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The Tudors
Jan. 17th, 2011 09:00 amI did not, as it happened, watch the Golden Globes last night primarily because I couldn't figure out how to turn on the TV. That is, I could get the TV on, and I could get it to play DVDs or the Wii, but get it to recognize that yes, yes, we do have a nice digital tuner that in theory provides us unlimited access to the limited broadcast stations was not working so well. So you will not get any comments from me, snarky or otherwise, except to say that the internet was kind enough to alert me to the awesome awfulness of Helena Bonham Carter's assemblage, which just goes to show, as others noted, that once you start working for Lord Voldemort you can do anything you want with your footwear.
So instead of Golden Globes commentary, you'll get my comments on the last season of The Tudors. I saw, and was underwhelmed by, all of the first season, mostly skipped the second season, and saw, and was mildly whelmed by, portions of the third season, and figured I knew enough about the history to keep up with the historical inaccuracies, which, kinda, but more about this below.
The fourth season of the Tudors starts off with Katherine Howard becoming queen, a position which, and I'm sure you can all sympathize with this, involves the removal of a lot of clothes, and ends with Henry VIII facing death, a position which, and I'm sure you can equally all sympathize with this, does not involve the removal of any clothes at all but does involve a lot of grim looks, limping, and yelling at annoying people.
To my surprise, this season was actually more historically accurate than the first one, which, granted, is not saying much. I remain puzzled by the decision to kinda introduce the influential and powerful Archbishop Crammer as a sidenote in the last episode, while understanding that elevating Stephen Gardiner's role in Crammer's place made the whole Katherine Parr episode flow better on television. And I was not entirely surprised that the show decided to keep the (rather questionable) tale that Catherine Howard's last words were, "I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper," because, well, it's dramatic. And I was pleasantly surprised that the show made no attempt to whitewash Thomas Culpepper, who was accused of rape and murder, escaping punishment thanks only to a pardon from the king, who could pardon or execute, whichever. And I was resigned to the entrance of a French girl whose sole purpose is to remove as much clothing as possible given that the clothing shedding characters had just been executed so BRING IN THE NUDITY EXCUSE, like NOW. And yes, the hairstyles are all wrong and enough to make anyone cringe. Hairdressers: it's not as if the Tudors and their courtiers were unwilling to have their pictures drawn and painted.
But once again, this show has dramatic, but dramatic, characterization problems and not following through problems and severe continuity issues between episodes, some of which might have been avoided had the writers decided to follow history. For instance. In one episode, Henry VIII, married to Catherine Howard but beginning to find her irritating, heads over to Anne of Cleves. They play cards, they flirt, they sleep together.
And then the show never shows us Anne of Cleves again, except in a very small flashback in the last episode.
It's not just that this didn't happen historically (Henry remained on cordial terms with Anne of Cleves, but never slept with her after their marriage was annulled, or, if we believe their accounts, before their marriage was annulled either), but if the point was to make the audience or the characters wonder if Henry would return to Anne of Cleves, well, never having her appear again kinda ruined that point, and as a result, it all had the feel, again, of unnecessary sex scene, and given that the later episodes with Katherine Parr felt rushed (admittedly partly because we had to watch the French chick remove clothing which was not a bad thing to watch), I have to wonder why we spent any time on it. (Also, Anne of Cleves did not remove nearly as much clothing. It felt out of place on this show. If you see it, you'll understand.)
The worst disservice was done to poor Katherine Howard (and yes, even if cheating on a husband known to execute his wives was, well, not the brightest move in history, I still pity the poor girl), since the writers could not agree on her character from episode to episode, so at one point she's a sexpot, the next, innocent and naïve, the next, savvy enough to be discreet, the next, indiscreet, the next, a spoiled brat, the next, a sexpot again, trying to be nice, being outright mean, and so on. Now, it's absolutely possible that she might have been all of these things at once, but that's not what the script was showing – it was showing her shift for no apparent reason back and forth. Her ladies-in-waiting were equally inconsistent: we have Lady Rochford in one episode actively helping Thomas Culpepper sleep with Catherine, and in the very next episode, Lady Rochford looking all disapproving and handwringing over the whole affair. And so on. One small scene of Lady Rochford overhearing that someone was investigating and/or watching the queen, or a small scene of her passing Anne Boleyn's grave, might have explained this, but that's not what we get.
