Medici: The Magnificent Season 3, Episode 5 recap: The Holy See

Netflix’s Medici: The Magnificent Episode 305 continues examining holy disputes garnished with blackmail, murder, jealousy, and paranoia.

Episode 305 of Medici: The Magnificent begins with the notorious Girolamo Riario (Jack Roth) bribing Cardinals to influence a Papal election. The question quickly becomes: Can Lorenzo the Magnificent (Daniel Sharman) defeat Riario? As the battle of Cardinal vs. Cardinal begins,
the leading choices in the election are Raffaele Riario (Loris De Luna) or Giovanni Cybo (Neri Marcorè).

Carlo de’ Medici (Callum Blake) asks Lorenzo why he’s backing Cybo, suggesting to him that “You cannot buy the voice of Christ.” However, it’s obvious that Lorenzo isn’t buying that. In fact, Lorenzo — as depicted throughout the series — often has the appearance of a religious skeptic, being intimately familiar with the “earthly” politics occurring behind the scenes. In this case. Riario is still commander of the Papal armies as Lorenzo seeks an intermediary to influence the Papal election.

Medici: The Magnificent — Mystical fate’s unseen hand or very human treachery?

In the process of power-seeking, individual interests are potentially lost. When Lorenzo’s loyal wife, Clarice (Synnove Karlsen) visits Sandro Botticelli (Sebastian De Souza), he reminds her that her son, Giovanni (William Franklyn-Miller) wanted to be an artist rather than a Priest in the church.

As a sort of double whammy, Giulio de’ Medici (Jacob Dudman) is also scheduled to become a Priest. Nevertheless, Clarice seems to shrug Giovanni’s crushed dreams off her shoulders and speaks to her uncle, Cardinal Latino Orsini (Roberto Trifirò), who tells her to speak to Cardinal Bianco.

In the backdrop, some facts are going in Lorenzo’s favor. For starters, Riario’s army is unpaid. Also, Lorenzo and his close associates discover that Caterina Sforza Riario (Rose Williams) is interested in bribing people with secrets to undermine Riario’s desired Pope. Nico (Vincenzo Crea) is tasked with getting a list of names for Lorenzo’s advisor, Bernardi (Johnny Harris), to know where each person’s interests lie. As this skulduggery unfolds, Giulio (Jacob Dudman) actually renounces his revenge impulse against his father’s killer to Lorenzo, to help prepare for his role in the Catholic Church.

Caterina meets Clarice

Caterina initially meets Clarice briefly at Cardinal Latino Orsini’s party, and there’s some thinly veiled hostility between them. Clarice later expresses concerns to her uncle Latino over his siding with Riario and Raffaele. When she starts leaving the party, Clarice’s carriage gets stopped and she is kidnapped by men sent by Caterina! Medici: The Magnificent has had many twists and turns, and at first one wonders if the drink Caterina offers Clarice is poisoned.

Instead, Caterina hands Clarice a book of the different Cardinal’s secrets, included mistresses, bastard children, money stolen, and surely other juicy details. Why is Caterina betraying Riario? She says he lusts after the war more than he lusts after her. After retrieving this blackmail information, Clarice has a talk with Lorenzo about their own dirty secret of the Medici family stealing city funds.

Blackmail helps make important decisions

The dishonesty pays off for the Medici clan. The blackmailed Bianco tells Clarice he favors Cybo but makes sure to whisper about her being a cold-hearted witch. When Cybo ultimately wins, Riario is more than a little grumpy. He tries to lash out at Caterina, who is safely locked behind a door. She says that trusting her was his mistake, then both Ricci (David Brooks) and Riario get killed as they attempt to flee.

In an interesting moment, Giulio offers the dying Ricci a Latin prayer as Lorenzo watches from a short distance. There’s a slight problem with what has happened, though. Despite all the efforts of bribery, blackmail, threats, and murder, the new Pope refuses to settle the Papal accounts with Lorenzo. In other words, his family still isn’t out of the woods.

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Medici: The Magnificent Season 3 recap: Episode 5, ‘The Holy See’

By Wade Wainio | Sep 19, 2020

Medici: The Magnificent — Mystical fate’s unseen hand or very human treachery?

Caterina meets Clarice

Blackmail helps make important decisions