Showtime

The Tudors returns for a rather triumphant second season. The series attempts to modernize the story more than a little. Henry’s attire is more akin to a rock star than a 16^th century ruler. The language is also more updated, often filled with modern colloquialisms and the like. The story of Henry VIII is well known, but this is not the Henry your history teachers told you about. This Henry is a slim, energetic man. There are only hints in regard to his famous lust for food. His appetites for women are not so subtly portrayed. The series follows Henry’s alliances and break-ups with France and his growing disfavor of members of his own court. If the series is to be believed, Anne Boleyn was placed in his path by her scheming father. In any case, by the third episode his growing infatuation with Boleyn takes center stage in the series. Henry grows weary of the Church after he is constantly blocked from divorcing his Queen Catherine to marry Boleyn. This is also the story of his own rise and fall along with the Church’s influence on England’s culture. There is an almost soap opera aspect to the storytelling, which is admitted by the show’s writer, who credits shows like Dallas and Dynasty as well as Rome and The Sopranos as inspiration. Side stories like a gay musician’s coming of age populate the background, but serve merely as distractions. When The Tudors works best is when we are with Henry and his court engaging in matters of global importance.

Let’s talk about the cast. At first I must say I completely hated Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry. But that was last year, and by the third episode I absolutely loved his performance. He commands the screen whenever he is on it. Natalie Dormer is a relative newcomer, and she has wonderful skills. When we first meet her as Anne, she appears the naïve, lazy daughter of privilege. As her seduction of Henry takes its course, she develops many faces and emotions along the way. Now she is the doomed Queen, and she is extremely hard to read, and then all at once an open book. While she might not possess the beauty her character is said to inhabit, she more than makes up for it in a single stare. She acts wonderfully with her eyes, as so many of the great ones do. You will be seeing more from Dormer, I suspect, over the years. Nick Dunning is quite a surprise as Sir Thomas Boleyn. It is Sir Thomas who masterminds his daughter’s seduction of the King in order to destroy the influence of Cardinal Wolsey. His quiet yet assertive manner works perfectly for the character. Wolsey had his downfall in the first season, and Boleyn will show his true character in the end as well. Jeremy Northam was also a very bright spot in the second season. His character of Sir Thomas Moore has far more to do this time. Moore must consider the path of martyrdom as he finds himself in disagreement over his friend and King’s alienation of the Roman Church. His was a character I hardly noticed in the first year, but he really pops from the television screen this time around.

What can I say about Showtime’s huge hit, The L Word? If you don’t already know what this show is about, and I was surprised at the number of people I talked to who didn’t, then I’m pretty sure this isn’t the show for you. Remember the old days when you used to watch Sesame Street and each day the show would be brought to you by a letter and number of the day? Today this review is brought to you by the letter L and the number 5. L stands for lesbians, and 5 is how many seasons so far this show has been on the cable network. Unlike that adorable count, I won’t be able to take you through the count, as I have never seen the show before and so only own one season release. If you’re a fan and have collected the previous years, this is the portion of the review where you can go to your DVD shelf and count the sets. When you’re done, you may return to the review.