Still Star-Crossed

Sword fights with stabbings and slashings that are shown by reactions, not blood or gore. Victims fall to the ground dead; it frequently seems stagey instead of realistic. Romeo and Juliet both drink a type of poison that kills them instantly and photogenically. Political intrigue: A king decrees that anyone accused of murder will be executed without a trial, references to stabbings, and heads on spikes outside the palace. An aunt slaps her niece across the face when she doesn't like something that was said.

Romance is central to this series; expect flirtation, dating, kissing, romantic entanglements, betrayal, marriage as a means of consolidating power or giving women financial security. Brief reference to prostitution, brothels, virginity. A man attempts to rape a woman during a battle; he is stabbed to death by another man who conveniently happens by.

Period insults: "Your mother was a worthless jade." A man calls a woman a "whore."

Lots of drinking of ale and mead; characters sometimes act drunk and violent. Scenes take place at bars and brothels with characters drinking.

Parents need to know that Still Star-Crossed is a drama that continues Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. As in the original play, characters drink poison to commit dramatic and glamorous suicides. There also are many on-screen sword fights, stabbings, and slashings, though violence tends to be stagey rather than realistic, with very little blood and no gore and characters tending to fall over dead after one thrust of the sword. There's also occasional sexual violence: A man tries to rape a woman during a street battle between Montague and Capulet factions, and there's graphic talk about politically motivated violence: A princess wonders if her head will be on a spike in front of the castle. There are references to "whoring" and "brothels"; scenes are set in these brothels, and characters drink ale there. Marriage is a way to consolidate wealth or power, and women are seen as possessions, though at least one female character talks about wanting to be her "own mistress."