Monday, June 17, 2013

Da Vinci's Demons – reviewing a tv-show

I came across this show while channel surfing at my parents house. I ended up watching the sixth episode of the first season and found it so good that I decided to watch the whole series. The first season was good enough to raise a few thoughts.

Da Vinci's Demons is set in renaissance Florence – the cradle of enlightenment, democracy and liberty. Whether you really believe that this was the case, Florence was actually quite advanced compared to rest of Europe at that time. Florence had become extremely wealthy from trading with fabrics and , most of all, banking. The city was full of palaces and had quite a few towers, the towers were so numerous that at one point it was forbidden to build towers higher than 19 meters. What made renaissance Florence become a legend was it's ruling family the Medicis. The family Medici is well known as supporters of art and science. Under their protection and patronage worked some of the most brightest renaissance geniuses – most brightest of them all was Leonardo Da Vinci.

The basic plot of the series is as follows: Da Vinci meets a Turk who tells him about a mythical artefact called “Book of Leaves” it is supposed to hold all the knowledge, I mean everything. Being the curios type he is Da Vinci sets out on a quest to find the Book of Leaves and during his quest he find out that the Vatican is also after it and to hide the artefact into Vatican's secret archives since it might bad for their business if people would find out that the church does not hold ultimate truth about the origin of the universe.

Usually some familiar invention made by Leonardo appears in the episodes that he utilizes to solve a problem or challenge he faces. Most of the time the inventions and plots are quite entertaining and funny but there is one episode that is just simply brain dead.

///SPOILER///

In one of the episodes Da Vinci's enemies come up with plot that is sure get him executed. With the help of a bribed victim and judges they accuse Da Vinci of sodomy, a crime punishable by death, even tough no-one has been found guilty in Florence for years (that's because the city is so liberal and civilized, get it). Okay, so Da Vinci gets framed and locked up in prison. Everybody is worried since he seems to be making no effort to get out and escape. This is were it gets fucking retarted. With the help explosions coming from bombs made of bat shit and delivered by bats, Da Vinci and his friend switch places in the prison. Da Vinci now free goes to the corrupted judge responsible for his case and knocks him. When the judge wakes up he finds himself tied to a pig (what?!?) and Da Vinci near by with contraption that can record the judge engaged in activity far worse than sodomy – bestiality. With this rudimentary camera Da Vinci takes a picture of the judge with pig and projects the image to the clouds for the whole Florence to see. After taking the picture Da Vinci returns to his cell and in the next session of the court all charges against him are miraculously dropped and he walks free.

///SPOILER ENDS///

In some cases the show pushes a bit too much Da Vincis innovations, the ideas of liberty and democracy and how the catholic church is totally corrupted and evil. However, the main plot line where Da Vinci and allies of Vatican fight to find “ Book of Leaves” is very entertaining. I also like the characters of the corrupted Pope and the ruthless count Riario. They have also woven in some interesting subplots that slowly unfold during the series.

Despite the brain dead bits this show offers entertaining stories so give it a look.

Bleergh - I am the devil