VICTORIA: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown {Roundtable}

Victoria is back again for another season, this time starting in 1848 at the eve of so many European revolutions.

Cara and I will look at each episode in two ways this season: the personal life of Victoria and her professional life.

The Personal

Roz: I always forget how many children Victoria and Albert had, but yet again, we see the Queen in a baby bump. Jenna Coleman wears it well, but man that’s an awkward situation for any woman. It’s well known that Victoria didn’t want kids that badly, but I guess once she started she just didn’t stop.

However, the more interesting family dynamic this week was her half-sister Princess Feodora. With Lehzen gone, I suppose Feodora is the new voice of reason to battle Victoria? Or just someone to snip at her with her mother gone?

Cara: It is interesting to see Victoria navigate the role of a queen while pregnant. It’s interesting to see how separate the children are from the rest of the household and her life. I have my suspicions about Feodora, and Wikipedia was no help in clearing up her history. She does give us more information about Victoria’s childhood and upbringing, so perhaps some past issues will rise to the surface.

The Professional

Roz: 1848 is a great year for upheaval in Europe and I’m so glad to see King Louis Phillipe again, even if he has to flee France before being killed by Napoleon III (or whatever else this set of French radicals wanted to do). I could kick Victoria’s current Foreign Secretary, though, because he’s a pill and a snake and a rat (yes, he deserves all of them because he’s so sleazy and he’s only been on screen for one episode).

Cara: Ug, the foreign secretary is the worst. It’s interesting that all the female members of the household staff were told to stay out of site when he visited. I think we’ll definitely see some scandalous, and likely inappropriate, behavior from him. As Victoria said, he’s vulgar. I only know the barebones of this time period’s history, so it’s interesting to see it from a more personal point of view, and I like that at least some of the nuance related to different factions and political opinions is being included. King Louis Phillipe has ushered trouble to her door, and it will be interesting to see how Victoria handles the turmoil while adjusting to a new Prime Minister.

Victoria continues on PBS Sundays at 9PM. Interested in what we had to say about the previous two seasons, see our recaps here.