Episode 2.06

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"EPISODE 6"

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Season: 2

Original Air Date: May 4, 2008

Writer: Michael Hirst

Director: Ciarán Donnelly

Name of Episode: The Definition of Love

Special Guests:

Synopsis

As the Reformation gathers pace Sir Thomas Cromwell becomes ever more powerful as propagandist-in-chief of a new moral order. Royal confidence has given way to doubt. Henry is haunted by the memory of the executed Thomas More while Queen Anne Boleyn's insecurities border on paranoia. Her husband's affairs continue and an effort to have her daughter Elizabeth betrothed to a French royal is disappointed when the French King refuses to recognise that the infant Princess is of legitimate birth.

Full Recap

The Pope is seen addressing the crowds on St Peter's Square and he mentions the anger at the martyrdom of Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher.
In a flashback the execution of Sir Thomas More is shown again. English iconoclasts are seen destroying crosses and statues.
King Henry tells Thomas Cromwell that he will meet Thomas Boleyn's demand for a 300-pound dowry so that the daughter of Lord Morley can marry George Boleyn.
Thomas Cromwell reports on enormities in the Church. For instance, Holy blood turns out to be duck's blood. Cromwell recommends that plays be performed produced to promote the image of the King's church.
George Boleyn is informed by Cromwell and Cranmer about the appointment of Dr Simon Hayes as the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral. He is also shown the new printing press.
Anne talks to Henry about the legitimacy of their daughter and she suggests that she is betrothed to the son of the king of France. Henry agrees and will discuss it with the French ambassador. When Anne asks whether Henry will come to her bed, he shakes his head.
In bed, Henry dreams of Thomas More and when he wakes he thinks he sees his ghost.
At George Boleyn's wedding, the bride changes her mind, but her father forces her to go on with the wedding. George is obviously nervous and forgets to take off his hat, so his father does it for him.
The king receives Sir Henry Norris who asks permission to wed Lady Margaret "Madge" Sheldon, one of Anne's ladies in waiting. The king grants his permission. The king talks to the French ambassador about betrothing princess Elizabeth to prince Charles, son of the French king.
At the wedding, Mark Smeaton jokes with George about him marrying a girl.
Anne looks out of the window and sees Henry riding off, and imagines him having sex with a group of women.
George and Jane's wedding night is not pleasurable for Jane.
Henry and Anne attend a play ridiculing the Roman Catholic clergy and the Pope. Henry tells Anne that a French admiral will come to discuss the marriage and he asks Charles to receive him. Anne then brusquely asks: "why him?" and suggests her father is more suitable. Henry chides her and says that such a statement was unnecessary. Charles asks Ambassador Chapuys about the health of Lady Katherine and he has to tell him she is ill.
Lady Mary is seen taking care of Princess Elizabeth.
Chapuys and Brereton are drinking a beer together in honour of More and Fisher. Brereton befriended a maid of Anne's bedchamber and he tells Chapuys that Anne is a witch. She has an extra fingernail and her body is covered in moles.
Anne tells her brother George that Henry is having more affairs. She is convinced Henry has a harem somewhere and she is afraid of the prophecy that a queen of England will be burnt. He comforts her as two of her ladies in waiting watch.
Thomas Wyatt visits Cromwell and is shown many, many denunciations of people against the Reformation. He is also shown the printed tracts explaining why the Reformation was necessary. Thomas Wyatt asks, in passing, whether Cromwell is never worried about the king's absolute power and in return receives a veiled but unmistakable threat.
Charles Brandon and his wife receive the French admiral, his secretary and his niece, a voluptuous blonde who eyes up Charles. Charles tells the admiral that Queen Anne has planned a banquet in the admiral's honour as well as a tennis match. The admiral claims to have no recollection of her, despite having met her and he does not play tennis.
Anne confronts Henry as he goes riding and she tells her to go back inside and that he is going out.
As she walks through the room, Brereton visualises how he stabs her, but it does not actually happen.
The admiral's niece makes advances to Charles Brandon and he reciprocates.
Henry walks with Ambassador Chapuys. He tells him he knows that Chapuys does not approve of some of the changes he's implemented. Cromwell intercepted some of Chapuys' letters. They discuss humanism and the Reformation.
Anne is talking to Mark Smeaton about how upset she is with the French admiral who has not even called upon her. Anne is getting paranoid and Mark does not know what to say.
When the admiral is presented at court, he is very cool towards Anne. He tells her that Charles and his wife have kept him a virtual prisoner and that is why he could not attend the banquet. Anne does not pay him much attention as Henry is talking to a pretty lady.
Charles' wife sees the looks he exchanges with the admiral's niece.
When Henry and the admiral discuss the betrothal, the admiral inform Henry that such a proposition is impossible, as Elizabeth's legitimacy is not accepted by the Pope. The French king proposes a betrothal of the French crown prince to Lady Mary, Henry and Katherine's daughter. If Henry refuses, the crown prince will be betrothed to the emperor's daughter, leaving England isolated in Europe. Cromwell intervenes and ends the audience as an upset Henry slams his hand on a candle.
Charles apologizes to his wife, without specifying why and she says that human nature may never change. Charles swears it will never happen again.
Anne asks Henry about the lady he was talking to and the number of mistresses he has and they have a big fight. He then tells her that the king of France will not accept the betrothal.
Henry is talking and walking with Charles Brandon and Charles tells him his wife Catherine is with child. Henry recalls things he did with Thomas More, while holding Thomas' cross in his hands. He expresses his regrets for what happened to him. Henry tells him that whenever he felt like saving Thomas More, a certain person would urge him on to his destruction. When Charles asks who, Anne is shown standing in the distance and Henry tells him he knows who she is.
Henry kisses the small cross and throws it in the pond.

