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I devour British historical dramas. I grew up on Anne Of A Thousand Days and miniseries about Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. I like The Tudors, love The White Queen, and think The Hollow Crown is transcendent. I have tried to explain to multiple people how Game of Thrones is the Cousins’ War with dragons and none of them want to hear it. If you give me a chance, I will defend Reign.

However, even I can only deal with the Plantagenets, Tudors, and Hanovers so many times before I find myself bored/nastily correcting historical discrepancies from my couch. So, it should come as no big surprise that I became absolutely, insanely hooked on Isabel this week (which you can check out here on Hulu — and all three seasons are available here on DramaFever). The Spanish drama follows the dramatic life of Isabel of Castile (whom you may remember from school as one half of “Ferdinand and Isabella,” the rulers who united Spain and tasked Christopher Columbus with sailing across the Atlantic with the express purpose of coming back with as much gold as you could put on a ship without making it sink).

Watching foreign television can always be hit or miss. It’s not just that you have to sit up and be fully engaged to read the subtitles; you also have to navigate the zeitgeist of a different culture. Humor, beauty standards, and sexual mores vary from nation to nation. In fact, most of Isabel’s current negative scores on DramaFever have nothing to do with whether or not the show is good or not. Most of the disgruntled reviews come from people who were scandalized by the hardcore sex scenes that popped up out of the blue.

Initially, I was a little wary to watch the series. The production value was not as high as I’m used to seeing on American shows—which is jarring at first — and the show opens with a kind of melodramatic tone, which is also something we’re not particularly used to in America. However, about six minutes in, something happened that immediately intrigued me: once it’s decided that Isabel will succeed her brother Enrique and take the throne of Castille, she walks outside of a dim cathedral, faces her people, and takes off her heavy black velvet coat of morning, and reveals this:

That is a woman I want to know more about. Look at her. She just went from being in solemn mourning to the Beyoncé of late medieval Spain. This is a woman who almost out-Daenerys Targaryens Daenerys Targaryen. (Almost because she doesn’t have a dragon.)

The rest of the series flashes back to when Isabel was a sweet and pious teen and follows her as she endures hardship and loss. We watch as she slowly, but surely, breaks free of being a pawn and learns how to assert her own voice. Of course, like all rulers of this time, she’s the target of various schemes and political machinations, but she’s guided by her almost delusional belief that God wants her to be queen. I would say it’s completely delusional, but you watch the series fully knowing that she is in fact destined to become one of most important and influential rulers in world history.

Michelle Jenner does a great job playing Isabel, but for me, the real stand out in season one is Pablo Derqui‘s brilliant take on Isabel’s older brother, King Enrique IV. Derqui has the unenviable task of playing a weak king, whose personality was prone to run the emotional gamut. No one on court has a handle on him, and that’s because Derqui presents him as a progressive leader trapped in a cruel time. He’d rather negotiate and stall than risk wars that would plunge his people into poverty. He’s sympathetic to the women in his life and becomes emotionally destroyed when he sees the tragedy that his court’s own “game of thrones” causes.

However, the real stars of Isabel are the women. Besides Isabel, we get to meet Enrique’s sensuous queen, Juana, Isabel’s best friend Beatriz, and her mentally-unstable mother. Even Fernando’s comely mistress gets to be more than just eye candy; she provides him with some sage advice. Each of these female characters is given a fierce spirit. They have their own hopes and dreams and the show does a great job of pointing out how unjust their misogynistic culture is. In short, Isabel offers an extremely feminist take on medieval history.

Right now, I’m almost done the first season, which is impressive if you consider I only started last Saturday evening and every episode is over an hour long. Still, it’s frighteningly easy to binge-watch. There’s romance and violence, double crosses and scandals. Oh, and things only get more intriguing when Isabel’s famous husband, Fernando, comes into play. The simple truth is I can’t stop watching this delightfully melodramatic show. Good thing all three seasons are available to stream then, huh? [Watch Isabel on DramaFever]

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[Photos: Courtesy DramaFever]