Episode Title: “The Blood of Brothers”
Writer: Jami O’Brien
Director: Peter Hoar
Previously on “Da Vinci’s Demons:”
Episode 2.01 “The Blood of Man”
Chaos reigns in the streets of Florence and Lorenzo de Medici (Elliot Cowan) needs to make a statement if he wants to reclaim his city and thwart Rome’s plans for a takeover. Luckily, da Vinci (Tom Riley) has a plan to get Lorenzo’s urgent message to the people.
This latest stroke of genius comes to the maestro when he observes Francesco Pazzi (Elliot Levey) shouting in the town square to a crowd that probably can’t even hear him. Da Vinci urges Lorenzo to make a speech that will be heard throughout the piazza, thanks to some strategically placed brass panels. The plan works and the people of Florence respond to their leader’s impassioned plea. The Pazzis are apprehended and Lorenzo returns home to Clarice (Lara Pulver), whom he commends for holding down the fort in his absence.
Lorenzo returns to his seat of power, but knows Rome won’t stop until Florence falls. The Medicis need a brilliant military strategist if their city is to survive the Roman onslaught, however da Vinci won’t give up his quest for the Book of Leaves. When Zoroaster ((Gregg Chillin), who managed to survive drowning along with Lucezia (Laura Haddock) thanks a passed hairpin during a kiss, updates da Vinci on Riario (Blake Ritson), he becomes even more determined to obtain the priceless book before his Roman counterpart.
While Florence is in jeopardy, da Vinci believes the secrets revealed in the Book of Leaves could ultimately save the embattled city. It takes some convincing to get Lorenzo to give the maestro his blessing but he comes around when he recognizes a symbol from da Vinci’s sketches on the sword his father gave him and his late brother, Guiliano. The sword, it turns out, is actually two blades, with one nesting inside the other. Lorenzo splits them apart, gives one half to da Vinci as well as his blessing for the journey ahead.
With Lorenzo and da Vinci now on the same page with the Book of Leaves, da Vinci can finally begin his quest in earnest. Meanwhile, Pope Sixtus (James Faulkner) meets with the King of Naples, who looks more like a bookkeeper than the warlord he’s touted to be. But the King quickly bolsters his reputation when he sends his own son, a much more imposing figure, running out the room by spinning a tooth in a bowl, after the young man speaks out of turn. He tells Sixtus his son won’t want to be in the room when the tooth stops spinning. We’re left to imagine what the King, who has a macabre fascination with skulls, had in mind.
What we do learn is that Sixtus wants to use the King’s army to take Florence under the Neapolitan and Papal flags. The King offers up his services to the Pope while back in Florence, Zoroaster introduces da Vinci to his old friend, Amerigo Vespucci, who we learn in addition to being a master navigator, is a bit of a con artist. The two find the famed explorer in coffin, faking his own death to avoid his creditors with the help of a little girl he hired to play his grieving daughter.
As da Vinci prepares to set sail, Riario begins to decode the map he stole from Zoroaster and Nico with the help of Zita (Estella Daniels), an Abyssinian slave girl who becomes his lover. Meanwhile, the Medicis take in Vanessa (Hera Hilmar) after learning she’s carrying Guiliano’s child. The news gives hope to the family, which is in need of a male heir, though Clarice has her doubts about the young bar maid.
“The Blood of Brothers” refers to the bond between da Vinci and Lorenzo, forged in life-saving blood and now a reaffirmed loyalty as da Vinci begins a journey that he believes will ultimately benefit the Medicis and their beloved city. The alliance is a promising start to da Vinci’s epic likely season-long journey, one that should make for some very entertaining viewing for fans of the historical fantasy genre.
