TV series review
Mar. 17th, 2012 08:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenni_blogA Comparison of 'Borgia' and 'The Borgias'
I've finished watching both series and found both wonderfully fascinating. It's hard to say which I liked better. On the one hand, 'The Borgias', the Canadian/Irish/Hungarian production on 'Showtime' had the Canadian actor Francois Arnaud in the role of Cesare, and he was perfect despite his rather unnerving hairstyle/wig. And there is more of that series to come. On the other hand, 'Borgia', the French/German production spoken in the English language, was much raunchier, more realistic and is complete in one season.
'The Borgias' completed 9 episodes in its first season. 'Borgia' told the whole story in 12 episodes, therefore it is more compact, as well as complex and richly textured than 'The Borgias'.
*EDIT: I should point out that 'Borgia' is available on Netflix. Not sure about DVD yet. 'The Borgias' is on the 'Showtime' network, or 'Showcase' in Canada. The first season DVD is in the stores.
Character Comparisons
In 'Borgia' there are more characters. For instance, Julia Farnese has a brother, Alessandro, who is close friends with Cesare and very influential on him, as well as being essential to the plot. Alessandro was missing in 'The Borgias'.
Diarmid Noyes plays Alessandro.
Cesare: I am biased towards Francois Arnaud despite the fact I hate his hair as Cesare, with the sideswept bang in front, looking to be held in place with a bobby pin. However, Mark Ryder in 'Borgia' resembles Meryl Streep in 'Silkwood' with the same hairdo, which is unnerving. In some scenes, however, his hair looks entirely natural, long and blowing about. I like that much better than styled hair. In 'Borgia', Cesare is much more unbalanced, violent and creepy as hell. In 'The Borgias' he is much more in control of himself and extremely attractive.
Cesare as played by Francois Arnaud:
And as played by Mark Ryder:
Juan: For me the character was like night and day in the two series. I disliked Juan in 'The Borgias'. Nothing against the actor, but for me he seems like a 21st century juvenile delinquent and out of place for the setting. In 'Borgia' he is played by the devastatingly handsome Stanley Weber. His character is dark, violent and abusive. He beats his wife and other women. He is also shown to be more of an incompetent than he was in 'The Borgias'. It's like in 'The Borgias' Cesare is portrayed as the more attractive son, but in 'Borgia' it is the opposite.
Juan as played by Stanley Weber in 'Borgia'.
Rodrigo: There is no actor out there who could surpass Jeremy Irons for charm and complete likeability. I love him. But John Doman, who plays Rodrigo in 'Borgia' is very good, although his strong American accent was quite distracting. However, he plays Rodrigo with more ruthlessness than Jeremy Irons plays him. You hate him more.
Lucrezia: The one in 'Borgia' is much more realistic than the actress in 'The Borgias'. She seems much younger, smarter and way scarier.
The mother: Assumpta Serna plays Vannozza Catanei in 'Borgia'. She was 'Theresa', Sean Bean's love interest in the Sharpe series. I love her. Therefore, I am biased and there is no comparison between the two actresses for me. Assumpta Serna wins by a mile.
Julia Farnese: Both actresses are equal, even looking rather alike. In 'Borgia', Julia becomes pregnant and gives birth to Laura. Baby Laura is accepted as Rodrigo's daughter, even though Julia had had relations with a French soldier in order to escape imprisonment and the timing would have been right for this to have been the soldier's child. Rodrigo forgives Julia after initially punishing her.
Giovanni Sforza: In 'The Borgias' he was much older and hideous, brutalizing Lucrezia. But the character was light years away in 'Borgia'. He was much younger and better looking for starters, and he was played as being truly impotent, which was the real reason for the marriage annulment.
Giovanni Sforza as played by Mark Rubey in 'Borgia'.
Paolo the stable boy vs Pedro the soldier: In 'The Borgias', Lucrezia is shown to have a romance with Paolo the stable boy, played by the devastatingly attractive Luke Pasqualino. Paolo works for Giovanni Sforza, and Lucrezia becomes pregnant by him.
In 'Borgia', there is no Paolo. First, there is Alfonso Teste, a young man studying to be a priest I believe, who woos Lucrezia, but develops the pox (an STD complete with nasty sores), thereby causing her to become disgusted with him and call off the relationship. She becomes a nun, and in a bid to get her to come out of the convent, Rodrigo arranges for Pedro Calderon, a comely Spanish soldier, to go to the convent and woo her. This is the young boy Lucrezia becomes involved with, although there is no pregnancy for Lucrezia in 'Borgia'.
