My Review of DaVinci's Demons 2x06: "The Rope Of The Dead"

Written by David S. Goyer And Matt Fraction
Directed by Jon Jones

Riario: “Know this, DaVinci. If we depart this place without the Book Of Leaves, I will kill you myself.”

And knowing Riario, you just know that he will give it a good try too, even if DaVinci managed to best him in the end. It’s not just a certain show on NBC that’s getting into the spirit of entwining two enemies together and forcing them to work together but on this show too, both DaVinci and Riario were rather dependant on each other’s survival courtesy of Ima and her people running the mother of all tests.

If it wasn’t for Riario being forced into sacrificing poor Zita, I actually would’ve thought that he fared the best in his trial in the cornfield. He was certainly battering the crap out of the various Incans that tried to kill him and he certainly was able to surprise them at various turns but then they got their own back and poor Zita died as a measure.

As much as I was sad to see Zita go (great character potential there), I did like that her death further illustrated Riario’s kinder side. He took zero pleasure in having to kill her and he certainly took no comfort when DaVinci told him that Zita forgave him as well. Even though DaVinci wasn’t responsible for Zita’s death, I can see why Riario might view him as though.

Speaking of DaVinci – when he wasn’t being struck by his archenemy, he was getting married of sorts to Ima, poisoned by a snake and then entering a rather trippy dream sequence with various dead people trying to tempt him with future knowledge as well as offering cryptic clues about the Book Of Leaves.

It’s kind of amazing that this show has only lightly shown anything really supernatural so for this episode to go almost all out (and not just with DaVinci) was actually a rather pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the scenes DaVinci had with his older self as well as the ones with Giuliano and Solomon that it was almost a shame they weren’t a little longer though. However they did seem to serve their purpose and that of course was the point of the whole episode.

Keeping with the supernatural stuff – it is right to possibly assume that Al Rahim might not actually be alive either? DaVinci saw him amongst the dead and even Lucrezia herself briefly met the man and her sister Amelia again while her assassin friend was drugged. I’m hoping we do get a definitive answer on whether Al Rahim is actually alive or not but either way, I will admit that I am continuing to enjoy Lucrezia a little more this season compared to the previous. I’m hoping her adventures in Constantinople will be interesting to watch as well.

As for Lorenzo – his anger of Giuliano’s death made a lot of sense given that he hadn’t really given time to grieve at all in the previous episodes, between nearly dying himself and having the Pazzis almost wipe out his family but I am glad that anger manifested (along with ghost Giuliano) into besting both Ferrante and Alfonso this week. I’m also hoping within the next four episodes that Lorenzo and Ippolita actually do take out the tyrant father and his tedious son as well. Ferrante is a sadist that needs putting down and Alfonso is an awful character who I can’t see getting interesting any time soon.

Also in “The Rope Of The Dead”

Ima, I’m pretty sure you didn’t need to drug DaVinci into having sex with you. Just saying is all.

DaVinci: “Is this a marriage proposal?”
Ima: “Are you destined to another?”
DaVinci: “No.”

DaVinci might not be ‘destined’ to anyone but he did have great reluctance in handing over Lucrezia’s ring to Ima though.

Zita (re Riario): “You will never understand him.”
Zoroaster: “There we agree.”

Ima (re DaVinci/Riario): “Both of your fates are entwined.”
Riario: “How very poetic.”

Solomon’s commentary on the Mona Lisa and DaVinci’s mother was pretty amusing to watch. Plus anyone who says that painting isn’t DaVinci’s best work – yeah, I’m inclined to agree with them.

Al Rahim (to Lucrezia): “As I said, Leonardo trusts me. Would you want to know why?”

Solomon (re Mona Lisa): “Not your best work in my opinion.”
DaVinci: “Who’s that woman?”

The Mona Lisa might not be DaVinci’s mother but I have a feeling that Ima and her tribe may be keeping her somewhere else though.

Older DaVinci: “I forgot how petulant I can be.”
DaVinci: “Apparently there’s one thing that doesn’t fade with age.”

No Sixtus, Clarice, Carlo, Vanessa or Andreas in this episode. Actually this was the first episode with nothing Florence related at all in it.

DaVinci: “Why are we in chains?”
Older DaVinci: “Because I failed.”

Giuliano: “No-one ever wants to say it but part of us hates the dead for leaving us.”
Lorenzo: “God damn you for dying.”

Chronology: Not long from where “The Sun And The Moon” left off.

It’s actually amazing to see what a difference a season can do to a show and within six episodes of this season, the show has gotten much better. “The Rope Of The Dead” was an engaging story, filled with some lovely characters beats, shocks, some fun at the expense of DaVinci’s expense and overall just bloody fantastic.

Rating: 8 out of 10