Tag: Mark Rylance

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”

Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 6: Master of Phantoms

"Those who have been made can be unmade." - Anne Boleyn
source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Henry never says good-bye…

Once he sees Wolsey is not able to fix a new wife for him… Henry never sees him again.

Once he realizes Katherine will not let him go, Henry leaves one morning without a good-bye, and never sees her again.

Once he takes back the chain of office from Thomas More as he resigns from his post as Lord Chancellor in a protest against Henry’s new bills… Henry never sees him again.

source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Finally… Once he leaves Anne at the jousting tournament at Greenwich, and rides back to Whitehall… Henry never sees her again. Continue reading “Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 6: Master of Phantoms”

Murder of Crows

Don’t you just love when history comes in a nice convenient story arc? Wolf Hall, episode 5 is the climax leading up to the denouement of the stories told in Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies. We all know how this is going to end, yet, here we are still watching, rapt, captivated by a fascinating story of a fascinating time told and performed impeccably by the best ensemble cast imaginable.

In this episode, titled “Crows”, we see leonine Henry’s frustrations coming to a head and wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing Cromwell being shown his place in the realm. And we see Anne slowly and painfully getting prepared to be escorted to the gallows. Continue reading “Murder of Crows”

Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 5: Crows

"How many men can say my only friend is the King of England?" 
-Thomas Cromwell
source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Wolf Hall is getting darker by the minute in its penultimate episode. And, thanks to the wonderful immediacy it has —that’s Peter Kosminsky doing wonders behind the camera — you feel as if all is happening on real time, in front of your very eyes complete with a couple of moments that make you flinch!

In Crows, Henry is restless. He is capricious. He is obnoxious. He is EXPLOSIVE… And, then he turns into a little boy trying to make amends to his best friend. I don’t want to make a case for Henry but he has his reasons for being so — it is all about his obsession with a male heir. And, add to this, his being very much aware of his own mortality now that Henry makes a decision to move on… well… to the next wife… which also makes him a hopeless romantic at times…

Continue reading “Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 5: Crows”

Quicksilver of Devil’s Spit

Call her Elizabeth. Call off the jousts.

canceljoust
source: BBC

A shadow is cast over the land and over Henry as he proclaims that no celebration will be necessary for his newborn girl child. In addition to this disappointment, Thomas More has refused to budge an inch to acknowledge the King’s marriage as legal and his offspring as rightful heirs. More has resigned as Chancellor, handed over the Seal, so why is what he thinks still important? Because, as Cromwell is ready to tell us, More’s opinion is adding fuel to the fire of opinion against Henry throughout the realm and Europe. No one likes what the King has done in declaring himself the head of the church
in England. No one wants England to separate from Rome. More is just one man who is vocal and adamant. When discontent is already widespread, a kingdom only needs one vocal man to foment a rebellion. And a country girl nun who sees visions (albeit with dubious timelines) and who also won’t budge an inch.

Continue reading “Quicksilver of Devil’s Spit”