Watch The Borgias Online. After the death of Pope Innocent VIII, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, with the help of his sons, bribes and cajoles other cardinals to vote for him in the conclave to elect the new pontiff. He succeeds, and assumes the papal throne as Alexander VI. Two other ambitious cardinals, Orsini and Della Rovere, immediately begin plotting against him. When Orsini hosts a dinner for the pope and the cardinals, Rodrigo’s son Cesare catches a servant, Micheletto, in the kitchen preparing to poison the Borgias’ wine. Offering the assassin better pay if he works for his family, Cesare has Orsini poisoned instead.