Episode five opens with Rodrigo having nightmares about his dear Lucreiza dead and unforgiving. One of Rodrigo’s most redeeming qualities in the show is his continual questioning of his own actions. Subconsciously, he is always weighing and balancing his soul against the actions he is taking. It still doesn’t stop him from planning another marriage—for either Juan or Gioffre.
Now that Lucrezia is gone, Cesare focuses all his attention on liberating Ursula from her controlling husband. He hunts Ursula quietly, slowly, wearing down her reserve against him.# Promising her he will not get into harm’s way, Cesare enlists Micheletto’s help to sharpen his fighting technique. It pays off; at the end of the episode Cesare kills Ursula’s husband.
Meanwhile, Rodrigo also has Cesare follow della Rovere’s lead: sending him to Florence to talk with the de Medici and Niccolò Machiavelli about their allegiance with Rome.^ They say what most have said: do what you want, make the plans you want, but if France wants Naples, you’re on your own.
Lucrezia, in her new household in Pesaro, finds marriage not wonderful at all. Her husband’s a bear who hates her and her nights are a waking nightmare. Her only comfort is her new maid and the stable boy Paolo. Lucrezia seduces the poor boy, who seems completely out of his depth, eventually getting him to sabotage Giovanni’s saddle, making him fall and break his leg. Lucrezia’s plan for her husband is to “tame him” with this broken leg, bringing her to greater freedom in her new household.
#Somehow this girl missed the memo on Cesare Borgia: ladies man, mans man, man about town…she actually thinks she’s safe around him and that he won’t act on his feelings for her. This can only end badly.
^History girl gush moment: NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI WAS SO COOL! The talk between Cesare and Niccolo: it’s like watching history in the making that never happened. OMG.