Ok. This season is progressing as we are 2 episodes in on a 10 episode season.
Firstly, I want to say that the gray hair is aging him very quickly. We didn’t see these kind of grays last season, but I did look into it and the historians (wiki) say that he aged very quickly.
We open with dancing and Lord Surrey with Mrs. Seymour and he wants her again, and she’s refusing to tease him. Then we go to the King and Charles, and the King has created a medal with a new coat of arms on it with the inscription a rose with no thorns. Charles declares that if his wife were to make love to him again, make him a medal. I thought that was so funny. However, Charles also informs him that Anne of Cleves also has been keeping company with Elizabeth and Mary.
So, it didn’t take long for Joan to tell someone about Francis Dereham, and she decides to tell Lady Rochford. Ok, we already know that Lady Rochford is NOT, I repeat NOT a fan of Queen Kathryn.
So, the King decides to invite Anne of Cleves to court for the New Year along with Mary. Kathryn is in the pond area and the King says that there is another gift and she she’s two horses, he says that they are a gift from Anne of Cleves and that she is on her way. The teenager face that Kathryn made was perfect for a girl of her age. She’s jealous and upset. Did anyone find it interesting that she gifted the King and the Queen 2 horses when that is what the King said she looked like??? A Slap in the face maybe, like I don’t look like a horse, you act like one?? Also, who is going to be so jealous of a woman that the King thought looked like a horse? A Child, that’s who! Anyway, Kathryn says while walking away, “I hope Lady Mary will be more gracious”.
Mary does just enough to stay under the Kings Radar, but obey’s him and Kathryn knows that… so when Mary thanked the King for his gifts, Kathryn went back to her seat and pouted!
Anne of Cleves has a sense of humor and is very appealing. as a result, her and Kathryn get along. (Anne seems to be very optimistic and holds no grudge, … i like her.) Now Anne reveals that she has no reason to remarry and thinks of Elizabeth as a daughter she never had and finds that having Elizabeth as a real daughter would bring her more happiness than being queen.. certainly Kathryn doesn’t think so.
The Spanish Ambassador, Mendoza visits with Mary and you see such an amazing father daughter relationship with the two of them. He really does try to guide her in the right direction and she looks up to him so. However, he does try to appeal to Mary to reconcile her feelings with the Queen and of course Mary refuses and storms out of the room when she sees Anne and Kathryn dancing together.
The next day Mary gets a visit by Kathryn and it gets to be a battle of wits between the two. It’s funny too, because as Mary says that Anne deserves respect because she carries herself with grace, Kathryn has one hand hanging on her hip and slouching already proving her point. The battle of wits got quickly personal and Mary told Kathryn that the King will lose interest in her soon enough because she is frivolous and not even pregnant. Kathryn responded with, “Your jealous and you will die an old maid”. The attack resulted in Kathryn removing two maids from Marys service.
After the argument, Mendoza goes to her room to find her packing. He asks what has aspired in the argument and she informs him of it and tells him that she’s right. She’s so desperate to be married and it hasn’t happened. The acting displayed by Mary was amazing.
Henry left the dance or ball early and found that it was his ulcer that needed to be drained. Culpepper asks him why invite Anne and he replied, she’s kept her word. I wonder if there is more to it than we think. Like she kept her word in saying that there was no consummation. Just a thought! but it seems he respects her for keeping her word and he doesn’t get that too often. Maybe he should have stayed with her. Also, when he, Kathryn and Ann have a private dinner, he gives multiple gifts to Kathryn and Ann never got jealous or pouty. I think he liked that about her.
Mrs. Seymour was approached by Thomas, her brother in law and tells him that he should be more like Edward and to take what he wants. Of Course Lord Surrey was watching and she was trying to make him jealous. So, later that night, Thomas goes to her bed and she doesn’t want that. She fights him for a minute, cries than collects herself and gets into in. See what happens when you wanna tease and make someone jealous? Oh, Lord Surrey wrote a poem that went public about her trying to lure him in and he will make prey out of her and her and her husband murdered the innocent. She looked at him with such betrayal in her eyes.
Lady Rochford had way too much to drink and divulged the Francis Dereham information to Culpeper. You can see that Rochford likes him but where his interests lie are way different than hers. So after a couple of days they sleep together and the second after they do he makes a reference to Kathryn and Dereham and says I wonder what it would feel like. She immediately covers up, but has a change of heart and tells him that if its what he wants, she can arrange it.
So the next day, Henry meets with his council and thinks that they are plotting against him and publicizes the mourning of Cromwell. You can clearly see his insecurities and his descent into madness.
So, Kathryn hasn’t seen the King in 10 days and has insecurities of what she did wrong and wonders if he’s taken a mistress. She has no clue about his medical condition or ailments. So, when she suggests that the King has taken a Mistress, Culpepper makes eye contact with her and says that he can’t speak about such matters. He does say, however, “You more than any other woman deserve to be happy” right in front of Lady Rochford. He’s pinning Kathryn into such self doubt and insecurities that when Joan goes to her side and tells her that Culpepper is in love with her, she is intrigued. Later Lady Rochford informs Kathryn that she knows about Dereham and can keep a secret and make Culpepper her secret. This intrigues the Queen. Does anyone remember that Lady Rochford is the widow of Queen Ann Boleyn’s brother? Hellllllo… she ratted them out for an alleged incestuous relationship? She’s a rat, and I smell a plot!
So the episode ends with a secret rendezvous with Culpepper late at night, and the King staring out at the moon.