Netflix: What I'm Watching

I love you Netflix.

Hey everyone! It's kinda late....early....it's 2:30 in the morning. 

I'm an insomniac, in case you couldn't already tell, and so I was up, just me and my old buddy Netflix, and I thought it would be fun to share with everyone the shows I'm obsessed with on Netflix these days.






The following synopsis's include spoilers.

All 3 seasons available on Netflix.

So, the very first show I want to mention is The Borgias. I am obsessed with this show. Like....OBSESSED.  It stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, and it follows the "reign" of Pope Alexander from his election. If you liked The Tudors you will probably like this show. If you like history or historical fiction you will like this show. Pope Alexander VI wasn't exactly on the up and up. For starters, the man had 4 (plus) children. He bought his way into the papacy, he kept a mistress at the Vatican and it was nothing for him to "dispose" of his adversaries. Mario Puzo based his novel The Godfather on the Borgia family. Rodrigo's oldest son, Cesare (a French-Canadian dreamboat named Francois Arnaud), is a teenage priest when the show begins and is quickly promoted to Cardinal (at age 18!!), however his heart does not lie in the church. He wants to be in armor...but that position is already filled by his younger brother, and their father's favorite son, Juan. Juan has a "I'm so much better than you" complex and he and Cesare never, and I do mean never, see eye to eye. The Popes youngest son, Goiffre, is married off in the first season, at the age of 13, and we never see him again. Rounding out the "unholy family" is the only daughter of the bunch, Lucretzia (played by the stunning Holliday Grainger). She is just a child when the show opens, but by the end she is a mother, wife, ex-wife, widow, seductress, adulterer, murderer.... Lucretzia Borgia is a name that is shrouded in legend in history. 

The Family, season 1

Season 1 of The Borgias was wonderful, the first episode showed Rodrigo buying the papacy, being "crowed" Pope, and placing his sons in positions of power. By the end of the season, Cesare has been reluctantly promoted to Cardinal and fallen in love with a married woman, who, after he killed her husband to be with her, joined a nunery, Juan has flubbed up an attack against a threatening French invasion, and spends most of his down time in the company of "ladies of the night." The Pope himself has taken a very beautiful mistress, Julia, much to the dismay of his children's mother, Vanozza (played exquisitely by Joanne Whaley), a former Spanish Courtesan. Lucretzia has been married off to a brute, fallen in love with a stable boy, and become a mother. 

Cesare and Lucretzia - Season 2

Season 2 picks up several months later and deals with assassination attempts, an ever present in this series, Cesare and Juan's rivalry, threats from Lucretzia's former in-laws, alliances, deaths, murders.... it's action packed. Mid-Season SPOILER ALERT (but it's history, so it isn't really a spoiler) Juan and Cesare's rivalry shoots through the roof and results in Cesare murdering his now syphilis stricken brother and tossing him in the Tiber River. There is an out of control Friar in Florence that Pope Alexander has to deal with throughout this entire season, and let's just say things end a bit heated. (I'm winking.... ;)The end of the season closes with Lucretzia becoming engaged to a new suitor, Alphonso d'Aragon, and the Pope nearly dying from an attempted poisoning.

Season 3 is the best season, in my opinion. It opens immediately following what we saw in the season 2 finale. BUT, and to me, it's a big but.... Ceasre's hair is quite different.... It's obvious that it's longer, but personally it's his best look aside from the way he looked in the first season. Francois Arnaud is a hunk (he was almost Christian Grey, btw) and so he would look amazing in a garbage bag... In Season 3 Cesare comes into his own and becomes a very strong leader. Cesare was like Michael Corleone, he was never supposed to be "the one" according to his Father, but he always was "the one." This season reminds me a lot of the scene in The Godfather when Michael is planning the hit in the restaurant on the cop that busted his face. The way he is so calm about planning a heinous murder... Cesare is definitely like that. (Juan is a mix of Sonny and Fredo, to me, and, of course, Lucretzia is Connie.) Following the events in Season 2, Cesare Borgia became the first man to ever resign from being a Cardinal, he made history. So I thought that was pretty cool. He takes absolute control over the situation when his father almost dies, and it's....frankly, quite sexy. ;) 

Another theme in Season 3 is the rumored incest that was said to have occurred between Cesare and Lucretzia. For hundreds of years there were rumors that brother and sister were in an incestuous relationship, but it's never been 100% confirmed, nor has it been 100% denied. And at first thought, you're like INCEST!?! EWWWW!  But the thing of it is.... you actually want Cesare and Lucretzia together. They have one crazy night after Lucretzia's wedding to Alphonso, and then she's off to Naples with her husband. Cesare, now free of his priestly robes, finds himself a noble bride in France and finally gets what he's craved for since the very beginning, an army.

