BL.Arinna_1982

Nikki K

I'm not even sure I want to warrant this trainwreck of stupidity and predictability with a response.


Source: http://the-faint-of-heart.tumblr.com/

BL.Arinna_1982

Nikki K

Fingers crossed next season will be better. At this point it's just making the baby Jesus cry.

BL.Arinna_1982

Actually I liked that episode and the promo for the next one looks promising.

Nikki K

Good for you that you did! No seriously I mean it. I'm glad one of the two of us enjoyed it. Really, no sarcasm. I am genuinely happy for everyone who could enjoy it and I am confident that we are all mature enough here that you can post all your cheer and opinions but respect that I may express my opinions just the same.

But I was just incredibly disappointed in the writing and story telling. Of course I love it when CL have scenes together but it would be nice if other scenes and plotlines were just equally interesting. To me the whole thing completely lacked finesse . It was a total let-down. And if I wasn't past being passionate about the show I might actually cry out of frustration. Thankfully I am though, so I keep it with Willow (and perhaps a slight annoyance).

BL.Arinna_1982

To be honest I didn't like the last three episodes. As you said - bad writing. This one for me was really good. Although, my all time best still is episode 3 from this season. I loved the CL scenes in the last one though. Apart from it - I loved Juan's scenes. I didn't like the whole Antonelo story line. And I hope you still love the show?

Nikki K

At this point I must say I love the idea of the show more than the show itself. Meaning I adore season one, there were a few bits and pieces I appreciated in season two but not many - the writing was just too awful, I could hardly bear it. Meaning I love the actors and actresses and how they play off each other, Cesare and Lucrezia, Cesare and Juan, Vanozza and Rodrigo, even Lucrezia and Juan were given some scenes that were well done on both their parts.

But sadly this season made me despair as I'm wondering where all that laziness in research and lacklustre dialogue and in-your-face metaphors came from. Is it a form of hybris? Because season one was so lovely and well executed that minor changes in historical events could well be overlooked because the thing as a whole made sense? Is that why they think they can get away with anything stupid now? I know most people don't care for Colm/Della Rovere and will be sick of my annoyance but this whole "plot" they gave him made me cringe throughout the whole season.

A lot of the storylines this season were so unimaginative and there were only some rare gems in terms of scenes here and there. I know the whole fandom goes nuts because yay Micheletto is gay and my thoughts are - okay great, good for him, even nice that we get to know and understand his character better but this doesn't make the whole season brilliant.

I'm sorry - I wish I could join in the applause, really - but season 1 had me expect quality television, perhaps not always historically correct but well enough, a show that made sense as a whole with fabulous actors that all contributed to it. In season 2 we had so many unrelated storylines that served no purpose like the threesome to sex things up, the orphanage (because otherwise there'd be no bloody reason for Giulia to be around), the Pallavicini princes, even Della Rovere and the poisoning blah because that was clear to everyone from the beginning that it wouldn't work, the way they killed poor Alfonso... All these things don't scream brilliant endgame to me and were rather useless in the grand scheme of things. Story-wise I think for the most part it was a big disjunct mess only held together by Cesare's whinging that he wants Juan's job and Juan being irritable, vexing Cesare. Otherwise there was no central thread. And frankly Cesare annoyed me a lot - like letting Lucrezia sleep with Paolo was so out of character, not just because of the jealousy but because actually Juan was right - that might have been okay as a comfort in Pesaro but not in Rome where Lucrezia is basially a princess and family honour couldn't stand for that liasion to continue. Doesn't matter that Juan is an ass and that he needn't have killed poor Paolo - he was still right that this was improper. And it irked me that Cesare didn't see that too. But yeah, I guess we can talk about all these frustrations rather in the Season 2 General Discussion thread.

Bottomline, season 2: I still like the actors, the set and costume design but I am deeply annoyed by the lazy storylines, bad character development in some cases and often awful scripts. I love season 1. I want to love the show again but that would take for people in charge to wake up and stop insulting my intelligence.

