PHEW! Finally caught up, and I must say an excellent finale for season one. I am looking to see where you take this, though I have a slight idea now after you included the Hawkings discussion. I must say I was quite surprised to see Isabella brought back under the guise of Jesca and was thinking she would be the one to turn at the en. Wasn't expecting Lydia. And I am so pleased to see Renault back in action. I got worried there for a while that you'd killed him off and I somehow missed it. Thank goodness that was not true.
All in all, you have a fun and exciting plot going here and some rich characters, highlighted, I think, by Cardinal DeWitt. Still trying to piece together how he ended up in the future section earlier, but perhaps I missed something. I did read quite a lot in a short time.
If I have a niggle, it is in word usage from time to time, particularly in the past sections. It happened more in the earlier portion, but every great now and then you'll have one of the 16th century characters utilizing modern language. It seems a bit anachronistic to me, as does a few of the "cute" references. I wouldn't counsel you to stop doing that since they seem to be greatly enjoyed, and I too got a chuckle from them. But if you are going to use them, I'd try to bury them deep so they do not pull the reader from the time. The one that sticks in my head the most is the time warp. I got it immediately and then could not stop thinking of that while reading about 16th century characters. But then, I tend to like realism in drama where others may not mind.
This, of course, does effect some of the more action oriented scenes as well, I must admit. When you had DeWitt yell he was going to crush or beat someone's face at one point...well, it strained credulity for me. Regardless, I have been impressed at how you weave in the action and drama with traces of humor every now and then. It makes the story move quickly and easily along until you hit one of those BIG moments. I'd just be careful how big you make them and how historically accurate you can make them.
I should touch on this a bit more lest you think I'm simply being negative for the sake of it. I have a feeling there is more modernity going on in the past than might initially meet the eye. At least some sort of crossover effect. So it might not be out of the realm of possibility to use language or act a certain way that doesn't necessarily belong in the past. But I would think the greater challenge would be to try and effect the same action utilizing historical objects and means. You've done this throughout, to be sure, and I really have admired your duty to accuracy. But occasionally, I'd catch something and only because you'd been so careful about it at other times. Hope that makes sense.
With all that said, I am so pleased to have caught up in time for the soon to begin season two. I would have been here earlier having wanted to read this when you first started, but other things got in the way. But I'll be following along the rest of the story.
And finally, I must commend you on the interviews you've taken the time to conduct with other members. It is a valuable service and shows some great initiative for a member towards this forum. I can always applaud that! Thanks. And keep up the great work here!