Paolo the Stable Boy in 'The Borgias':
As played by Luke Pasqualino:
Pedro Calderon as played by Nacho Aldeguer:
Charles, the King of France: The characters were miles apart. In 'The Borgias' Charles is shown to be old, short and ugly, but with a sense of humour, or at least some empathy. In 'Borgia' he is quite young, very tall and still ugly, with a right hand that appears to be useless and shakes all the time. He is very strange - you're never sure if he's mentally competent and he's not at all menacing. In fact, he's quite funny, but he appears to lead his army well enough.
~~~
Plot Differences (beware of spoilers!) These are brief and I've left out a lot of stuff, but I was mainly concerned with the following.
There is more evidence in 'Borgia' that many people mistrusted and even hated the Borgia family. These people are not loyal to them and in fact, want them out and are constantly plotting against them. They are mostly in the clergy, but elsewhere as well.
Early on, we see that Cesare has had a child with a woman he met with frequently, despite the fact he is supposed to stay chaste. Because he believes that it is a sin for him to be a father, he takes the baby to a hilltop and leaves him there to die. But unknown to him, and to the audience until much later, his friend Alessandro Farnese, rescues the baby and returns him to his mother. But Cesare believes he has killed his son and forever after that, feels tremendous guilt and punishes himself for it. This relationship Cesare has with a woman is nothing at all like the one he had with the woman who later becomes a nun in 'The Borgias'.
Lucrezia is not permitted to have sex with Giovanni Sforza after she marries him because the Pope (Rodrigo) wants her to stay chaste in order to annul the marriage later. But as it turns out, Lucrezia and Giovanni want to consummate the marriage because they love each other, but he is revealed to be impotent after all. And the whole time they are married they live in Rome with her family, never moving to the Sforza home as they did in 'The Borgias'.
While married to Giovanni, Lucrezia falls in love with Alfonso Teste, although they never have sex. She is too proper for that, as shown in 'Borgia'. Eventually, when he develops the pox, she wants nothing more to do with him.
Cesare is imprisoned by the French, naked and left in a small cell. He is anally raped before being set free, by a soldier he had previously insulted. Later on, he murders this soldier, but continues riding with the French army. He has a friend with him, a Turkish Muslim, but this man never has a relationship with Lucrezia. He dies, however, in his tent, and it would appear he was poisoned, as he was in 'The Borgias'.
Juan is married to a Spanish lady, but his wife tells Lucrezia that he beats her and shows her the bruises and cut marks on her body. Lucrezia arranges for her sail back to Spain in secret. She gives birth to twins on the ship, and she dies in childbirth, although the twins live. Juan confronts Lucrezia about this in a rage and tries to make her commit an incestuous act with him as punishment. In 'Borgia' there is more about the incestuousness among the family than there has been shown so far in 'The Borgias'.
While riding with the French army, Cesare manages to blow up their munitions tent in order to halt their attempt to invade Naples. He then escapes. Spain (Rodrigo has enlisted the aid of the Spanish army) captures Naples and rids Italy of the French. Rodrigo has therefore succeeded in uniting Italy and the Borgias believe they are 'the Chosen'.
Cesare discovers that the son he thought he killed as a baby was rescued by Alessandro and lives with his mother. He tries to kill Alessandro in a rage for this, yet he should be happy his son is till alive, since he kept punishing himself for killing him.
Juan confesses to Cesare that he murdered their younger brother Pedro, but then retracts his statement when Cesare threatens to tell their father. Cesare falls more and more into madness, eventually killing his brother Juan, or arranging to have him killed. We are not shown what actually happened. Rodrigo, in his grief ovr Juan's death, beats and cuts himself badly, spending several days locked into a room in complete madness.
Juan's body is later found in a canal (or river). Cesare is shown in mourning, bathing the body first, then dressing it. He stares at Juan for a long time, then spits on his corpse.
Happenings in 'The Borgias' unfold a little differently, but since Season Two is not out yet, we cannot compare what the final events will eventually show.
In the end, the Borgia family is revealed to be without morals, respect for other peoples' laws and customs, completely self-involved right down to being incestuous, as well as mad as hatters. But completely fascinating nonetheless.
