(Season 3, Episodes 4-8)
Joss Stone is most well known for her singing career. After her brief stint on The Tudors as Henry’s fourth wife I think she has a bright future in acting as well. The title of this post may have had you thinking the opposite, but I think she was great. I do think that Stone was miscast, however. Throughout the last half of the season, it was made abundantly clear that Anne of Cleves was supposed to be an ugly woman, with Henry raging that she looked “like a horse” (which is apparently a historically accurate quote). Poor Joss Stone. She looks nothing like a horse. She’s an attractive woman.
Aside from the vague insult that her character is supposed to be ugly, I thought Joss Stone did a superb job as the short-lived queen. I’m glad to hear that she returns in the fourth and final season as well. Seeing her sweet, affable innocence also served as a nice juxtaposition for the the late season introduction of Katherine Howard, Henry’s future fifth wife. What a little firecracker she is.
Aside from Henry’s dalliances with the ladies, there were other big goings on as the third season wound to an end. I had a feeling that Cromwell’s time was running out. The king seemed to be losing patience with him, and he was winning a lot of enemies at court. It seemed like the king’s response to Anne of Cleves was the final nail in the coffin. Anne seemed to piss off Henry even more so than the false report of an armada of warships, which shouldn’t be too surprising. The king always seems to be more interested in the events in his bed than those on his throne.
Cromwell’s death was particularly brutal, in a cringe worthy sort of way. I can’t imagine being beheaded and having it take more than three strokes of the blade. I will definitely miss Cromwell in the final season. I’m a big fan of James Frain. He’s a great actor, who I’ve enjoyed in several other shows. I hope he has a worthy replacement in season four. If I have one complaint about the character, though, it’s that we didn’t really get to see what his motivations were. Why was he so driven to complete the religious reformation. Perhaps I missed it, but I don’t remember it being very clear.
I’m looking forward to the final season of the show. I enjoyed season three, but I don’t think it had the same zest that the first two did. Perhaps it’s just that the history itself wasn’t that interesting. I mean, the Anne Boleyn story is one for the ages. The show also let it develop over two seasons, though. The final seasons seem to be blowing through the queens in no time at all. Even if their reigns were historically short, it doesn’t mean that the writers couldn’t have let them develop a bit longer and go into them in more detail.
I do have a few bold predictions as I head into season four. I predict that there is going to be a preponderance of sex scenes. I predict that Henry will get upset and yell a lot. And I predict that Henry will have another wife.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 22, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
Agreed. To all of it. I loved Joss Stone and thought she was fantastic, however ugly would never be a word I would use to describe her. But who really wants to be cast as the ugly queen.
I too was disappointed that they literally blew through queens 3-6. I feel they should have spent a lot more time on wife 3, as although her reign was short, she has been said to have the most impact on the future of england, and was considered by henry to be his one true wife.