‘The Serpent Queen’ Recap: ‘Medici Bitch’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘The Serpent Queen’.
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There is a prevailing belief in our world, that evil is something that is inherently buried within all of mankind and will only emerge from within us when the right circumstances come into play. Such as say, being exposed to great cruelty or other improper and rude behavior, and there is some merit to that line of thinking. Since we do know that the actions of bad people are often the result of years of abuse or being exposed to horrendous ideologies, and that and our ties to religion, help to hammer home that longstanding belief and it also helps us to hope that we can perhaps… conquer evil through good acts if enough of it is sent out into the world.
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But the fact of the matter is, the bad that mankind exhibits, isn’t just some underlying ugly designed to test us or demand better of us. It is simply a product of our humanity and the fact that we haven’t quite evolved to the point where we don’t indulge in our darker instincts, and people that sometimes indulge in that darkness aren’t inherently evil or born from something twisted. They’re just people that learned how to use it to their advantage to get where they needed to go in life, and it is that harsh reality that is central to the plot of a new mini-series on STARZ. For The Serpent Queen is a story that chronicles the life and times of someone that we could in fact, consider to be that traditional evil. For Queen Catherine de’ Medici is someone that ruled with an iron fist and outright cruelty at times, but not for the reasons we think of.

For ‘Medici Bitch’ is an episode that exposes us to some fascinating realities about the Serpent Queen. In that, her upbringing was tough and rough, to the point where she bounced around and endured dark times when her family fell out of favor in her homeland of Italy. Which in turn brought her within an inch of doom before the Church stepped in to save her, and even then… that salvation wasn’t quite what she was hoping for. Since the church only stepped in to make use of her to barter peace with the Royal Family of France. Since Catherine and a dowry could fetch forth a wedding, one where she would easily broker that all-important peace and enjoy some semblance of a normal life. An act she took part in since it was a fate better than where she was, but even then… it was still a rough road ahead.

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For that marriage turned out to be nothing more than a grand sham. Since her new husband was in love with someone else and her first night of romance with this man, whom she did express feelings for… was awkward and embarrassing since everyone showed up for the wedding night’s traditional events. But what matters most about this journey, is that it laid down the foundation for what Catherine would become. For those are ugly and painful moments that deeply emotionally damaged her and seeing as to how mental health care didn’t exist in her time, there was no resolution of that pain and that damage. Just a chance to adapt it and use it to her advantage. Which we don’t quite see here and that’s okay, because this was just the beginning of the journey, one that will be told in a supremely unique manner.
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Because what made this episode of note, is that it took the time to flip between Catherine’s past and present via conversations with a housemaid she took a liking to named Rahima. Which allowed for flashbacks and musings about yesterday to be handled in a supremely smooth manner. Not to mention, such a move engages us and makes us far more curious about Catherine, and how those dark moments and likely others to follow, elicited the fire within and the darkness. So that we truly understand this queen and what drove her and why she made the calls that she made. Which means this is going to be a powerful journey, one that will indeed teach us all kinds of insightful lessons about the nature of ‘evil’ in our world and how it is really brought forth and indulged in. 

But the best part of all, is that we will receive that knowledge, in the most compelling way possible, through quality acting. Because this show is loaded to the brim with stunning names. Such as Charles Dance, Colm Meaney and of course, the iconic Samantha Morton plays the equally as iconic Queen Catherine de’ Medici with a zest, zeal, and mystery that only she can pull off, and Liv Hill also does a stunning job playing Young Catherine since she sells the pain and the struggle with raw honesty. Which means we are going to be in for one powerhouse ride, one that will give us plenty to ponder upon week in and week out as we learn everything there is to know about a controversial queen and why she made such hard and cruel decisions. Until next time.

To learn more about this show, visit our preview article for Samantha Morton’s comments on what playing this character meant to her, and check out our interviews with Actor Liv Hill, and Executive Producers Justin Haythe and Erwin Stoff.

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