In which Lucrezia realizes just how effed up her life truly is...
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Cesare’s facial expressions?
Oh yeah, that’s the face of one of the most blood-thirsty men in history. I swear, he has the best “Uh, dad, I sortafuckedupandstartedawar” face.
Cesare's manic "pls love me face"
His "I secretly adore you face"
“What does it say of us, brother, that you promise me this and I would accept?”
"Do you accept?"
What does it say about either of you that he can give you
the knife that he used to murder your ex-husband and
make it sound like a marriage proposal? Weirdos.
He actually stares at her mouth in the first shot! You guys are killing me, for realz. I don't know if that's what's written in the script or it's the actors but, jeeez... also, I love how in this shot, she's lit pale and luminous and so delicate it hurts while he's this dark, shadowy figure that looms over her. The two of them could be the characters in a gothic romance. They are the characters in a gothic romance only it takes place in decadent Renaissance Rome.
But oh God, the way Cesare asks her- he sounds hopeful that’s she’ll be happy for what he’s done and at the same time, apprehensive that she’ll go off on him the way Rodrigo did. Lucrezia for her part remain wisely ambivalent- she’s not angry or horrified but she’s not exactly condoning his being so knife-happy. Oh Lucrezia, just wait until Alfonso of Bisceglie comes along. I for one cannot wait for Cesare to lose his shit.
And the way he hides the knife from Rodrigo as though he knows that Rodrigo could never understand and accept Cesare the way Lucrezia unconditionally does.
BTW, I wonder if any of the other Borgias look at Lucrezia and Cesare and think "What is up with those two?" I mean, did Rodrigo walk in and think, "Oh look, it's my son and daughter looking deeply into each other's eyes in a darkened room and looking like they're about to start Frenching? Nothing weird or inappropriate here."
In conclusion, this has no relevance to anything but here's Cesare in leather pants and being Byronic.
Did they even make leather pants that tight during the Renaissance?