I just started watching Season 1 Episode 3 yesterday so a bit of what you're talking about is a blur and I'd almost have to go back and watch again, but if you're right, it's just sort of funny (love your comment about the Tudors having Eurostar).

Ep 2 starts with the court already in France for the Field of Cloth of Gold, so Boleyn's trip to France and seeing his girls must have been in Ep 1; we had talked about waiting with some baited breath for Natalie Dormer's appearance because the moment is beautifully underplayed in a manner of speaking. Okay, now I'm sitting here getting confused myself LOL I remember Buckingham storming into his chamber after the Wolsey incident and he's talking to Boleyn, and he speaks of how HIS father was going to murder Richard III. So that was nearly Christmastime (we had the clock gift). And was that Boleyn or Norfolk or both who were present with Buckingham when they discussed how the King had looked weak before Francis? Sheesh — you know this just means I may have to watch it all again just to verify what you've told us!

TinaII2None said:

I’d forgotten about Marguerite of Navarre making an appearance in the show, but instead of being a woman in her Thirties (as well as Anne’s mentor), she’s a pretty young thing whom Henry makes VERY welcome to his kingdom. (I was LMAO about the poor gentlemen who have to sit outside the King’s bedroom and listen while he….well… LOL).  

Yeah when I re-watch the seasons. I always find that kind of…awkward/strange/disturbing/arousing??  I guess the servants really know every little move and detail.

They were too, I’d forgotten that!  I’ll have to get out my DVDs and watch the whole season again!

i love watching the series over and over. Can never get enough

Finishing up the last hours of my off days and thought I’d kick back and watch another episode from Season 1 — and while it’s still fresh in my mind, I wanted to touch on Episode 6. It was nice to have a change of pace — no dirty feet LOL and more Anne.

— I’m always so fascinated with the portraits or paintings I see on the background walls, cause I’m wondering if the art director had some meaning to them being in certain scenes or if they just make nice “window dressing.” In the one dining room (I’ll call it), I always catch sight of a familiar portrait of Henry V, a king I know Henry VIII admired. Occasionally I’ll see a portrait of Henry VII. In the scene in Katherine of Aragon’s chamber — when she speaks to the Spanish ambassador (Mendoza I believe, not Eustace Chapuys), I’m pretty sure that on one wall hangs the image of Prince Arthur and on the other her mother-in-law, Elizabeth of York….Not sure if this is the same dining room or another, but stuck behind a door is a portrait of somebody who I’m pretty sure is Richard III (kind of made me go  when I saw it since Henry’s father defeated Richard — even if OUR Henry is related to him). It’s kind of cool figuring them out — was sort of surprised to see what appeared to be a Madonna scene on a wall behind Cardinal Wolsey! LOL

— Nice to see Anne’s character becoming even more prominent as the King makes their relationship more and more public. And I like how Natalie Dormer plays it all. Her uncertainty when she reads Henry’s love letter out loud to her father and uncle. The men know that she now holds the King’s emotions in her hands. I thought for a moment that Anne was going to say that she was actually starting to love Henry, but she never gets to say it. Then the scene when she’s about to take leave when the Queen appears, and Henry makes her stay so that he can show his wife and the court what he feels for Anne. The second he’s gone, all eyes turn on her, and she manages to hold her head erect as she leaves. (This is also the scene when Henry tells her ‘I love your neck’ and you can see how very touched she is by this pronouncement — forget just how much foreshadowing is in that line).

— I also loved the scene between Anne and Katherine, when the former actually dares to speak her mind and ask, what if the King doesn’t tire of her as he did the others, and the Queen gives her the smackdown and calls her a servant who wasn’t given permission to speak. All I could think was ‘Wow’ — the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella vs. this “commoner” who isn’t backing down. I think this is also the scene when Anne tells Katherine that she believes the King loves her and that she loves him.   

— The King’s letters to the Pope. First off, was there a Dr. Knight who was Anne’s tutor? The name didn’t sound familiar. Did an incident similar to what we saw take place as far as the bulls written in Henry’s hand? I nearly ROTFLMAO when Wolsey went pretty much speechless on learning that the girl in question mentioned in the one letter was that “silly girl” Anne Boleyn! Also had to LMAO at the second letter where Henry asks to have a second wfe if the Pope won’t allow a divorce! Did he actually DARE to ask the Pope that? I keep thinking I have read that somewhere, but it sounds so incredibly fictional — but then again, so very Henry!

— Also loved that look on Wolsey’s face when he walked in and found Anne at Henry’s side. I almost felt sorry for him stammering and stuttering to try to explain you know Henry is probably already aware of, and then how the camera goes from Rhys-Meyers to Dormer’s face as they listen. Just a wonderful moment in that episode.

— The sibling relationship between George and Anne. Seeing him slip into his sister’s bedchamber — yeah, I can see why those rumors would start, even if it was innocent. I loved how Anne tells him that she can’t share things with him any longer because she knows George isn’t the same and he would tell it all. (I think some of the matters shared by the siblings did go public, such as Henry’s supposed impotence). Then the one scene when George gives Anne the drawing of Anne’s falcon tearing at the pommegranate — and she tells him that this is not a game.

— That phrase “this is not a game” is said several times in this episode. Has me wondering if at one time, Anne did believe it to be a game, but now she really has fallen or is falling in love with Henry and she realizes exactly how serious all of this is.

— Okay I can’t resist — I absolutely loved the costumes Henry and Anne wear in the hunting/picnic scene (they were matching); the way she holds onto him as she rides behind him, and the little details like the bow I saw swinging from her waist. Too bad Compton (I think that’s his name) was relegated to being the third wheel and getting to watch his King and Anne pretty much make out!

