‘Abandoned by even his cardinals, Alexander meets King Charles with humility and saves his throne, even eliciting a confession from the conqueror he crowns as the new “King of France and Naples;” Della Rovere despairs as Charles abandons him; Lucrezia safely gives birth to a son in a convent as the Borgias secure an annulment of her marriage and plot revenge on their enemies.‘

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Unfortunately this episode felt like a real anti-climax. With all of the tension built up over the last couple of episodes, I was expecting things to take a little longer to play out, but we got the resolution to the French invasion almost immediately. I know that this is how it happened, that King Charles got the Pope to recognise his claim on Naples and invest him as King of both France and Naples, but there was no real tension when watching. I’m not sure how they could have avoided this, except to put this resolution at the end of an episode rather than the beginning.

The rest of the episode was left to deal with the fallout from the events of the first season. Lucrezia’s pregnancy plays out with a quite touching finale of the Borgia family around her bedside. The annulment of her marriage to Giovanni Sforza also played out nicely with some well deserved humiliation for the character we’d come to hate. But I kept feeling like I was supposed to find the scenes funnier. Maybe it was just me.

Overall, the first season of The Borgias has been fantastic to watch. A few minor missteps aside, the show has maintained a great sense of tension and investment in the history of the time. There are a few minor historical inaccuracies, but nothing that really affects the story in any significant way.

I’m really looking forward to the second season.

What I Liked – The Borgia family scene at the end was quite touching.

What I Didn’t Like – The lack of tension in the episode. It never really felt like there where any real stakes at play.

Rating – 3 out of 5 (Average)