I
review the first season of Da Vinci’s
Demons, starring Tom Riley, Lara Pulver, Laura Haddock and Blake Ritson,
created by David S. Goyer.
Earlier
this year, Starz debuted a show created by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel) named Da Vinci’s Demons. Its first season lasted eight episodes and as
far as I’m aware it’s been renewed for a season two. Starring Tom Riley as
Leonardo Da Vinci – Da Vinci’s Demons explores
the early life of the man himself with several supernatural elements thrown in
there for good measure. It’s like Starz caught onto the success that Game of Thrones was giving HBO, but
wanted to make something in the historical era. This series first piqued me
after some interesting trailers and I’ve enjoyed it over the course of its eight
hour long episodes. Whilst it might not be Game
of Thrones level it’s certainly entertaining fun, with some strong acting
and an interesting premise – it unfortunately doesn’t quite hit the status of
all-time greats.
Let’s
talk about the actors first. Tom Riley does a fantastic early Leonardo Da Vinci
– playing the character as a mix of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Matt
Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. He’s eccentric,
an inventor, an artist and a genius. It’s a British-American drama which
explains the British accents (and the fact that it was filmed in Wales), but
benefits from some interesting cast outside of the well-picked Tom Riley. Laura
Haddock plays the devious and cunning Lucrezia Donati, the mistress of Lorenzo
de Medici (Elliot Cowan) as well as the lover of Da Vinci. She’s also got her
own secrets and by the end of the season is fully fleshed out as a three
dimensional character, much like most of the other cast. Eros Vlahos also plays
an early Niccolò Machiavelli, and the character portrayed here is very
different to the one that history paints him as and it’ll certainly be
interesting to watch that transformation in later chapters. Here, Machiavelli
is known as “Nico” and is one of Da Vinci’s closest allies, along with Hera
Hilma’s Vanessa and Greg Chillin’s Zoroaster. They display an interesting
friendship and the chemistry between them is very fun to watch, as is the
chemistry between Riley and Haddock. There’s also Sherlock’s Irene Adler thrown
into the mix as well, with Lara Pulver playing the wife of Lorenzo de Medici. All
in all, it’s a well rounded cast with not too many big names and by the end of
Season 1 they’re all fleshed out beyond mere stereotypes.
Tom Riley as Leonardo Da Vinci
On
the flipside, the cast of Da Vinci’s enemies is quite impressive as well. Blake
Ritson plays a strong and well rounded Count Riario, who is Da Vinci’s main
foil over the course of these eight episodes. The show itself can also flip
genres each time around – you never quite know what you’re going to expect,
with one week being a courtroom drama, the next being a hunt to free a man from
Vlad the Impaler, and another week it might be Da Vinci breaking into the
Vatican itself. The show is complex and engaging and whilst it sometimes may
feel like it’s struggling to decide on which genre it wants to be in – there
are also some heavy ‘influences’ from Batman, which are no surprises given
David S. Goyer’s involvement – it does provide an entertaining watch and you
never quite feel like you’re getting the same episode over and over again. It’s also helped by Da Vinci’s inventions –
we get to see a fresh one each week that each serves a different purposes, and Da Vinci’s Demons uses them very well
indeed.
This
show is also quite clearly a show meant for adults, not children. Within the
first few minutes of the show, we are instantly told what to expect, gore –
sometimes more than necessary, sex – also sometimes more than necessary – and
violence. Many times it can be disturbing but Da Vinci’s Demons manages to be compelling and engaging despite
that. For good or ill – this is Da Vinci like you’ve never seen him before, as
well as being a blend between Sherlock and The Doctor he also brings his
inner-Ezio Auditore to the table too, displaying several swordfighting skills
over the course of the season. He’s charismatic and energetic and easily one of
the highlights of the show is watching Riley play Da Vinci, and it adds to the
overall quality of the show.
Da Vinci's main rival, Count Riario - played by Blake Ritson
The
show itself looks visually stunning. There are several amazing shots of
Florence and there’s never really anything that looks out of place for the era.
Whilst the show may be too complex at times, it delivers a large amount of plot
in its eight episodes and it can be hard keeping track of them all at times.
Things get even more complicated in later episodes as well – so this is
certainly, like Game of Thrones – a
show that you’ll have to keep close attention to. However – the episodes
improves overtime as well, and whilst I wasn’t too keen on Da Vinci’s Demons at the beginning, it transformed itself into some
great viewing by the end as this is really where the show itself excels.
Whilst
the early episodes may be slightly formulaic, Da Vinci’s Demons ends up being a great watch. It’s compelling,
engaging and tells an interesting battle of science (Florence) versus mythology
(The Vatican) with all the added bonus that comes from the novelty of suing Da
Vinci match wits with Dracula. Above all else, this show is a lot of fun and is
something that will appeal to everyone who loved that old school, swashbuckling
adventure shows. And an added bonus is that there’s only eight episodes – so
not much catching up is required.
VERDICT: 4/5
SEASON 1 Individual Episode
Ratings:
- S1x01: The Hanged Man - ****
- S1x02: The Serpent - ***
- S1x03: The Prisoner - ***
- S1x04: The Magician - ****
- S1x05: The Tower - ***1/2
- S1x06: The Devil - ****
- S1x07: The Hierophant ****
- S1x08: The Lovers ****1/2
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