Da Vinci's Demons (EN)

Another

show which may be classified as guilty pleasure. It has a few shortcomings, but definitely also has its pluses. I've been waiting for it with great interest because of the man himself. DA Vinci - one of the greatest minds of all time.

The show is written (and partly directed) by David S. Goyer - writer of the new Batman trilogy, Blade trilogy and the Man of Steel. Actors are (to me at least) mostly unknown, besides Alexandera Siddig, but are very good in their roles. The show portrays great Leonardo (Tom Riley) as a young, good looking 25 year old, very popular with ladies and is often unbuttoned and even shirtless, but is also very stressed, haunted and uses many kinds of opiates. He is of course also a genius, but not only as an artist and engineer, he even has quite good social skills. The writer says that the show is mostly based on real facts about this great inventor, as most as 85%, but is also, due to general public and viewers using artistic license in many things.

Artist - scientist

The show is based in renaissance Florence, and due to that fact is very interesting to me because of my great love to Assassin's Creed game series. Many locations and names are almost as in the game itself and I'm giving it a small plus there. We are seeing Florence's struggle under their leaders (Medici family) to remain free under the oppression of Rome and Pope himself. Under the spotlight comes Pope's right hand (Blake Ritson) as a very charismatic villain who also gets personal with Da Vinci.

Good guy, bad guy.

Due to era in which the show is set, there is many religious and spiritual elements, which Da Vinci as a skeptic and a scientist has hard time accepting, but during the show his views are changing. Not only because he is constantly seeking knowledge, the main thing that drives him is to uncover why his mother left him as a child still in a cradle. The series hints she also has something to do with everything that is still going on.

One of many similar scenes

The show looks really good. Costumes and locations look very good though exteriors do have CGI. There are some really nice visual elements, slow motion scenes cross-fading into Da Vinci's sketches just to show how quickly his mind works. Very nice touch.

While the show starts in a humorous and casual style, as it progresses it gets darker and more intriguing, but it also keeps its light themes the entire time. There are some elements some may not like, Vlad Tepes as a side villain in example, but that's what makes this show even more compelling. It knows it's not hard drama like Homeland or Breaking Bad and it's making it's own spotlight. And it seems it is working, as the second season is already announced.

7,5/10