Henry’s getting older, his wives are getting younger (plural).
There’s a lot of plot going on in this slice of Tudors adventure. Let’s try to break it down by king and new queen if we may:
King Henry VIII
When Henry’s (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) bad leg acts up, nations should tremble. In this case, as his health goes south he sends faithful Charles Brandon (Henry Cavill) to wreck house up north to end the “Scottish incursions.” Amazingly, he rains abuse down on his advisors and laments about killing off trusty servant Thomas Cromwell (James Frain). “I had someone once who could take care of all of this! Now he’s gone,” Henry spits. Meanwhile, while he continues to shower gifts on new wife Katherine (Tamzin Merchant), Henry’s also inviting new ex-wife Anne of Cleves (Joss Stone) up to the palace for some holiday partying. Gone are the days when Henry could barely stand the sight of Anne, and in fact he’s become enamored of her in his own special grass-is-always-greener way. “I like her after all,” he says. “She keeps her promises.” More like she’s insanely subservient and cheerful in her divorce, probably relieved that she escaped with keeping her head attached to her shoulders.
Katherine
Like the delighted and precocious little girl she is, Katherine announces that “I am the queen of England,” and we know that she is inside the bubble of the perfect fantasy. Unlike other queens, she at least has the ability to enjoy it while it lasts. Lady Rochford (Joanne King) puts it more bluntly: “a perfect fool.” When Katherine and Henry appear in regal crimson at Christmas time, they really do appear as father and daughter, and it should be pointed out here that the set design, makeup (aging Henry, especially), and costumes have been extraordinary this season. Meanwhile, Katherine’s girlie fantasy is intruded upon by a girlie cat fight, if one of 16th Century English royal proportions: Katherine and Princess Mary (Sarah Bolger) kind of go at it, Mary unloading on the new queen that she is frivolous and, further, that Henry will soon tire of her. Katherine gets in some body blows in return, laying out that Mary is jealous that she is older than herself but not yet married and jealous of her position. Privately she admits, “I hate her.” And to top it all off, Katherine sort of gets set up and sort of gets lured into hooking up with Culpepper (Torrance Coombs).
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.