The Serpent Queen 1.07.
Oct. 24th, 2022 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOr, I wish I knew less about this era and these people, this is starting to really interfere with my viewing fun.
Even in the small, trivial things, like every time someone refers to Alive Past His Time Charles V. as "The Holy Roman Emperor of Spain". Look, he was the HRE, and he was the King of Spain. These were two every different things, and he was the sole person in all of history who got to be both at the same time due to a) him inheriting A Lot from his four grandparents (Austria and as a long term consequence the HRE from Maximilian I, Burgundy from Marie, Castile from Isabella the Catholic and Aragon from Ferdinand her husband) and Aunt Margaret and Jakob Fugger being really good at bribing the Princes Electors, and b) him wisely realizing this lot is too much for a single person and therefore ensuring Spain and the Holy Roman Empire went to different people and would not be ruled by the same guy again. Also, what's that accent supposed to be? Spanish? FYI, he only started to learn Spanish as a teenager. His first language was French, due to being born and growing up in what is Belgium today and being raised culturally Burgundian in Brussels and Ghent. (Even the Habsburg/Valois grudge match was sort of inherited from the France/Burgundy grudge match of earlier generations.)
This said, EEEEEEVIL Charles hitting on Catherine at her husband's wake (not for the first time) and telling her she'd be a worthy opponent, confessing that his plan isn't an all Catholic Europe but encouraging Mary because that much power in the hands of a fanatic child is guaranteed to burn all of France to the ground, was all but lacking mustache twirling in an entertaining way and is approaching The Master (of Doctor Who dimension). Okay then. (Though I can't help but wonder how actual Charles would have reacted to Catherine. They were actually in Italy at the same time, and while he didn't get to meet her, his daughter, who was only a few years younger, did, which I used in my story about her. He also knew Catherine's cousin-or-possible-half-brother Alessandro. Now Charles' son Philipp consciously avoided meeting Catherine - "too much wit for a woman, and too dishonest for a queen" was his historical judgment on her - , but Charles who was used to having his aunt, sisters and wife be regent (and/or diplomatic negotiator) for him in various parts of his Empire would probably have found it it an interesting experience.)
One last historical observation before I get to the episode content as content, I practically cheered when we FINALLY got an (indirect) acknowledgement of Jeanne D'Albret's existence by the Bourbon brothers mentioning Antoine is sort of the King of Navarre and has a wife there. RL: She was the Queen of Navarre, he only was ruler via being her consort. The reason why I kept waiting for someone to acknowledge her existence isn't just that Jeanne (who was hardcore Protestant in a way her brother was not) as an important politician in her time but without her there's no future Henri IV and no Bourbon dynasty. Also ow famous wedding/masssacre at St. Bartholomew, given she negotiated the wedding of her son with Catherine's daughter Margot very much against her inclinations. Catherine probably didn't poison her after the wedding negotiations were over, but she was certainly accused of it in her time. All this said, she and Antoine the useless had a bad marriage, so him saying "she's awful" about her is entirely ic for historical Antoine as well.
On to the show verse. Changing the framing story narrator from Catherine to Mary was a bit far fetched in that the story told includes scenes Mary can't know about, but otoh I think I can finally see where all this is leading, though I have to say, if Catherine went to all that trouble just to make Rahima steal a letter whilch Mary will then believe to be Elizabeth Tudor's but which presumably will be faked, it's really elaborate and I have to wonder whether there wouldn't have been a simpler way. (BTW, I expect the - faked - letter to contain an offer by Elizabeth to make Mary her heir which will cause Mary to leave France and return to Scotland in the expectations of taking over England soon, thus starting her journey to lose her head in the literal sense as well, as opposed to staying in France and influencing Catherine's next son.)
