Director (and series co-producer) Peter Hoar shoots Florence like a futuristic city trapped in the 15th century. The camera moves with kinetic desperation—crashing zooms, Dutch angles, and slow-motion sequences of Leonardo’s sketches coming to life. When Leonardo designs a repeating crossbow or a diving bell, the CGI renders his notebook drawings as moving blueprints, bleeding into reality.
The aesthetic is deliberately anachronistic. The costumes mix period leather with Victorian tailoring. The violence is sharp and sudden (a throat is cut in a bathhouse; a crucifix is used as a bludgeon). This is not The Borgias. This is 300 meets Sherlock.
In the pantheon of historical drama, creators often face a binary choice: fidelity to the historical record or the liberating path of speculative fiction. Da Vinci’s Demons, created by David S. Goyer for Starz, aggressively chooses the latter. The series premiere, “The Hanged Man,” does not simply introduce a character; it launches a manifesto. The episode argues that genius is not a serene gift but a violent, chaotic, and often self-destructive curse. Through its breakneck pacing, anachronistic energy, and deliberate myth-making, the pilot establishes a Renaissance Florence that is less a historical setting and more a psychological battlefield for a young Leonardo da Vinci.
The Deconstruction of the Renaissance Man
From the first frame, this is not the serene, bearded sage of popular imagination. Instead, we meet Leonardo (Tom Riley) as a manic, arrogant, and deeply flawed prodigy. He is introduced fleeing the Medici guards after a heist, not for gold, but for a mechanical bird—a prototype of his obsession with flight. This opening sequence is crucial. It immediately codes Leonardo as a rebel and a scavenger, a man who steals not for wealth but for the raw materials of his imagination.
The episode quickly establishes his core internal conflict: the suffocating limits of human knowledge. “I have known a hundred men who could paint the perfect Madonna,” he scoffs. “They bore me.” This line is the thesis of the episode. Leonardo is not motivated by piety or patronage, but by an insatiable, almost desperate curiosity. The central symbol of the episode—the tarot card of The Hanged Man—becomes a metaphor for his state of being. In tarot, the Hanged Man represents suspension, sacrifice, and seeing the world from a new perspective. Leonardo is metaphorically hanged by his own intellect, caught between the earthly demands of Florence (his debts, his rivalries) and the vertical pull of his heavenly ambitions.
Florence as a Maze of Power and Paranoia da vincis demons season 1 episode 1
Goyer wisely refuses to let the episode become a simple biopic. Instead, Florence is rendered as a pressure cooker of Renaissance politics. The episode introduces three distinct pillars of power that will constrain Leonardo: the political (Lorenzo de’ Medici, played by Elliot Cowan as a shrewd but vulnerable lion), the religious (the ominous Pope Sixtus IV and the sinister Inquisition), and the mercantile (Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo’s jealous master).
Each of these forces tries to claim or control Leonardo’s genius. Lorenzo offers patronage but demands loyalty; the Church demands submission; Verrocchio demands obedience. Leonardo’s rebellion against each of them is the engine of the plot. The episode’s climax—Leonardo’s public demonstration of his “spring cannon” (a primitive tank) at the Battle of the Mills—is a masterstroke of characterization. He builds a weapon of war not out of malice, but out of intellectual curiosity, only to realize too late that he has become a pawn. The horrified look on his face when the cannon fires is not moral cowardice; it is the horror of a creator seeing his pure idea corrupted by human violence.
Style as Substance: The Anachronistic Thriller
Critics may deride the episode’s historical inaccuracies—the anachronistic dialogue, the MTV-style editing, the almost superheroic depiction of Leonardo’s physical prowess. However, these choices are deliberate. “The Hanged Man” rejects the dusty museum piece aesthetic in favor of a gritty, kinetic thriller. The camera moves like Leonardo’s mind: restless, jumping from detail to detail, always seeking the hidden mechanism.
This style serves a thematic purpose. The episode argues that the Renaissance was not a quiet rebirth but a loud, messy, and dangerous explosion of ideas. The inclusion of Lucrezia Donati (Laura Haddock), a fictionalized love interest and secret agent for the Medici, adds a layer of noir-ish intrigue. She is not a historical footnote but a narrative catalyst, representing the seductive danger of secrets. Her question to Leonardo—"What do you desire?"—cuts to the core of the episode. His answer is not love, money, or fame, but “to know everything.” In a world where the Church burns books and political rivals bury truths, this desire is the ultimate act of heresy.
Conclusion: The Hanged Man’s Gambit
Da Vinci’s Demons Season 1, Episode 1, is a bold and imperfect beginning. Its pacing is frantic, and its characterization occasionally veers into the cartoonish. Yet, it succeeds on its own terms. It presents a Leonardo da Vinci for the age of the tortured genius—a man whose brilliance is inseparable from his blasphemy, whose creations are as dangerous to himself as to his enemies.
The final shot of the episode, where Leonardo gazes up at the night sky after surviving assassination and political betrayal, is not one of triumph. It is one of grim determination. The Hanged Man has not been cut down; he has chosen to remain suspended. The episode concludes that true genius is a form of willing sacrifice—the sacrifice of safety, of reputation, and of peace. For the viewer, the question posed is not whether Leonardo will succeed in building his flying machine, but whether the world deserves the man who would dare to fly. In answering that question with a resounding “no,” the episode makes a case for the revolutionary as a necessary outcast.
Title: "The Prodigal Son" - Da Vinci's Demons Season 1 Episode 1 Review
Series: Da Vinci's Demons Season: 1 Episode: 1 Air Date: April 12, 2013
Synopsis: The series premiere introduces us to a young Leonardo da Vinci, a brilliant and curious artist, inventor, and philosopher, as he navigates the city of Florence in the late 15th century. The episode sets the stage for the series, showcasing Leonardo's early struggles and his fascination with human anatomy, machines, and the mysteries of the universe.
Key Events:
Themes:
Standout Moments:
Overall: The pilot episode of Da Vinci's Demons is a visually stunning and thought-provoking introduction to the series. The show's blend of art, science, and history is captivating, and the cast delivers strong performances across the board. If you're a fan of historical dramas, art, or science, this show is definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Recommendation: If you enjoy shows like "The Tudors," "Vikings," or "Game of Thrones," you may enjoy Da Vinci's Demons. The show's unique blend of art, science, and history makes it a compelling watch for fans of historical dramas.
Leonardo deduces that the dead artist was murdered by agents of a secret cabal—the Sons of Mithras, a cult that protects arcane knowledge. Lucrezia, it turns out, is not just a mistress; she’s an operative for the Vatican, tasked with monitoring this occult war. The episode ends with Leonardo realizing that Florence is a chessboard, and he is now a piece in a game centuries old. Director (and series co-producer) Peter Hoar shoots Florence