The Tudors: Difference between revisions

[[File:TudorsShowtimePoster.jpg|frame]]

 

 

(He ''does'' get a beard as of the second season however.)

 

A [[Spiritual Successor]] to The Tudors called ''[[The Borgias]]'' based on the life of Rodrigo Borgia (aka Pope Alexander the Sixth) and his family began airing April 2011.

{{tropelist}}

* [[Aborted Arc]]: The departure of Henry Czerny, who played the Duke of Norfolk, has caused endless problems for the show given how very important the real Norfolk was to the story. So far a few of his actions have been reassigned to Suffolk and Edward Seymour (in reality Norfolk was the one who orchestrated the affair between Catherine Howard and Henry).

** Later Thomas Seymour with Catherine Parr.

* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: While the series has a deserved reputation for playing fast and loose with history, some of the more outrageous events depicted are historically accurate. An example would be the Field of Cloth of Gold summit in the 2nd episode, where Francis really did beat Henry in an impromptu wrestling match, spoiling the English king's mood for the rest of the conference.

** The Portuguese lines delivered in the scene with Margaret's husband are spoken fairly accurately, in the proper European Portuguese accent. They fail to take into account the archaic Portuguese of the time (which sounds more like Brazilian Portuguese), but then again the English spoken is hardly "period". The entire scene, incidentally, depicts events that never actually happened; Margaret was married off to the King of Scotland, while Henry's other sister - ''Mary'', the one who actually married {{spoiler|the Duke of Suffolk}} - was married off to an elderly French king, father-in-law of ''Francis I''.

* [[Ass in Ambassador]]: Henry wants to meet a couple of French ladies so he can inspect them before he decides to marry them. The French ambassador then jokes to Henry that he tries them all out before making a choice. Clearly he was unaware about what kind of man Henry was because [[Berserk Button|hilarity does not ensue]].

* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: Averted, most of the people don't want to have Anne Boleyn as queen. Few come to cheer and one even tries to shoot her.

* [[Beta Couple]]: Charles and Catherine Brandon.

** {{spoiler|Not as of Season 4...seems they are, in effect, separated.}}

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: All of the prayers and religious ceremonies are conducted in historically-accurate Latin.

** Although with such horrible pronounciation that it's barely understandable.

* [[Blame Game]]

* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Katherine Howard is a giggly teenage airhead totally out of her depth in court.

** Mary Boleyn also fits this category.

* [[Bring It]]: "And what if he does not?"

* [[Brother Chuck]]: The duke of Norfolk, Anthony Knivert and Thomas Tallis after season 1, though Norfolk is mentioned once in season 2.

** Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury is similarly given a single mention in season 3, although as noted above, historically he should have played a ''huge'' role in season 4.

* {{spoiler|[[Brother-Sister Incest]]}}: Sorta kinda technically maybe ''perhaps''.

* [[Brother-Sister Team]]: Anne and George Boleyn.

* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]: the favorite way of extracting a confession in the Renaissance era. Many real life torture methods of the era are shown rather graphically on screen

* [[Compliment Backfire]]: Henry thinks he's paying Anne Boleyn a great compliment by offering her to become his one and only mistress. She does not.

** It gets worse. In Season 3, he refers to the King of Scotland as his nephew, even though as far as anyone knows, he did not have another sister to be the Scots King's mother.

*** Margaret Tudor, Henry's sister, married James the IV of Scotland and was mother to James the V of the Scotland. But if the viewer doesn't ''know'' that, the show doesn't make sense.

** However, the issue of name confusion was apparently more about potential problems on set, or so [[Word of God|Michael Hurst]] said.

* [[The Conscience]]: Catherine Brandon to her husband.

** When Jane {{spoiler|lies dying, Henry begs God not to take her}}, and calls her his "light in this dark world".

* [[Costume Porn]]

* [[Corrupt Church]]: Sort of subverted with Cardinal Wolsey. While he openly has a wife while a Cardinal of the Catholic Church and is said to have used his position to enrich himself, he is also a very capable administrator as Henry's Chancellor whose Machiavellian schemes all are towards the ultimate goal of lasting peace between the kingdoms of Europe.

