Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024)

 

Ten years after its first season, Masterpiece Theatre brings us the conclusion of Thomas Cromwell's story, based on Hilary Mantel's award-winning trilogy and final novel. It is a moving, engaging portrait of a compassionate but ruthless man brought down by circumstances beyond his control, but there are few historical hiccups along the way.

 

Henry VIII (Damien Lewis) is feeling a sense of kingly pride now that he is married to the sweet and demure Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips), even if he does wonder at times if she is a bit empty-headed. He is particularly pleased with Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) for arranging the death of his previous wife, Anne, and delivering him Jane, not to mention the divorce from his deceased first wife that also made him the head of the Church of England. But not everyone is on board with this massive shift in religious politics, and Cromwell is worried about the fate of the king's eldest daughter, Mary (Lilet Lesser). A devout Catholic and completely loyal to her mother's memory, she refuses to sign the document that concedes that she is a bastard, their marriage was illegitimate, and that names her father as the head of the Church. But Henry is not in a forgiving mood, and Cromwell suspects if he cannot convince the girl to do the smart thing, she may wind up on the wrong end of an ax.

 

In the meantime, a cousin to the king is making noise abroad about him being a heretic, the pope has excommunicated him, and treason hangs in the air at court. Jane has not yet fallen pregnant despite her husband's enthusiasm and need for a male heir, and the future of the realm hangs by a thread. And Henry is nothing if not capricious, changeable, and ill-tempered. It does not take much to get on his bad side, and his temper ignites when he discovers his niece has married without his consent. It's time for Cromwell to step up, put aside his misgivings, and do what he does best: manage things better than anyone else in the kingdom. But he has ghosts of his own--his deceased friend and former master Cardinal Wolsey, who haunts him, and the memory of poor Anne, whom he threw in the executioner's path to save his own neck...

 

This is still compelling television and one of the best shows out there, in terms of nuance, complexity, and astonishing levels of acting. Damien Lewis is far and away the best Henry ever put on screen, partly because he fits the role physically and because he can embody the two-sided dimensionality of Henry. The king could be lovable and pleasant one minute, then vicious and cruel the next. He is equally capable of handling Henry's sweet and tender moments with his wife and his friends, and his wrathful "I am in a mood to chop off heads" secondary personality. Lewis makes you feel sorry for Henry at times, as he mourns what he has lost, but never lets you forget it's his own fault. To say nothing of Mark Rylance, who is an unforgettable Cromwell. His way of removing his cap and thoughtfully replacing it, how he can tell a story with his eyes... it's a moving performance that shifts between ruthlessness (he tells his son that if it comes down to saving your life by killing someone else, be ready to swing the ax) and quiet, understated charm. It's hard to watch the final episode as, despite being a silver wordsmith and the smartest man present, he can't save himself from his inevitable fate. We don't see it, but we feel the misery and despair of it. The rest of the cast is quite adequate, but the bulk of the performances fall to the two leads.

 

For once, Mary Tudor has been given her due. She is not portrayed as a fanatic or a fool, but a thoughtful, intelligent young woman trapped in violent circumstances beyond her own control, who weeps when she finally is reunited with her father, has a soft spot for Cromwell, and rolls her eyes at Katherine Howard. In one scene, where she removes her cap in Cromwell's presence to reveal her long, thick red hair, she looks so child-like that it tugs at our heartstrings. Her sister Elizabeth is nowhere in sight, an interesting omission. But there are some flaws with this story. It's trying both to please viewers familiar with the period and those who aren't, which means info dumps in dialogue to explain things for people who do not know them already (it's awkward when it happens, and shoehorned into conversations that should flow better). Plot threads appear and then are dropped or go nowhere; we get one scene with Margaret Pole and then never hear from her or see her again (even though Cromwell "took her down" / had her thrown in the Tower). Cromwell's illegitimate daughter turns up, has a few scenes with him, and then disappears without us knowing where she went (presumably home to Antwerp). His downfall seems abrupt and rushed, as if the series could have used another episode or two. And then there's the color-blind casting. It's not all that noticeable to see random black people at court, or as servants, but they would not be seated at the Council table, and when Jane Seymour introduces her "sister" as a black actress, our brain steps out of the time period and tries to figure out the math (half-sister? step-sister? did her real mother die and her father remarried?. I understand the desire behind it (diverse casting) but it's a glaring historical inaccuracy in a series otherwise known for its meticulous attention to period detail, right down to the wooden buttons on Cromwell's shirts.

 

The costumes are gorgeous and mostly accurate this time around, with no wrinkles in the bodices (a major pet peeve of viewers everywhere in season one). Anne of Cleves in particular has a very beautiful gown that looks a great deal like her portrait. And since the most famous characters are already dead, there's less slanderous takes on famous figures from the period. I both wanted to keep going and to watch every episode, and dreaded doing so, because I knew how the last one would end. On a sorrowful note. If you enjoyed the first season, you will also relish the second. It's a quiet, thoughtful, and intelligent drama that engages the heart and the mind.

   

Sexual Content:
Henry complains that he thinks his new wife is not a virgin because of her sagging breasts and stomach. A few discussions about whether the king can "do his duty" with a wife. A woman asks a man if she can still get pregnant without enjoying sex.
 
Language:
Five or six uses of "Christ!" / Jesus as an exclamation. One crude term for the female anatomy that implies a woman is pregnant.
 
Violence:
One implied beheading; a character experiences dreams and flashbacks to Anne Boleyn's execution, seeing her ladies in waiting holding a bloody sack with her head in it, the sword swinging, hands covered in blood, etc.