#bianca de medici
i don’t think i will ever get over how chaotic the dinner scene from medici 2x05 is… you have francesco showing up late with the bank documents lorenzo has asked him to get but of course he’s already on his uncle’s side so the next thing you know he’s giving his speech, his ecposé, like an absolute icon while being totally right, sets said documents on fire and drops them on lorenzo’s plate with half-eaten meal because out of the sudden bianca starts giving birth. this is peak comedy and peak tragedy
Lorenzo: I’m dying I better spend more time with my family.
Also Lorenzo: *spends all his time with Bruno and exclusively holds his hand instead of his wife’s or sister’s and slaps his son and sells his daughter too*
Okay but we need to talk about how shit a brother Lorenzo was. Giuliano often downplays how shittily he was treated cause well he’s Giuliano so (feel free to add on because I only put what stood out most to me:)
1. Legit made him attack Volterra and to quote Giuliano, it was a “massacre”. I mean look how broken Giuliano was by that experience.
2. Giuliano having way more humility and realising that Volterra was a bloody mistake (literally) refused to bask in the glory after his victory in Volterra but Lorenzo acted like the victory was his and his alone. He continued to march acting like Volterra was worth it and he was some hero.
3. Despite all of Giuliano’s sacrifices for Lorenzo, Lorenzo replaced him with Francesco Pazzi. Yes, the same Francesco Pazzi who paid goons to hit Giuliano while he watched. The same Francesco Pazzi who publicly humiliated Giuliano. I mean how could Lorenzo not be aware of the feud that resulted in his brother’s imprisonment??
4. Lorenzo expressed his strong distaste towards Giuliano and Simonetta’s relationship. Which is ironic because he himself was seeing Lucrezia Donati while he was married and after he “promised” his heart to Clarice. Giuliano addresses this one quite hilariously minutes before he dies. Ugh his character was golden.
5. Okay now coming to how Lorenzo is a shit brother to Bianca. He completely strong arms her and forces her to marry Bastiano Soderini. I mean it’s great that he realised his mistake but he wouldn’t have cared if Bianca hadn’t reacted so fiercely (if you are picturing her slapping his face, you’re not the only one). Meanwhile, Giuliano purposefully loses the joust despite being fully capable of winning it because he doesn’t want to hurt Guglielmo. I mean his EQ is so much higher than Lorenzo’s because he knows how Bianca feels about Guglielmo. He doesn’t give a shit that Guglielmo is a Pazzi or the brother of his arch nemesis. He only cares about Bianca. When Lorenzo banishes Bianca and Guglielmo he does it for selfish reasons because Giuliano would not have wanted that.
6. Lorenzo only considered giving Imola to Giuliano when his mother forced his hand. He did not trust in Giuliano’s abilities. Somehow, surly Francesco has more charisma than Giuliano sheesh.
7. Lorenzo was not too keen when Giuliano went to deal with the Duke of Milan because he thought that only he could get the job done again sheesh but of course Giuliano proved him wrong.
8. In part 2, he doesn’t believe that Giulio is Giuliano’s son and claims that Giuliano had been with half the women in Florence. He said this despite seeing his brother get dumped by Fioretta and seeing her keep his ring. So, he knew that Giuliano was serious about Giulio’s mother yet he still chose to make such remarks and he degraded Giulio as a bastard which also taught Piero to be really bitchy towards his cousin. Again, Lorenzo has double standards because clearly he has had his fair share of dalliances who knows how many Ippolitas are in his past and well he emotionally cheats on Clarice even after he stops meeting Lucrezia so.
In conclusion, Lorenzo is not only a shitty brother but an all round shitty person and most of us still like him :)