* [[Dances and Balls]]: A ''lot'' of them.

* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: Charles Brandon with {{spoiler|Thomas Darcy}} in Pontefract Castle. Also Henry with Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour in the last episode.

* [[Doomed Moral Victor]]: Thomas Moore. Katherine of Aragon. The peasant revolutionaries, just to name a few based on their portrayals in the show.

** Four. Cate Parr did live another year after Henry.

* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: Francis Bryan, whose many talents include assassination, politics, seduction and poetry.

** Kitty's request is [[Truth in Television]], which makes it deeply unsettling. Although you do have to wonder if she really decided to try it out while totally naked...

** Subverted with Thomas Cromwell - not only is he reduced to a sobbing wreck, faced with a jeering crowd, but it takes five shots to actually kill him.

*** In Cromwell's case, two of the conspirators against him (Sir Francis Bryan and Thomas Seymour) got the headsman drunk so Cromwell's execution would be as painful as possible. It's only made worse by the fact Cromwell sees the headsman staggering, so he knows what's coming. By the third stroke - which lands ''in his shoulder blades'', even Sir Francis is disgusted. As is fellow conspirator and cold fish Edward Seymour, who wasn't involved in getting the headsman drunk. Thomas Seymour, on the other hand, seems unfazed.

* [[Fake Brit]]: Henry ([[Jonathan Rhys Meyers]]), Princess/Lady Mary (Sarah Bolger), Thomas Boleyn (Nick Dunning), George Boleyn (Pádraic Delaney) and Bishop Fisher (Bosco Hogan) are all played by Irish actors. The Duke of Norfolk (Henry Czerny) and William Compton (Kristen Holden-Ried) are played by Canadians. Emma Hamilton (Anne Stanhope) is Australian. Wolsey is played by the New Zealander Sam Neill.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and Pope Paul III (Peter O'Toole) are - guess what - played by Irish actors. Joss Stone is British and plays a German.

* [[Fan Service]]: The show is built on it. It goes out of its way to show the sex lives of secondary and tertiary characters in great detail, and everyone is quite beautiful.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Katherine Parr is understandably ''horrified'' when Henry starts to send gifts to her, since every woman at court knows what happens to his wives.

** Princess Elizabeth sees her father's treatment of his wives and swears that she will never marry.

** Anne of Cleves can count as this - everyone also knows what happened to Henry's unwanted wives when they did not cooperate. She cooperated and made out quite well.

* [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]]: Averted. Mary and Anne Boleyn get along well until Mary's secret marriage, even though Anne is after Mary's former lover.

** Edward and Thomas Seymour, despite being male, follow the personality types well. Edward is the serious one and Thomas the popular, unintellectual one. {{spoiler|Even though this rivalry would turn deadly in Edward VI's reign, it is only shown in the series when Thomas sleeps with his wife and states how much he hates him}}.

* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: Everyone, all the time, but especially Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.

** Thomas Cromwell, after taking down the Boleyns.

* [[Hair of Gold]]: Jane Seymour.

** By season 4 there are loads of them. Henry's last queen, many of her ladies, the Seymours and Anne Askew all had reason to fear being branded as such. Not to mention, Edward and Elizabeth are being raised as heretics, or so Mary complains.

* [[Heir Club for Men]]: The whole reason why Henry had six wives. Extremely ironic when you know that both his daughters not only got to be queens regnant but also were both competent rulers and are remembered to this day.

** Also happens with more prominent members of the cast...Wolsey, for example, is [[Jurassic Park|Dr. Grant]].

** Katherine Parr is [[King Ralph|Princess Anna]]

** Pope Paul III is [[The Lion in Winter|Henry II]] and [[Ratatouille|Anton Ego]]

** Katherine Howard is [[Pride and Prejudice|Georgiana Darcy]] in the 2005 movie.

** Not to mention that the women are all very thin. When someone comments on Katherine Howard's round bum, well... it isn't.