As I said before - we are all mature and levelheaded for the most part, so believe me, I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who enjoyed it. Indeed I envy you and please feel free to discuss. On the other hand, please accept that not everyone feels that way - I am not out there to convince people of my opinion but I want to voice it.

xinya

It was an enjoyable episode.....but I still do not get the pope announcing that Giovanni is his grandson because it raises the question about Lucrezia and the father!!
I found Juan talking to his penis quite funny.....but really gutted they killed him off and even more so that Cesare did it. Yeah Juan was going off the rails but they could have kept him on longer. I liked him irking Vanozza that was quite good to see.
I also can't believe they are poisoning the pope already......and has season 3 been confirmed?

Nikki K

This whole baby thing is stupid beyond belief.
Season 3: It has, so I can tell you the poisoning plot won't work. And if they are smart, they abandon it altogether. After all Rodrigo in his mourning called Della Rovere back to court and had a few good intentions to renew the church that he wanted his help with.

Elenwyn

Well, I definitely enjoyed this episode, though I am sad to lose Juan It was inevitable...but David Oakes has been so fantastic and he's really been such a brilliant actor these past few episodes. I'll miss him a lot.

As much as Cesare killing him is predictable I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I liked that he did it himself instead of Micheletto and I liked that the outburst at little Giovanni's Christening was more the straw that broke the camel's back rather than the whole reason for the murder. (I actually think it was more Juan's words that Cesare will always be a cardinal/ never the loved son/Lucrezia genuinely wanting Juan dead that made him decide enough was enough.)

This season has had its ups and downs but I'm still enjoying it as a whole I know they're historically inaccurate in (a lot) of places at times, but I try to just concentrate on the entertainment aspect of it all, and I've been entertained throughout the majority of the season, so I'm pretty happy. I don't like the publicity of Giovanni's Christening though, think the show have messed up with the baby thing to no end. No-one would want to marry Lucrezia at all if it was so public she had a child with questionable parentage when they made all that fuss to portray Sforza as impotent.

But, yeah, I think this was a very strong episode. Loved the short C/L scene and especially high!Juan talking to himself/his penis and thinking his brother and sister were sleeping together. Oh, Juan, I will miss you and your craziness.

Nikki K

While I agree with that, it didn't make it any better for me. All of Cesare's self-pity this season annoyed me to no end. I must also say that - okay yes, Juan killed Paolo (but see above on how I personally see that) but ultimately he was an addict at this point and I couldn't believe that Lucrezia would not feel any compassion at all - how did we get there from "Would you survive this day, my dear Juan." in last season's finale to here, I don't know really. And I honestly hate that the baby was front and center even in this whole debacle.

I envy you. To me it was indeed painful most of the time. Actually procrastinating often until I would watch the episode because I had just lost any interest. The only reason why I forced myself to continue was because of the board and perhaps because I hoped that at some point they would do something clever and because Joanne is so pretty and I can't bear not seeing her. And then there was the matter of wanting to write another fic but not colliding with show canon. So I can only say it again, I truly envy you there. If I count the moments I found entertaining this season we come up with perhaps 10min total. It distresses me that I cannot see what you see.

That's number three on my list of ONTD after "Bianca Gonzaga" and making Della Rovere a poisoner.

BL.Arinna_1982

To be honest I expected that Cesare will claim Giovanni as his in that scene. I mean, isn't that the way he helps his sister to prove that she's "pure" in front of Alfonso?

Also, I liked the high!Juan as well and I couldn't help, but hoping.... what if..

So yeah, I enjoyed the episode overall.

And Nina, I hope you'll still be here for season 3?

Nikki K

You're right, Arinna, not only would have made it perfect sense, it would have also been at least slightly adhering to history.

Not just because I'm mostly high on painkillers these days, I totally agree with Juan's point of view. Despite our substance (ab)use problems we can't be far off track as I take it all of you are actually sober/healthy, y/y?

We'll see. Depends on so many things. (Arinna, I think we are both equally distanced from where they shoot the show albeit from different directions - I saw we take that trip before I'm no longer among you all and give NJ a piece of our mind in terms of CL, featuring Vanozza even more, having Amanda Seyfried as a guest star. )

apple.blossom

Am I being too naive if I'm hoping for a C/L kiss on the finale? I know they love teasing us, but I do think it will make a good plot. they finally being aware of the sexual tension will help explain the future relationship between Cesare and Lucrecia's new husband... and besides, since the views of the show were better last season and the 3rd season was already accepted, I like to believe they will FINALLY let them be together, to increase the views for next season.


a girl can dream, can't she? what do you think?