“Still Star Crossed,” the ethnically diverse sequel to “Romeo and Juliet,” is not doing very well in the ratings, having placed second to a rerun of “Scorpion” in its Monday night timeslot. Still, the show has enough romantic folly and “Game of Thrones” style intrigue and murder to make the series worth an hour of one’s time a week.
Romantic folly
In advance of her nuptials, Rosaline is elevated from a servant girl to a full-fledged lady. This rise in status creeps her out in that she is moved into Juliet’s old room at the Palazzo Capulet. There is nothing like sleeping in the bed of a dead girl to put one’s mind at ease.
Rosaline is still processing the fact that she doesn’t want to marry Benvolio, no matter how the alliance will unite Verona against her various enemies. She wants to bed the Prince. His Highness patiently explains to his former girlfriend that such a dalliance would ruin her as a bride. Upper crust Renaissance Italians were very picky about their brides being virgins. Then the Prince changes his mind and takes Rosaline to bed, something that neither Shakespeare nor the Queen’s censors would ever have allowed.
Who will take the fall?
In the meantime, Lord Montague notices that work has stopped on the cathedral that the Capulets have been working on for years. He sends Benvolio, who would much rather be passing the time at the brothel, to investigate.
The young man finds the architect who tells him that Lord Capulet has stopped payment to the builders. Well, well, it looks like the Capulets have a cash flow problem.
At a dinner party meant to unite the families, Lord Montague proposes that the marriage of Benvolio and Rosaline take place in the Capulet cathedral, knowing full well that the edifice is not going to be finished anytime soon.
In desperation, Lord Capulet tells the architect that he and his builders will complete the cathedral without pay since it is the Prince’s wish that the wedding takes place there. The architect laughs in Lord Capulet’s face, informing him that he will not take the fall for Capulet’s financial problems,
Lord Capulet has other ideas.
He shoves the architect off the scaffolding to his death at the floor of the cathedral. One can imagine his explanation to the Prince. Due to the accidental death of the architect, there will be a delay in the completion of the cathedral. It’s a dolorous thing, but something that cannot be avoided, alas.
