The Tudors

The other day I received the first disc of “The Tudors” via Netflix.  Yesterday was the perfect day to sit on the couch, gear up with my knitting, and watch it for the afternoon.  I knew that the show would not be historically correct in all aspects, so therefore I tried to not attach any previous knowledge to it.  But there were a few times where my mind wandered back to what I had read in “The Other Boleyn Girl” and what I’d read in history books and thought “Hmmm, that’s not right!”

I think that Maria Doyle Kennedy (Queen Katherine) was cast perfectly.  She is very close to how I imagined her when I read “The Other Boleyn Girl”.  Ana Torrent felt too….cold in the movie version.  At first I had a hard time really seeing Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, but after the 3rd episode, I’m convinced.  The Anne Boleyn from the book & movie was very calucating and manipulative, you didn’t like her because she was cold hearted, but couldn’t help admiring her tenacity.  In “The Tudors”, I find that while Mary was used as the whore, Anne is stepping into the place of trying to be his official mistress, not just one of his floozies.  The Boleyn men are pushing to find her a better place than what Mary had, so Anne is coming off as less bitchy and more cunningly naive.  While her moves are still calcuated and very precise, you do not get the sense that she’s as vicious as the Anne Boleyn in the book and movie.  Between Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Eric Bana, I much prefer Eric Bana as King Henry.  I think he captured the essence of who King Henry was a lot better.  He had the pomp and assertiveness and overall machismo.  I can’t even say that the former is portraying King Henry in his earlier years because the timeline is the same.  In the show, King Henry still seems very immature in his position as King.

I plan on watching the first 3 episodes again with a girlfriend.  Hopefully the second time around I’ll be able to pay more attention to what’s going on and have someone else’s input.  As it stands though, I do like the show and am excited to watch the rest of Season 1.