Pictures:
Of the actors playing the Borgia family in 'Borgia':
This is Mark Ryder (Cesare), Isolda Dychauk (Lucrezia) and Stanley Weber (Juan):
John Doman as Rodrigo with Isolda as Lucrezia:
Pedro and Lucrezia:
Pedro running for the Pope's assistance (don't ask):
Diarmid Noyes as Alessandro:
Juan Borgia:
More Stanley Weber as himself:
Francois Arnaud as Cesare in 'The Borgias':
And as himself:
And Luke Pasqualino as himself:
I've finished watching both series and found both wonderfully fascinating. It's hard to say which I liked better. On the one hand, 'The Borgias', the Canadian/Irish/Hungarian production on 'Showtime' had the Canadian actor Francois Arnaud in the role of Cesare, and he was perfect despite his rather unnerving hairstyle/wig. And there is more of that series to come. On the other hand, 'Borgia', the French/German production spoken in the English language, was much raunchier, more realistic and is complete in one season.
'The Borgias' completed 9 episodes in its first season. 'Borgia' told the whole story in 12 episodes, therefore it is more compact, as well as complex and richly textured than 'The Borgias'.
*EDIT: I should point out that 'Borgia' is available on Netflix. Not sure about DVD yet. 'The Borgias' is on the 'Showtime' network, or 'Showcase' in Canada. The first season DVD is in the stores.
Character Comparisons
In 'Borgia' there are more characters. For instance, Julia Farnese has a brother, Alessandro, who is close friends with Cesare and very influential on him, as well as being essential to the plot. Alessandro was missing in 'The Borgias'.
Diarmid Noyes plays Alessandro.
Cesare: I am biased towards Francois Arnaud despite the fact I hate his hair as Cesare, with the sideswept bang in front, looking to be held in place with a bobby pin. However, Mark Ryder in 'Borgia' resembles Meryl Streep in 'Silkwood' with the same hairdo, which is unnerving. In some scenes, however, his hair looks entirely natural, long and blowing about. I like that much better than styled hair. In 'Borgia', Cesare is much more unbalanced, violent and creepy as hell. In 'The Borgias' he is much more in control of himself and extremely attractive.
Cesare as played by Francois Arnaud:
And as played by Mark Ryder:
Juan: For me the character was like night and day in the two series. I disliked Juan in 'The Borgias'. Nothing against the actor, but for me he seems like a 21st century juvenile delinquent and out of place for the setting. In 'Borgia' he is played by the devastatingly handsome Stanley Weber. His character is dark, violent and abusive. He beats his wife and other women. He is also shown to be more of an incompetent than he was in 'The Borgias'. It's like in 'The Borgias' Cesare is portrayed as the more attractive son, but in 'Borgia' it is the opposite.
Juan as played by Stanley Weber in 'Borgia'.
Rodrigo: There is no actor out there who could surpass Jeremy Irons for charm and complete likeability. I love him. But John Doman, who plays Rodrigo in 'Borgia' is very good, although his strong American accent was quite distracting. However, he plays Rodrigo with more ruthlessness than Jeremy Irons plays him. You hate him more.
Lucrezia: The one in 'Borgia' is much more realistic than the actress in 'The Borgias'. She seems much younger, smarter and way scarier.
The mother: Assumpta Serna plays Vannozza Catanei in 'Borgia'. She was 'Theresa', Sean Bean's love interest in the Sharpe series. I love her. Therefore, I am biased and there is no comparison between the two actresses for me. Assumpta Serna wins by a mile.
Julia Farnese: Both actresses are equal, even looking rather alike. In 'Borgia', Julia becomes pregnant and gives birth to Laura. Baby Laura is accepted as Rodrigo's daughter, even though Julia had had relations with a French soldier in order to escape imprisonment and the timing would have been right for this to have been the soldier's child. Rodrigo forgives Julia after initially punishing her.
Giovanni Sforza: In 'The Borgias' he was much older and hideous, brutalizing Lucrezia. But the character was light years away in 'Borgia'. He was much younger and better looking for starters, and he was played as being truly impotent, which was the real reason for the marriage annulment.
Giovanni Sforza as played by Mark Rubey in 'Borgia'.
Paolo the stable boy vs Pedro the soldier: In 'The Borgias', Lucrezia is shown to have a romance with Paolo the stable boy, played by the devastatingly attractive Luke Pasqualino. Paolo works for Giovanni Sforza, and Lucrezia becomes pregnant by him.