The Borgias was an extremely expensive show for Showtime to produce, and therefore it only lasted 3 seasons. 4 had been planned, but had never been contractually negotiated. Following the shows cancellation, the creator of the show, Neil Jordan (a genius in the world of historical fiction) wanted Showtime to produce a 2 hour movie to tie up all the loose ends and to give the viewers (of which there were many) some closure. Showtime said "no, we're done." And so Neil Jordan released his screenplay for the film as an e-book. I purchased it off of the Amazon Kindle Store, and read it, and.... I don't know, I like the way the show ended. It was an ending very open to interpretation.

I've watched this show in it's entirety about 4 times, and then pick and choose my favorite episodes. I LOVE this show. I LOVE this show. Let me say that again, I LOVE this show. I binge watched all 3 seasons in a weekend (one season per day, I was glued to the TV) and since then, I usually can't go a full day without seeing at least 1 episode. Also, watch out for Sean Harris as Cesare's manservant, and hired hit man, Micheletto. He's as cold as ice. 

Of course, there are some adult themes in this series, ranging from the above mentioned incest, to homosexuality, to STDs, drug abuse, murder.... this is not a show you need to turn on to help your child with their history lessons.

5 stars for The Borgias!

New Episodes unavailable in the US.

The next show that I started watching and then couldn't turn it off, was The Fall. Now, my Netflix had this listed as a Netflix Original, but from what I'm understanding, it's an Ireland based show that is also shown in the UK on the BBC. I also understand that, hallelujah, it was picked up for a second season, so I'm hoping that Netflix will upload that as soon as possible...

Ok, The Fall stars Gillian Anderson, from The X-Files, as the "Detective Superintendent," Stella, who has been flown in to Belfast to help investigate a string of murders that are basically leaving not a single trace of the murderer. She looks amazing, by the way, in this show. She is amazing, in this show. Stella is an astonishingly smart, very "in tune" woman that is the type that can just look at the crime scene and basically tell you what happened, in great detail.

The best part of The Fall, and the part that drew me in to watch it in the first place is *sigh* Jamie Dornan... you know, Christian Grey in the new Fifty Shades movie. Yeah.  Jamie's character, Paul, is gorgeous -- I mean, is a grief counselor, married to a neonatal nurse, with two amazing kids. But right from the get-go you know he's weird (can't nobody be that good looking and sane, shame) and I like the fact that the show wastes no time in letting you know he's the guy that Stella is on the hunt for. 

Paul has a type, "professional" women with long dark hair. And he has a specific way he likes to end their lives. He likes to suffocate them, then he bathes them and poses them in their beds. He's a sicko. He really is. On one occasion he even paints one victims nails red, which sends Stella's mind into overdrive. Paul is a very detailed assassin. He does prep work for weeks in advance before he claims another victim. He is meticulous in his delivery, which we can plainly see is why he's never been caught.

A lot of this show deals with Paul's internal struggles, and Jamie Dornan performs his character beautifully. It's hard to hate him, I think, because, at points, he really is struggling with what he's doing. As the first season comes to a close, Paul and his wife start to have some troubles in the marriage, a lot of it stemming from the fact that their daughter is obviously disturbed (the poor thing really is disturbed) and Paul's admission of infidelity. 

Just as Stella is closing in on Paul, just as she all but knows his name, he and his family take off on a getaway to put their lives back together. Paul swears he is through with the killing, but Stella knows better and won't rest until she catches him...

I WANT MORE of this show!! I was SO enthralled by it. I watched the first 4 episodes one night after my husband went to bed and wanted to watch the last one, but it was daylight, and I needed some rest. So I napped for a few hours then got up and watched the last episode, and then, for the rest of the day kept repeating "That can't be the end! She's got him! That can't be the end!!!"

Another outstanding performance in this series is by John Lynch. I knew him from Sliding Doors and The Secret Garden. He is the police chief in Belfast, and he is being pulled in a thousand different directions. Very fine acting from Mr. Lynch, indeed. 

This show also has some adult themes in it, and is definitely not something I'd watch with kids. 5 stars for The Fall!

All new episodes now showing on Thursday Nights on TLC.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this. But I have an unhealthy obsession with My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding. Yeah. I've even got my husband hooked. 

Did you know that there were gypsy's in America? But they don't ride around in horse drawn wagons telling people's fortunes anymore. They ride around in 2014 Ford F-150's and black top driveways. 

