Hello everyone!
So here we are again, right back where we seem to always wind up nowadays every once in a while, right? Right. As I promised my girl Maegan, I'm definitely watching through the whole of the Tudors television series, but that does mean I get Tudor-overwhelmed every once in a while, and so I make it a point to watch something else entirely in between two seasons. Which is why Game of Thrones came into play, persay, the previous week ago, and this week it's all about the Royals, which I will hopefully be able to write about next Tuesday!
On another note, I'm definitely packing things up on the computer for my vacation, which is apparently a go, and that means hoarding movies together that I haven't been able to watch yet because, you know, stress and job hunting as well as this binge watching of TV shows has kind of made it impossible. But never fear! I'll come back from the seaside with so many movie reviews to talk about, I'll probably have these Tuesdays covered until Christmas.
And also, remember everyone: go and watch Batman vs. Superman when it hits theatres because it has Henry Cavill in it, and our very own Charles Brandon definitely likes the support!
If we recap what we've learned about the Tudors so far, it basically goes something like this:
Season 1 was basically an introduction to the royal court, the legalities that come with wanting to divorce your wife of quite some odd years, European politics that definitely don't hold any water (has anyone else seen as many holes in those agreements as I have?) and a whole lot of women being paraded in front of the King. Also, two wives: Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.
Season 2 expands on our universe and shows us just how desperate Henry is for a son, the political machinations of people such as the Duke of Suffolk and the Seymours (not to mention Cromwell) and the very simple fact that keeping the king happy means keeping your head attached. You fail to do that, and you might end up dead. It introduces us to wife number three: Jane Seymour.
Now we've come to season 3 of the lot, which, in my opinion, could have definitely been expanded into ten episodes instead of eight, but I figure they had a very good excuse not to do that, though I have to double check their reasons. In any event, we see another different side of the court and Henry, its megalomanic king, whose tendencies and sometimes irrational explosions are definitely beginning to show and put a wear and tear on everybody, not just his closest friends.
For starters, each season has a very distinct central plotline that moves through all the episodes, and season three is no different, only this time, instead of it being personal or political, it's religious.
If anyone remembers, Cromwell and the Boleyns basically made sure to gently (or not so gently at times) nudge the King in the direction of reformation, meaning that he pretty much tore through the Church of England (literally) and confiscated enormous amounts of wealth, which he then funneled into his own private use, or even just the use of court.
Here's the catch.
Not too many people, ordinary people, in the North of the realm liked that, and that caused the very famous uprising and rebellion against the whole process, which forced the King's hand and sent Charles Brandon to deal with the rebels. Of course, one has to remember that this is Henry we're dealing with. It means that Brandon, while successful in making sure to chop off the head of the snake (aka the leaders of said rebellion) must be sent out again, AFTER things had already been sent in motion to sort of give out pardons, and this time there can be no quarter.
Which ends up with the North pretty much having no able bodied man to defend it from the Scots invasion should it come to that.
As you can imagine, this weighs heavily on our dear Duke, who is having trouble accepting this and even goes so far as to have paranoid visions of the dead men he has ordered killed, and pulls him away from his wife (or rather, she pulls away from him, in what I singularily detest the most and claim, to this day, that she needed a good slap to the head with a chair). This does sort of get resolved towards the end of the season, but it certainly puts a strain on the man and echoes what a lot of other nobles might be feeling about the whole procedure, although none of them are going to say a thing.
I mean, survival over anything else, right?
On a different note, Jane Seymour delivers Henry a son, Edward, though she herself passes away of childbed fever soon afterwards, leaving the King grieving and in solitude. Cromwell (and the others, but mostly him) pressure the man for another marriage, which ends up being to Anne of Cleves, wife number four, in what are probably the most hilarious scenes of the show as a whole. The fact that pretty much everyone around the King seems to be trying so hard not to laugh is quite astounding, although to be fair, the woman was smart: when the King offers her divorce and a nice settlement for her life in England, she doesn't pull a Catherine, but accepts, and keeps her head.
This is towards the end of the season, when the reformation is sort of backtracked as the King has written out, himself, the six (was it six?) principal rules he wants to drill into his church leaders, and the Pimps (aka Sir Francis Bryan, Edward Seymour and who else but Charles Brandon, master Don of the house) introduce their sovereign to Catherine Howard (historical note: wife number five). At the same time, Cromwell falls from grace and ends up headless.
Talk about a lot to cover in just eight hours of showtime!
James Frain is, as always, fantastic in the role of Cromwell, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers excels in his portrayal of the King. Henry Cavill brings an odd sort of vulnerability to the show, and the friendship depicted between the two characters is amazing. A shout out has to go to Sarah Bolger who once again reminds us that she's a force to be reckoned with (and on a side-note, the fact that Captain Hook himself made a surprise appearance is definitely worth a mention), although it's ironic that Chapuys, Imperial ambassador, keeps referring to her as 'gentle lady'.
Considering her future infamous nickname, Bloody Mary, it's rather an interesting one, don't you think?
Only one more season to go, and then I will be proud to say I know the whole lot as well as one can from a TV show!
What do you guys think?
xx
*images not mine
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