This week wraps up the much anticipated season two finale of the Showtime series, The Tudors. Anne Boleyn’s fall from grace was swift and her gristly beheading by the Swo
Last week we watched, fascinated, while head after head rolled, including Anne’s brother, George Boleyn, the musician Mark Smeaton and the unfortunate Sir Henry Norris. We also see Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s letch of a father, turn on his own children to save himself.
Although I was skeptical of the casting of The Tudors at first (a skinny Henry VIII? C’mon!) the characters have definitely taken on their own persona. Jonathan Rhys Meyers does an excellent job playing the cuckolded king, deceiving even himself into thinking that Anne had been with over 100 men while she was queen. Henry Cavill, who plays Charles Brandon Lord Suffolk, is more than just eye candy for the show. His character provides a glimpse into what everyone must have been thinking, but dared not to say; that Henry VIII and Cromwell were both liars and Anne, even with all her faults, did not deserve death.
As always, I was delighted when King Francis I made a brief appearance last week, meeting with the Pope Leo X in Rome. New characters who will make up season three include the Seymour family, Jane (played by Anita Breim) and her cold fish brother Thomas as well as the famous Renaissance artist, Hans Holbein.
And just what will next season hold? Of course Jane must bid adieu when she dies in childbirth. But what of Anne of Cleves? I wonder if they have cast her character yet? I, for one, am anxiously awaiting the downfall of Thomas Cromwell, who started out so very likable but is now as corrupted by power as Thomas Wosley ever was.
