Medici: Masters of Florence (Netflix)

[AncalagonTheBlack]

The show should be up at netflix,premiere today in US, UK, Ireland, Canada & India. Hoping it's decent and enjoyable to watch.At least we get to see Rob on screen again. Oh,and looking at the casting list,there's also a certain Frey on this show!

 

 

 

[Myrddin]

I love this time period so I'm looking forward to watching it.

[Zorral]

Yay!

I hope it's at least as good as Netflix's Marco Polo.  Others have sneered at Marco, but I really like it., the second season far more too than the first. 

[Zorral]

Well, at least so far, it's far below Marco.

It's not very good at all, considering what there is to work with.

One of the problems is there's no chron anchor to inform viewers who aren't Italian or specialists in all this period as to where, when and who. I've done a lot of work with this in one way or another over the years, but am no specialist, and am confused a lot.  If I didn't have what I have already to bring to it, I'd run away.  Mostly though, they have put in so much bollix that I'm really disappointed. They didn't need to do that. There was plenty much drama to pull out from the era itself.

The actors and the writers aren't very good either.  At least so far. Dustin Hoffman is the best, but he's got the experience, and we never see him much.  How weird too, that the parents and their grown-up children all look the same age!

 

[generalzod]

Zorral,

 

I can't believe we're agreeing on this, but what a turd.  This show is an incredible disappointment and a painful slog to get through.

 

Hoffman must have cashed the check first and then read the script.

 

Robb Stark has a better time at the Red Wedding than appearing in this DOA Medici series. 

 

I find   Versailles ridiculous, a lobotomized TUDORS, but at least it's paced up compared to this lugubrious mess.

[Calibandar]

Agreed, it's nowhere near as good as Marco Polo. Which in itself is not a pinnacle of modern tv but I found it enjoyable.

Slow, and boring.

[HexMachina]

I'm on episode two. Not terrible but not really holding my interest either. I think it's shortcomings are even more apparent because it has dropped at the end of a great year (great few years actually) of TV, at least IMO. 

Acting is a bit iffy too.

I do like the music though, so that's something. I'll probably keep watching but I'm not wild about this

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I'm on episode two. Not terrible but not really holding my interest either. I think it's shortcomings are even more apparent because it has dropped at the end of a great year (great few years actually) of TV, at least IMO. 

Acting is a bit iffy too.

I do like the music though, so that's something. I'll probably keep watching but I'm not wild about this

But they've not balanced the audio with the music.  The music is much louder than the voices.  I have to turn up my speakers so high to hear the actors.  But then the music BOOMS.  That's the sort of thing I mean when calling out their poor production values.

Nor is it period music. This is the late 14th century -- the music is much more what one would hear in the 16th.

 

[Corvinus85]

Finished watching this last night. Not a great show, not at all, but it has enough to make it a guilty pleasure. Granted the finale was pretty disappointing, so I don't know if I'll continue. And the only thing that kept me going in the first 3 episodes was that recurring music theme that's also part of the title song - a song I've come to really enjoy. That is by far the best thing about this show.

The acting was ok, but nothing great. Unfortunately Richard Madden cannot carry a show like other leads could. It also odd that they went with an actor so young. Initially I thought it was a bold and inspired decision, because in that time period people married young and had kids early, so seeing a protagonist that wasn't the typical 40+ year old due with a 20+ actor to be his son was cool. Then I read a bit about the real Cosimo de Medici, and found that in 1429 when his father died, Cosimo was in fact 40 (Madden is 30), so perhaps the decision wasn't quite as inspired as I thought. I wonder if this decision came due to the script, as the show insisted to have the first bunch of the episode alternate between the present day storyline and 20 years in the past where Madden is still technically forced to play a character out of his age group, but at least something that he could do better. The supporting cast did an ok job, too, but I'm sure Dustin Hoffman and Brian Cox were there just for a paycheck. Brian Cox, especially, was severely underused.

The story is very uneven. With the use of flashbacks, the first half of the season is very slow, but then in the last few episodes the story picks up so much pace, that if feels like it can't wait to be done. Spoilers regarding some of the main plot arcs and the finale:

Spoiler

One of the main plots that starts the show - Giovanni de Medici's murder is solved for the audience in a by-the-way fashion - this is the murderer, it really had nothing to do with the larger story, it was connected to some incident only occasionally mentioned, and brought to light near the end, so just move along. Then there was the shocking murder of the main character's brother, which really was there for shock value, in a show that seemed more interested up until that point in constant twists and turns, and not actual shock. There was no reason to kill off Lorenzo de Medici, and not just because it is historically innacurate - sure, his capture of that merchant's killer was too easy. First, considering the position of the rival that the show decides to introduce late in the game, having Lorenzo murdered seems just like an act of petty revenge. Pazzi was already screwed thanks to Lorenzo parading the killer in front of the Medici house and handing the incriminating evidence to Contessina. And that leads me to the other problem with how the show ended - why introduce a new rival so late in the game, with no time to develop him, and then with a tiny piece of paper, he is completely undone and all but forgotten. At least the first main rival was, I thought, nicely developed - we get to see the reason of the rivalry, he is generally portrayed as a douchebag, yes, with his warmongering attitude, but he is also shown to be a man of faith, and who cares deeply for his own family; and they give him a valiant death.

