Before release, Olivares joked that people would criticize that the show's Isabel was too blonde and pretty. Guess what was the first thing people complained about, often waving a portrait of when she was pushing 50 and dying of cancer as comparison. However, the chronicles of the time do describe the young Isabel as "nice-looking" and say that Fernando and her were instantly smitten when they met.
Young Isabel's annoyance because the Queen piece in chess can only move one square at a time is not an oversight either, as that was indeed the case in Medieval chess. The change that made this piece so powerful was introduced in Spain during the 1490s, in apparent homage to Isabel herself.
The scene where Juana de Avis gets artificially pregnant is based on a 15th century chronicle. The method was used by Jewish cattle breeders at the time.
Juan Pacheco's villainy in the first season was toned down. Yes, he did try to kidnap Enrique IV and got away scott-free. The difference is that he did it twice. He also kidnapped Enrique's father (another king) once.
Some of the 1476 rioteers did enter the Alcázar, although the Infanta was not directly threatened.
Isabel retaking Segovia by herself? It happened. Her dialogue in the scene is even quoted from a contemporary source.
The completely ridiculous way in which Boabdil is captured by the enemy also happened. Twice.
First Installment Wins: Isabel is iconic and pretty much "the" costume period drama in Spain; it also made the jump to international platforms like DramaFever, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Carlos: Rey Emperador raised much less interest, due to its focus on non-Spanish history like The Protestant Reformation and the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire.
Like You Would Really Do It: Isabel is given Last Rites after a very difficult childbirth during the early stage of the Granada War. Of course she ends recovering. Even if one wasn't aware that Spain conquered Granada in 1492, the second season prologue shows it already.
Special Effects Failure: The series has a hard time portraying large armies and battle scenes because of budget. The FX succeed in other areas, however.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: How some feel about the second season. Not because the action and intrigue decline; on the other hand, too many years pass and so many things happen that it is impossible to give each as much screentime to explore them as the events in the first season. The first half of the second season feels closer to the first season, with many opponents carrying directly from there (Juana de Avis, Carrillo, Afonso V of Portugal, Pacheco's son) that are absent from the second half which is all about the war against Granada. It wouldn't have been difficult to split the years covered in two seasons, especially because a lot of other historical events were left out to fit in the 13 episodes of the season that could have made good television in their own right, including:
The suspicion that Juana de Avis was poisoned for fighting to become her daughter's regent and a ruler of Castile in her own right, not made as clear cut in the series.
The Portuguese diplomatic attempts to have Muley Hacén's Granada on their side, and how while Muley Hacén refused them he seized the opportunity to stop paying tribute to Castile and sacked some towns in the frontier (including the one that actually brought Zoraida to him).
Diego Pacheco and Alfonso Carrillo resuming the war during the second Portuguese invasion.
Diego Pacheco fighting in Granada and losing an arm in combat.
Beatriz Osorio's high-profile romance with Rodrigo Téllez Girón, the son of season 1's Pedro Girón (the story that has Isabel jealous of Osorio claims that this happened when Fernando tried to comfort Osorio following the death of Girón in combat). Also the fact that her would-be husband Hernán Peraza was in the Castilian court at the time of their engagement to answer for murder (whose charges were dropped after the two were engaged at the behest of the Queen), and how Peraza was killed and Osorio was besieged during a revolt by the native Guanche people in 1488.
The Granada War between the fall of Malaga and the rendition of Granada itself, including the fate of El Zagal.
The deaths of most prominent Andalusian nobles in the last year of the war, including the Marquis of Cadiz, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia and Beltrán de la Cueva (only alluded to, but briefly).
Columbus' whole project, from his arrival and long stance in La Rábida (which is omitted in the show) to his contacts with the aforementioned Marquis and Duke and Cardinal Mendoza in order to gain a second meeting with the Queen, his attempt to return to Portugal and his brother's travel to test England as an alternative funder.
In the series, the Moors are led at the Battle of Lucena by Boabdil and the Composite Character leader of the Abencerrajes. In real life, they were led by Boabdil and his Adapted Out father-in-law Aliatar, who died in the battle. This could have been an easy source of drama between Boabdil and Moraima, as she would have all the reason to blame her husband for her father's death.
