“It seems fairly redundant to say “Damian Lewis is a good actor”, but, well, here we are: his Henry is outstanding, the biggest guy in the room in name and stature if not ever actual presence, something flawed in the hull and he knows it.”
– The Guardian
Wolf Hall is one of the best things that ever happened to TV. A slow-cooking, dark, and witty political drama, it has a contemporary feel. Peter Straughan’s script is wonderfully condensed, with most of the conversation coming directly from Mantel’s pen. Hearing some of the best lines I have ever read spoken by the characters is delightful. Peter Kosminsky’s directing is flawless. Every shot feels like a painting. And while some characters needed to be recast, the continuity is beyond impressive that you don’t feel the nine-year interval between the two productions. The entire cast gives a masterclass in acting. Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, as the two leads, are electric together. So yes the long wait was entirely worth it.
Damian resuming his role as Henry VIII has been a huge highlight for all Wolf Hall fans, especially for yours truly. His portrayal of Henry VIII is commanding and nuanced, capturing the complexity of the infamous Tudor Monarch. A larger than life character, Henry has deep insecurities due to not being able to have male heirs, and also due to the jousting accident that left him with a bad leg. Only an actor of Damian’s calibre can find the balance between the magnificence and the insecurity Henry VIII carries in him.
The opening sequence of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light is chilling. Going back and forth between Anne Boleyn’s execution and Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour a week or so later makes breathtaking drama and sets the tone for the rest of the season.
Henry has obviously turned the page on Anne, the woman for whom he turned the page on a religion! He’s having a spa day – being groomed and dressed up – before his wedding ceremony. We see how physically imposing the king is as the servants dress him (Damian wears a “foam suit” to make Henry look big!) and we see the pain on his face as he walks with a stick and a vague limp. Henry is constantly grappling with his own mortality that makes him capricious, volatile, and merciless.
There is a matter that troubles Henry on his honeymoon. He thinks his daughter Mary is entertaining the idea of getting restored as his heir. His insecurity about having a male heir at its peak , Henry interprets this as Mary believing Jane will fail to give him a son. Besides, Mary refuses to recognize her father as the head of the Church of England. Henry demands unconditional loyalty from his own blood so much so that he considers taking Mary to trial! BBC calls it right! “Not quite the dad of the year…”
Has the King just asked Cromwell to kill Mary?
The King constantly grapples with the pressures of the throne. Reginald Pole, a scholar and Henry’s cousin, sends him a letter from his safe haven in France. Pole writes that Mary is Henry’s only legitimate heir and he encourages the Emperor to invade England and restore true religion. With this threat, Henry’s paranoia reaches new heights. He is confident Mary is complicit in this scheme.
Damian’s performance deftly delivers Henry’s sense of betrayal, paranoia and insecurity when it comes to loyalty of those around him – in particular his own daughter! And oh my God, his smile makes Henry even more terrifying.
And while our prince, certainly not like any other man, hides himself behind a mask and performs a dance number in his Turkish costume, he is physically declining. As soon as the dance is over, he sits with his bad leg resting on an Ottoman. Henry’s pain shows as he stands up and he now has more than a subtle limp.
Next time we see him, Henry is wearing his Turkish costume again, looking ridiculous, and keen on astonishing everyone who sees him. The King is a child in adult disguise. Otherwise, why would he take the ring Cromwell has had made for Mary and spontaneously decide to give it to his daughter himself? Henry is a whiny, selfish and spoiled child.
The pressure on the King increases as a rebellion starts in the East spreading to Lincolnshire. Since the rebels seem to believe the King is dead, Henry wants to ride to the East and prove he is alive. The Council, in particular Fitzwilliam, is against the King risking his “sacred person” just because the rebels believe that Cromwell has practiced some kind of sorcery on Henry.
Well, Cromwell’s quick mind is his sorcery. When Cromwell directly addresses Fitzwilliam saying that he is offended for his prince because ‘Fitz’ makes it sound like the rebels take Henry no more than as a child to be led, it’s Henry’s turn to be offended.