In terms of historical accuracy, I know little about Florence and de Medici family, so I can't say for sure how accurate everything is. It seems some of the events that happened then were explored, and the costumes look fairly accurate, but that's about it. They made a complete mess of the Florentine government. Why are people who are trying to get elected into the Signoria sitting there as if already part of the council? Why are family members sitting there with the members of the Signoria, considering that only one family member was allowed to be part of it? They did at least show that the election of the Priori was random (which, by the way, is extremely odd) and that people who were in debt were not eligible to be part of the Signoria.

In terms of sex and nudity, I was glad at first that the show was not going to be too egregious on showing gratuitous nudity, but then I realized that the writers did insist on having one brief sex scene in each episode, which resulted in every main actress having to show one boob at least once, and one or two actors to show some ass. smh

It is a shame that Netflix could not sponsor a bigger, more compelling show, considering the wealth of material that they could work with. I was intrigued at first that we were going to have a period piece in tumultuous Italy, like the Borgias did before, but with economics and finances playing a central role, rather than religion and mindless warfare. They replaced Marco Polo with this, but this show is way sub-par. I'm sure they'll be "losing money" on this one, too, but maybe less on account of their CGI being just background stuff.

 

[Zorral]

I agree yah, especially with replacing Marco with this.

It did pick up in the middle, only then to muddle.  Madden is AWFUL.

Worst of all though was setting up the Medicis as some kind of medieval - early Renaissance progressive force against the regressive, repressive aristo class -- that was just plain preposterous!  Everyone was out to get as much as they could.  Florence, like Rome, like all the Italian cities of the time were festering messes for those who weren't at the top of the heap and nobody gave a damn about those who weren't at the top of the heap, particularly the Vatican.  Not to mention the wars between Genoa and Venice of the 14th century and the havoc their respective banking played with everyone and each other.

Not that I'm a specialist in this era or know that much about the Medicis either.  But the wool communes were very important as a balancing force against the great merchant houses and the aristo houses. We see nothing of this, unless the fellow played for a fool who the Medici insist enter the signoria.  And no one really looks Italian city state -- especially the women.  Beyond that,the parents of adult children are all the same age!

 

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

I was hoping for something reminincent to Borgia's (entertainment wise), but I gotta rate this as way too dry and uninteresting for that. For such a rich setting, its simply remarkable they were able to produce such a bland, non emotive piece. I rank it comfortably below watching paint dry.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

Talk about a trainwreck of a series. I went into this series expecting something on the level of Marco Polo - not great, but a serviceable guilty pleasure - and I was excited that it focused on one of my favorite historical settings: the Italian Renaissance. As a fan of Borgia/Borgias (and Assassin's Creed 2), I was hoping to see more on the Medici side of things. Historically inaccuracy abounds amidst uneven pacing and piss poor exposition. Everyone gets killed off for seemingly no narrative reason. Many of these same historical figures either lived long lives or died peacefully. It's almost as if the writers only conception of narrative tension and drama came from equating Game of Thrones to killing-off characters. I agree with Zorral's assessment here regarding Late Medieval Italy and the crud we get in Medici. So far Canal's Borgia provides one of the best looks into this time period, including the normalized violence, piety, and cutthroat nature of the Italian city-states. 

Though there is a lot to potentially highlight about the series's historical inaccuracy or pacing problems - such as the weird time skips that rely on you recognizing that the length of Cosimo's hair is meant to indicate a flashback - there is one point in my mind that stands clearer than the others: Cosimo's exile to Venice. 1) Cosimo's one-year exile transpired too quickly in the course of the series, resolved in a meager one or two episodes, and 2) the exile would have made a more suitable season finale. This is also one of those points where history is more interesting than entertainment. Cosimo and the Medici's were exiled to Venice, but in the process, the sheer capital that came with them, including Medici-loyal merchants, resulted in the tanking of Florence's economy. But the Medici's, as per Zorral's own post, were no champion of the commoners or liberators, as they are bizarrely portrayed here. 

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Beta Film Acquires New ‘Medici’ Season With Sean Bean, Daniel Sharman, Bradley James (EXCLUSIVE)

Quote

In the run-up to Mipcom, Beta Film has acquired international sales rights to “Medici: Masters of Florence. "The Magnificent,” a sequel to the hit Italian period drama (pictured) created by Frank Spotnitz.

The eight-hour series, which is currently being shot on historic locations in Tuscany and in studio in Rome, stars Daniel Sharman (“Teen Wolf”), Bradley James (“Homeland”) and Sean Bean (“Game of Thrones”)

The cast of “The Magnificent” is completed by Sarah Parish (“Pillars of the Earth”), Alessandra Mastronardi (“Master of None”), Synnøve Karlsen (“Clique”), Raoul Bova (“The Tourist,” “Under the Tuscan Sun”) and Julian Sands (“Gotham”). Shooting is expected to wrap in December.

 

[Myrddin]

7 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Beta Film Acquires New ‘Medici’ Season With Sean Bean, Daniel Sharman, Bradley James (EXCLUSIVE)

 

Bean dies.

Looking forward to this season.