Broken Base: Many critics and viewers were not impressed, but the series gained a cult following among history buffs and costume dramas precisely for being the only show with Charles V and his siblings in a protagonist's role.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Regadless of the series itself, a lot of viewers found The Duke of Alba to be quite of a character thanks to Félix Gómez's dashing performance (a minor meme a la Stupid Sexy Flanders involved people pointing out how handsome this incarnation of the Duke was too) and his chemistry with Charles and Philip.
Alfonso Bassave as the deliciously arrogant King Francis I was considered one of the series' highlights and one of the best performances in his career.
Félix Gómez was mostly known for his role in the juvenile TV series Al salir de clase and period drama Amar en tiempos revueltos until exploding here as the epic Duke of Alba.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Mercurino Gattinara seemingly received an ironic cast choice in Juanjo Puigcorbé, making it so that a historical philosopher who preached for an universal empire was being played by an actor that at the time was a politician in a Catalonian separatist party. In 2024, however, after being purged from said party and blacklisted in Catalonia, Puigcorbé repudiated separatism.
Even if it is dramatically divergent from real history, the series' portrayal of Hernán Cortés is well acted and makes a fairly interesting and multi-sided character, but his actor José Luis García Pérez has such a perpetual tough guy voice that it can be hard not to find his delivery hilarious.
Margaret of Austria's period headgear is historically accurate and not necessarily the narmiest in the series, but it is surely a strong contender for the title, and the strange fact that she never ever takes it off (while most other characters with ridiculous hats do often appear without them) only sells it.
The abysmal budget sometimes makes scenes impossible to take seriously. Pieces set in the Mesoamerican jungle often show clearly they were shot in the Spanish countryside, while the "battles" of Pavia and Muhlberg, which suffered from the same money shortage to the point of not featuring more than ten extras in any side, look downright like medieval LARPers engaging in a drunk brawl after a festival, and can be just as hilarious to watch.
The decision to have the same actors playing the main cast since their teenage years into old age is not necessarily undefendable, but acting skills and age makeup can only carry you so far. Watching the positively youthful-looking Daniel Pérez trying to act like an old and worn down Montmorency in his seventies is just as absurd as it sounds, and he's not even the worst example.
Narm Charm: The siege of Metz is not only under-produced, but also hilarious for how seriously it takes himself, featuring Charles, the Duke of Alba and a handful of soldiers randomly dueling in midst of a pretentious Shell-Shock Silence caused by cannonfire. However, Álvaro Cervantes and Félix Gómez are so absolutely committed to the scene that they make it work, with the Duke of Alba in particular going bananas to save Charles from the French soldiers and retreat from the whole fiasco.
Blink and you'll miss it, but an extra playing Gianello della Torre can be spotted in the monastery of Yuste.
In a darker light, Charles of Austria's short appearances leave a mark on how his child actor nails the character of the disturbed, violent boy prince.
Charles' actor Álvaro Cervantes was considered one of the weakest links of the series, as he was seen as a Mr. Fanservice without any physical resemblance to the historical figure. Only when playing Charles into middle age he manages to be believable thanks to his darkened beard and acting.
Marcel Borrás, Philip II's adult actor, does look a bit like his child actor Pablo Arbués, but he otherwise looks absolutely nothing like the historical Philip other than having a big chin. This last trait is particularly weird given that Álvaro Cervantes doesn't have a noteworthy chin despite playing another Habsburg that had an even bigger one than Philip II.
Sequelitis: The series failed at leaving a mark, worsened by the Tough Act to Follow that was Isabel. Unlike its previous series, critics saw Carlos as both over-ambitious and under-budgeted, with a confusing timeline, historical deviations everywhere and inconsistent casting choices, and also felt a negligent treatment by RTVE, which would constantly change the slot of the episodes without warning.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: Even if some of the leads were though to be miscast, one thing consistently noted is that the series has a stellar cast giving their absolute all, often taking terrible script pages and making them surprisingly watchable.
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