The Borgias: Season 1

2011 · 9 episodes · ★ 6.7

What Season 1 of The Borgias

Pope Innocent VIII dies, and Rodrigo Borgia wins the papacy as Alexander VI through bribes and threats against the cardinals. From the papal throne, he hands out positions to his children: Juan commands the papal armies, and Cesare receives the cardinal's hat. Lucrezia, on the other hand, becomes a bargaining chip in a marriage to the Sforza family of Milan that will fill the family coffers. Standing against them is Giuliano della Rovere, a rival who seeks support in France to invade Italy. Micheletto, a skilled assassin, enters the family's service.

9episodes

Apr 3, 2011premiered

May 22, 2011latest episode

7.8 hrtotal runtime

Season 1 Episodes

1x01 The Poisoned Chalice
Apr 3, 2011 · 50 min · ★ 6.9
Rodrigo successfully bribes and intimidates his way into an election as Pope Alexander VI, making him the new leader of the Catholic Church; powerful Cardinals Della Rovere and Orsini oppose his rise; the Borgias recruit a talented assassin named Micheletto to their cause.
Directing: Neil Jordan · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Vernon Dobtcheff, Clive Russell
1x02 The Assassin
Apr 3, 2011 · 52 min · ★ 6.8
The new Pope wastes no time consolidating power and balancing opposition to him in the College of Cardinals by elevating his children to high office, installing Juan as head of the papal armies and Cesare as a cardinal and his successor, while seeking a politically fortuitous marriage for daughter Lucrezia.
Directing: Neil Jordan · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Vernon Dobtcheff, Lotte Verbeek
1x03 The Moor
Apr 10, 2011 · 53 min · ★ 6.6
His coffers depleted by his expensive rise to power, Rodrigo seeks funds through a profitable marriage for Lucrezia that will ally with him Milan, and charges a fee for safe haven in the Holy City to Jews displaced by the Spanish Inquisition; the Borgias host a charming Turkish prince; Micheletto is ordered to rid his patrons of the ongoing threat posed by Della Rovere.
Directing: Simon Cellan Jones · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Lotte Verbeek, Elyes Gabel
1x04 Lucrezia's Wedding
Apr 17, 2011 · 58 min · ★ 6.7
Lucrezia's financially and politically motivated wedding to Milanese nobleman Giovanni Sforza is a disaster thanks to Juan's inappropriately bawdy play in his sister's honor, Cesare's brazen flirting with a married baroness, and the arrival of the Borgia children's illegitimate mother; Della Rovere seeks the aid of the illustrious Medici family and their counselor, Machiavelli.
Directing: Simon Cellan Jones · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Lotte Verbeek, Luke Pasqualino
1x05 The Borgias in Love
Apr 24, 2011 · 53 min · ★ 6.5
Alternately neglected and abused by her cruel husband, Lucrezia has an affair with Paolo, a handsome stable boy; Cesare strikes a bargain with Machiavelli: deny French troops passage across his masters' lands in exchange for suppression of Savonarola, a fiery preacher of anti-Medici sermons; in love with baroness Ursula, Cesare takes drastic action to get rid of her husband.
Directing: John Maybury · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Lotte Verbeek, Luke Pasqualino
1x06 The French King
May 1, 2011 · 53 min · ★ 6.5
Della Rovere reaches France and strikes a bargain with its ruler to invade Italy and install him on the Papal throne in exchange for control of Naples; Rodrigo attempts to thwart the invasion through an alliance by marrying his youngest son Joffre to Princess Sancia of Naples (guest star Emmannuelle Chriqui), but Juan nearly sabotages the plan by seducing his prospective sister-in-law.
Directing: John Maybury · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Lotte Verbeek, Luke Pasqualino, Emmanuelle Chriqui
1x07 Death, on a Pale Horse
May 8, 2011 · 52 min · ★ 6.7
The invasion by King Charles of France and Della Rovere proceeds with victory seemingly inevitable as the French sack the city of Lucca and the Italian powers flee to their banner, with Lucrezia's husband Giovanni Sforza poised to join them in the name of Milan; inventor Leonardo Da Vinci (guest star John Lynch) shows his drawings and blueprints for war machinery to the invaders.
Directing: Jeremy Podeswa · Starring: Vernon Dobtcheff, Lotte Verbeek, Luke Pasqualino, Emmanuelle Chriqui
1x08 The Art of War
May 15, 2011 · 51 min · ★ 6.5
The invaders capture a fleeing and pregnant Lucrezia as they march on Rome, but she charms King Charles and is allowed to persuade her brother Juan to withdraw his hopelessly outmatched defensive troops; Pope Alexander VI awaits to learn of his fate as Charles enters the city and makes his way to the Vatican.
Directing: Jeremy Podeswa · Starring: Sean Harris, Vernon Dobtcheff, Lotte Verbeek, Luke Pasqualino
1x09 Nessuno (Nobody) Season Finale
May 22, 2011 · 48 min · ★ 7.6
Abandoned by even his cardinals, Alexander meets King Charles with humility and saves his throne, even eliciting a confession from the conqueror he crowns as the new "King of France and Naples;" Della Rovere despairs as Charles abandons him; Lucrezia safely gives birth to a son in a convent as the Borgias secure an annulment of her marriage and plot revenge on their enemies.
Directing: Jeremy Podeswa · Starring: Joanne Whalley, Sean Harris, Vernon Dobtcheff, Lotte Verbeek