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Medici Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2019 - 2019
Episode 1
Survival
Fri, May 1, 202051 mins
Pope Sixtus IV, instigated by his ambitious, warlike cousin Girolamo Riario , has an army ready to invade Florence, where moral is shattered by collective excommunication, which the Tuscan bishops dare not overrule. Lorenzo refuses to go beg in Rome for peace and papal absolution, fearing imprisonment, but enables a crucial prisoner exchange by releasing cardinal-nepote Raffaele, yet when Carlo de' Medici is released form papal jail, horsemen murder him on the way home. Meanwhile Lorenzo relaxes his initial doubts about the boy being accepted by his female household kin as Giulio, bastard of the late Giuliano who escaped by clerical help the murder of his mother by Riario's henchmen. Little notice is taken of Florentine 'prophet' Savonarola, while pious charity declines and misery mounts.
Episode 2
The Ten
Fri, May 1, 202051 mins
Ardinghelli having achieved a Priori majority against sending native militia reinforcements from the city walls garrison to the outnumbered mercenaries at the front, Lorenzo resigns until the panicking people revolt, forcing the Priori to accept his terms to return: an emergency council of ten, giving his party full powers for the duration of the war, and invites Tommaso Peruzzi to join, with bank lawyer Bruno Bernardi acting as Lorenzo's general counsel, even in constitutional matters. Having sent his family to the Pistoia country villa, Lorenzo takes a warning seriously and arrives just in time to fight off an attack from Riario's henchmen, led by Giulio's mother's murderer, identified by the boy who won both Lorenzo's trust as true Medici and Boticelli's heart as gifted, devoted artist. Returning to Firenze, he realizes the war can only be won if Naples deserts the pope, hence decides to visit its notoriously sinister king Ferrante. As the suffering of the poor increases, beyond charity, the prior of San Marco has the rebellious friar who insists on keeping contagious patients around forcibly transferred.
Episode 3
Trust
Fri, May 1, 202053 mins
Desperate to break the papal-Neapolitan siege, Lorenzo and his counsel Bruno Bernardi sail to deal with king Ferrante, a reputed, paranoid tyrant. Informed by Neapolitan prince and siege general Alfonso, Girolamo Riario also travels to the royal court. Lorenzo finds an ally in his ex Ippolita Sforza, now married to the prince. During the preparations to install his favorite bastard as 'knight of the realm', Ferrante considers Lorenzo's offer of peace and profitable trade rather then exhausting occupation as well as Riario's claim that even the Medici bank is bust, taking them hostage until the veracity is tested by a hefty 50.000 ducats ransom, which Lorenzo's mother desperate scrapes together and sends via Carlo. Lorenzo burns the credit letter, staking instead on information that the Ottomans are preparing an invasion and setting up Riario to be found withholding such information just to discredit Lorenzo.
Episode 4
Innocents
Fri, May 1, 202053 mins
After seven prosperous years, Lorenzo aims to prolong the Italian peace indefinitely by hosting a conference. Papal general and cousin Girolamo Riario hopes to provoke a Florentine war declaration by occupying ally Ferrara and taking hostage all Florentines. Tommaso Peruzzi is hidden in the magistrate's palace, until a diabolical ruse involving wife Caterina Sforza allows a cynical gamble with the exile lives, which Bruno Bernardi convinces Lorenzo to use as heartbreaking proof to turn the pope from protecting his nephew to joining the peace conference, which the French king formally invites Sixtus IV to, part of a cynical series of false or opportunistic moves by him and Lorenzo to claim the leading pacifier role, finally sacrificing grudges over the murders of Giuliano and a bishop. Lorenzo sacrifices smart son Giovanni's artistic ambitions to be groomed as Medici candidate for the papacy. Terminally ill, Lucrezia confiscates Piero's dueling sword and claims Clarice to succeed her as manager of the bank, despite ethical reservations about 'borrowing' from the city treasury to finance Lorenzo's expensive generosity, bribery and patronage.
Episode 5
The Holy See
Fri, May 1, 202054 mins
Florence having profited from seven years without war in divided Italy, Lorenzo plans to negotiate a general, indefinite piece on the peninsula. All mayor players are interested, but pope Innocent VIII feels the project is in intrusion on his evangelical vocation as God's representative on earth. When Lorenzo makes a surprise visit to Rome, the pope demands at least private apologies for bishop-killing in the wake of the murder of Giuliano, which is refused. A sanctimonious strife ensues who can call himself father of the peace, with the French king acting as figure head to invite everyone and Lorenzo agreeing to the venue being shifted form Firenze to papal town Bagnolo, schemer Riario having been called to order by his 'holy' uncle. There the pope expects to expel 'war demon' Lorenzo, who deviously uses fake humility to triumph.
Episode 6
A Man of No Importance
Fri, May 1, 202056 mins
Medici rival Nicolò Ardinghelli gets the council to order a general audit of all family accounts, hoping disclosed corruption will allow abolishing the rule of the then. Lorenzo agrees and gets it headed by friend Tommaso Peruzzi, assisted by eager to learn Piero, but Bruno warns him they may stumble upon the matriarch's 'borrowing' for the skinned bank from the city's empty dowries fund. Even if Carlo can get the pope to repay, the only hope to fill the gap is collecting the debt of Sarzana, a Ligurian fortress town under papal protection. Lorenzo gets the supporting of military giant Milan's kid ruler and regent, but even under their threat the "gonfaloniere" (ruling magistrate), estranged brother of Bruno, refuses to give in, trusting on papal protection, so Lorenzo resorts to a Da Vinci artillery design and a fake new ruse using Bruno, who faces his darkest family trauma. Back home, they learn Tommaso already knows too much and must be dealt with.
Episode 7
Lost Souls
Fri, May 1, 202055 mins
Although appointed with Lorenzo's support, prior Girolamo Savonarola calls for a investigation into the yet unproven murder of Tommaso Peruzzi, whom Piero mourns too, but he is finally groomed to succeed Lorenzo, whose worsening ailment spells an early death. A mob vandalizing the Medici palace causes afire, during which Lorenzo makes a bad fall, even Sandro Botticelli now declines heading the academy of his former mentor now dubbed murderer. Bruno's crime is covered up by paying off the woman who brings semi-proof when Lorenzo offers a rich reward, but Clarice realizes the dirty game seeing her bring the cash to the prior, whose implicit accusation is formally rejected by the council of ten. Carlo fails to get Innocent VIII to create fit Giovanni a cardinal, being only 14, but Lorenzo buys the red hat by promising his daughter Maddalena's hand to the pope's pre-clerical wayward son Franchetto.
Episode 8
The Fate of the City
Fri, May 1, 202058 mins
Lorenzo realizes his family's grip on Florence may die with him, now his health is breaking down. He must drag himself to his wife's funeral, a Medici reunion. Lacking the force to contain popular protests, he decides to release even his palazzo's raiders, who ban 'sinfully proud' art everywhere and even return to wreck the priceless art collection in the gardens academy, including sculptures by Michelangelo. Guiscardi's men are posted to deal with revolutionary prior Giralomo Savanorola, but miss him, so Lorenzo realizes Pierro betrayed him, still bitter over mentor Tommaso's murder. Bruno Bernardi insists to make sure the last chance is seized to murder the mob leader before his Sunday sermon car stir an outright revolt, but last moment Lorenzo throws himself in front of his friend turned enemy, enough to reconcile with Pierro. The city council disband the Ten and installs a 'government by the people'. Lorenzo's deathbed devotion to God-given beauty as well as family shocks Savanorola even after his confession.
