You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends...
To tell you guys the truth, first I got confused to remember the names of the characters in the series since there are too many. Watching Eric Bana's The Other Boleyn Girl helped me a lot to enjoy this show. Thing that makes me like this series is the explicit sexual scenes that you can also see in Spartacus, ha..ha
Well, The Tudors tells the phenomenal life story of the notorious King Henry VIII and her wives. I don't need to tell you who he was because you can easily find it from internet or text book of English.
King Henry VIII is well known for being handsome and athletic and also his wives who faced tragic death in his own hand. Season 1, containing only 10 episodes, chronicles the period of Henry VIII's reign in which his effectiveness as King is tested by international conflicts as well as political intrigue in his own court, while the pressure of having a male heir cost him to reject his wife, Katherine Aragon (she's Henry's dead brother's wife that Henry had to marry). Henry tries to have annulment just to get married with Anne Boleyn, and also has a string of affairs, and fathers an illegitimate son, who later dies (Warning: if you are offended by explicit sexual scene, you better avoid the DVD version. One of Indonesian TV cable has been airing it and it's a wise way to enjoy it) Season 2 finds Henry as the head of the Church of England, the result of his break with the Catholic Church over its refusal to grant him a divorce from Katherine. During his battle with Rome, he secretly marries a pregnant Anne Boleyn. Anne can't give him a son, so Henry then turns his lust to Jane Seymour.
Season Three focuses on Henry's marriages to Jane Seymour and the other one names Anne of Cleves, the birth of his son Edward VI, the downfall of Thomas Cromwell, and the beginnings of Henry's relationship with the "dangerous" Katherine Howard. Dangerous?? Well, you better watch it yourself.
Last Season, 4 focuses on Henry's ill-fated marriage to Katherine Howard, his uncommonly successful final marriage with Katherine Parr, an attempted invasion of France and the question of the kingdom's leadership after Henry's death.
True if you think you can learn history from this series but the creator told at the very beginning that The Tudors is a soap opera, not history. Hisrt noted, "Showtime commissioned me to write an entertainment, a soap opera, and not history ... And we wanted people to watch it." He added that some changes were made for production considerations and some to avoid viewer confusion, and that "any confusion created by the changes is outweighed by the interest the series may inspire in the period and its figures."
So if there are many negative reviews or complaint on how this series misleads the viewers, well I think we just have to watch it as an entertainment, and for real history we can read the book, right?
Jonathan Rhys Meyer was nominated in Golden Globe for Best Actor in Television Drama. Sebagai satu dari sedikit serial berbiaya mahal, The Tudors memang menakjubkan dalam costume and production design yang membuat penonton di seperti di bawa ke masa lalu dan segala tetek bengek kerajaan Inggris. Worth watching, really.
