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The Serpent Queen 1.05.
This is the first episode I have mixed feelings about.
Partly because the Duchess of Guise, who is just the kind of evil matriarch with vaguely incesteous overtones whom Catherine's enemies accused her of being. Mind you, it's the first episode that puts some spotlight on her, so more dimensions may still come. But the entire thing smacks of humanizing the Guise brothers by pulling the "evil parent" defense, which I'm rarely sold on. Partly because of Diane. I kept waiting for the reveal that the liquid gold/supposed anti aging drug Angelica is giving her is really a placebo, but no, it seems the show is doing this a a straight storyline of Diane (ignoring the warning that too much of this stuff will make you psychotic) destroys herself, which is a complete departure from real life, where Diane did no such thing, also didn't kill anyone in front of the entire court as the result, and was entirely compos mentis when Henri died and Catherine exiled her from court. I mean, it's hardly the first liberty the show has taken, but it's the first one that rubs me the wrong way.
(Otoh I approve of the series continuing to give Catherine's ladies their own lives and emotional complications, though I hope Mathilde will get more to do again, she was so vivid in the earlier episodes. Not that I begrudge Angelica and Aabis their narrative time!)
Otoh, the show's use of Chenonceaux (despite stiff competiion, for my money the most beautiful of the Loire palaces) and what it symbolizes in the Catherine-Henri-Diane triangle was just right, and you know, I have to repeat how glad I am the series uses the actual Loire chateaus as locations instead of doing what all too many tv series and movies set in the Renaissance are doing - use gothic churches as royal palaces. Which, no. Just no. Catherine mastering her first big challenge as regent was neatly done. Mind you, one thing that amuses me her and amused me in the Spanish Carlos Emperador series about Charles V HRE is that it's always the respective other side who starts wars in the HRE/France conflicts and are irrational war mongers and peace treaty breakers. Though the Spanish series is better with showing both victories and defeats, while The Serpent Queen keeps letting France win, which, no. There's a reason why Catherine later in life was set in keeping peace with Spain despite Spain no longer being ruled by the same monarch as the HRE since Charles V. had split his heritage between son Philip and brother Ferdinand.
Aaaanyway. My other historical footnote is that I keep hoping for Jeanne d'Albret. Come on, show, why do you only give me her stupid husband (Antoine de Bourbon)? Jeanne is kind of instrumental to the future plot!
Lastly: when Catherine asked Rahima to search Mary's chambers for her in the present day timeline I thought, no, that can't be the real reason, if she wanted to use Rahima to spy on Mary she wouldn't have drawn attention on Rahima by openly favoring her, giving her Mary's old dress, arranging for her and Mary to cross paths and all but ensuring Mary remembers Rahima as Catherine's woman, and so I was gratitfied to see I was right when Catherine ensured Rahima was caught at the room searching. Though what her actual purpose and real endgame for this is and why she keeps telling Rahima her life, I don't know. I await further twists with great anticipation.
Partly because the Duchess of Guise, who is just the kind of evil matriarch with vaguely incesteous overtones whom Catherine's enemies accused her of being. Mind you, it's the first episode that puts some spotlight on her, so more dimensions may still come. But the entire thing smacks of humanizing the Guise brothers by pulling the "evil parent" defense, which I'm rarely sold on. Partly because of Diane. I kept waiting for the reveal that the liquid gold/supposed anti aging drug Angelica is giving her is really a placebo, but no, it seems the show is doing this a a straight storyline of Diane (ignoring the warning that too much of this stuff will make you psychotic) destroys herself, which is a complete departure from real life, where Diane did no such thing, also didn't kill anyone in front of the entire court as the result, and was entirely compos mentis when Henri died and Catherine exiled her from court. I mean, it's hardly the first liberty the show has taken, but it's the first one that rubs me the wrong way.
(Otoh I approve of the series continuing to give Catherine's ladies their own lives and emotional complications, though I hope Mathilde will get more to do again, she was so vivid in the earlier episodes. Not that I begrudge Angelica and Aabis their narrative time!)
Otoh, the show's use of Chenonceaux (despite stiff competiion, for my money the most beautiful of the Loire palaces) and what it symbolizes in the Catherine-Henri-Diane triangle was just right, and you know, I have to repeat how glad I am the series uses the actual Loire chateaus as locations instead of doing what all too many tv series and movies set in the Renaissance are doing - use gothic churches as royal palaces. Which, no. Just no. Catherine mastering her first big challenge as regent was neatly done. Mind you, one thing that amuses me her and amused me in the Spanish Carlos Emperador series about Charles V HRE is that it's always the respective other side who starts wars in the HRE/France conflicts and are irrational war mongers and peace treaty breakers. Though the Spanish series is better with showing both victories and defeats, while The Serpent Queen keeps letting France win, which, no. There's a reason why Catherine later in life was set in keeping peace with Spain despite Spain no longer being ruled by the same monarch as the HRE since Charles V. had split his heritage between son Philip and brother Ferdinand.
Aaaanyway. My other historical footnote is that I keep hoping for Jeanne d'Albret. Come on, show, why do you only give me her stupid husband (Antoine de Bourbon)? Jeanne is kind of instrumental to the future plot!
Lastly: when Catherine asked Rahima to search Mary's chambers for her in the present day timeline I thought, no, that can't be the real reason, if she wanted to use Rahima to spy on Mary she wouldn't have drawn attention on Rahima by openly favoring her, giving her Mary's old dress, arranging for her and Mary to cross paths and all but ensuring Mary remembers Rahima as Catherine's woman, and so I was gratitfied to see I was right when Catherine ensured Rahima was caught at the room searching. Though what her actual purpose and real endgame for this is and why she keeps telling Rahima her life, I don't know. I await further twists with great anticipation.