“If I say Cromwell is a Lord, he’s a Lord. And if I say Cromwell’s heirs will follow me and rule England and then, by God, they will do it.”
This is Henry’s insecurities talking. He cannot stand any questioning on his authority. And he puts his beloved queen in her place, too; when Jane mentions Henry having bad dreams in front of the King’s close circle. Damian gives us a Henry whose imposing presence masks a deep internal burnout.
The fall of York brings even more pressure and higher levels of paranoia to the King. Henry is calm as he is talking about the last year and a half: he has bastardized his daughters, he doesn’t have a heir and doesn’t have high hopes of having one. His subjects are rising against him, his coffers are empty. The King is getting impatient with Cromwell who has failed in bringing Reginald Pole back to England. And he concludes with a threat: maybe he should bring Gardiner back from Paris to fix this! Damian is quietly terrifying in this scene. What he does with his eyes is incredible.
The royal mood changes for the better with the news of Jane’s pregnancy. However, Henry getting sick during a portrait session messes up his already mercurial state. The King’s interactions with Cromwell are now charged with tension.
“Always you. Always you with the bad news.”
The King’s vanity is palpable as he appreciates his own magnificence on the new Holbein mural and so is his insecurity as he examines Jane’s belly as though he wants to make sure that the baby is still there. The King likes the mural so much that he wishes the Emperor and the King of France to see it.
The arrival of the male heir brings some short-lived happiness to the court. The scene where Henry takes his baby son into his arms to proudly introduce him to the court reminds me of Simba’s presentation in The Lion King. But the queen is very sick.
Henry is in the room when Archbishop Cranmer gives Jane her last rites. He whispers to Cromwell that he would walk to Jerusalem if he knew that would save her. This is a rare moment we see the king as a man, a husband who is losing his beloved wife. Damian gives a moment of humanity to this otherwise sinister king. He shares in a recent interview that this scene was particularly moving for him “from an acting point of view, and being immersed and present.”
In the days following Jane’s death, Henry is dressed up all in white, the color of mourning for the Monarch, whereas the rest of the court is dressed in black. Henry’s voice breaks as he says he will never be able to find a pearl like Jane. But when Cromwell tells him that the Privy Council will petition him to marry, Henry is ready to sacrifice himself immediately for the good of the country! And guess what? He thinks he may be interested in Madame de Longueville, a widow that the King of Scotland wants for himself.
I have no idea if Henry and Cromwell ever sat down to play chess in real life, but this is story telling at its best. The power dynamics between the two are palpable, with Cromwell always trying to calculate Henry’s next move. And look at them, Henry is in white and Cromwell is in black 🙂
The Emperor and the King of France signing a 10-year peace treaty is threatening for England. Henry is fuming. I can’t help giggle as I think about him wanting the Emperor and the King of France to see his new mural. Neither gives a shit about England which offends Henry more than the treaty itself. The King is unhinged to a degree that he threatens to invade France. And the way he grabs his walking stick makes me feel like he will give someone a good beating.
Now that he has France on his side, the Emperor would think of England as easy prey because the old Plantagenet families would welcome him with open arms for him to get Mary on the throne. Having worked on the Reformation for the last seven years, Cromwell has a personal stake in this. So he pursues an alliance with the Germans through a royal marriage which he has to market to the King. Henry is on his annual hunting trip and an urgent message summons Cromwell to the king who has, in his own words, taken a tumble in Cromwell’s absence.
Damian delivers Henry’s vulnerabilities seamlessly. The King’s leg looks gross. While trying to take it lightly, he is wrestling with his own mortality which should be a challenge for a man who thinks of himself as next to God. Damian delivers The King’s vulnerability seamlessly. And this very vulnerability coupled with the Spain – France peace treaty may explain why Henry is listening to Cromwell and is amiable to marry from Germany…
…because Henry gets more isolated from his closest advisor day by day. Gardiner is back from France, and he and Norfolk have convinced Henry that Cromwell had few friends in Spain and France. I mean, why would either court appreciate someone who gives the best advice to the King of England? Doesn’t Henry get that? Oh, he perfectly does! It is just that he cannot accept that Cromwell, in advising him, has outgrown him. So Henry’s insecurities turn into words again:
Despite his commanding presence, the King is an insecure, conflicted, ailing man. And he finally speaks his mind about Cromwell in the funniest scene of all as he rummages his treasure – costume – chests to find the right disguise in which to go surprise his new bride!
