Has "Da Vinci's Demons" run out of puff? Season 2 finale, Episode 10

Season 2 of "Da Vinci's Demons" has been all over the shop. Running half way around the world in search of The Book of Leaves, Leo's momma, the fall of the House of Medici and the naughty Labyrinth boys popping up to enlist Risario.
Risario saw a nifty salt water torture device, this time on (especially his eyeballs) the receiving end (shades of "A Clockwork Orange"). It was fun to find out that chubby young Nico will become sanguine, political strategist Niccolo Machiavelli. In reality, he was 17 years younger than Da Vinci, both from Florence and later did work with Leo (see the Borgias and for fun, "Assassin's Creed"). Machiavelli would make a great mini series.
The finale (with Leo about to demonstrate his latest military invention) was merely a warm-up for Season 3.

Things I like about "Da Vinci's Demons" Season 2

• Leonardo doing a credible Risario impersonation in Episode 3, complete with his signature camp sunglasses (though the wrong shape)
• The Pope's Bond-villainesque lair, atmospheric lighting, flashy art direction (all villains must have posh British accents, this is a prerequisite)
• The show soars whenever Leo brings on on of his inventions (usually inspired by nature - e.g. submarine in Episode 3 - even though a row boat at night probably would have sufficed)
• Clarice Orsini (Medici's take-no-prisoners, gutsy missus) has a beefed up role in the second series
• It never takes itself too seriously - each episode usually has some nice throw away lines (often delivered by Leo or Zoroaster).
• All that green in Episode 5, now Leo has reached South America. Don't know how he ended up in the Andes and what looks like Machu Picchu but hey, who cares? This is such enjoyable claptrap and Risario is there, too.
• This season gets nuttier each week. Episode 7 looked more like Indiana Jones, plus we had "Carry On, Constantinople"

"Da Vinci's Demons" Season 2 Episode 1

I've missed this rollicking silliness. The over the top flash forward in South America (complete with Las Vegas showgirl costumes and gory ritual sacrifice), with Leo and Risario as unlikely comrades, will ensure a loyal fan base. More backstabbing, fruity language, a rudimentary blood transfusion and lots of mumbo jumbo flashbacks for Leo. This is a rattling good yarn.                                    
Once the scene changed to onboard ship, the tone was more like "Sinbad"/Saturday Matinee adventure.

The problem with TV second seasons

Okay, the first season was great, there was a teaser to get you to watch the second season.... then you tune in.....
It could go either way.
First there's disappointment. Exhibit 1. (as Rod Serling used to say) "Bates Motel"
It was a flimsy idea to start with, but the charisma of Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore must have convinced producers. It seems this show is treading water. Where is it going? We know what happens to Norman, but the journey is no fun anymore.
Exhibit 2 "The News Room"

Then there's surprise:
"Hannibal" Struggling with the ratings, many thought it wouldn't return. The quality and style of this show has always been consistent. This new season is compelling and, if anything, richer than last year. This is a prequel that works, unlike Season 2 of "Bates Motel".
Season 2 of "Orphan Black" is better than the first season, fleshed out characters and more complicated setups.

Jury's out:
"Banshee"
"Da Vinci's Demons"
(Even though both have been given a third season.)
BBC3's "In The Flesh" (3 extra episodes in this series, was it a good idea?)

"The Musketeers" Episode 1 BBC review

Fine production values, atmospheric wintry locales, an appealing cast and just the right balance of drama with tongue-in-cheek. I think "Da Vinci's Demons" covers a lot of similar ground - swashbuckling, buxom wenches, well toned abs, spies, carousing in the tavern, evil church figures, pretty European scenery. All actors with English accents.
Yes, it's a 'romp' and will rate well.....but
... if you want to see the best version, seek out Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers"(1973) and "The Four Musketeers" (released a year later but filmed together).
Great cast of British actors: Frank Finlay, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear. Charlton Heston having fun as Richelieu. Faye Dunaway as a kickass Milady. Raquel Welch in her best role as the klutzy Constance. All the cast have English accents (some Working Class, to denote the French class system), none with the "Allo, Allo" accent. This accent idea was quite groundbreaking for 1970's cinema.
Richard Lester combines action, steam punk (check out Richelieu's gadgets) and cheeky humour.
The definitive retelling of an old favourite.