In 'Borgia', there is no Paolo. First, there is Alfonso Teste, a young man studying to be a priest I believe, who woos Lucrezia, but develops the pox (an STD complete with nasty sores), thereby causing her to become disgusted with him and call off the relationship. She becomes a nun, and in a bid to get her to come out of the convent, Rodrigo arranges for Pedro Calderon, a comely Spanish soldier, to go to the convent and woo her. This is the young boy Lucrezia becomes involved with, although there is no pregnancy for Lucrezia in 'Borgia'.
Paolo the Stable Boy in 'The Borgias':
As played by Luke Pasqualino:
Pedro Calderon as played by Nacho Aldeguer:
Charles, the King of France: The characters were miles apart. In 'The Borgias' Charles is shown to be old, short and ugly, but with a sense of humour, or at least some empathy. In 'Borgia' he is quite young, very tall and still ugly, with a right hand that appears to be useless and shakes all the time. He is very strange - you're never sure if he's mentally competent and he's not at all menacing. In fact, he's quite funny, but he appears to lead his army well enough.
~~~
Plot Differences (beware of spoilers!) These are brief and I've left out a lot of stuff, but I was mainly concerned with the following.
There is more evidence in 'Borgia' that many people mistrusted and even hated the Borgia family. These people are not loyal to them and in fact, want them out and are constantly plotting against them. They are mostly in the clergy, but elsewhere as well.
Early on, we see that Cesare has had a child with a woman he met with frequently, despite the fact he is supposed to stay chaste. Because he believes that it is a sin for him to be a father, he takes the baby to a hilltop and leaves him there to die. But unknown to him, and to the audience until much later, his friend Alessandro Farnese, rescues the baby and returns him to his mother. But Cesare believes he has killed his son and forever after that, feels tremendous guilt and punishes himself for it. This relationship Cesare has with a woman is nothing at all like the one he had with the woman who later becomes a nun in 'The Borgias'.
Lucrezia is not permitted to have sex with Giovanni Sforza after she marries him because the Pope (Rodrigo) wants her to stay chaste in order to annul the marriage later. But as it turns out, Lucrezia and Giovanni want to consummate the marriage because they love each other, but he is revealed to be impotent after all. And the whole time they are married they live in Rome with her family, never moving to the Sforza home as they did in 'The Borgias'.
While married to Giovanni, Lucrezia falls in love with Alfonso Teste, although they never have sex. She is too proper for that, as shown in 'Borgia'. Eventually, when he develops the pox, she wants nothing more to do with him.
Cesare is imprisoned by the French, naked and left in a small cell. He is anally raped before being set free, by a soldier he had previously insulted. Later on, he murders this soldier, but continues riding with the French army. He has a friend with him, a Turkish Muslim, but this man never has a relationship with Lucrezia. He dies, however, in his tent, and it would appear he was poisoned, as he was in 'The Borgias'.
Juan is married to a Spanish lady, but his wife tells Lucrezia that he beats her and shows her the bruises and cut marks on her body. Lucrezia arranges for her sail back to Spain in secret. She gives birth to twins on the ship, and she dies in childbirth, although the twins live. Juan confronts Lucrezia about this in a rage and tries to make her commit an incestuous act with him as punishment. In 'Borgia' there is more about the incestuousness among the family than there has been shown so far in 'The Borgias'.
While riding with the French army, Cesare manages to blow up their munitions tent in order to halt their attempt to invade Naples. He then escapes. Spain (Rodrigo has enlisted the aid of the Spanish army) captures Naples and rids Italy of the French. Rodrigo has therefore succeeded in uniting Italy and the Borgias believe they are 'the Chosen'.
Cesare discovers that the son he thought he killed as a baby was rescued by Alessandro and lives with his mother. He tries to kill Alessandro in a rage for this, yet he should be happy his son is till alive, since he kept punishing himself for killing him.
Juan confesses to Cesare that he murdered their younger brother Pedro, but then retracts his statement when Cesare threatens to tell their father. Cesare falls more and more into madness, eventually killing his brother Juan, or arranging to have him killed. We are not shown what actually happened. Rodrigo, in his grief ovr Juan's death, beats and cuts himself badly, spending several days locked into a room in complete madness.
