HOLLYWOOD —Sunday night’s debut of the final season of “The Tudors” was truly magnificently written. King Henry VIII is starting to show signs of dementia, yet no one dares tell the monarch that he’s becoming a tyrant. Queen Katherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife is settling into the life of a queen quite nicely. The teenager is unsophisticated, a bit catty and far too sexually desirable to men around the palace. A trusted royal courier named Thomas Culpeper has taken a shining to the queen and shows signs of being as vicious and vile as Henry. Culpeper and his male friends rode out to the British countryside, found a woman who was home alone and assaulted her, then later killed her husband when he confronted the louses.
Culpeper can hardly contain his lust for the queen, and has even began making comments about her beauty and her sex appeal around some of the king’s men. Big mistake! King Henry, however, is so in awe of having a young bride, that he’s oblivious to the nature of his new wife and the men around her.
Princess Mary immediately disliked her new stepmother, so did one of the queen’s ladies, who is also a relative of Henry. Mary sees her as a tramp, a woman who is far beneath her father’s status and vows not to spend any time with her new stepmother or to show her any respect. The younger children of Henry’s, however, fell for the young stepmother’s charms. Prince Edward now almost 9 found her to be charming and Princess Elizabeth ever an astute young girl also enjoyed meeting her majesty. When Elizabeth greeted the queen for the very first time, Henry was stunned by her poise and her likeness to her mother, Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, whom he had arrested and beheaded.
London was in the midst of a drought, people languished in the Tower of London waiting for either Henry’s signature on their death warrant or pardon. Pardons were few and far between in 16th Century England. The Court was starting to become even more split, as true Catholics were trying to flex their muscles amongst the new Protestants but not too much in order to be considered a heritect by the King, which is punishable by death.
King Henry’s brother-in-law Edward Seymour is gaining more power and Henry’s best friend Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, seems to be a bit apprehensive at this point. After all, he is just getting over the assassinations and executions upon thousands of innocent Catholics that he was forced to prosecute for fear of his own family and his own life. No man was good enough to Henry that he would not remove their head. Cromwell did all of the prince’s bidding and his head was quickly removed by the mistake of pushing Henry to marry his fourth wife Anne of Cleaves.
Most TV series lose their passion and their emotional punch in the final season, but not “The Tudors.” With just enough new characters to add intrigue and the best characters and actors left over from earlier seasons, the show is as exciting and intriguing as it was the first season. Fans are aware of this queen’s destiny. However, seeing this storyline play out is still very surprising and emotionally fulfilling.
“The Tudors” air on Showtime© at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights.