Best line in the BBC version:
"Want to go to Heaven for 50 sous?"
"Are you a religious nutcase?"
"It was a metaphor."

What to do when your favourite TV series finish...

Having withdrawal symptoms, now my favourite TV series have finished their seasons. Have to wait until 2014 for new seasons of "Banshee", "Orphan Black", "Da Vinci's Demons", "Elementary", "House of Cards" and the French "Les Revenants".
At least I still have "The Newsroom", but not for long.
Consolation: "Boardwalk Empire" starts this month.
Going to turn to a good book in the hammock, now Melbourne's Spring is here.

How to get max page views on your blog (I jest)

I reviewed the "Da Vinci's Demons" episode, the one with the well-endowed chap in the Renaissance-styled sauna. Should have seen the page views, top stats for the month.  I didn't insert an image or video clip (paranoid about copyright infringements). Anyway, big dongers are a hit.
It seems the posts you spend a lot of time on often have the least page views. I should tag "dicks" more often. Perhaps I'll try boobs and bums next.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Series 1 final, Episode 8 "The Lovers" review

A ripper cliffhanger!
Loads of tension builds up as the Medici family prepare for Holy Communion. Showdown in the cathedral, blood-daubed priests, poisonous wafers, the lovely Vanessa carries on the Giuliano's name, Lucrezia earns her stripes and Leo saves the day for Lorenzo and Florence.
Nice to see mascara-boy back - cool flashback reuniting the Sons of Mithras in Constantinople. Nice astrolabe, dude.
I was looking forward to seeing the three amigos (Leo, Zor and Nico) sail off on their New World adventures.  Singing, "We're off on the road to El Dorado"??? Perhaps Series 2.

This series has benefitted from some very complex characters - like Dragonetti and Lucrezia.
A shame Joel Grey/Roman Polanski lookalike Pazzi escaped at the end. Glad Riario (Fab shades, by the way) can be evil in the next season.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Series 1, Episode 7 "The Hierophant" review, spoilers

God, I'm thick, just realising each episode title refers to a tarot card.
This is the penultimate episode in Series 1. We know Series 2 is going ahead so next week's episode shouldn't have too many revelations and disclosures. So much happened in this one, though. Leo's scuba dives into the Vatican, arising from the pope's misty bath waters like Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now". That snake-in-the-grass Pazzi poisoning one of his co-conspirators in front of his fellow villains. Remember James Bond villain, Blofeld? He used to top one of his underlings in Spectre HQ, as a warning to the rest. You know: "Kill Bond!" Enter piranha..... (gulp)"Yes No.1!"
Sorry, I'm rambling.
We discover why Lucrezia is a spy for Rome. Dad is the papal prisoner who played the board game with Riario in Episode 3. I wanted more time in the secret archives under the Vatican. Loved the papal elevator.
Didn't expect loyal Giulino (Tom Bateman) to be written out in the last scene. At least he had a good time with Vanessa the Underdresser.

Oooo, cut it out .....The glut of forensic pathology based TV shows

Channel surf any night of the week.... I'm pretty sure you are going to come up with a corpse on a slab sooner or later. Grand guignol television is tres popular. We obviously can't get enough of scalpels being inserted into dead flesh. From "Hannibal" to "Da Vinci's Demons", from 1880's "Ripper Street" to 1940's "Murder on the Homefront", the gorier the better. Even the Australians have combined historical drama with gore: the excellent "Doctor Blake Mysteries". A particularly nasty crushed body featured in the latest "Whitechapel".
The Brits do graphic, as well as gritty. "Silent Witness" has been laying them in aisles morgue since 1996. That's a lot of autopsies.
As Kenny Everett would lisp, "All in the best possible taste!".

