Wolf Hall: Tell It To The Bees
Feb. 7th, 2025 08:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessWolf Hall – The Mirror and the Light - Episode 6: Light
Bravura final episode, more limited in scope because of Cromwell’s confinement. The spine of it was a, what? Mini tribunal/inquiry, with Norfolk, Gardner and two younger men who had betrayed Cromwell in different ways, and Cromwell was generally running rings around their questioning, but as the first accusation was about a purple doublet, not hard. The contempt towards Norfolk was kinda fun, as they raised many things that we had seen – Cromwell’s relationship with Mary, with the French – in such a way as to make out that Cromwell had been a traitor.
And as it went on, and other efforts to overturn this situation failed, because there was little support for Cromwell, really, with too many people worried about their own necks, (fair given Henry’s tyranny) the fight gradually left him, and he started making clear that managing Henry VIII would fall to them. Gardner was the only one close to an intellectual equal (Norfolk’s assumption of superiority because of his birth was kind of making noble inbreeding look bad because he’s such a boor) and as a priest didn’t have all the skills Cromwell had had, e.g. of managing wives, as Anna was sent away and ‘giddy’ Katherine would be the latest royal womb, or of handling the French.
It became clear that Rafe was Cromwell’s true filial figure. Of course, it was more politic for him to visit as the King’s aide than Thomas’s own son, but his grief at what was happening was clear. And that hug where he broke and it was Thomas comforting the younger man who wasn’t under threat of execution! Not that Gregory wasn’t one of the characters we saw grieving, but we were reminded that his relationship with his father was complicated, some of it because he wasn’t as smart as his father and resentful about his father’s position and power. And Rafe’s loyalty as Archbishop Cranmer folded and gruff Sussex came and put his foot in it half the time, must have been some comfort.
The other comfort was the return of Wosley’s ghost! So, the final speech’s references to Cromwell’s master felt addressed at him, not Henry. We only saw Henry the once, with wet eyes, for whatever was said, he had loved Cromwell, but he’d turned against him (for not being able to do the impossible, which Henry wanted by this point, well, that and his ego couldn’t take it) and so Thomas was ‘a dying man’.
We had a lot of flashbacks, and if I had a criticism, it might be that some of them had been overused in previous episodes, because for me the repetition did not always add to their power. Granted, Anne Boleyn and Wolsey’s deaths haunting Cromwell has a certain power, as his his recurring nightmare and, finally, his recurring dream of home, but it didn’t quite have the effect on me that they meant it to, I found it more numbing instead of empthatic. However, the similarities and contrasts with all the people who had gone to their execution (but mainly Anne, and kudos for Foy’s performance in the first series) worked well. Rylance was, as ever, captivating as Cromwell ran out of road, of effort.
(We may not see its like again.)
Bravura final episode, more limited in scope because of Cromwell’s confinement. The spine of it was a, what? Mini tribunal/inquiry, with Norfolk, Gardner and two younger men who had betrayed Cromwell in different ways, and Cromwell was generally running rings around their questioning, but as the first accusation was about a purple doublet, not hard. The contempt towards Norfolk was kinda fun, as they raised many things that we had seen – Cromwell’s relationship with Mary, with the French – in such a way as to make out that Cromwell had been a traitor.
And as it went on, and other efforts to overturn this situation failed, because there was little support for Cromwell, really, with too many people worried about their own necks, (fair given Henry’s tyranny) the fight gradually left him, and he started making clear that managing Henry VIII would fall to them. Gardner was the only one close to an intellectual equal (Norfolk’s assumption of superiority because of his birth was kind of making noble inbreeding look bad because he’s such a boor) and as a priest didn’t have all the skills Cromwell had had, e.g. of managing wives, as Anna was sent away and ‘giddy’ Katherine would be the latest royal womb, or of handling the French.
It became clear that Rafe was Cromwell’s true filial figure. Of course, it was more politic for him to visit as the King’s aide than Thomas’s own son, but his grief at what was happening was clear. And that hug where he broke and it was Thomas comforting the younger man who wasn’t under threat of execution! Not that Gregory wasn’t one of the characters we saw grieving, but we were reminded that his relationship with his father was complicated, some of it because he wasn’t as smart as his father and resentful about his father’s position and power. And Rafe’s loyalty as Archbishop Cranmer folded and gruff Sussex came and put his foot in it half the time, must have been some comfort.
The other comfort was the return of Wosley’s ghost! So, the final speech’s references to Cromwell’s master felt addressed at him, not Henry. We only saw Henry the once, with wet eyes, for whatever was said, he had loved Cromwell, but he’d turned against him (for not being able to do the impossible, which Henry wanted by this point, well, that and his ego couldn’t take it) and so Thomas was ‘a dying man’.
We had a lot of flashbacks, and if I had a criticism, it might be that some of them had been overused in previous episodes, because for me the repetition did not always add to their power. Granted, Anne Boleyn and Wolsey’s deaths haunting Cromwell has a certain power, as his his recurring nightmare and, finally, his recurring dream of home, but it didn’t quite have the effect on me that they meant it to, I found it more numbing instead of empthatic. However, the similarities and contrasts with all the people who had gone to their execution (but mainly Anne, and kudos for Foy’s performance in the first series) worked well. Rylance was, as ever, captivating as Cromwell ran out of road, of effort.
(We may not see its like again.)