A Russian nobleman with the great fur boots? A shepherd? One of the Magi? With the intention of stopping the King from surprising his new bride in some bizarre costume, Cromwell kindly suggests him go as a Gentleman.
“A gentleman with no name? Yes! Very well. I shall be ruled by Lord Cromwell as all the foreigners claim I am.”
This is what has been consuming Henry for some time. That the foreigners claiming that Cromwell, not Henry, is ruling England.
Well, meeting his new bride in disguise turns out to be a huge fiasco for Henry. Anne of Cleves does not recognize the King when he shows up in disguise and ignores him. She probably takes him as some old, fat man with a bad leg. Henry is infinitely offended but it is too late to have cold feet!
“If it were not for fear of driving her brother into the Emperor’s arms, I wouldn’t do what I must do this day for none earthly thing.”
The little hope that things might improve after the wedding night fades away as the King limping, and out of breath, complains about his new wife not being attractive enough. Cromwell’s inquiry in the queen’s chambers attests to Henry’s poor performance in bed. Henry is desperate to get out of this marriage…
…and a letter from Thomas Wyatt saves him. The France – Spain peace treaty is over and so England does not need Germany as an ally anymore.
The King asks Cromwell if he thinks he could have another child and answers it himself:
“I think you could. You are of common stock. Common men have vigour.”
This is Henry accepting the fact that he is failing in the act. He is obsessed with having another male heir and knows it cannot happen in this marriage, so he is determined to end this marriage. Besides, he already has his next bride lined up: Norfolk’s niece Catherine Howard!
This marks the end of Thomas Cromwell. With a little help from Gardiner and Norfolk, Henry finds a scapegoat in him. The King making Cromwell an Earl days before his arrest, I believe, is part of the chess game to make Cromwell feel relaxed and not see what’s coming.
Henry never says good-bye. When he’s done, he’s done. He just delegates the “execution” of his decisions to others and moves on. Like when Katherine of Aragon would not let him go and he left her one morning without a good-bye. Like when Wolsey was not able to fix a new wife for him and Henry sent him to exile without a good-bye. Like when Thomas More resigned from his post as Lord Chancellor and Henry sent him to the Tower without a good-bye. And like when he left Anne Boleyn at the jousting tournament at Greenwich and rode back to Whitehall without a good-bye.
Henry does not say good-bye to Cromwell. Their last conversation is pleasant. In one of his rare reflective moments, Henry talks about the good old days, the trip they have never taken to Kent as though they have. Because the King, as Jane Seymour pointed out, never does an unpleasant thing.
The brief appearance Henry makes in the final episode attests to what Damian says about him: “(his) ability to love and then simply to discard is sociopathic.”
The King makes Rafe Sadler read Cromwell’s letter asking for mercy to him:
Henry: “Read where it says he could make me live ever young.”
(After Rafe reads): “But he cannot, can he?”
I think Henry chooses this particular part of the letter to be read only to confirm that Cromwell is a man who makes promises he cannot keep. And when Rafe subtly tries to have Henry change his mind, the King tells him to leave. His decision is final.
The only mercy Henry has for Cromwell is that he will die by axe. I am in awe of what they talk about when they talk about mercy in the 16th century. And I am also thinking that Henry should be feeling like God since he has the power to decide who will die, and when, and how. I read that he gave detailed instructions for Anne Boleyn’s execution. It’s sick.
The last shot of Henry does have the King staring at the new BFFs Norfolk and Gardiner who together convinced him to get rid of Cromwell. Henry’s face is not that of a wildly happy man we saw after Anne Boleyn’s execution in Wolf Hall. The King seems to have already regretted what he did to Crumb.
I salute my favorite actor for one of the most outstanding performances on TV this year. Come awards time, give all of them to this nuanced portrayal of Henry VIII!
