HOLLYWOOD —Sunday night’s “The Tudors” was fast moving and Henry has already forgotten about fifth wife Katherine Howard, who he had beheaded for adultery and treason. Last week he became man and wife with his sixth and final queen Catherine Parr. Catherine was very caring to an ailing older Henry and she also began what will become a close relationship with her stepchildren. She pitied Prince Edward who is literally kept in a castle away from people, for King Henry’s paranoia of his son’s ill health made the king keep Edward virtually under quarantine for years. Catherine also built on her already good relationship with Henry’s eldest child Mary and has began to break the icy exterior of Henry’s middle child Elizabeth, who will become Britain’s greatest Queen in history.

In addition to her closeness with her stepchildren and building on those important relationships. The secret protestant has already started planning to continue England’s reformation away from the Roman Catholic faith even farther than Henry has already taken it. The Bishop of Essex is a secret Catholic who already has become extremely suspicious of the new queen and will become her first accuser when members of Henry’s court try unsuccessfully to have Henry prosecute his sixth wife for treason and heresy.

We obviously know from history that this charge will be unsuccessful and Henry’s bloodlust for murdering his wives has come to an end.

His bloodlust for land he feels France stole from him is just beginning. On Sunday night, England began it’s offensive invasion of France, while King Charles V of Spain, who is the Holy Roman Emperor sent a deranged general to England to help guide Henry’s assault on King Francis’s nation. By the end of the episode the Earl of Surry and the Duke of Suffolk are increasingly alarmed at King Henry’s dementia, which causes him to make foolish and very bad military decisions. Am outbreak of dysentery has plagued the British troops and two thousand were already dead with twice that amount becoming deathly ill of the disease. Henry chose to continue his assault on France and Suffolk and Surry managed to take some French prisoners in one of the heated battles.

England certainly has a supremacy over France militarily, but a wall the French built has become a stubborn impediment to the further invasion. Jonathan Rhys Meyers may be back in rehab and having personal problems currently, but the actor did a fabulous job as the ailing and demented older King Henry in this pivotal episode. Usually I’m no fan of warfare on screen, but the writers and producers of “The Tudors” managed to keep it very realistic and the acting was superb. Henry’s left Catherine the Regent Queen, meaning in charge while he’s away from Court in London. However, Catherine has already started making very powerful religious enemies and as history tells us, this battle continues on at least another century and way past the reign of the last Tudor, Elizabeth I.

The show will not air this week in observance of Memorial Day in America. However, be prepared in next week for what is considered the best episode of season four. “The Tudors” airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on Showtime.

For an exclusive sneak peek at next week’s episode when Henry’s physician tells him that his soldiers are dying of flux, only to have the king threaten his head and demand the doctor drag dying men from their beds to fight France, go to YouTube – Bloody Flux