It led to his downfall and his entire family. I thought they made Savonarola very nuanced and I enjoyed his final meeting with Lorenzo. You can really see the disgust he has for Lorenzo on his face. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to believe he always actually felt this way or grew to have a huge disgust for Lorenzo as time went on.

Bruno Bernardi: Ummm... I didn’t like it. First of all, I don’t think he was a real person (at least I haven’t been able to discover he was) and think he was meant to be a collection of people. To make it short historically Lorenzo while being a political mastermind trusted a bunch of idiots. All of these idiots led the bank to eventually collapse upon itself. So I’m guessing that's who Bernardi is based on. I also have issues with the idea that it was Bernardi who corrupted Lorenzo they pulled at the end.

Clarice’s death: Discussed a bit already but I didn’t like it. I mean I just thought it was a bit... stupid. Lorenzo and Lucrezia both get actual illness discussed but Clarice dies because... Lorenzo’s being evil shocked her? Idk, I guess they hinted she was ill but never discussed what she was ill with. I guess they wanted a bait and switch with her but it’s a historical tv show I can look up when she died. I loved her death scene with Lorenzo, but I wish they had actually discussed or giving more backstory about her death. I might be a bit too into Star Wars but it reminded me of Padme’s “She lost the will to live” shit. I don’t like those kinds of storylines.

Bianca coming back: No why... I fucking could not and never liked Biance. She should have just stayed in the countryside with her stupid Pazzi husband. The only reason they had her there was because they needed Lorenzo to have a woman with him in the last episode.

Piero: Ummm Idk what we were supposed to think of him. At one point he was telling Savonarola that he won’t tolerate him once he becomes head of the family and then the next he’s like “I can’t let dad kill him”. Maybe they wanted us to view him as a character who couldn’t make up his mind, hinting at why he was such a shit leader. But idk, it seemed rather rushed to me.

Lorenzo’s death: I’m conflicted because I have seen people say it’s a “redemption” and I get that but I didn’t view it that way. Personally, I saw it as Lorenzo coming to terms with the things he had done and knowing that it wasn’t all bad or done with bad intentions. I think they meant the ending to be bittersweet, that they created art and culture but had sacrificed their souls to do it. At the same time, I don’t think they actually focused enough on the art Lorenzo sponsored in order to get that message to hit home.

Overall I enjoyed the show but I do feel it was very condensed, especially at the end. I think the show should have gotten three full seasons of just Lorenzo. While I do enjoy the first season if I had to choose between it or getting three full seasons of Lorenzo, I’d chose the latter. I also wish they would have focused a bit more on the bank and how it was failing. I just listened to a podcast on The Rise and Fall of the Medici Bank and it’s interesting. The show itself could be seen as just about that, the rise and fall of the bank. Cause the Medici’s do come back and a secondary branch rules Florence until the 1700s. But I don’t actually think the show was about that, it was about the rise and fall of the bank. The bank rose under Cosimo and was destroyed under Lorenzo. Italy banking, in general, is lost during the late 1400s and German banking rose to prominence. But going back to point 9 out of 10 stars for me. I loved it and if you’re a fan of historical fiction you will too.

#medici #lorenzo de medici #clarice de medici #reviews #medici review

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earlgodwin · 7 months

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"The rift between him and his brother and sister has sort of widened and widened and whereas he's trying to be all mature and get over it, Neil [Jordan] was always keen on Juan coming back different and secure and grounded. That’s how I wanted to play it when he came back. He's spent the entire first series being picked upon and bullied by the family. I think the shock of Lucrezia actually manning up and trying to kill him had a huge effect as well. He’s growing and maturing. If there’s one aspect of Juan that never changes throughout both seasons is he always does what it true inside him. From where Juan stands he sees the hypocrisy in the family, how they can do one thing and say another. As far as Juan is concerned he's always had the best interests of the family at heart." — David Oakes.

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