IF YOU WATCH:

What: ‘The Tudors’

When: Sundays at 9 p.m.

Where: Showtime

Ancient history has never looked or sounded so good.

Showtime’s historical drama (emphasis on the drama) ‘The Tudors’ tells the story of the reign of pre-heir obsessed King Henry VIII. He’s depicted along with the numerous romantic affairs and political relationships that made him so infamous.

‘The Tudors,’ which debuted last year, just entered its second season, or the year 1530, with Henry desperately seeking an annulment from Queen Katherine of Aragon so he can finally legitimize his long-term obsession with Anne Boleyn.

Henry, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, is shown in the series as a King that cares about a lot about himself and about England – or at least that’s how the people of England perceive him.

Rhys Meyers is an interesting choice for King Henry, because if you look up a historical portrait of the king you would see a chubby, red haired, pompous looking guy. And Rhys Meyers has only one of those things – he plays pompous and plays it well.

But then again, the rest of the show isn’t really concerned all that much with being historically accurate. For one thing, the timeline of the show is botched, as one episode represents an entire year, making it seem like events happen much closer together than in reality.

A major liberty that history buffs surely took offense to was that ‘The Tudors’ made Henry’s two sisters into one combined person, ‘Princess Margaret,’ and her storylines are a combination of the historical two sisters. Was it really that cost-effective to combine the characters?

If you can manage to brush off the blatant disregard for history, everything on ‘The Tudors’ is pretty to watch. Rhys Meyers is probably the most attractive king England has ever seen, and Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) is also quite an improvement from her real-life counterpart.

The costumes and the settings are also intricate and make anyone pine for Ye Olde England, all sprawling open fields and corset dresses.

But what makes ‘The Tudors’ so captivating is the amount of the scandals King Henry involves himself in. Between all of his liaisons with the ladies of the court (and yes, since it’s on Showtime, not much is left behind closed doors) and under the table dealings with bishops and dukes, it’s the royalty’s sleaze and corruption that makes the show interesting

Bodice-ripping affairs with the queen’s servants? Henry’s done that. Bribed religious officials so he can start wars with countries? Check. Openly courted Anne Boleyn in front of his wife? Oh yes. Defied the pope’s authority? Done and done.

Henry’s evolution from the beginning of the show to now is drastic – he once cared for the people of England but now is only concerned about marrying Anne Boleyn no matter what it means for England, perhaps one of the most historically accurate parts of his sensationalized soap opera. Rhys Meyers plays him wild-eyed, thirsty for lust, for power, to be more important than God himself.

But we all know how this story ends. There’s certainly enough scandal that happened in history for ‘The Tudors’ to exploit and dramatize. And who doesn’t love a good scandal among the rich and powerful?

eaconnor@syr.edu

Published on April 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm