Starz’s period drama Da Vinci’s Demons is filled with puzzles, political intrigue, beauty, violence and magic—all of the big elements that help make any glitzy drama sparkle. The subscription cable network was so impressed with the concept that Da Vinci’s Demons Season 2 was picked up just one week after posting record-breaking premiere numbers. On Saturday, Starz is bringing the thrilling series back for a second season, and if you didn’t get on board for the first round, or need a bit of a refresher course, this article was written just for you.
Basic Premise Of The Series
As its title promises, Da Vinci’s Demons follows a young Leonardo Da Vinci, a brainy and gifted young man with a whirling dervish of a brain. He’s a person capable of handling numerous complex problems and projects at once, but he still enjoys toying around and having a drink or five each night. He’s the quintessential Renaissance man, living in Italy during that famed time period.
Da Vinci’s complicated relationship with his father has led him to make several decisions during the course of the series. Famously, we get to see the masterful and eccentric young man interact with Italy’s famed family the Medicis, who control a lot of power during the time period depicted on the small screen. While Da Vinci’s Demons is not strictly based on fact, plenty of references with historical value are made during the series. Mostly, it’s a fun and wild fantasy series meant to be taken as light, sometimes goofy and ultimately enjoyable fiction.
What We Saw Last Season
At the beginning of Season 1, Da Vinci was busy trying to lure in investors to fund his numerous and often zany projects. He caught the eye of the Medici family, who was constantly being threatened by other countries and even the papacy in Rome. The Medicis desperately needed a new system of weaponry, and Da Vinci convinced them to fund his efforts so that he could produce the desired weapons.
Early on, Da Vinci also met Lucrezia Donati, a beautiful young woman who also happened to be the mistress of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Unfortunately, he fell in love with the complicated woman, who happens to be a lover, a mistress and a spy. She proved to be a major problem for both Lorenzo and Da Vinci, but she did seem to have a certain fondness for the latter. Due to her father’s imprisonment in Rome, she was feeding information to the Pope’s employee Riario, a man hellbent on destroying the Roman Empire.
The design of weaponry was not enough to tide over Da Vinci. He also happened to be obsessed with the idea of gadgets, including a device to help humans take to the skies like birds. On top of this, he was known to visit wisemen and was on the quest for a mythical but possibly real book known as the Book of Leaves. Towards the end of the season, Da Vinci booked passage on a ship to look into the Book of Leaves, but he hit a roadbump when Riario attacked the Medici family. Da Vinci arrived in time to help Lorenzo and his family escape Riario’s clutches, but at the end of the last episode, they were still holed up and hiding out. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, but if you are more interested in where Season 2 will go, keep reading.
What We Might See This Season
Starz has been busy putting out promos and trailers over the last several weeks. If you have caught any of the trailers, you have probably noticed there are a lot of mentions about the Book of Leaves. Da Vinci is on a quest, a quest that will either lead the Italian population “to illumination or into further darkness.” Da Vinci already pieced together some knowledge about the Book of Leaves (he even ripped off a dead dude’s skin to get that info) and newer images have seen the man hacking around through the jungle and walking around on beaches—behaviors that are neither posh or typically suited to a metropolitan Italian. Everyone also seems to be sporting shaggy hair to prove just how tough adventuring can be.
The show also seems to be picking up right where it left off, with the creepy mystic consultant acting pretty disappointed that Da Vinci chose the Medici family over what he perceives to be the greater struggle. Despite Da Vinci’s heroic efforts to save the day, there still seem to be some major problems in Florence. There are deaths in the streets and the Vatican still looks to have some tricks up its sleeve. On the bright side, it looks like Lorenzo will also be surviving, although, from the looks of things, he will have an empire to rebuild.
Additionally, the Medici clan and bad guy Riario seem to be back in the plot, which is a good thing, because I was concerned he might fall to the wayside in favor of new villains this season. Apparently David S. Goyer and co. know a good thing when they see it, and Riario will be back in full force. His main agenda is self-preservation, so when he intertwines with Da Vinci and co. things should get interesting. Riley recently mentioned in an article over at USA Today that Da Vinci is headed to Peru, and Riario just so happens to have the same destination in mind. So, expect a lot of barbs to be traded in the coming weeks.
Da Vinci’s Demons will return to Starz’s schedule on Saturday, March 22 at 9 p.m. ET. Additionally, tomorrow Goyer will be on hand at 2 p.m. ET to take questions from fans on Twitter. Get excited. Winter may be coming, but so is the Book of Leaves.
