In Bed With The Tudors

During my lovely 10-day Christmas break, all the illnesses I avoided during the autumn attacked me at once. Fevers, chills, headaches, sore throat, back aches. I even lost my voice for 3 days, which, let me tell you, made traveling to Chicago for a brief vacay super fun. My mom and my 10-year-old niece were with me, both novices at flying and newbies to Chicago. Trying to navigate them through airports and the El without being able to speak gave me new appreciation for my voice. At one point, my niece said, “I miss you voice.” Yes, it was a quiet trip. But that has nothing to do with The Tudors.

I spent a couple of days in bed with my various ailments and in doing so discovered that Netflix has the first 2 seasons of The Tudors on their Instant Play feature. This Showtime series has been recommended to me several times, but 1) I don’t have Showtime and 2) Johnathan Rhys-Myers kind of creeps me out. Still, I was interested in the subject matter. I studied the writings of and for Elizabeth I in graduate school with interest. The politics and discovery and religious turmoil from that period, a continuation of what began under Henry VIII, shaped our modern lives in ways many don’t realize. So, with a long day abed stretching before me, I decided to give the first episode a try. Two weeks later, I’m almost finished with season 2.

The titillation factor is high on this series, much like HBO’s True Blood, and at times it makes me blush. That Henry, he was a horny devil! The series is not 100% accurate, but it captures the essence of the period and succeeds in making the complicated court, political, and religious matters at least accessible if not fully comprehensible on first viewing. My mind is still reeling from the negotiations for marriages within the royal families and the peerages. The constant (and different types of) bowing & curtsying, the importance of the color purple, Papal law vs. sovereign law…sometimes I find myself squinting at the screen in an attempt to decipher if that facial expression or that jewel holds deeper meaning. I’ve also been spending a lot of time at Wikipedia, brushing up on my history to supplement what I’m seeing on the screen.

Entertainment that sends you looking for more information – now that’s impressive. And Johnathan Rhys-Myers? He doesn’t creep me out as Henry VIII. His vaguely wild-eyed method of acting works for this role; I look forward to watching his dissent into madness just as soon as season 3 arrives on DVD.