*** The men are lucky that way, too. While Henry is given a historically-appropriate disgusting ulcer by the time of his fourth marriage, he remains trim and muscley. The real Henry VIII weighed 300 pounds by that point.

* [[Irony]]: Strictly fictional but: Henry refused to have Jane crowned until she gave birth to a son. She died after giving birth to a son but before being crowned. As a result, some people are questioning Edward's place in the succession. In [[Real Life]], Jane wasn't crowned because there was an outbreak of plague in the planned spot for the coronation and, obviously, she as the king's wife wasn't going to go anywhere near there until the threat was over. Also, Edward's place was never threatened by her not being crowned. Coronation or not, with Catherine and Anne dead, Jane was religiously and legally Henry's wife, and therefore, he was the legitimate male heir of a king. Still, that's a pretty sweet bit of irony the show's throwing at Henry.

* [[Ill Girl]]: Jane Seymour.

* [[Jerkass]]: Henry VIII, a man of fiery passions, quick to anger and swift to act like a complete ass at all times and condemn at the drop of a hat, albeit likely to show some regret afterward (after the executions are done that is) once he's calmed down.

** {{spoiler|Specifically, Henry laments killing off Thomas More to Brandon (and, rather inexplicably since they were never shown talking about it, blames Anne for urging him to do so) in the second season. In the first episode of season 4, he makes a reference to Cromwell, and in the second episode flat-out says he grieves for him, calling him "the most faithful servant I ever had". Brandon and the Seymours squirm.}}

** Thomas Boleyn. He cares only about his children as political pawns and is ready and willing to denounce them and send them to the executioner in order to save his own life.

* [[The Jester]]: The only one who dares to tell Henry off.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Thomas Boleyn is an absolutely infuriating example. He escapes the executioner's axe only because he wholeheartedly denounces his son and daughter to the King's investigators, and while they are put to death he only cares about whether he keeps his title and estate as Earl of Wiltshire or not. What a dick.

** IMHO, Sir Richard Rich and Thomas Wriothesley definitely count, too. What about two of the most self-serving and treacherous bastards in this show, persecuting their former fellow Protestants and torturing Anne Askew, in a most vile and inhumane manner? The punishment for both of them is...let's see...Uh, right, getting promoted to even higher ranks. (According to Henry's testament, Wriothesley will be, next to Cranmer, the highest minister under the Procterate of Somerset. That he will be Seymour's underdog and under his constant watch helps a bit, at least. Well, and Rich will also not only keep his head, but prosper, making it even into the reign of Queen Elizabeth, being considered to be a respectable and trustworthy person by all.)

* [[Kick Them While They Are Down]]: {{spoiler|Quite a bunch of people did this to Thomas Cromwell.}}

* [[May-December Romance]]: Katherine Howard is only 17 and a little younger than Henry's daughter Mary. This is [[Truth in Television]] for the Tudor age.

* [[Meaningful Echo]]: In a manner of speaking. Henry pressures More to write a pamphlet attacking Martin Luther and praising the Pope as the true ruler of Christendom (and then publishes it in Henry's name). When Henry splits from the church, More throws the words of the pamphlet back at him. The pamphlet comes back ''again'' when the Archbishop accuses More of pressuring ''Henry'' to write it.

* [[The Mistress]]: Charles Brandon has an official one!

* [[Mythology Gag]]: A [[Real Life]] example - in a scene in series one, Henry is seen composing 'Greensleeves' for Anne Boleyn, though it is now believed that the tune was composed in the Elizabethan era.

** Played straight with Charles Brandon and Princess Margaret.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Anne of Cleves. Henry has his moments too. As does Katherine of Aragon.