"Da Vinci's Demons" Series 1, Episode 6, "The Devil" review

Well, they pulled all the stops out tonight! Turkish baths/saunas, big dicks, gladiators, pissed off Popes, Vlad the Impaler (the third?), bone chandeliers and a game of Kerplunk with an Abyssinian dude in the middle. But it all made sense in the end - Leo's quest for the Book Of Leaves' secret. A shame to see my favourite villain, Riario (Blake Ritson), get thumped by the Pope. Hope he bears a grudge.
Looking forward to next week. Perhaps with less full frontal male nudity. Made me feel rather inferior.

On second thoughts, the dude with the anaconda-like schlong in the sauna ("like a baby's arm" once intoned Austin Powers - perhaps it was his dad, Nigel Powers)....well it was probably a prosthetic (like Mark Wahlberg had in the final scene of "Boogie Nights"). The well-endowed Da Vinci character had to hold on to it while he ran, so as not to injure himself or anyone else. This has gone far enough, end of post.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Series 1, Episode 5 "The Tower" 2013 review

This week, a totally outlandish load of bollocks, but rollicking good fun. We had the Spanish Inquisition (“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”), Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain visiting the Medicis with party-boy Torquemada (as Mel Brook's said, "...ya can't talk 'im outta anything!"), a performance of “The Decameron” (Italy’s “Canterbury Tales” /Carry on Florence), Leo being bi-curious, a courtroom drama, a jail break (courtesy of Leo’s bats with bombs) and a spot of bestiality.

Leo’s Superglueing of the magistrate to Porky Pig – the act of having sex with a pig being shown to the city of Florence, reminded me of Charlie Brooker’s marvellous “Black Mirror” (Series 1, Episode 1) with the PM being forced to commit the same act in front of the population on live TV.

Leo’s dad finally shows some affection for his boy and again we get the intriguing flashback to Leo’s revelation in the watery cave. I liked Leo's discourse on Nature - Florence meaning flowering. The Batman-like projection of the man-on-pig action into the night sky, complementing the performance of “The Decameron” was delightful.

Inventive Scriptwriters – 10, Historians – nil.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Episode 4 "The Magician" starz TV series review

Who would have made the link between a pomegranate and a cluster bomb? Lots going on in this episode. Grandpa Medici - "the magician", Lucrezia's machinations (stitching up Becchi and now Leonardo), Riario's funky spectacles, a nasty public execution scene called "The Wheel" (this was the Renaissance answer to reality TV), the Medici's wealth from alum (fascinating historical detail) and realising that younger bro Medici has integrity and a bit of nous.
Enjoyed the flashback about 14 year old Leo. Don't trust fellow artista Bottocelli. Leo arrested as a sodomite! Where does he find the time?

"Da Vinci's Demons" Episode 3 "The Prisoner" Starz TV series, review, no spoilers

A great episode this week.
Our hero often looks like he is battling ADHD, but then so does Johnny Lee Miller in "Elementary".
Leo, in much of the series, is either drugged or drunk - dealing with his 'demons'. And we had quite a few demons in this episode - either real or imagined.
Da Vinci finds an ally in the usually incompetent Giulino Medici (Tom Bateman). Who knew? Loved the possessed nuns (very Ken Russell's "The Devils", 1971). The atmospheric abbey was quite Hammer Horror. More please. We had Leo solving the mystery of the wacky nuns while our favourite villain, Riario (Blake Ritson) talks strategies with the mysterious prisoner. Their board game of black and white pieces looks like the ancient Asian game of Go.
This game is played throughout the episode, parallelling the machinations occurring in Florence. A clever touch, Mr Goyer. As well as the motif of the caged parrot, who can escape but does not.
More furious bird sketching in the marketplace (such a great scene in Episode 1). The brief shot of sunrise over Florence was glorious.
Clarice Orsini (the very busy Lara Pulver - the lovely Irene Adler in "Sherlock", also in "Spooks" and "True Blood" - all great shows) proves herself to be no fool. Beware, Lucrezia.
Liked the blindman's quality control in the arms factory, Leo's spontaneous painting-licking and the frenzied bonking among the Medici horses (a stable relationship between Lorenzo and his filly???).
Leo's feverish nightmares were particularly graphic this week - reanimated corpses, scalpels and ripping apart chest cavities.
I assume we will see more of Riario's Abyssinian slave (if the naughty pope doesn't monopolise her time).

