Tuesday 21 March 2017

The Tudors, Season 2 (2008)



I generally avoid spoilers in my reviews, but The Tudors is - admittedly rather loosely - based on actual events that occurred nearly five hundred years ago, and which you may well have learned about at school or college, so I'm going to be a bit less circumspect than normal.  So if you don't know about Henry VIII and you want to watch the show unspoiled, then you should stop reading at the end of this paragraph: because my review for you is "if you don't mind a lot of sex and violence, and some not every nice things happening, then The Tudors is worth seeing for its strong performances and lavish costumes".

Still here?

Right, then I assume you know all about the six wives business and Henry's break with the Pope which led to the formation of the Church of England.  And if you didn't, well, you only have yourself to blame for continuing to read.

Season two of The Tudors begins with the final stages of Henry's quarrel with the Pontiff, as the English King seeks to annul his marriage by any means necessary so he can wed Anne Boleyn.  Anne (brilliantly portrayed by Natalie Dormer) is much younger than his first wife, and Henry believes she will give him the male heir he so desperately desires.  Opposing the breach with Rome becomes steadily more and more dangerous as Henry's patience wears thin with those who do not support his agenda, but Anne's apparent triumph comes with huge risks.  If she fails to provide the son that Henry demands, her fall from grace will be swift and final.  The question of the heir forms the focus of the second half of the season, as allies and enemies within the court jockey for position and intrigue either for or against Anne's interests.  And as you either know, or can guess from the fact that Henry has four more wives to get through yet, Anne isn't going to get out of this season alive.

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