Review of Episode 9 of Season 4 of "The Tudors"

The penultimate episode of the Showtime series The Tudors was, as always, full of political and religious strife as the various factions within the ailing King Henry's court struggle for domination. On one side ar the Reformers, headed by the powerful and charismatic Queen Catherine Parr, while on the other are the dyed-in-the-wool Catholics, headed by the reptilian and dangerous Bishop Gadiner and blessed by the increasingly cold and cunning Princess Mary. Henry, clearly ailing and quite aged, desires nothing more than peace in his kingdom and in his household.

Of course, the most notable aspect of this particular episode was the incredible aging that Henry seems to have undergone since his return from France. Up until now we haven't really seen Henry age at all, presumably because the producers wanted to show us just how powerful a presence the powerful monarch remained until his last years in power. At this point, we can now see that he is, both mentally and physically, beginning to fail, and that it won't be much longer before he succumbs to his numerous ailments. We also got to see some new sides to him, as he reveals that, for all that he tore the Church of England away from Rome, he still wants its practices to be largely Catholic in make-up, a fact that is largely historically accurate.

The episode was also noteworthy in that it showed a cruel streak to the erstwhile sympathetic and charismatic Princess Mary. Throughout this season, this young woman has continued to win our hearts as the unfortunate royal youth who, despite her mother's banishment from court and premature death, has nevertheless remained steadfastly loyal to her father. In this episode, however, she revealed her true colors by turning against her strongest champion, her own stepmother. Motivated by her powerful Catholic feelings, she has, apparently, decided that she can no longer cherish their friendship. As always, Sarah Bolger continues to ably communicate to the audience the nuances of her character and, even though we may not like Mary Tudor overly much by the end of this episode, we nevertheless cannot quite forget the fact that she has, for all of her young life, been denied the warmth and love that she deserves.

Finally, this episode also pointed out the folly of hubris, especially that of the Earl of Surrey, the proud and power-hungry Henry Howard. After much scheming and maneuvering, his treachery has at last been discovered and he faces a traitor's death. One wants to feel sorry for the duke, but the hones truth is that he is not at all sympathetic; in fact, he's quite the opposite. By the time his sentence is read out, we cannot help but think that it's no more than he deserves.

In sum, this was quite an outstanding lead-up to the final episode of The Tudors airing next week. In fact, it almost does too good of a job of drawing in your interest, because how can all of these competing plotlines come together and end up with any kind of resolution? We'll just have to hope that the writers of the show pull of the ending as well as they have everything else. The rest, it looks like, is history.