Tried to watch the first episode, but had to turn it off before the end of the hour. The clincher for me was the fully made-up young women. Yes, the costumes were quite good, even if they look slightly off the rack clean instead of worn in the day-to-day world of the time. The men looked almost believable, but the women looked like contemporary babes, with mascara, eye shadow, blush, lipstick and breast implants - completely unbelievable for the time.Acting and dialogue seemed flat and unengaging as well. There just wasn't enough there in the production to keep me interested, and unfortunately plenty there that I disliked. I had to turn it off.

I see why they used Dustin Hoffman as the patriarch of the Medici family. I was shocked at first, but even though he is a good actor I think he fit well with the rest of the cast, including when he deferred to his wife. Spotnitz and Netflix thought they needed a heavy weight for the patriarch of the Medici with a mostly unknown and young cast and it worked. I don't know if another actor would have been as good overall, but Dustin Hoffman worked. I especially liked Madden as Cosimo and I appreciate the producers decided not to repeat the casting of a black actor for the bastard son of Cosimo just to gain points with the leftists. Madalena was a Circassian slave and did bear Cosimo a son, but Circassians were white skinned and not black. It is the politically correct thing to fit a black actor wherever possible in order to shake up the history, and let's face it that acting is fantasy and those on the left prefer to be PC than to be accurate or portray history as it is and not as they wish it to be. Bravo! for choosing facts instead of fantasy and for writing a script that left viewers thinking and reasoning for themselves without telling them what and how to believe and view history. Bravo! No kowtowing to the politically correct cults that skew reality and history.

This drama excellently explores the lives of the Medici and rival Tuscan factions, with beautiful scenery and excellent attention-to-detail. Although sometimes Dustin Hoffman's American accent occasionally pokes through the narrative and can be distracting, all actors are well-chosen and portray their characters with deep emotion and enthusiasm.The integration of flashbacks and present-day events can sometimes be confusing, but the drama does expertly utilise the history of its period immensely well, and cleverly retains most historical accuracy aside for a few minor aspects (which can obviously be expected in a period drama, and are excusable).Some elements of the drama do hold a 'cheesy' feeling, such as a "hooded villain" pursuing the Medici from the beginning and Cosimo's child appearing to be as old as he is (Cosimo does not appear 40). Also, some streetlights are visible and other incidents of this kind do occur, but these are not too noticeable and in some strange way give some character and humour to the drama, in my opinion.What is particularly striking is the level of architectural detail, such as the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore and clever layering of present-day filming of Florence with the contemporary city. Much of the cinematography is beautiful and the static camera in many shots is excellent at capturing many suspenseful moments.Overall, 'Medici' presents a largely accurate and breathtakingly beautiful account of the lives of the Medici, accurately encapsulating their piety and patronage in a historical context. It provides a particularly insightful account of contemporary themes such as paternal dominance and the 'marriage-market', the emotional connotations of which are not fully explored in other dramas of its kind. Whilst the its dramatic license does extend far beyond any real evidence of the period, the plot developments are insightful and quirky, leaving the drama feeling fresh and invigorated by some impressive casting and decent screenplay.A must-watch for all those interested in the period.

If you want to watch a show with nice landscape shots and a fairy OK story, then this show is perfectly fine. If you care about the history of the time, details in continuity, fitting music for the scenes and really well cast actors, you should look somewhere else. While Dustin Hoffman does a fine job and I wanted to see more of him, Richard Madden seemed a little dull in comparison. He plays, after all, the lead character. I don't say he's bad, but the difference between the old and young version is sometimes non- existing, and a little bit of gray colour in his hair won't change that. Also, as a person with another first language than English, especially the names were hard to understand in the beginning and I was very confused about who was who. The women's parts seem a bit one-dimensional. The music is great, but I felt like it was sometimes too much for the scenes, and therefore drowning instead of highlighting them. Also, the time period could have been portrayed better, not everyone back then was in perfect shape, had clear skin and pearly teeth and no posture problems. While watching the first few episodes, I only kept watching because I wanted to finish the series, but at times it was very slow paced. The story seemed a little anti-climactic. All in all it's not bad, but if you want a lot of details, you'll be a little disappointed.