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6:54 pm
October 31, 2010
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…the fact that they had Wolsey commit suicide is the error I find most egregious.
And to call it an error is to be kind because, really, to call it that suggests that the writers were unaware that he died of illness before he ever made it to London.
His suicide was purely for the sake of drama, and that just makes me sad.
Maybe it's because I like Sam Neil…
Or maybe because I wonder how many people who watch/watched The Tudors now think that Thomas Wolsey committed suicide. It's entirely out of character and doesn't even make sense in the context of the show.
"We mustn't let our passions destroy our dreams…"
7:33 pm
February 8, 2011
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It bugs the crap out of me too. I think they totally could have played off his ACTUAL death and had the same, “dramatic appeal”.
The suicide just grossed me out and I completely agree with you, it was entirely out of character.
10:51 pm
August 12, 2009
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Chrystinamarie123 said:
It bugs the crap out of me too. I think they totally could have played off his ACTUAL death and had the same, “dramatic appeal”.
The suicide just grossed me out and I completely agree with you, it was entirely out of character.
Yeah, but his real cause of death was dysentery, or severe diarrhea. I really don't see the dramatic appeal of that, although they certainly could have changed it to 'consumption' or the sweating sickness, rather than have a Catholic Archbishop commit suicide, which was incredibly unbelievable to me.
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
4:39 am
November 18, 2010
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I haven't seen most of the first 3 seasons mainly due to the whole marriage to the king of Portugal which turned me off. So hearing that Wolsey had committed suicide makes me go WT…..A senior churchman to endanger his soul by such an action boggles the mind.
It's always bunnies.
5:11 am
June 7, 2010
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I agree that Cardinal Wolsey's suicide was the most unnecessary inaccuracy. Why in the name of God would you have a high ranking Catholic clergyman kill himself? Regardless of the things Wolsey did in life, there was no way a devout Catholic would risk eternal damnation just to avoid his arrest. Like Impish noted, they could have simply changed what condition he died from. I felt it was an attempt by writers to made Wolsey's conduct beyond reproach.
"By daily proof you shall find me to be to you both loving and kind" Anne Boleyn
9:39 am
December 5, 2009
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I can define what I think of as the most unnecessary inaccuracy in just two words; George Boleyn.
11:41 am
February 8, 2011
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Impish_Impulse said:
Chrystinamarie123 said:
It bugs the crap out of me too. I think they totally could have played off his ACTUAL death and had the same, “dramatic appeal”.
The suicide just grossed me out and I completely agree with you, it was entirely out of character.
Yeah, but his real cause of death was dysentery, or severe diarrhea. I really don't see the dramatic appeal of that, although they certainly could have changed it to 'consumption' or the sweating sickness, rather than have a Catholic Archbishop commit suicide, which was incredibly unbelievable to me.
Hear me out, have you ever seen the movie The Painted Veil? If you haven't it deals with Chlora and severe diarrhea was involved. As gross as it is in real life, they portrayed it in a way that didn't gross you out (or show it), got the point across and was dramatic. So it all just depends on how they would have portrayed the Dysentery. Though I do agree with you, I would have gladly accepted Sweating Sickness or Consumption as a substitute.
12:16 pm
February 24, 2010
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wreckmasterjay said:
I must admit as I was an amateur Tudor fan I thought thats how Wolsey died until I looked him up. Pity they have to dramatise such an interesting subject anyway.
I think it's great that you went and looked it up. Hopefully, others did the same thing. If a tv show can get people reading the facts, I'm all for it.
I don't know why the truth wasn't good enough for the show. Making Wolsey kill himself, was just wrong on so many levels.
9:10 pm
August 12, 2009
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Chrystinamarie123 said:
Impish_Impulse said:
Chrystinamarie123 said:
It bugs the crap out of me too. I think they totally could have played off his ACTUAL death and had the same, “dramatic appeal”.
The suicide just grossed me out and I completely agree with you, it was entirely out of character.
Yeah, but his real cause of death was dysentery, or severe diarrhea. I really don't see the dramatic appeal of that, although they certainly could have changed it to 'consumption' or the sweating sickness, rather than have a Catholic Archbishop commit suicide, which was incredibly unbelievable to me.
Hear me out, have you ever seen the movie The Painted Veil? If you haven't it deals with Cholera and severe diarrhea was involved. As gross as it is in real life, they portrayed it in a way that didn't gross you out (or show it), got the point across and was dramatic. So it all just depends on how they would have portrayed the Dysentery. Though I do agree with you, I would have gladly accepted Sweating Sickness or Consumption as a substitute.
No, I haven't! I might have to go looking for that.
The unnecessary innacuracies for me would be
- Wolsey's suicide,
- Henry only having one sister (who married the king of Portugal instead of either France or Scotland, as his sisters did historically. And she murders him?!)
- Making George Boleyn a wife-raping bisexual.
- Making Thomas Tallis and William Compton have an awkward, unconvincing affair that had (for me) zero chemistry.
- Making Kathryn Howard a prostitute. And then showing her wetting herself on the scaffold.
- Brandon's French mistress.
I'm sure I'll remember more later. 
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
9:46 pm
February 8, 2011
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Impish_Impulse said:
No, I haven't! I might have to go looking for that.
The unnecessary innacuracies for me would be
- Wolsey's suicide,
- Henry only having one sister (who married the king of Portugal instead of either France or Scotland, as his sisters did historically. And she murders him?!)
- Making George Boleyn a wife-raping bisexual.