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Unanswered Questions

Would Henry in future get any more hauntings from his victims?

Best Moments

Pope Paul III addressing the multitudes.

Anne and Henry's reaction to King Francis not accepting the betrothal of Princess Elizabeth to Francis' youngest son Charles.

George Boleyn's amazement when first seeing the printing press.

Chapuys' facial expression while hearing Brereton talk of Anne's "deformities".

Anne confronting Henry about his suspected affairs.

Henry making it clear to Anne how he "can drag her down."

Henry admitting his regrets over Thomas More's execution.

George Boleyn marries Jane Parker than rapes her

Best Quotes

Pope Paul III-" To the faithful people of England, your Holy father offers you the hand of condolence, his tears of grief and his anger at the martyrdom of Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher. Their murder has shocked the whole of Christendom. It was an unpardonable sin against God and our Holy Church, in whose name these two great and noble men died. We pray for those in England who must continue to live under tyranny and in fear for their lives and for their souls. We pray the King ceases to listen to evil counsel and returns to obedience and the true faith before it is too late. We pray to Mary, mother of God, that England may be redeemed from heresy and all its evil ways and from the clutches of the heretics, who even now are leading her towards destruction and damnation."

Thomas Cromwell-" Plays are an ideal way of setting forth before peoples eyes the abomination and wickedness of the Bishop of Rome. They're also a means to demonstrate to people the obedience, as subjects, they owe by God's and man's laws to Your Majesty."

Thomas Cromwell-"Fortunately we have a new weapon to promote our ideas. It's called the printing press, my lord, and it will change the world."

"You know I think our family never did anything better than to facilitate and encourage your own rise, Mr. Secretary; and I trust you never forget that we did so."

Brereton-" The harlot holds a secret. She is deformed Chapuys. An extra finger nail on her left hand, she's always at great pains to conceal. As well her body, it's covered with moles which is sometimes called the devil's teats, as you know."

"But does it never concern you that the King has taken to himself an absolute power without any constraint to remake the law?"

Henry VIII-"We used to call it humanism. Wolsey, More and me, we were all humanists. Most people think I've changed, but I haven't. At heart, I'm still a humanist. Chapuys, I promise you that I'm going to make such a reform in this Kingdom That I should be remembered eternally throughout Christendom."

Henry VIII-" You must shut your eyes and endure, like your betters have done before you!"

Henry VIII -'That's enough!'
Anne Boleyn -'No,you told me that we would always be truthful with one another! You said it was the definition of love!'
Henry VIII -'Then here's the truth. You must shut your eyes and endure like your betters have done before you!'
Anne Boleyn -'How can you say that to me!? Don't you know I love you a thousand times more than Katherine ever did?!'
Henry VIII -'AND DON'T YOU KNOW THAT I CAN DRAG YOU DOWN AS QUICKLY AS I RAISED YOU!? T'is lucky you have your bed already,madam,for if you did not,I would not give you a second time! Francis won't accept the betrothal.'
Anne Boleyn -'Why?'
Henry VIII -'Why do you think? Because he,and the Pope,and the Emperor ARE ALL AGREED she is a bastard ,and you are not my wife!'

Trivia

Henry states that himself, Wolsey, and More were all humanists. His first wife, Katherine, was also a humanist. She was eager to secure the fellow humanist, Erasmus as her tutor, until her confessor voiced his concerns, Katherine headed them and then asked a friend of Erasmus at court if he presumed to be wiser than Jerome, as he presumed to correct the Saint's works. Erasmus was distressed at this as he had one more than one occasion expressed his deep admiration for her intelligence, but ultimately he blamed Katherine's confessor rather than herself for the slight, and continued to be on good terms with her.

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