Master of Prophecies, Master of Phantoms, Master of Fate

00mainThe final episode of this fantastic series starts with Anne served up on a table, appetites of all her enemies at the ready, and Cromwell at the head of the table brandishing the knife. It’s Cromwell’s vision of himself and the metaphor for what he’s about to do to the Queen. Thus the episode “Master of Phantoms” starts with the masterful Cromwell ushering us into the final movement of this riveting and memorable drama, colored in broad strokes by a pervasive sense of inevitability and doom.

The conceit with which Mantel started Cromwell’s mission within Henry’s court, that posse of gentlemen dramatizing leading beloved Worsley into hell, is now going to come to a head. That posse is going to get what’s coming to them, in a sequence of events perhaps a bit too convenient, but compelling nonetheless. Continue reading “Master of Prophecies, Master of Phantoms, Master of Fate”

Throwback Thursday: Desert Island Discs with Damian Lewis

source: BBC
source: BBC

Damian Lewis was Kirsty Young’s Castaway on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs (DID) back in November.

Here’s the drill if you are not familiar with the program: The castaway comes having done his homework; with eight pieces of music — one of which he will choose as his favorite — plus a book and a luxury item that he will take to his island with him. You hear the music during the program accompanied with a story from the castaway about why he has chosen this particular piece. We focus on Damian’s selections today on the blog, and you can listen the entire Damian Lewis DID here and download it to listen on the go, too!

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Life with Charlie Crews


I want to be the unwobbling pivot at the center of an ever-revolving universe. I want to be still  – Charlie Crews

Continuing the theme of Damian Lewis playing Americans, we come to Life, a series which lasted for two seasons on network TV.

Like Nicholas Brody, Charlie Crews in Life is unfairly imprisoned and, because he’s a cop, is brutalized while in prison. The series begins just as he’s released and tries to integrate back into a life he hasn’t known for 12 years. He finds that everyone he loved believed he was guilty and is lost to him: his father kept his mother from visiting until she died and his wife got remarried. While in isolation for his own protection in prison, Crews had started to question his own innocence and there are a few moments, as the series progresses, when the audience is led to question his innocence too. Also like Brody, Crews finds peace and escape from the injustices around him in a book. For Brody, it was the Quran, for Crews, it is A Path to Zen.

zen
source: NBC

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Why Damian Lewis should play Steve McQueen

News has it there’s a McQueen biopic in the works. And you know what we think, right? One actor comes to mind instantaneously as the best and only one to play Steve McQueen. Here, let’s make it easy with a list:

Top five reasons Damian Lewis MUST be considered to play Steve McQueen

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Cook it Like Damian Lewis!

The guy with the big red clock asks: “Are you a good cook?”

We find out Damian Lewis is a good cook.

It turns out that Damian started to cook after he had kids. In an interview with the Evening Standard, he says: “I only really started cooking when I became a dad. Helen was flat out breastfeeding and sleeping, exhausted all the time. I realized that if I didn’t cook, we wouldn’t eat. Now I love to cook Gary Rhodes‘ fishcakes with a lemon butter sauce and green beans. I’m no food connoisseur, though; foodies have palates that can speak hundreds of different languages — mine can only manage about one.” Continue reading “Cook it Like Damian Lewis!”