- Making Thomas Tallis and William Compton have an awkward, unconvincing affair that had (for me) zero chemistry.
- Making Kathryn Howard a prostitute. And then showing her wetting herself on the scaffold.
- Brandon's French mistress.
I'm sure I'll remember more later.
Hahaha! Thomas Tallis and William Compton's affair was SO awkward!
I hated how annoying they made Kathryn Howard, if I didn't know anything about Tudor History I certainly would not have gotten interested in it through how they portrayed her. I know they were trying to convince us she was young but they took it way too far, I'm only 20 and if I ever met a girl THAT obnoxious I'd probably have to slap her.
And her nudity scene with the block LMFAO. How ridiculous.
Also The Painted Veil is good, it has Edward Norton and Naomi Watts in it. 🙂
1:20 pm
April 1, 2011
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The combining of Henry's two sisters into one person, the marriage of the composite sister to the King of Portugal, and her murdering him bugged me.
I didn't watch the last season, but I was put off by the portrayal of Katherine Howard in the last couple of episodes in the third season. I've always understood that Henry thought he was getting an innocent young girl with Katherine–hence his fury about discovering that she had a sexual past–and he couldn't have possibly thought that about the Katherine portrayed here!
Making poor Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset into a bed-hopper bothered me too. She had her share of faults, but unfaithfulness to her husband wasn't among them.
Susan Higginbotham
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
2:04 pm
October 31, 2010
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Louise said:
I can define what I think of as the most unnecessary inaccuracy in just two words; George Boleyn.
I agree…Wolsey's stuck out because that was the episode that was airing on BBC America.
The Tallis-Compton affair was A) Unconvincing so as to be comical and B) Unnecessary. I literally couldn't figure out later why the two characters were even included in the show.
"We mustn't let our passions destroy our dreams…"
8:59 pm
August 12, 2009
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MegC said:
The Tallis-Compton affair was A) Unconvincing so as to be comical and B) Unnecessary. I literally couldn't figure out later why the two characters were even included in the show.
Because they needed someone to die of sweating sickness and someone to mourn that person? I'm being facetious. Thomas Tallis was an odd character for me, with that affair with Compton coming out of nowhere, later kissing the one twin because he somehow foresees she's going to die of sweating sickness (wouldn't that have gotten him burned as a witch or something?) and then getting involved with the surviving, possibly crazy twin sister. More than once in his scenes, I was yelling, “What? That makes no sense!”
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
9:18 pm
November 18, 2010
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The more I read about the tv series, the more I want to watch it as a train-wreck…I've only watched season 4 all the way through…the earlier seasons….i must watch..sometime…
It's always bunnies.
8:31 pm
August 12, 2009
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Yes, Anyanka, you must! You'll veer from being really moved by a scene, to yelling at the screen “What?!”, back to being impressed they showed some obscure thing that really happened – all in the same episode!!
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
9:46 pm
October 31, 2010
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Impish_Impulse said:
Yes, Anyanka, you must! You'll veer from being really moved by a scene, to yelling at the screen “What?!”, back to being impressed they showed some obscure thing that really happened – all in the same episode!!
Indeed! It's almost like being pregnant! 😀
"We mustn't let our passions destroy our dreams…"
9:42 pm
August 12, 2009
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Hahahahaha!!!
"Don't knock at death's door.
Ring the bell and run. He hates that."
12:27 am
March 9, 2011
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I've made my peace with “The Tudors” as a “historical fantasy/re-imagining” rather than a biopic. I blame Phillippa Gregory's “The Other Boleyn Girl.” Gregory's novel proved the public would devour tabloid-esque retellings of Tudor history playing hard and loose with the facts. Can't blame the creators of “The Tudors” for using that knowledge to their advantage.
6:10 pm
January 5, 2011
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UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME:
Wolsey's suicide may have been completely out of character for the real-life Wolsey, but I don't think it was out of character for the man whom they presented in the show. The Wolsey on The Tudors was a clergyman only in name. It was a position that was merely a means for him to exercise power, not a genuine vocation. He was not a religious, spiritual man; quite the opposite, in fact. Wolsey himself acknowledged this at the very end as he prayed. He said that he “knew himself for what he was,” and that he knew he would not be going to heaven, because for all that he had done “and all that he was about to do,” there could be no forgiveness. What I saw in that scene was not a Catholic clergyman doing the unthinkable and going against his faith by committing suicide, but rather a man who had not lived a good life, who had lost the thing he held most dear (power), and who already believed himself damned and saw no other way out. It worked for me.
And actually, now I think of it, it may not have even been out of character for the real-life Wolsey. After all, being a Catholic clergyman didn't stop him from having a mistress and two illegitimate children, so it's not so unthinkable to me that he might have been willing to commit suicide. (Not that I think that's what really happened to Wolsey, just that it's not entirely inconceivable to me.)
As for the inaccuracy that bothered me most, it was definitely the travesty of that storyline involving Princess Margaret/Mary. It was so wrong on so many levels. And I think the role was terribly miscast as well. I've nothing against Gabrielle Anwar in general; she's a decent actress and seems like a perfectly lovely lady. But she was not right for that part. At all.
6:20 pm
November 18, 2010
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Kari said:
Wolsey's suicide may have been completely out of character for the real-life Wolsey, but I don't think it was out of character for the man whom they presented in the show. The Wolsey on The Tudors was a clergyman only in name. It was a position that was merely a means for him to exercise power, not a genuine vocation.
Lots of religous people were intreasrted in power only,,,see the Borgia/Medici popes for examples….
It's always bunnies.