Juan's body is later found in a canal (or river). Cesare is shown in mourning, bathing the body first, then dressing it. He stares at Juan for a long time, then spits on his corpse.
Happenings in 'The Borgias' unfold a little differently, but since Season Two is not out yet, we cannot compare what the final events will eventually show.
In the end, the Borgia family is revealed to be without morals, respect for other peoples' laws and customs, completely self-involved right down to being incestuous, as well as mad as hatters. But completely fascinating nonetheless.
Pictures:
Of the actors playing the Borgia family in 'Borgia':
This is Mark Ryder (Cesare), Isolda Dychauk (Lucrezia) and Stanley Weber (Juan):
John Doman as Rodrigo with Isolda as Lucrezia:
Pedro and Lucrezia:
Pedro running for the Pope's assistance (don't ask):
Diarmid Noyes as Alessandro:
Juan Borgia:
More Stanley Weber as himself:
Francois Arnaud as Cesare in 'The Borgias':
And as himself:
And Luke Pasqualino as himself:
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-17 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-19 11:21 pm (UTC)I've watched all the episodes of The Borgias twice now...in some cases, three times. I have only watched the first three episodes of Borgia. Although it is a bit premature for me to judge the second series there are a few comments I can make at this time.
I'd like to find out exactly what sources the writers were drawing from - what authors? Biographies? First off, neither series is remotely close to being 'historically accurate'. I never consider 'historical accuracy' or lack thereof to be a problem though. Usually the historicity is decent enough...I also use that term 'historically accurate' lightly. I prefer to give leeway to a historical fiction/drama. I'd like to think that the series/movie is intended to and ideally will lure the viewer to pick up a book and read more about the true history of the period. That said, even the so-called 'true' history accounted in your average history book is tainted with bias from the author. For example, Cesare Borgia is a murdering, tyrant to some biographers and the saviour of Italy to others. And those biographers will draw from fact that is handed down to us from over 500 years ago by people who, as a result of their own personal taste, may or may not have liked the Borgias. Therefore, everything is so muddled it is very difficult to see the clear picture.
What all that leads to is basically just a matter of your own taste. What do you prefer to see? My history with the Borgias is that I am and always have been pro-Cesare. As a result of my Chez-love, I am very anti-Juan. Only recently, likely because of these series, am I able to see Juan in a more positive light. I personally think Rodrigo Borgia was just one of many leaders of high ranking, powerful and political families of the time doing what needed to be done to ensure the success and safety of himself and his family. Lucrezia was similar to her brother Cesare and her mother Vannozza in that she was intelligent enough to recognize her station in society and how best to utilize that role so it would benefit her in the end. Aside from Giulia Farnese, the rest of the characters are truly peripheral for me. It is always interesting to see how they portray some of the other well known figures - Il Moro, Caterina Sforza, Da Vinci, Machiavelli, Savonarola, etc. Maybe only one minor character I wish they would focus a bit more on is Sancia (Sancha), Gioffre's wife, as she, IMO, played an interesting role within the Borgia family seeing as she was the assumed lover of both Juan and Cesare.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-19 11:24 pm (UTC)Anyhow, back to the two series...suffice to say I am enjoying both. I wasn't aware that Borgia was a complete series in one season so that may affect the remainder of my viewing. I'll want to see a nice tidy package highlighting all the important events. If that doesn't occur then I will be somewhat disappointed. I guess because I am pro-Cesare and, for me, he is the most important character, I'm going to prefer The Borgias since I much prefer their portrayal of Cesare. I can't abide by Juan being shown as the 'better' of the two. However, it was a known fact that Rodrigo preferred Juan (for whatever reason I do not know)so in a way I am, so far, enjoying the portrayal of Juan on Borgia since I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would like Juan on The Borgias. Historical character aside, I prefer Francois Arnaud as Cesare because he has a vulnerability about him that is missing in Mark Ryder's performance. Both Francois and Mark can carry off the intelligence of Cesare Borgia but whereas Francois manages to show the personal and emotional conflict over his actions as something that seems natural, Mark seems a little off, bordering on mentally unstable, when he attempts to portray the conflicting emotions.
