Episodes: 10 | Released: 2012 | Certificate: 15 | Genre: Drama | Director: Neil Jordan
Actors: Jeremy Irons
, Joanne Whalley
, Francois Arnaud
, David Oakes
, Holliday Grainger
, Colm Feore
, Sean Harris
, Lotte Verbeek
Inspired by the discovery of a caché of long-lost ancient Roman artifacts, Pope Alexander VI throws a grandiose pagan-themed feast for the people of Rome. Meanwhile, Lucrezia tends to her new baby, while her brothers Cesare and Juan find their mutual animosity spilling over into outright conflict.
Paolo, the young stable lad from Pesaro, has made his way to Rome, determined to rejoin his one-time lover Lucrezia and the child that she bore him but he has never seen.
When her father tells heart-broken Lucrezia that Paolo's suicide cannot be given a Christian funeral and will go to Hell, she refuses to feed either herself or her baby.
Alexander's old enemy Ludovico of Milan and the powerful Mantuan Duke Gonzaga seek the Pope's blessing for an alliance with Venice to attack the French army. Cesare learns that the retreating French have burned the nunnery of St. Cecilia and his beloved Ursula has been killed; he and Micheletto recruit a band of cut-throat killers and mercenaries to seek revenge.
Alexander is determined to deal with the twin thorns in his side: the haughty Sforza family and the rebellious Florentine friar Savonarola. He sends Cesare to Catherina Sforza's castle at Forli to demand that she swear allegiance to Rome, while he himself travels to Florence in disguise to hear the increasingly powerful Savonarola preach - not knowing that Della Rovere is there too, getting Savonarola's blessing on his plot to assassinate the Pope.
Convinced that the lightning strike was a sign of God's disapproval, Alexander begins a fastidious regime of Lenten fasting.
Juan returns from Spain, flanked by a retinue of conquistador generals led by the proud Don Hernando. Alexander is impressed by his son's newfound confidence and orders him to lead the Papal armies to besiege Catherina Sforza's castle. Lucrezia meanwhile, stalls attempts to marry her off - her father favors rich Genovese merchant prince Calvino - but Lucrezia, obstinate and deliberately perverse, proceeds to flirt with his younger (and thus inappropriate) brother Raffaello. In Florence, Cesare and Machiavelli witness Savonarola's puritan zealots strengthen their grip on power, culminating in the fevered destruction of art works and luxuries in the "Bonfire of the Vanities." Della Rovere has recruited angelic-looking young friar Antonello as the "suicide" assassin for his plot, and begins to feed the willing boy small doses of poison to create a tolerance to deadly cantarella. Meanwhile, Juan's siege of Forli reaches a stalemate until he manages to kidnap Catherina's son Benito, whom he tortures and threatens to kill in view of the castle walls. Hernando is disgusted by this ignoble behavior and Juan's true cowardly nature is revealed when he flees in terror as the siege is broken by a surprise attack by Ludovico Sforza's reinforcements.
Back in Rome, Juan flaunts a wounded leg and spins a yarn about his valiant conduct at his army's defeat at Forli. But Hernando brings the boy Benito back to Rome and Cesare is determined to have his father hear the truth of Juan's cowardice.
It's Easter, but Alexander continues to fast. A new taster is recruited, and Antonello gets the job - Della Rovere's assassin is ready to strike. In Florence, Cesare challenges Savonarola to a trial by fire.
While Alexander worries that Juan has not come home, Savonarola is tortured on the rack but will not confess. Cesare, determined to destroy his legacy as well as his body, fakes a confession and Savonarola is burned as a heretic. Meanwhile, a new suitor for Lucrezia's hand - Alfonso of Aragon - arrives in Rome. Playful Lucrezia sets out to play the minx with him as with the others, then surprises herself by falling for him. She announces she will marry him.