In terms of the main story, the show made one of my wishes come true and gave Mathilde some screen time again, and screen time focused on her relationship with Catherine to boot. Since Mathilde does not seem to be around anymore in the framing time, which is rapidly approaching the narrated era, I just hope Mathilde got away from court and into safe retirement SOMEHOW. Diane leaves the show somewhat unceremoniously but true to rl, and after getting one more sequence to point out her marchinations went side by side with actual emotion, that she both destroyed Henri and really loved him. (Which is true for Catherine as well. Samantha Morton rarely gets to show such raw emotion as Liv Hill as young Catherine did, but it was there with the dying Henri and then with Ruggieri.) From a dramatic pov it's regretable that Mary instead of Diane is the final season opponent, she's just not as interesting and complicated, though I guess there's also Charles V. as the biggest Bad.
Something else the Catherine and Mathilde conversation brought via Mathilde pointing it out is that Catherine may tell herself it's for the good of France but at her core she wants to rule because she enjoys it. Now both showverse and history verse give her an out in that the alternatives so far suck, i.e. Francis and Mary are manipulated kids with the Guises and EEEEVIL Charles V. pulling the strings, and we see their rule actively harming the country, and Catherine's next youngest son is a literal child, but this won't always be the case. Young Francis pointing out Catherine didn't show much focus on him before and Catherine returning she didn't have the choice makes me wish the show would have included via some lines of dialogue something the time jump necessarily skipped, i.e. Catherine really wasn't allowed to decide on her own children's raising and education, Diane was put in charge of this. I also hope that if there's a second season we will get to meet said non-Francis children in detail, and that Catherine's relationships with each will get fleshed out, because that family was such a tragic mess.
Lastly, in show verse, what's in all this for Ruggieri, I wonder? I mean, the series does not present him at gaining any personal power, but uses him as a catalyst; he always points out that here are prices to be paid for each Faustian bargain, but he doesn't personally benefit from said choices.
Even in the small, trivial things, like every time someone refers to Alive Past His Time Charles V. as "The Holy Roman Emperor of Spain". Look, he was the HRE, and he was the King of Spain. These were two every different things, and he was the sole person in all of history who got to be both at the same time due to a) him inheriting A Lot from his four grandparents (Austria and as a long term consequence the HRE from Maximilian I, Burgundy from Marie, Castile from Isabella the Catholic and Aragon from Ferdinand her husband) and Aunt Margaret and Jakob Fugger being really good at bribing the Princes Electors, and b) him wisely realizing this lot is too much for a single person and therefore ensuring Spain and the Holy Roman Empire went to different people and would not be ruled by the same guy again. Also, what's that accent supposed to be? Spanish? FYI, he only started to learn Spanish as a teenager. His first language was French, due to being born and growing up in what is Belgium today and being raised culturally Burgundian in Brussels and Ghent. (Even the Habsburg/Valois grudge match was sort of inherited from the France/Burgundy grudge match of earlier generations.)
This said, EEEEEEVIL Charles hitting on Catherine at her husband's wake (not for the first time) and telling her she'd be a worthy opponent, confessing that his plan isn't an all Catholic Europe but encouraging Mary because that much power in the hands of a fanatic child is guaranteed to burn all of France to the ground, was all but lacking mustache twirling in an entertaining way and is approaching The Master (of Doctor Who dimension). Okay then. (Though I can't help but wonder how actual Charles would have reacted to Catherine. They were actually in Italy at the same time, and while he didn't get to meet her, his daughter, who was only a few years younger, did, which I used in my story about her. He also knew Catherine's cousin-or-possible-half-brother Alessandro. Now Charles' son Philipp consciously avoided meeting Catherine - "too much wit for a woman, and too dishonest for a queen" was his historical judgment on her - , but Charles who was used to having his aunt, sisters and wife be regent (and/or diplomatic negotiator) for him in various parts of his Empire would probably have found it it an interesting experience.)
