Borgia—Faith and Fear: Season One

Initially titled just Borgia, this series—created and produced by Tom Fontana for European TV and originally shown in the U.S. as a Netflix streaming exclusive—was rebranded for home video in order to avoid confusion with Showtime's The Borgias—an understandable concern, since the two cable historical dramas are based on the story of the notorious Borgia family. While this version tries to titillate with obligatory cable-TV sex mixed in with the corruption and rampant religious hypocrisy, Borgia is simply not as smart or as dramatically compelling as Showtime's series, let alone as savvy in its portrayal of politics (furthermore, the background history is harder to follow). John Doman lacks the thespian command and complexity brought by Jeremy Irons to the leading role of Rodrigo, who uses his political wiles to become Pope, while the portrayal of the Borgias here as a clan of unpredictable, unrestrained individuals scrapping among themselves is less interesting than the more complicated relationships of the Showtime version. In addition, Borgia fails on the most basic level to explain how these wild cards managed to become the most powerful family in Italy. Compiling all 12 episodes from the 2011 debut season, DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette. Bottom line: The Borgias is the better series to collect. An optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)