#instead juan was vilified and his storyline (desire of belonging) was snatched away from him and gave it to micheletto instead

[borgialucrezia]

well YESSS....

"Despite the character’s aggressive attitude, Juan knew he couldn’t quite measure up. His cockiness masked a tortured soul who simply wanted his father’s love—as well as power and respect from the rest of the world [...] I felt that more could have been done with Juan, since he was a wildcard that added a unique dynamic to the family—one that served as a counterpoint to Lucrezia getting married and taking a lover several time."

ummm hello ??? yk as much as cesare is aware of his own superiority, flexing that he has his father's ear, etc. watching him tweak out, pulling all sorts of deceits, lies, and manipulations, and risking their family's honor/damaging their reputation (despite presenting himself as their protector) to frame and humiliate juan out of pettiness was sooooo amusing to watch #ToMe. he saw juan not just as a rival but also as an obstacle to getting what he wanted/becoming who he was meant to be. cesare pretty much spent the entire two seasons brooding and whining over him, while juan, despite knowing cesare doesn't love him and is indirectly plotting against his life, remains oblivious to just how deadly cesare's hatred for him truly is. (the shock and heartbreak on juan's face when cesare stabbed him)

that being said, i think juan's character stands out as an exceptional case in the show because his very presence stopped cesare from seeming like Theee Perfect Conventionally Attractive Lead for a while !! he didn't just challenge cesare but he threatened a huge chunk of the fandom as well as they projected onto cesare's pov. many fans tended to dehumanize juan without giving his character/motivations a fair analysis simply because they felt threatened by him in the same way cesare was. they created a version of juan in their minds where he is hatefully jealous of cesare and wishes for lucrezia's unhappiness when in fact though all juan does is try to fulfill the crushing expectations his father has of him all while putting on a sardonic façade to hide his inferiority complex. (that façade serves as a defensive mechanism for being shunned by the siblings he loves most and wants to protect, even through extreme and dark means, and be respected by the most.)

alfonso on the other hand is way too unlikeable. he's too naïve, too weak and lacks a backbone. cesare never took him seriously or felt threatened by his existence because by s3 after juan's death, cesare sits securely in his place as the family's “only” son and no longer cares about lucrezia loving alfonso because alfonso could never be half the man cesare is. in fact all the men in lucrezia's life feel one-dimensional and uninteresting and serve only to elevate cesare as the 'pinnacle of masculinity and power'. this is where juan lies as an exception and it's why s3 lacked that same sense of challenge. (the writers tried to cover this lack of tension by making cesare and lucrezia's affair the center of the season which was a great idea imho)

david oakes did a tremendous job with juan. he didn't just go beyond the original intent for the character (even though juan's fate didn't change), but he also brought something new to the table. his emotional journey is painful, but it's also deeply human. despite his bleak and untimely fate and the actor's frustration with how it was written. by the end of his journey, juan's character development (returning from spain matured, shaped by his experiences, and becoming more secure about his heritage and bastardy after having a child) was completely thrown out the window. his pivotal relationships with his mother and sister were tattered beyond hope just to make sure cesare's actions would somehow be “justified” to the audience. his characterization is unfairly nerfed in the final 10 minutes of his life as he was grotesquely villainized in the most brutal way possible to paint cesare's immorality as a form of “liberation” from the ill and evil juan and ensure that cesare could maintain the audience's sympathy and that neither the audience nor juan's family is allowed to mourn or miss him (except their father). and i agree with david oakes because it feels deeply frustrating. i wish neil jordan had enough confidence in cesare's characterization so that he wouldn't feel the need to diminish any vital character in favor of him. like it would've been great if he had tested the audience's love for cesare without nerfing juan because imo it would've made the fratricide even more intense and tragic.