Oh well. The costumes, as always, were excellent, all the nekkidity looks good, and the last episode, despite some rather clichéd images and an entirely unnecessary appearance by Death, was actually quite moving. I thought that Jonathan Rhys Meyer, who plays Henry, actually improved as an actor in those last episodes, showing the great king unwilling to recognize, and then recognizing, the approach of old age, of death, of his limitations.
So instead of Golden Globes commentary, you'll get my comments on the last season of The Tudors. I saw, and was underwhelmed by, all of the first season, mostly skipped the second season, and saw, and was mildly whelmed by, portions of the third season, and figured I knew enough about the history to keep up with the historical inaccuracies, which, kinda, but more about this below.
The fourth season of the Tudors starts off with Katherine Howard becoming queen, a position which, and I'm sure you can all sympathize with this, involves the removal of a lot of clothes, and ends with Henry VIII facing death, a position which, and I'm sure you can equally all sympathize with this, does not involve the removal of any clothes at all but does involve a lot of grim looks, limping, and yelling at annoying people.
To my surprise, this season was actually more historically accurate than the first one, which, granted, is not saying much. I remain puzzled by the decision to kinda introduce the influential and powerful Archbishop Crammer as a sidenote in the last episode, while understanding that elevating Stephen Gardiner's role in Crammer's place made the whole Katherine Parr episode flow better on television. And I was not entirely surprised that the show decided to keep the (rather questionable) tale that Catherine Howard's last words were, "I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper," because, well, it's dramatic. And I was pleasantly surprised that the show made no attempt to whitewash Thomas Culpepper, who was accused of rape and murder, escaping punishment thanks only to a pardon from the king, who could pardon or execute, whichever. And I was resigned to the entrance of a French girl whose sole purpose is to remove as much clothing as possible given that the clothing shedding characters had just been executed so BRING IN THE NUDITY EXCUSE, like NOW. And yes, the hairstyles are all wrong and enough to make anyone cringe. Hairdressers: it's not as if the Tudors and their courtiers were unwilling to have their pictures drawn and painted.
But once again, this show has dramatic, but dramatic, characterization problems and not following through problems and severe continuity issues between episodes, some of which might have been avoided had the writers decided to follow history. For instance. In one episode, Henry VIII, married to Catherine Howard but beginning to find her irritating, heads over to Anne of Cleves. They play cards, they flirt, they sleep together.
And then the show never shows us Anne of Cleves again, except in a very small flashback in the last episode.
It's not just that this didn't happen historically (Henry remained on cordial terms with Anne of Cleves, but never slept with her after their marriage was annulled, or, if we believe their accounts, before their marriage was annulled either), but if the point was to make the audience or the characters wonder if Henry would return to Anne of Cleves, well, never having her appear again kinda ruined that point, and as a result, it all had the feel, again, of unnecessary sex scene, and given that the later episodes with Katherine Parr felt rushed (admittedly partly because we had to watch the French chick remove clothing which was not a bad thing to watch), I have to wonder why we spent any time on it. (Also, Anne of Cleves did not remove nearly as much clothing. It felt out of place on this show. If you see it, you'll understand.)
The worst disservice was done to poor Katherine Howard (and yes, even if cheating on a husband known to execute his wives was, well, not the brightest move in history, I still pity the poor girl), since the writers could not agree on her character from episode to episode, so at one point she's a sexpot, the next, innocent and naïve, the next, savvy enough to be discreet, the next, indiscreet, the next, a spoiled brat, the next, a sexpot again, trying to be nice, being outright mean, and so on. Now, it's absolutely possible that she might have been all of these things at once, but that's not what the script was showing – it was showing her shift for no apparent reason back and forth. Her ladies-in-waiting were equally inconsistent: we have Lady Rochford in one episode actively helping Thomas Culpepper sleep with Catherine, and in the very next episode, Lady Rochford looking all disapproving and handwringing over the whole affair. And so on. One small scene of Lady Rochford overhearing that someone was investigating and/or watching the queen, or a small scene of her passing Anne Boleyn's grave, might have explained this, but that's not what we get.
Oh well. The costumes, as always, were excellent, all the nekkidity looks good, and the last episode, despite some rather clichéd images and an entirely unnecessary appearance by Death, was actually quite moving. I thought that Jonathan Rhys Meyer, who plays Henry, actually improved as an actor in those last episodes, showing the great king unwilling to recognize, and then recognizing, the approach of old age, of death, of his limitations.
