It will be interesting to see how her relationship with Henry changes throughout the next few episodes, if I can stand to sit through them.
She portrays the role of the wife with just the right amount of compassion and frustration. If there is a reason to keep watching the series, it's Maria Doyle Kennedy as Queen Katherine. Sam Neill as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey is strong as always, underplaying nicely when necessary. His mind is on the succession and he appoints Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hertford, to be Lord Protector until Prince Edward reaches his maturity. It appears as if he's playing King Henry VIII in a play rather than a television series. In Episode 10 an increasingly frail Henry is facing his own mortality. He comes across as simply reciting lines rather than giving a performance. While Jonathan Rhys Meyers doesn't leave a strong impression as King Henry VIII. The main problem so far lies with the acting. It's not groundbreaking like "Masters of Horror" or particularly original like "Dexter", but it's more competently written and produced than previous network dramas like "Huff". Judging from the pilot episode, "The Tudors" falls somewhere in between quality wise.
#THE TUDORS SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 BEGINNING SERIES#
Some series have proved successful ("Masters of Horror", "Weeds", "Dexter") while others have floundered ("Huff", "The Underground"). In the Season One finale, a disgraced Cardinal Wolsey tries one last, desperate gambit to resurrect his career by allying himself with the similarly fallen Queen Katherine, but the king's new advisors learn of their plot.
"The Tudors" is one of many Showtime series to pop up recently in the network's attempt to become the next HBO. Those looking for comparisons to what actually happened are better off looking elsewhere.
That said, I am judging this pilot episode of "The Tudors" based on its artistic merits and entertainment value alone, not its historical content. I know what was taught when I was in high school and little else. First and foremost, I am not a history buff.