"I can hate and love"

[motetus]

Blah. Today is a day of scoffing ibuprofen and struggling to stay awake while I attempt to put together a small website/blog thing for our lab group (I really should have kept my mouth shut when my supervisor discussed setting up a Facebook group page instead of ranting on about how awful Facebook is and inadvertently volunteering to come up with an alternative...). So here is some wittering about the last few episodes of The Borgias, because oh my god you guys, this show. ♥♥♥

The only thing about Season 3 I've been grumbling about up until now was how Micheletto hasn't been given anything to do apart from stab a few people and do a spot of babysitting on the side, though I do like how the creepy assassin who has cheerfully admitted to killing children when paid to do so is actually the safest person to hand your baby to... provided your surname is Borgia.


But hell, not any more, not after his affair and betrayal by Pascal (who totally looks a bit similar to Cesere, I see what you're doing there, Micheletto). Oh god, it broke my heart and made me snivel pathetically for days, and it was BRILLIANT. The way Micheletto's hugs look like he's about to slit your neck instead, but is a cuddler and quite a gentle lover at times (which, considering the amount of people he's strangled, stabbed, drowned, garroted and shoved into lamprey-infested ponds, sounds like it would be terribly OOC, but somehow it works!). How he has no problem standing stark naked (cheers for all those full frontal scenes, Sean Harris, I appreciated them greatly!) threatening Pascal with terrible things if Pascal even dares to ask how his day went, but struggles to awkwardly tell him that he'd like Pascal to stay with him. And Pascal reading Catullus to Micheletto! ♥ Bloody hell, you learned more about Micheletto from the rawness of his "I have known this feeling all my life. All my life" response to Odi et Amo than in the last two and a half seasons put together.

And then seeing his heart break (show, how did you guess that betrayal is my favourite thing ever in tragic romances... ah wait, this is The Borgias, that's the theme of every episode ever), particularly after a few episodes earlier with Lucrezia it was shown he does actually possess one, and his painful coming out scene to Cesare where he begs Cesare to kill him for inadvertently betraying the family... yes, my loyalty kink got a lot of satisfaction from that. And then as if I wasn't an inconsolable blubbering wreck already, that scene where he confronts Pascal and rages and weeps and asks him how he wants to die, and that heart rending look of pain on his face when Pascal answers with "in your arms" because despite betraying and being betrayed there's still love there between the two of them... BRB NEED TO GO FIND MORE TISSUES. :( :( :(


Fuck me, I love this show and everyone should watch it. I never thought I'd find a TV series that rivaled Rome, but after this and how awesome Caterina Sforza has been, fuck yes, I have. If it really is cancelled after this season and there's no big satisfying conclusion for all the characters, I will be attempting the greatest sulk the world has ever seen, I swear.

And now I want to do nothing more than draw Micheletto, or Caterina's perfect face, or maybe Cesare's obscenely tight leather trousers, but nooo, someone had to go sign up for i_reversebang and embark on stupidly complicated drawings with a billion fiddly background details that will take me months to finish...

Comments

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I need to see this season of The Borgias so much! Come to meeeee, little DVDs!

And, uh, if you ever find time to draw Caterina's perfect face, or Cesare's ridiculously tight trousers, I would totally want to see that.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

You do, you do, you do! I did think of you after watching it, in a "DAMMIT I have to wait months until osprey_archer catches up and I can discuss it with her" way. Season 3 has been so, so good - I almost don't want to watch the last two episodes because I'm going to be distraught when it's over.

Hee, I am steadily hoarding screencaps and photos for when I have the time. Because Caterina with her falcon and her own creepy pet assassin! ♥

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Once I have caught up, we can celebrate Caterina Sforza in story and song art! Because she is awesome.

Also I have a totally cracky idea, where Lucrezia has to save Cesare from his vampire lover. Mostly because I want to write about cross-dressing Lucrezia with a sword, and pallid yet attractive Cesare, dressed all in black, with vampire bite marks at his neck. This show, it activates the visual part of my imagination. All the shots of sweeping cardinals robes! The vast spaces of the cathedrals! Lucrezia's face! And Cesare's! And everybody's! God, this has to be the most beautiful cast on TV.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It is the most visually beautiful show I've seen, I think. Almost every shot so beautifully lit.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

I have a long list of creepy, inappropriate things I want to do to the person(s) responsible for the lighting.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

YES. I support this idea, and so does track 4 of the soundtrack and Cesare all-black S3 outfits (needs more flowing black cloak though).

I know I know, Lucrezia's fucking perfect face, I cannot tear my eyes away from her when she's on screen. Cesare's pretty, but then I prefer male faces that aren't so pretty - I get my satisfaction from Micheletto and Machiavelli's faces... STOP JUDGING ME.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Well, you can have Micheletto and I can have Cesare (Cesare's ridiculous hair, I will pet it), and we can both admire Lucrezia, and then everyone will be happy!

I will save Cross-Dressing Lucrezia Fights Cesare's Vampire Lover for when season 3 comes out on DVD, so I will be properly steeped in Borgias to write it.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Just finished watching the episode. They have betrayal down to a fine art!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

They're a sneaky lot! But I loved it - betrayal really is one of my top narrative kinks, and it's not something I see much of in fanfiction, unfortunately. Sorry Micheletto, but your pain is delicious to me. :D

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

...wow, okay, clearly I should catch up on this show.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes yes yes you do. This season has been so, so brilliant - not just for Micheletto's plot but pretty much everyone else. Cesere's really come into his own, and Lucrezia's dealings with Naples has been awesome, and I could talk for days about my love for Caterina Sforza.

And rewatching Rome for the millionth time, I think Rome might have the tighter writing (Borgias has a bad habit of dropping and forgetting about characters when it gets bored with them, though it's been good about that this season), but Borgias definitely has the more talented cinematographer - guh, every scene is so beautifully shot.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yessssssss. More Borgias for everyone!

[pronker]

Gads, these shows sound fantastic - Youngest is going to Italy for a few weeks and I must make him watch these programs, for background information.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

I hope Youngest has a marvellous time in Italy! I'm rather glad I visited Vatican City before I watched this show, otherwise I'd have packed a large red cape and spent the tour striding down the hallways in slow motion, cloak billowing magnificently behind me... it looks fun, okay?

[pronker]

Definitely as much fun as painting smilodons and baaaaaby animals!