** And Mary Tudor in the season 4 trailer.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Surrey, when {{spoiler|he is told the king refuses him an audience. Before that he still has the confidence he can set matters right by talking to him}}

** Similarly, the Bishop.

** George Boleyn presents a cruel twist on this. He is an arrogant prick who {{spoiler|rapes his own wife on their wedding night}}, but his one sympathetic quality is that he seems to genuinely care about his sister Anne's well-being, as opposed to their father who very clearly sees her as nothing more than a political pawn. Yet his one sympathetic quality results directly in his downfall and death, when his close relationship with his sister is twisted into an accusation of incest for which he is tried and executed.

* [[Pimped-Out Dress]]

* [[Rags to Royalty]]: Cinderella style, but subverted. Anne Boleyn gets there mostly by ''pretending'' to be pure-hearted.

* [[Really Gets Around]]: Other characters, but Henry had many extramarital affairs. To date, he has 32 living descendants that we know of.

* [[Requisite Royal Regalia]]

* [[The Renaissance]]

** And his nephew, who's probably about ten.

* [[Room Full of Crazy]]: Henry produces a fine example when he designs Nonsuch Palace in solitude after Jane Seymour's death.

** Katherine of Aragon led troops into battle during her time as regent (sadly this is not shown because they began the story just before her fall from grace) and was a patron of learning.

* [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]]: Where the adult actors show the passing years via changing hairstyles, the youngest characters (Elizabeth, Mary and Edward especially) frequently get new actors several years older than the previous ones.

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: Anne of Cleves, now that she's no longer queen and doesn't have to worry about being executed for failing to give Henry a son, has cheered up considerably. {{spoiler|Ironically, this new side of her might have made Henry start to wish he'd consummated their marriage after all.}}

** In season four, {{spoiler|Henry finally does sleep with her. Yes, he's married again by that time.}}

** [[Macbeth]]: Brandon seeing Lord Darcy's ghost during a feast at Pontefract Castle.

** [[American Beauty]]: Catherine Howard's fondness for rose petals.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: {{spoiler|Katherine Howard and Thomas Culpepper}}. {{spoiler|Francis Dereham and Lady Rochford}} also deserve honorable mentions. Despite being equally stupid, {{spoiler|Joan Bulmer}} somehow manages to emerge unscathed.

** {{spoiler|Francis Dereham seems to be the worst, actually. While all the others at least try to conceal what they are doing, Dereham goes out of his way to spread it far and wide}}.

* [[Unfinished Business]]: {{spoiler|In the last episode Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour all come back to give Henry a piece of their mind}}.

** Which also classifies as three [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning Moments of Awesome]].

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: Thomas Cromwell got his former friends beheaded and ordered the hanging of hundreds of those who wanted to stick to the old religion. He will have his reformation for the good of the realm.

** Mary Tudor is already showing some signs of this.

* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]

** The worst example is probably the treatment Marguerite de Navarre received. In reality, she was a very intellectual and brave woman, who was a gifted writer and also traveled tirelessly to get her brother Francis freed when he had been taken captive at Pavia. Anne Boleyn was greatly influenced by her, and would as queen write that seeing her again was her greatest wish next to having a son. In the series, Marguerite is portrayed as [[The Ditz]], who sleeps with Henry right after meeting him.

** {{spoiler|Katherine Howard doesn't get along with Mary either. In all fairness, she did try, but Mary rebuffed her, and she responded by getting nasty, so this could be more of a subverted example.}}

** Again, to be fair, Mary didn't like Anne of Cleves much at the start either, even going so far as to hope her ship would sink while she was coming to England. She grows to like her enough that she disapproves of her father's second divorce, which can only add to her hatred of Katherine Howard.

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Or rather 'Did they or didn't they?' {{spoiler|Henry ends up in Anne of Cleves' bed ''after'' he's divorced her, both of them in their nightgowns and snuggling, and she seems to enjoy it. Was there sex, or was it just for comfort and security?}}

* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: Elizabeth.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:British Series]]