Month: April 2025

Best of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Episode 6 Finale “Light”

Step inside the Tudor Dynasty with us as we handpick our favorite superlatives for each episode of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light – from ‘who wore it best’ fashionable costume and top villain, to outstanding scene and perfect cinematography – and everything else in between!

You can revisit any previous “best of” reviews here:
episode 1 Wreckage
episode 2 Obedience
episode 3 Defiance
episode 4 Jenneke
episode 5 Mirror

Up this week for our final installment:

Episode 6: Light
USA Air Date: Sunday, April 27, 2025
Plot Summary: Cromwell is stripped of his titles and brought to the Tower of London on a charge of treason. He has no friends to speak for him but plenty of enemies among his prosecutors.

Continue reading “Best of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Episode 6 Finale “Light””

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light – Episode 6 Light

“Valentines, sorceries, purple doublets. Any jury would laugh you out of the court. But then there won’t be a jury, will there?” – Thomas Cromwell

No jury. No trial. Only an interrogation team, perfectly convinced about Thomas Cromwell being a traitor, asking ridiculous questions. And an Act of Attainder which Cromwell himself also used against others.

Upon arresting him, Kingston brings Cromwell to the Tower, to the very room that Cromwell himself built for Anne Boleyn before her coronation. It is also the same room the late queen spent her days before her execution. Now, in  his solitary confinement, it is inevitable for Cromwell to reflect on his past. And characters from that past, varying from Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey to Dorothea to the French executioner haunt his dreams. Continue reading “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light – Episode 6 Light”

Lady Tudors’ Fun Facts About Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light – Ep 5 Mirror

Welcome back to Court and to episode five of “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light”

This episode is called “Mirror”, and I can only think that is because what Henry saw in the mirror of Anne of Cleves’ eyes was something that shook him to the core.

This week I want to focus on Anne of Cleves and her marriage to Henry. I have always had a soft-spot for Anne of Cleves; I can only imagine what it felt like coming to a country where you did not know anyone, did not speak the language, and did not know any of the customs but were expected to be its Queen. Continue reading “Lady Tudors’ Fun Facts About Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light – Ep 5 Mirror”

Best of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Episode 5 “Mirror”

Step inside the Tudor Dynasty with us as we handpick our favorite superlatives for each episode of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light – from ‘who wore it best’ fashionable costume and top villain, to outstanding scene and perfect cinematography – and everything else in between! Up this week:

Episode 5: Mirror
USA Air Date: Sunday, April 20, 2025
Plot Summary: Cromwell’s marital diplomacy brings Princess Anne of Cleves to Henry’s Court. Will the alliance create a Protestant superpower in northern Europe, or has Cromwell’s luck run out?

Continue reading “Best of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Episode 5 “Mirror””

The King’s Painter: Hans Holbein The Younger in Wolf Hall

“He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.” – Joanna Eatwell, Costume Designer, Wolf Hall

I had written about the authenticity of the costumes in Wolf Hall  as well as how much the series’ brilliant costume designer Joanna Eatwell values Hans Holbein the Younger’s work in achieving this authenticity here back in 2015.

It turns out that Eatwell digged into the paintings of Holbein for research. From Lucy Worsley’s interview with Eatwell in 2015:

He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.

He not only painted members of the court, he also painted merchants and even some of Henry’s courtiers and staff, so we have a complete cross-section which is incredibly important for a piece like this.

Eatwell argues, in an audio interview with the BBC Academy, Holbein is a “master in his craft” and his paintings are realistic but also propaganda. The paintings make a statement about the person in the painting which she calls the “photoshop” of the times.

Continue reading “The King’s Painter: Hans Holbein The Younger in Wolf Hall”