The White Queen

[Mistress Euclid]

Well, it looks like Starz is going to butcher history again. This show isn't airing yet, but the trailer looks all bodice-rippy:

The White Queen

[Honeybee]

Interesting that this is based on a Phillipa Gregory novel, who I basically think does history fan fiction. Even though I am irked at her Anne Boylen interpretation, I actually read this book and found it dull. Elizabeth Woodville, the heroine, had something like 10 children. She mostly sits at home waiting for her husband, except for a few big incidents. The show looks all fun and all that, but I wonder if they will gloss over that their protagonist is pregnant through 90% of the story.

[Mistress Euclid]

So, there's a new clip released, and this one features Richard and Anne who I suppose are secondary players in this story but if I know my history are probably far more interesting characters!

http://youtu.be/PtwbIzE3ptU

[Honeybee]

I'm kind of a historic fiction junkie, and I really wish they were making Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendor into the miniseries. I think all the characters are far more developed in that book than in Phillipa Gregory's books. Richard is the main character, but Anne, Eizabeth W and King Edward are all fleshed out characters and none of them are outright villains. That said, I'm still going to watch this!

[Honeybee]

So, I've watched the first two episodes of this. Beautiful production values. Max Irons as King Edward is gorgeous. However, the secondary characters, particularly the antagonists are more interesting and they really don't get much to do in the first episode but start to be featured in the second. Richard and Anne are both really young in the early episodes. Meanwhile, they play Margaret Beauford (Henry VII's mom) as straight up crazy and fanatical, but a great character. I'll keep watching as more episodes become available.

It's better than the Tudors as far as quality, but kind of along those lines.

[Mistress Euclid]

I did a bit of internet watching myself, honeybee!

I love how crazy they are making Margaret - what a fantastic villainess. I also love that young, chivalrous Richard has already been shown to have a bit of a temper as well as already smitten by young Anne.

I'm not a big fan of incest slash, but with those three gorgeous brothers I'm sure someone is going to go there.

Also, as of yet, they have not shown Edward cheating on Elizabeth, and he had many mistresses.

[Honeybee]

Well, I've watched the third episode, and I'm cooling on this. I love a good historic soap opera - I loved The Tudors with is over-the-top inaccuracies and anachronisms in service of it being a big old soap opera - but this one just doesn't take it where it needs to go. The two leads are pretty, but there's not much motivation provided for why Edward married this woman or why she loves him beyond him taking care of her family. There's a hint that Edward (Max Irons, Jeremy's good looking son) might be using his wife's family to create a whole bunch of aristocrats loyal only to him, but that's only touched on.

The bad guys are more interesting, seem to have a right to be pissed off at Edward. Even Anne, whom I recall as being rather sweet and sympathetic in the books, comes off as grasping and ambitious. But it's the actors playing the villains who do seem to understand that this is a soap opera and not history and seem to be at least having a good time.

Oh, and there are obvious zippers in Elizabeth's dress! LOL With all the money spent on costumes, they could have at least put in side zippers. Although, I don't mind all the anachronistic bathing and good teeth.

[Mistress Euclid]

Oh that zipper was distracting.

And I read online that you can see Edward's rubber soles is some shots.

But I do enjoy the actress that plays Margaret. She gives crazy!

[Mistress Euclid]

Well, this show had gotten strange. I think it takes the whole "from the women's perspective" too seriously. In the last episode, the King and his brother Richard flee the country and leave the nominal heroine behind in a church sanctuary. This very important event occurs off screen and Elizabeth hears about it through a messenger. The strangest choice.

That and not removing the modern hand rails in the castle during post production!

Still, I think the actresses playing the antagonists are the most interesting. Poor Anne. Crazy Margaret Beaufort and utterly evil Margaret of Anjou.

[Mistress Euclid]

In the last episode, the focus shifted to the supporting cast and it was a good thing. The young actor who plays Richard III is great. In the first episodes, he played him as a broody young teen. Now, he's playing the character older and more seasoned and more in control of his emotions, but still with a hell of a temper. But the real standout is the woman who plays the villain Margaret of Anjou. She's so good, you wonder why the show isn't from her POV, despite the fact that she's fighting for her shit of a son.