…And Bells on Her Toes

Yesterday marked the return of The Tudors on Showtime.  I don’t live in the U.S., so I don’t have Showtime.  I do, however, have the Internet.  I watched the first episode online, here.  If I waited until it starts its run on CBC, I’d have to wait until September.  Wayyy too long!  I’m so happy Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is back on television, it’s been too long.  My husband would argue with that.  He’s not too thrilled that his wife is having a weekly affair with Henry VIII.  But seriously honey, have you seen Jonathan Rhys-Meyers?? Seriously H-O-T!

I loved Season 2.  I thought Natalie Dormer was exquisite as Anne Boleyn.  She had the right mix of beauty, brains, and sex-appeal to keep her character interesting.  Even at the end of her reign, when she knew the end was near and she saw everyone she loved lose their head to Henry’s whim, she didn’t become an annoying, snivelling simp.  That pleasure was saved for the actor who first played Jane Seymour.  Anita Briem has, THANKFULLY, been replaced this season!  I found her acting, or lack thereof, to be horrid.  She was so boring, I kept wondering what Henry would see in her.  Yes, the real Jane Seymour was nothing very glamorous, but at least she had a pulse.  Annabelle Wallis plays a much better Jane.  Thank you for changing her.  Too bad she dies early on, I think she made a good addition to the cast.   They can’t keep her there long if they want to get through Anne of Cleves as well this season …

So far, only one episode in, it’s very good.  Henry’s starting to slow down, probably due to that gaping sore on his leg – the giant ulcerated lesion that nothing more than a good shot of penicillin would cure nowadays.  He’s bound to go crazy from the Syphilis soon.  It can’t be easy to stay sane when you brain ends up looking like Swiss cheese.  No wonder so few of his children survived long enough to be born.  It was probably his fault and not his poor, unfortunate wives.

OK, here’s a theory.  Having untreated Syphilis, which can kill you in advanced stages, can also drive you mad.  Some notable people who had, or were suspected to have had Syphilis were:  Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone, Henry VIII, Adolph Hitler, Ivan the Terrible, are we seeing a pattern here?  All crazy, ego-maniacal, evil, horrible men who rose in power and did unspeakable things to many innocent people.  The theory?  Sex is bad for you of course…. no, the theory is that if these guys had wrapped their junk while having sex, they might not have caught the disease in the first place.  Can you imagine Napoleon holding down an office job?  Al Capone working at a car wash?  Adolph Hitler as an Inn Keeper?  Would they have done the things they did if the could have had the medicine they needed to treat the disease in the first place?  Thoughts?

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.  So go the wives of Henry the Eighth.  I, for one, cannot wait for the rest of the series, even if my hubby rolls his eyes at me… love ya honey.