Wolf Hall: Crows
May 4, 2015 4:51 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe

With Anne pregnant again and away from court, Henry begins to take notice of Jane Seymour. Anne hears of this and threatens Cromwell to make terms with her before her son is born. But has she overplayed her cards?
posted by ocherdraco (15 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
The scene surrounding Henry's near-death was fascinating. They're all just standing there, so confused. And these are the elite of their time! Today, even if for some reason proper medical help couldn't arrive, the people standing by would make much more effort, no matter how futile.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:54 PM on May 4, 2015


Maybe. I'm not so sure people today wouldn't stand around recording the scene on their phones. As for the people of Henry's time...medical science, such as it existed, was pretty rubbish. There really wasn't much they could do. Plus, they're well aware of what turmoil will follow Henry's death.

Honestly, I was going to ask whether it was accurate to the time for Cromwell to know to thump Henry's chest to revive him?
posted by Thorzdad at 7:39 PM on May 4, 2015


Me too! Also, does that generally help with head trauma, because I dunno, man.

Still didn't disrupt my enjoyment of the show.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:49 PM on May 4, 2015


It is interesting to think what a perilous state England was in at that point due to the confusion over succession. Indeed, following Henry's actual death the back and forth in terms of who would rule reflected that to some extent. I love how this makes clear to Cromwell quite how dangerous his position is. My main takeaway from this series is that were I in that time period I'd stay far away from the court if possible. Power might be nice, but not when it is so utterly tenuous.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:42 AM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


And just think, they've been in this tenuous state for decades now. But Henry is getting older and now they're really worried.

If I were Anne, I'd have asked him to stop jousting too.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:51 AM on May 5, 2015


The last moments of this episode were intense.
posted by drezdn at 7:44 AM on May 5, 2015


If I were Anne, I'd have asked him to stop jousting too.

Yeah but I like the fact that they're going with the theory that Henry probably suffered a TBI and that's what caused a sudden weird personality change.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 9:14 AM on May 5, 2015 [5 favorites]


It's been a while since I watched this, but I seem to remember finding the scene where Cromwell asks Henry not to accidentally kill his son while jousting and Henry basically just goes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ quite chilling.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 3:49 PM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


I kind of wonder if they showed the big meal at the beginning just so they could show us a bunch of people eating with NO FORKS.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:37 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm going to start slinging giant napkins over my shoulder.
posted by drezdn at 7:05 PM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


The scene surrounding Henry's near-death was fascinating. They're all just standing there, so confused. And these are the elite of their time!

That scene did a beautiful job of driving home how fragile and how absurd monarchies are.
posted by homunculus at 11:23 PM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


Honestly, I was going to ask whether it was accurate to the time for Cromwell to know to thump Henry's chest to revive him?

I heard an interview on the radio with Mark Rylance, and he said the thumping was more an act of fear and desperation than any sort of considered act. It definitely wasn't supposed to be Tudor CPR.
posted by sobarel at 4:36 AM on May 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


One of my fave moments in the entire series so far was Cromwell sliding the knife into his sleeve before he goes to see Henry. It's such a lovely reminder to the viewer not only of the intensity of the times< but also that that Cromwell wasn't always just a lawyer and a fixer, and it died in beautifully with that comment elsewhere int he episode about how he knifed someone to death in his youth.

I love this show so much, and I can't beleive we're only getting one more episode of it until whenever series 2 comes out.

Query: for the post-Jane Seymour times, are they going to put Lewis into a fat suit? Because in history, after Seymour dies is, I think, when Henry packs on the pounds. Yearning minds seek to know.
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:29 PM on May 7, 2015


The scene in which Henry lays out his fear about being unable to produce an heir was interesting to me and for the first time it made sense to me - that an heir wasn't just about continuing his line per se, but about providing continued stability to the nation-state, which is (arguably) a king's most important job. Perhaps the only time I've felt empathy for him (the character or the historical figure.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:06 AM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


...the scene where Cromwell asks Henry not to accidentally kill his son while jousting and Henry basically just goes...

I might be influenced by recalling the book, but I read it as more "Cromwell, your boy's actually pretty good at this, he's not going to get hurt"

That scene did a beautiful job of driving home how fragile and how absurd monarchies are

More about how much Henry in particular needed an heir, I'd say, and how the Wars of the Roses were still not yet unrevivable. And if you want absurd, at least at Henry's court they could be pretty sure Gerald Ford wasn't somehow going to take supreme power.
posted by Segundus at 1:44 PM on May 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


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