Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 5: Crows

"How many men can say my only friend is the King of England?" 
-Thomas Cromwell
source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Wolf Hall is getting darker by the minute in its penultimate episode. And, thanks to the wonderful immediacy it has —that’s Peter Kosminsky doing wonders behind the camera — you feel as if all is happening on real time, in front of your very eyes complete with a couple of moments that make you flinch!

In Crows, Henry is restless. He is capricious. He is obnoxious. He is EXPLOSIVE… And, then he turns into a little boy trying to make amends to his best friend. I don’t want to make a case for Henry but he has his reasons for being so — it is all about his obsession with a male heir. And, add to this, his being very much aware of his own mortality now that Henry makes a decision to move on… well… to the next wife… which also makes him a hopeless romantic at times…

source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Cromwell is THE first to notice that Henry is paying attention to Jane Seymour — the young woman whom Anne calls “milksop.” They are at Wolf Hall — the Seymour family residence. The King is flirting with Jane. He walks with her in the gardens and holds her hand. He asks if she would look kindly on him if he wrote a poem for her… And, I wonder if Cromwell regrets his decision of adding Wolf Hall to Henry’s summer progress…

Seriously, why does Thomas do it? Well… That’s the beauty of Wolf Hall. It’s all open to interpretation… I have never been able to fully figure out what’s been going on with Thomas and Jane — the Cromwell sleeves and all — but my interpretation is that Thomas feels affection for her, and as he feels his own mortality when he falls ill in The Devil’s Spit, he just wants to indulge himself with a short summer visit to Wolf Hall.  Well… what’s done, is done.

Katherine is dead. Anne is pregnant. Henry is in a good mood. He is showing off little princess Elizabeth — I LOVE it that Henry has no clue that he’s holding one of the strongest rulers of England in his arms — and saying “She is very much looking forward to seeing her younger brother, aren’t you, dumpling? And I share her impatience… It’s been a long enough wait…”

source: BBC
source: BBC

The relationship between Anne and Henry is so different now though. The looks. The gestures. The language. As Anne is getting more hysterical knowing that this pregnancy is her last chance with Henry… Henry is getting pretty relaxed in EYEING Jane in Anne’s presence. Cromwell notices… so does Anne!

They do not show us Jane and Henry in one shot, so that is my BEST try with my iPhone’s panoramic camera 🙂

source: BBC

The unfortunate jousting accident is a turning point for them all — making more than one man feel his own mortality quite deeply.

Cromwell brings the King back to life with a CPR or a Cromwell Pulmonary Resuscitation, if I may 🙂 And, now he sees his place in the court more clearly than ever. What if Henry is dead? “How many men can say my only friend is the King of England?”, he says to Fitzwilliam, Master Treasurer. It is TRUE. Henry may be Cromwell’s demise, but he is certainly Cromwell’s survival.

source: BBC
source: BBC

The accident CHANGES Henry, and eventually brings out, in Damian Lewis’ words “womanising, syphilitic, bloated, genocidal Elvis character.” Henry comes back to life as a pressure cooker… He is obviously in physical pain which makes him capricious more than ever. More importantly, he is very much aware of his own mortality that he is obsessed with a son more than ever. He really needs that male heir, and he needs it NOW… He gives quite a warning to Anne when she visits him after the accident: “Why not geld me while you’re at it? That would suit you, wouldn’t it, madam?” Henry is one miscarriage away from getting done with Anne.

As Henry is agonizing over his own mortality, Anne’s miscarriage is the last straw for him. He makes his case to Cromwell and Cranmer: “If a King can not have a son, if he cannot give stability to his realm, it does not matter what else he can do. Victories, or just laws, the famous courts, nothing.” Henry is in deep pain…

source: BBC
source: BBC

And, all of a sudden, as you almost feel for this desperate man, he throws a curveball and has this sinister look in his eyes: Now, it seems to him that he was somehow dishonestly led into this marriage. “It seems to me that I was seduced… perhaps with charms, with spells. Women do use such things. And if that were so, the marriage would be null, would it not?”

source: BBC
source: BBC

Henry most probably had the exact same conversation with a different Archbishop — Wolsey — about a different queen — Katherine — earlier… Damian Lewis is absolutely mind-blowing in this scene turning a desperate man into a sinister one in the blink of an eye.

The almighty Henry feels TRAPPED and tries to find his way out… He is in such an uncontrollable emotional state that he is almost losing it. He shouts at the Emperor’s Ambassador Chapuys on the top of his lungs for interfering with his domestic affairs and then repeats it with Cromwell, too, for scheming with Chapuys, in front of a big crowd: “I really believe you think you are the king, and I’m the blacksmith’s boy!” Yikes! It must hurt Thomas to hear this from his “only friend.”

When Henry comes to his senses soon though — and he has a REAL incentive to do that — he almost turns into a kid trying to make amends to his best friend.

“You are my right hand, sir.”

source: BBC
source: BBC

And then he spills the beans: “I cannot live as I have lived, Cromwell. You must free me from this. From Anne.” Henry knows Cromwell is the only one out there that could help him out of this. And once he delegates THE JOB to Cromwell, Henry becomes a hopeless romantic again: “Doesn’t Mistress Seymour have the tiniest hands?”

Cromwell sees it all now. Yes, Henry is most probably “his only friend” but with a condition attached to it: Thomas MUST keep him happy at all times. Otherwise, one failure, and one can find himself with the likes of the Cardinal or Thomas More.

Wolsey’s voice approves: “The trouble is… Thomas, the King wants a new wife… Fix him one. I didn’t. And, now, I am dead.”

Getting rid of Anne is Cromwell’s only way out at the moment.

MVP of the Week:

source: BBC
source: BBC

Damian Lewis steals the show in Crows and gives some acting feast for all of us! The Independent, in its review of the episode, says “Damian Lewis is so good as the capricious king that you want to slap him.” So true…Henry is restless. He is capricious. He is bitter. He is claustrophobic in a marriage that cannot give him a son. His being very conscious of his mortality after the jousting accident does not help, either. We see Henry as a hopeless romantic about Jane in a couple of moments but such moments do nothing but contribute to the inevitable storm coming… With Henry in this episode, you are constantly thinking to yourself… “Those claws”… Rings a bell? 🙂 Henry is like a trapped lion. First, desperate and in pain with some real fury simmering inside… Then he turns sinister in the blink of an eye, goes in a crescendo with claws OUT  and we finally witness the PERFECT STORM. Standing ovation.

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!

2 thoughts on “Wolf Hall on PBS, Episode 5: Crows”

  1. It was so scarey to see the King lash out, and even more scarey to watch him try to move past his outburst. He is just like a snake in the grass. If he was a true romantic, he would have romanced Katherine from day one. This King was treacherous! You know the first question put to Cromwell at the startling news that the King was dead. Should we leave now before it will be impossible to escape? I wonder how Cromwell knew to thump the heart to get it going? What was the significance of the dog’s death, and who are the parents of the “little person”?

    1. Oh yeah, I flinched – he was scary! I believe he was very romantic with Katherine, and we know he was romantic with Anne, too, well, for some time 🙂 He is just ready to move on… to the next wife! I think Cromwell just saw his place in court when he was delivered the news that Henry was dead. If Henry is dead, Cromwell is going down with him. So, Henry may be his demise, but Henry is absolutely Cromwell’s survival — ha ha which made him invent CPR 🙂 A lot of stuff is open to interpretation in Wolf Hall, that’s the beauty of it. My take on the dog’s death is that he probably just fell off, but Anne is so hysterical that she’s trying to find some conspiracy behind everything.

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