Henry VIII was not a nice fellow. Despite the fact that he wrote the song Greensleeves and seemed to be very found good food, he had this nasty habit of killing off people. In the second season of Showtime’s The Tudors we are just getting into the full stride of Henry VIII. Here was a man who would destroy the Catholic Church in England, set himself up as God’s right hand man, and kill a lot of people who didn’t think this such a good idea along the way. There is still that main thrust in the story of Henry VIII’s desire to shag anything that moves, have a son to wear his crown, and made The Church of England something slightly different from the Catholic Church. Lots of wanton nudity of very lovely people and lots of gnashing of teeth of he believers of the One True Faith.
After four episodes Henry VIII, looking a bit more roguish in his little beard, has taken a couple of new mistresses as Queen Anne doesn’t want to endanger her unborn childs by having sex with the King. Anne is turning into a rather pathetic figure, she has always been the villian-as she seduced poor Henry and caused him to cast out the Catholics and Queen Catherine. We all know that Anne will not met a good end, but since she brought it all upon herself, it is a bit hard to feel too sorrow for her.
There is good news for The Tudors from Shwotime, who have said they want a 3rd season and have indicated that they want to follow the entire sage of the Six Wives of Hevry VIII. There is a bit of time compression going on already as we shift from one season to another and Anne gets pregant and gives birth in pratically the same episode. So I look forward to seeing how the rest of the story unfolds.
The addition of the great Peter O’Toole gives the show one more element of class in an already very classy production. As Pope he is a hard and angry man who is not above ordering someone’s death if it suits his ends. But the Pope is powerless to do more than threaten Henery VIII with excumunication, something which is no threat to Henry once he has set up his own Church.
The storm clouds are gathering for Queen Anne and those who refuse to accept Henry as the Head of The Church. The smaller matters of family life are mentioned in passing, and the great sweeping events of History are falling into place. Damn, this is a good show.