"Da Vinci's Demons" TV series Starz Episode 2 "The Serpent" review, minor spoilers

Better than the first episode. Just as silly but with more substance. You need to forget about what Renaissance history you learnt in school and just sit back and enjoy this stuff. It's like Indiana Jones meets "National Treasure" (particularly the last scene). David S. Goyer (creator) has taken a  few key facts of the period and then gone on a roller coaster ride.
Goyer seems to like to shock the viewer with his first scene in each ep. Last week it was the naughty, soon to be stabbed Duke of Milan. This week it's a circumcised member ("I haven't seen one of those before" intones a girl). By the way, 'the hanged man' is quite well hung. We then get a very graphic autopsy performed by Leonardo.
"The Serpent" refers to the Pope's nephew, Count Riario (Blake Ritson). My new favourite character. If there was a railroad track in Florence, he'd have tied half a dozen damsels to it. He just has to put up with old fashioned decapitation and a nifty torture device called The Widow's Tear.
Once again there is the gorgeous black and white animation (the mechanics of the dual keys and lock). Our swashbuckling hero escapes up the scaffolding of the Duomo - a great scene. Tom Riley is definitely doing a bit of Sherlock (Johnny Miller version) when reconstructing the fate of the Jew and the Book of Leaves.
Loved the quarry scene - say hello to Leo's "little friend".
Da Vinci's mates are good value, the loyal servant, Nico the irreverent Zoroaster (whose favourite turn of phrase is not "Mamma Mia!" but a very English: "F*ck me!").
The use of colour to signify the two worlds - evil, forbidding, secretive Rome - shadowy scenes in the Vatican, black clad villains and the decadent, but enlightened Florence of the Medicis - garish colours, fireworks, torches, extravagant bejewelled costumes. Check out the Adam and Eve floorshow in the Medici ball scene.
Knowledge and the control of knowledge is the theme of the series (as well as bonking and butchery, of course, it's cable!)
The final scene with Leo perched above the grid pattern of pages was inpirational.

"Da Vinci's Demons" Starz/FX TV series Episode 1 "The Hanged Man" review

The viewer is assaulted by the sight of "Downtown Abbey's Earl of Grantham" (Hugh Bonneville) naked, urinating after bedding a young man. Later on we hear the honeyed words, "F*ck me again, Leonardo!" You know this is not The History Channel.
This is going to be a rollicking romp, full of sex and slashing, political intrigue, colourful vistas, more bonking, a mysterious fraternity, myriad conspiracies and naughty popes.
David S. Goyer is the creator (writer of "The Dark Knight" and soon to be released "Man of Steel"). He directs this episode also. English seems to be the default accent in this series. Tom Riley plays the title character like Errol Flynn in his swashbuckling heyday. Add a touch of arrogant Sherlock from "Elementary". Both gents like a bit of illicit drugs also.
When the mascaraed Turk spouts "Time is a river .... a circle" I thought I was listening to the hokey "Lost Horizon" from 1972. I like Da Vinci's friends, young Nico (test pilot in Leo's man-kite was a  funny scene) and the worldly Zoroaster (Greg Chillin - he certainly was chillin') as the procurer of corpses. It's "Plebs" goes Renaissance.
I thought Leonardo played with the other team. He wasn't showing those tendencies in this episode (apart from a vague comment about an attractive male model. Homosexuality seems to be de rigueur for the elite (the pissing Duke of Milan, the venal Pope).
For all its silliness, there is an inspired scene when starlings are released from a market cage so Leonardo can observe and sketch their flight. This was a beautifully realised scene. I watched open mouthed.
The series may never top this one minute wondrous gem.
Next week: more bums, boobs, bonking, buggery, bashings and betrayal?
Well, it beats The History Channel.