And then there is Juan. Stanley Weber is male model gorgeous and I can't take my eyes off of him when he is on screen...but my heart goes with David Oakes here (mostly because he has become my Twitter bf...he really is such a great guy off screen). The Borgias portrait of Juan is just abysmal. David really wasn't given much to do in Season 1 other than play the fool (and truthfully that is always how I imagined Juan to be anyway). I'd like to think and I suspect from the previews that David is going to be given an expanded role with more opportunity to flex his acting abilities. That said, back to Stanley. If I truly consider the history of the time, and the Borgia family, it is great to see Juan portrayed in such a strong and aggressive manner as it seems more apropos to how Juan should be. Further, it makes it a lot easier for people to see and comprehend the natural rivalry that develops between the two brothers (Juan and Cesare) and that rivaly is in fact dealt with quite nicely in Borgia. Again, though, I believe season 2 of The Borgias will focus a bit more on the brotherly love, or lack thereof...so I refer from making my final decision.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-19 11:25 pm (UTC)Lucrezia - I loved Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia...she could carry off both the innocent and naughty at the same time. She did a decent job with her character arc in the first season - going from youth and idealism to realism and wordliness. The other great thing about Holliday is that her on screen chemistry with Francois is mesmerizing. There was enough to tease a relationship between the two, leaving it up to the audience to determine how far their relationship actually went. But Holliday does comes across as too old and very much like a girl from the 2000s made up to look like someone from the Renaissance. Isolda Dychauk seems a more appropriate age and she genuinely looks like Lucrezia. I've yet to see enough of her part to judge though.
As for Rodrigo I think it would be a sin for me to say I don't prefer Jeremy Irons. I've loved the man in everything he does. He may be a little over the top at times but for the most part he is thoroughly entertaining as Pope Alexander. There was something I didn't enjoy about John Doman's performance and I couldn't put my finger on it until I read your post. It is his 'American' accent. It seems so out of place...too choppy and matter-of-fact-ish. So far I really do enjoy the way they have written Rodrigo's part in Borgia. The intricacies of Church lore and 15th c tradition comes across far superior in Borgia whereas they seems glossed over in The Borgias in favour of the human story and relationships of the lead characters. I honestly wish they could somehow combine the best of both but that would be impossible. If I had to choose, right now I would take The Borgias over Borgia but as I stated I'm only three episodes in to the latter. I'll comment later when I'm finished the series...actually it may be best to compare the two after the second season of The Borgias is complete.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-20 12:27 am (UTC)I enjoyed both series immensely. It will be so very interesting to see what they do with the second season of The Borgias. And I did think that everything in Borgia was much richer, deeper, more complicated than in The Borgias, although as you mentioned, it would be wonderful to have the best of both in one spectacular miniseries.
I think once you see more episodes of Borgia the characters will come more 'alive' for you. Especially Cesare. He is such a compelling character, and it's so interesting to see the two different performances, although for me too, I prefer Francois Arnaud, not that Mark Ryder wasn't terrific.
But Juan is never portrayed as the better son! At least not once Borgia gets going. He has far too many flaws, even though Rodrigo would definitely appear to prefer him over Cesare. At times Rodrigo seems quite cruelly offhand and dismissive of Cesare as if he really doesn't care about him. But while Cesare himself as portrayed by Mark Ryder chastises himself constantly, he does show much more intelligence and heroics (in some ways), even empathy and caring for people much more than Juan ever does. If it just wasn't for all the murders he commits, justified or otherwise. Francois Arnaud is much more of a romantic Cesare, whereas Mark Ryder plays him full of flaws and damn the consequences.
When it comes to Lucrezia, though, I think that Isolda Dychauk just owns the character. Holliday Grainger is very good, don't get me wrong. But Isolde's portrayal blew me away. She got right inside Lucrezia and puts her on display for us viewers to examine inside out. I think Julia Farnese is also better realized in Borgia, but it's not the actress' fault in The Borgias, because her role is smaller. At least so far.
But Rodrigo! I like Jeremy Irons much better in the role, but perhaps that's the problem! Should Rodrigo be that likeable? The scenes with Rodrigo in the second season of The Borgias should allow for some juicier acting, since there is so much drama in the last few episodes of Borgia, in terms of the things Rodrigo has to deal with.
John Doman didn't try to make him likeable, and he succeeded. But that damn accent! It's far too jarring, and kind of spoils an otherwise terrific performance.
I simply have to read that book now. :)
Oh, and as for me, I'll reserve judgement until after I've read it, but I'm leaning towards thinking that the Borgia family, despite all its flaws, really did unite and save Italy. :)