
While everyone I know is losing their own heads over mindless TV shows Gossip Girl and before that Grey's Anatomy, I've been losing myself to Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Weeds, 30 Rock, and--my super duper current favorite--Showtime's The Tudors.
With only 2 episodes left for The Tudors second season, I am really despondent. It's like a dear friend of mine is going to go on vacation and I'm really not sure if she's coming back. Well, there will definitely be a third season but the Tudor dynasty doesn't end with Henry and his wives so I wonder if there'll be enough public interest to see the series through to Edward, Mary, and finally Elizabeth. You never know with these series. For example, cult favorites sci-fi Firefly and comedy Arrested Development just quietly died, despite being two of the best written and best acted shows on television. Sigh... It sucks to have the general public dictate their taste really.
Anyway, back to The Tudors. So last week, Anne Boleyn finally confirms that her husband, Henry VIII, is in love with another woman, that vile Jane Seymour. In contrast to the passionate and extremely intelligent Anne, Jane is virginal and submissive. But like Anne, Jane is utterly the same when it comes to stealing husbands. What makes her worse in my mind is this: Anne asked Henry to divorce Katherine; Jane mutely wanted Anne dead. She wasn't going to wait for a divorce the way Anne did (who waited seven long years); she'd rather her royal rival was conveniently dead and this was accomplished in five weeks! Murderess! In fact, she married the king 10 days after Anne was beheaded! The slut! Ooooh, I can't stand Jane Seymour!

I've always been interested in this part of English history not just because of everyone's reason (the story of a king who had six wives is always juicy) but because I was raised a Born-Again Christian. So Henry VIII, in breaking with the Roman Catholic Church, was a hero of the Reformation. Of course, since I was also raised a Catholic by my grandparents and I studied in a convent, I was told that Thomas More, who Henry beheaded, was the hero of the time and that Henry was the devil incarnate. Yeah, it can get confusing for a kid so the kid (that's me) hit the books and just let history decide for me.

Too bad for Anne, she came out of it headless. Though she did end up the mother of her country's greatest monarch, Elizabeth I, and, without Henry realizing it, Anne was also the mother of the English Reformation. Of course, in the show, Pope Paul III (played by a really cool Peter O'Toole) realizes this and caustically remarks, "Why doesn't someone just get rid of her?" And Henry, the great hero of schism, unwittingly obeys him.
*The Tudor images from abcnews.com and Showtime. Book image from Blackwell Bookshop.
Just read this now! Grabe! I just finished watching the first season a few weeks ago, I was painstakingly slow in going through each episode (I heart Henry Cavill sigh sigh sigh) but the second season sounds so intriguing! My officemate just saw me reading your post and we got to talking about the series and what happens in the second season. Sana mag-sale ulit yung dvd...
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish you were in town to fill me in on the historical details!!
Henry Cavill is cuter in the second season. He's a MAN now; in the first season kasi medyo bad boy pa siya dun. But mas type ko talaga si Jonathan! I know you think he's gay but I really really like him! =)
ReplyDeleteRight now, though, I'm crushing over that guy in Pushing Daisies. He looks so sweet, like he'll take care of you for the rest of forever...
Do you have this on video? Mom would love to watch this. She is so into Anne Boleyn now having just read two of Philippa Gregory's books. She was so disappointed with Natalie Portman's movie - nakatulog siya.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if you have a video, can we please borrow it?
Vince and I will look for a DVD na lang kasi the copy we have (seasons 1 and 2) can be watched only thru his Sony PS3.
ReplyDeleteYa, I heard that The Other Boleyn Girl wasn't that great. I watched a bit of it on the plane. Natalie was shrill, like a spoiled brat, not the great scheming manipulator I think her to be. Si Scarlett naman, parang unbelievable yung portrayal niya. Ha.