One last historical observation before I get to the episode content as content, I practically cheered when we FINALLY got an (indirect) acknowledgement of Jeanne D'Albret's existence by the Bourbon brothers mentioning Antoine is sort of the King of Navarre and has a wife there. RL: She was the Queen of Navarre, he only was ruler via being her consort. The reason why I kept waiting for someone to acknowledge her existence isn't just that Jeanne (who was hardcore Protestant in a way her brother was not) as an important politician in her time but without her there's no future Henri IV and no Bourbon dynasty. Also ow famous wedding/masssacre at St. Bartholomew, given she negotiated the wedding of her son with Catherine's daughter Margot very much against her inclinations. Catherine probably didn't poison her after the wedding negotiations were over, but she was certainly accused of it in her time. All this said, she and Antoine the useless had a bad marriage, so him saying "she's awful" about her is entirely ic for historical Antoine as well.
On to the show verse. Changing the framing story narrator from Catherine to Mary was a bit far fetched in that the story told includes scenes Mary can't know about, but otoh I think I can finally see where all this is leading, though I have to say, if Catherine went to all that trouble just to make Rahima steal a letter whilch Mary will then believe to be Elizabeth Tudor's but which presumably will be faked, it's really elaborate and I have to wonder whether there wouldn't have been a simpler way. (BTW, I expect the - faked - letter to contain an offer by Elizabeth to make Mary her heir which will cause Mary to leave France and return to Scotland in the expectations of taking over England soon, thus starting her journey to lose her head in the literal sense as well, as opposed to staying in France and influencing Catherine's next son.)
In terms of the main story, the show made one of my wishes come true and gave Mathilde some screen time again, and screen time focused on her relationship with Catherine to boot. Since Mathilde does not seem to be around anymore in the framing time, which is rapidly approaching the narrated era, I just hope Mathilde got away from court and into safe retirement SOMEHOW. Diane leaves the show somewhat unceremoniously but true to rl, and after getting one more sequence to point out her marchinations went side by side with actual emotion, that she both destroyed Henri and really loved him. (Which is true for Catherine as well. Samantha Morton rarely gets to show such raw emotion as Liv Hill as young Catherine did, but it was there with the dying Henri and then with Ruggieri.) From a dramatic pov it's regretable that Mary instead of Diane is the final season opponent, she's just not as interesting and complicated, though I guess there's also Charles V. as the biggest Bad.
Something else the Catherine and Mathilde conversation brought via Mathilde pointing it out is that Catherine may tell herself it's for the good of France but at her core she wants to rule because she enjoys it. Now both showverse and history verse give her an out in that the alternatives so far suck, i.e. Francis and Mary are manipulated kids with the Guises and EEEEVIL Charles V. pulling the strings, and we see their rule actively harming the country, and Catherine's next youngest son is a literal child, but this won't always be the case. Young Francis pointing out Catherine didn't show much focus on him before and Catherine returning she didn't have the choice makes me wish the show would have included via some lines of dialogue something the time jump necessarily skipped, i.e. Catherine really wasn't allowed to decide on her own children's raising and education, Diane was put in charge of this. I also hope that if there's a second season we will get to meet said non-Francis children in detail, and that Catherine's relationships with each will get fleshed out, because that family was such a tragic mess.
Lastly, in show verse, what's in all this for Ruggieri, I wonder? I mean, the series does not present him at gaining any personal power, but uses him as a catalyst; he always points out that here are prices to be paid for each Faustian bargain, but he doesn't personally benefit from said choices.
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Date: 2022-10-24 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-25 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-25 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-25 01:31 pm (UTC)More seriously, given that the screenwriters evidently decided that the actual reasons for the various Habsburg/Valois wars are too complicated or not sufficiently sympathetic to France (as evidenced by the fact the various Italian territories both were claiming never get as much as mentioned - I mean, there was backstory referenced about Francis I. capture and trade against his sons as hostages, but where he was captured was conspiciously left out) and instead we're now dealing with a fictional invasion-of-Britain plan (this is how you can tell it's a British show), getting Charles' title wrong is the really minor by comparison.