That’s it for now I think. Wondering if you all caught any of this too or what your feedback on this episode might be?

Impish_Impulse said:

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This is the one and only time I hated Katharine. She asked Anne a question; and she was fine with Anne speaking until she said something Katharine didn’t like and then she turned into a total diva bitch! I was not OK with that at all and I think Katharine was the one acting ‘common’ there. IMO, obviously. No one has to agree or come charging to Katharine’s rescue!

 I think I was surprised but (contradiction here) NOT surprised that Katherine reacted as she did. I was trying to remember how Bessie Blount behaved when Katherine spoke to her that one time — I’m pretty sure Bessie was very much pregnant, even if she didn’t show with all the boning and such. Someone can possibly remind me, but it seemed (and I really, REALLY ought to watch the scene again) as if the Queen was more understanding. I won’t say necessarily sympathetic, but it was as if she realized that sometimes a woman had no choice when it came to being in a King’s favor. So perhaps Katherine saw more in Anne’s reaction and in Anne’s response to her than she had in Henry’s other mistresses.

I felt that Anne was being honest. She answered the Queen’s question pure and simple, but didn’t stop there. When the Queen challenges her by saying that SHE will always have the King’s heart, it’s Anne’s turn to challenge Katherine, which I think is what got her ripped (I believe before this, Katherine had touched the necklace Henry gave Anne…and didn’t she call the girl an expensive wh*re, to which Anne replied “I am no wh*re.”).

So can’t say I totally agree or disagree with Katherine’s reaction. I try to imagine her as the grieved and hurting wife who is possibly realizing that THIS girl is the one who really could be a threat, especially when my husband openly displays his affection for her. So I guess now I’m back to being surprised/not surprised that Katherine snapped as she did. A Queen’s prerogative to snap? Sure. Should she have? *shrug*

(Blaming my rambling on getting in late from work )

Sharon said:

I don’t remember Katherine touching the necklace Anne was wearing which was given to her by Henry.  It’s been a while since I watched this episode. Deja Vu when Anne saw the necklace Jane was wearing which was given to her by Henry? Except Anne decided to rip it off of Jane’s neck.  Go Anne!  These poor women…all of them.  Queen’s prerogative to snap? Absolutely.  Should she have? You betchya! Who wouldn’t? How much is a Queen, Katherine and later Anne, supposed to take from these mere maids?

 

 Sharon — she gave it a very light touch, lifting it a tad when she asked where Anne had gotten it. I was holding my breath cause I didn’t remember if Katherine would snatch it off her or not (you read my mind — deja vu about Anne and Jane Seymour), but no, it was just a light touch, nothing more. The whole thing was a great scene and a wonderful few minutes for these two fine actresses — in fact, I watched it twice.

There’s a line in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments when the Egyptian master builder (played by a deliciously evil Vincent Price) sets his eyes on the pretty slave girl played by Debra Paget and decides she’ll make a wonderful house slave. Another character whispers to Charlton Heston’s Moses “Beauty is but a curse to our women.” It came to mind when you watch these women and know they have very little choice once the King (or some other powerful man) decides to favor you. Some, I know, willingly went along with it — I’m sure there were others who only did so out of fear. How do you tell an absolute monarch “No”? (Well, Anne Boleyn withstanding).

You do wonder if such a moment ever happened in reality. Sometimes I would love to be a fly on all these Tudor walls!

PS and back to Katherine’s reaction to Anne and Anne’s to Jane Seymour. I love old movies as you all know, and this isn’t a favorite but just a curiosity for all the controversy surrounding it (for one, it was NEVER finished). It’s a silent movie called Queen Kelly, and it starred Gloria Swanson (later of Sunset Boulevard fame); directed by Erich Von Stroheim and produced by Joseph Kennedy, Swanson’s lover (and yep, the daddy of John, Robert and the others). Anyway, Swanson (although too old for the role) plays a convent girl kidnapped by “wild” Prince Wolfram. They have an evening of love until the mad Queen shows up — she’s engaged to the Prince. This scene is what follows, and all I can add is I’m just glad The Tudors producers didn’t see it and go “Oh man! Do you think we can work THAT into an episode?!!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..qC2KqCM7ps

Sharon said:

Actually, Anne would have been better off had she said “NO!”  Eventually she said yes and it was downhill from then on.  There is no way any of these women could have said no to these powerful men.  It still happens today only not as often. (I hope)

Wow, that was quite a scene with Gloria Swanson. Quite violent for the time, wasn’t it? I forgot she was Joseph Kennedy’s paramour.  Talk about power!

 In hindsight, yes, she should have said no if it was possible — but then you can’t help but wonder ‘What then?’ As in boy, would history have been changed! Anne might have lived a long, relatively uneventful life and there would have been no Elizabeth Tudor (well, not as we came to know her. I’m sure any daughter of Anne’s would have been special, but…well, you see where I’m going.

You’re right about that Queen Kelly scene. When I first saw it I was literally . After all, these movies were pre-code, but still, it was quite incredible seeing a star of Swanson’s notoriety pushing the envelope in such a way. But Gloria always was a force to be reckoned with in the Hollywood of the 1910s and 20s. WAY OT but if you ever get the opportunity to read the history of that movie, definitely do. There’s lots of info online. Like I mentioned, it was never finished and talk about a battle of wills when it came to Swanson and Von Stroheim. The attempt to make it is almost more interesting than what movie there is! LOL

I miss the Tudors. I was hoping they would continue with Edward and Mary and Elizabeth. But maybe its best they ended when it was really good. who knows