Showtime's THE TUDORS: Fourth & Final season

[Golgo-13]

I've been watching this awesome show base on the life of Henry VIII since season 1. It's in it's 4th and final season.

Sunday at 9pm. Showtime.

 

[union_jak]

I hope they put him in a fat suit in the last episode, at least. It's true he wasn't always that fat, bearded man his whole life, but he certainly died that way. Joely Richardson is playing the final Queen?

 

[Golgo-13]

Yeah, Joely is playing his last queen; the one that actually survives!

The current Queen Katherine is annoying as hell; young and clueless.

One of my fav's on the show is the actress that plays his daughter, Lady Mary, who later becomes known as Queen 'Blood Mary'. The actress that plays her Sarah Bolger is awesome.

 

[The Sage]

And the current Queen Katherine is easily the least prettiest of Henry's wives. I can't wait for tonight's.

 

[Golgo-13]

^You can say that again. I thought it was just me. I don't understand all the lust over her..must have had a different standard of beauty back then.

Anne Boleyn, as much as i hated her, looked the best followed by his first wife Katherine and then Jane Seymour.

 

[The Sage]

Haha, same order as I'd rank them.

The makeup in the current season is amazing. Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks very aged now as King Henry.

 

[Golgo-13]

Good ep. I think Katherine days are number, as is the chick who's hooking her up with Culpepper, Lady Rochford.

It's funny how Henry is getting along with Anne of Cleves now after he divorced her, yet hated her very presence last season.

 

[The Sage]

Culpeper's about to be out as well.

She's adapted to English customs, enjoys playing cards, drinking wine...all of the things Henry likes. Plus she's a real, civilized lady unlike Katherine.

 

[Golgo-13]

Another good ep. Looks like **** really hits the fan next week pertaining to Queen Katherine and her past.

 

[The Sage]

And I can't wait.

I don't know why, but I'm actually feeling some sympathy for King Henry this season. Between Queen Katherine, his son's health, his bad leg, and his aging, he seems a little different. Not as arrogant as he once was, maybe a bit humbled.

 

[The Sage]

"Did you have carnal knowledge of the queen?"

that phrase cracks me up.

 

[Golgo-13]

Good ep.

I don't understand why Henry hated Durham more than Culpeper. Durham had sex with Katherine's before they even met, yet Culpeper was banging her right under Henry's nose. Culpeper should have got the harsher sentence imo.

 

[The Sage]

I'm sure Durham wishes he had stayed away from court now. Yeah I don't get how Culpeper got the lighter sentence.

And was Rochford faking insanity or did she really crack?

 

[Golgo-13]

I think she really cracked. Even at the chopping block, she was calmly insane.

 

[Buford The Sly]

If you all like this show, just wait until Game of Thrones hits on HBO next year. The books it's based off of are some of the best I've ever read.

 

[The Sage]

I've read Game of Thrones, currently on Clash of the Kings. I'm looking forward to that series as well.

 

[Buford The Sly]

I've read Game of Thrones, currently on Clash of the Kings. I'm looking forward to that series as well.

Oh wait till Storm of Swords it's the best one. This site has all the info you'll need about the show. http://winter-is-coming.net/
Beware of spoilers though. Most of the patrons have read all the books so I would stay out of comments section. There's a thread here as well on the show.

 

[Golgo-13]

There's a series starring Jeremy Irons premiering on SHOWTIME next year called 'The Borgias'. It's from the same creative team as The Tudors.

 

[The Sage]

They keep advertising that one when an episode of the Tudors ends.

 

[DACrowe]

I had seen season 1, but then lost Showtime so I have never seen season 2 of The Tudors. I know, I know. I missed the epic, tragic Boleyn saga's finale. But I have read much of it and seen the wonderful Anne of a Thousand Days (and the terrible Other Boleyn Girl), so I get the gist.

Anyway, by coincidence I was able to see seasons 3 and up to episode 7 of season 4 of the Tudors this last week.

I have to say, the show has aged pretty well into the non-Boleyn years and much of the luridness or sensationalism of the first season is gone. I have enjoyed it.

Most of all I I would just like to compliment on the show showing Henry for what a bastard he is. He is not the romantic hero of Anne of a Thousand Days or the laughable "victim" of that trashy movie from a few years ago. He is a weak, selfish, shortsighted king whose major successes were accidents and whose legacy is defined by his blood baths and ridiculously high number of marriages.

Henry Cavill has grown into a much better actor from the first season and portrays Brandon with a sort of weary weight of a man who has grown disillusioned with his king's rather evil tendencies. His shame and remorse, even for the Boleyns and Queen Katherine, are very surprisingly moving. As was Thomas Cromwell's death. He may have been a prideful, ambitious man who had many people executed, but at least he believed in something and was leaving a profound legacy in the Reformation that rewrote Christian history forevermore. To Henry, a still-practicing Catholic, it was a means to an end and again shows his inability to love anything but himself.


As for season 4. I am surprised at the amount of hate Katherine Howard has received. Was she a silly, mindless flighty girl? Yes. She was also a 17-year-old TEENAGER married off to a 40-50-ish Henry VIII who in reality was far less handsome than Rhys-Meyers.

And especially given her dubious background, Henry was an idiot full of lust to marry her and brought it on himself. And again he executes her for things he himself did to all his wives (adultery), so I felt sympathy for her when she was running through the halls begging for mercy and sanctuary and took a good deal of satisfaction out of her being the only person executed on the show (and there have been A LOT) who didn't suck up to Henry, but rather insulted him in her final words. Which apparently did happen. That makes her A-OK in my book.

Catherine Parr is far more worthy to be Queen and is a good match for Henry. Probably the first good one since Seymour or even Boleyn as unlike 3-5, she can actually stand up and push back her King (though not as dangerously as Anne did).

And the last thing I'l say is this show has made Mary Tudor far more likable and sympathetic than I ever thought possible. The young actress who plays her is very good, endearing, pretty, etc. But there is such pathos to her that if she had found love at an earlier age or if Henry had actually been trying to make her life happier and being a good father instead of always looking for hs next wife and/or conquest....she may not have grown into the bitter woman and terrible queen she became many years later. Albeit, she was not nearly as bloody (or as hypocritical) as Henry was in season 3, so there you go.

Good show. Glad I'll be there for the end and will look for season 2 on DVD at some point as well.

 

[Golgo-13]

There isn't a new ep OnDemand this past Sunday. The last ep uyp there is the one where Henry Marrys Catherine Parr.

@DA CROWE - glad we have some more posters in this thread. I always thought that Henry's first wife, Katherine of Aragon, was his best. She just seemed so loyal, even after he ****ted all over her for Anne Boleyn. He was just too young to recognize what he had. And yes the actress who play Mary is a favorite of mine on the show; it's hard to believe that she becomes Bloody Mary!

 

[The Sage]

The next episode is this Sunday.

Favorite wife is definitely Katherine of Aragon, next would be Jane Seymour.

 

[The Sage]

Well the seeds for Bloody Mary have definitely been planted after Lady Mary's conversation with the Spanish ambassador last night.

 

[Golgo-13]

Sure did.

Henry Cavill's 'Brandon' character sure hooked up with a real hottie this past ep.

Henry is really going insane. Two more eps until the series finale.

 

[batman44]

My history may be alittle off, but doesn't Charles Brandon die before Henry.