The Gypsy Wives are what kill me. These women are super wives. From the age of... oh, I don't know, birth they are trained on how to be a wife. Cooking, cleaning, babies, taking care of a husband... it's in their DNA, and they do it all in heels, acryllic nails, teased up hair, lots of bling-bling (you'll hear that term more than you ever thought you ever could), and designer clothes.  

MBFAGW tells the stories of teenage American Gypsy brides, and how Gypsy's like "over the top" weddings, and wedding gowns. It's nothing for a gypsy girl to marry at 15. But the thing of it is, even though they basically dress like a two bit showgirl, and dance around like they live in Showgirls, they're all supposed to be pure white virgins when they get married. Draw your own conclusions. Some are obviously not, some have kids, but some are so young you'd have to think.... Some of these girls have only met their fiancee once or twice before in person. But they all say the same thing "I want to get married, I want to get married." So they get married.

And occasionally you get the gypsy boy that wants to marry a Gorger girl... a non-gypsy.... and that's a big no-no, but for such a big no-no, they show it an awful lot on this show.

And the thing is, they all LOVE to party. And they party HARD, over ANYTHING. And they all have to have custom designed costumes by the Gypsy Dress Making Queen, Sondra Chelli, who is based out of Boston. The woman is a genius. You'll love her. 

Let's not forget about the fact that Gypsy's love to fight!! Over anything...

You will meet a family in this first season, The Stanley family... and it's daughters, Nettie and Mellie (who is the model in the promo pic above), and their first cousins Kayla and Annie (they got their own spin off called "Gypsy Sisters")... fasten your seatbelts. That's all I'm gonna say. So much happens I don't even know where to start!

Alas, only the first season of this show is available on Netflix, (8 episodes) but currently the show is airing new episodes on TLC on Thursday nights! 

This show is addictive! Plus, it helps me get motivated to clean! (You'll understand why when you watch it.) 5 stars for My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.

And as for movies....

A Royal Affair is on Netflix and Amazon Instant

First up is a foreign film called A Royal Affair. I'd seen a preview for this film a while ago, but didn't think I could handle sitting through subtitles, as the film is entirely (with the exception of a 5 minute opening scene) in Danish. But I got on a foreign film kick a while ago (starting with a film called Bride Flight, which is another must see), and so I decided to finally give this a try. 

I AM SO GLAD I DID!! I simply adored this movie. It is based on the true story of King Christian VII of Denmark and his Queen Caroline Matilde (from Great Briton) and the German doctor Johann Struensee. (pronounced stroon-seh)

They basically rocked Denmark. King Christian was insane, pretty much. He lived in a world all of his own, and he was very difficult to work with. He and Queen Caroline Matilde married and, finally, had a child together before Dr. Johann Stuensee (Mads Mikkelson, from Hannibal) enters their lives. Dr. Struensee seems to have an ability to calm Christian and to make him see things clearly. No one can handle Christian the way Dr. Stuensee does, and so he finds a place at court. 

Which is all well and good until he and the Queen start having an affair and she gets pregnant. Yeah.

During that time, Denmark became one of the countries leading the world. Dr. Struensee was a believer in "the enlightenment" and had ideas on ways to improve life that did not go along with the ideas of the old world. Dr. Struensee starts writing speeches for Christian (telling him that he's "acting" to get him to give them). Denmark reforms policies right and left.

Christian's step-mother, the Queen Dowager Juliana Maria leads a coup d'etat, and regains control of Denmark, leaving Christian to rumble around the castle as an insane old man, raising two children without their mother (who was sent away, only to die from TB, I believe, a short time later, only in her early 20's), and without his good friend Dr. Struensee, and you can guess what happened to him. 

This film is BEAUTIFUL. It captivated me from the very beginning and I enjoyed every minute of it. Mads Mikkelson is simply majestic to watch in this film.  Alicia Vikander appears as Queen Caroline Matilde and plays the role with such beauty! But, to me, the real star of this show is Mikkel Følsgaard who co-stars as King Christian VII of Denmark. The man was simply amazing. 6 out of 5 stars for A Royal Affair.

So that was my first What I'm Watching (Netflix Addition) I think I'm going to turn this into a regular series here on The Simple Life. I am always watching new things and wanting to share them with people. I hope you enjoyed this, and if you watch any of the above mentioned programs, please let me know in the comments below and tell me what you thought!!

Thanks for stopping by! Now grab the remote and settle in!!

I pay for a monthly Netflix subscription and have watched all the above mentioned TV Shows/Movies on my own time.