"Death, On A Pale Horse" was definitely the best episode since the two-part series premiere of The Borgias.  Bringing the war aspects to the forefront was an intelligent move in keeping things interesting at this point in the season.

As each episode went along, the workings of Della Rovere were moving slowly and were quite boring at times, but they certainly had a purpose.  It took the traitorous Cardinal a while to figure out the best strategy for taking down Pope Alexander, but now that he has, everything seems to be coming into place for him.

The fact that Della Rovere has put so much work into making this happen, made his realization so much more powerful.  When he watched King Charles and the rest of the unstoppable French Army destroy the first town they conquered, Della Rovere looked absolutely disgusted.

The man had no idea what he was getting himself into when he enlisted the French King to do his dirty work for him.  The killing of innocent women and children was not what he signed up for, which led to him pleading for the right to help Florence negotiate with the French.

And when the French made their way to Florence, the King did just pass on through, succumbing to the words of Machiavelli.  Watching the brutal monarch place his weapon in a backward position was both funny and foreshadowing of the types of leaders that might be able to take King Charles down.

Is Rodrigo Borgia that type of leader?  It doesn't seem so at this point.  He seems to just be getting over anxious about the whole thing.  Of course he wasn't prepared for all of this, but even so, the way he was freaking out to Cesare was not promising for the future of Rome.

Sending Giulia over to see Lucrezia, however, was a good move.  Upon finding out the obvious fact that Sforza is going to side with the French when push comes to shove, Giulia begins to help Lucrezia escape from the grounds.  And of course Lucrezia is pregnant with what we have to assume is Paolo's child.  The twists and turns never stop on The Borgias.

It's great that Giulia has helped and all, but if her story remains dormant, it will be a shame for the series.  It would have been a dumb move to make such a fuss about it early on and then forget about it forever.  On the other hand, if the plot dealing with the fact that the Pope just brought on a mistress comes up near the end of the season, it may have an even greater effect.  It continues to be a wait-and-see situation.

So The Borgias took a step in the right direction with "Death On A Pale Horse."  What did you all think of the episode?  And are you excited for remainder of this first season?

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.