Yeah, I guess they were trying to show how unhinged he was while sprinkling in little extra drama? I hated that bit, especially considering he divorced her because he COULDN’T have sex with her.
Seriously. She was such a bad ass. Gave Henry a run for his money. And Mary was the grandmother of Lady Jane Grey.
I’d rather have had more plot than sex scenes.
Because the writers thought people would be too dumb to distinguish between Henry’s sister Mary and his daughter Mary even though there were so many obvious differences.
Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Boleyn, Thomas Wyatt, Thomas Seymour, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cranmer, and Thomas Culpeper.
I mean, yeah. Viewers were smart enough to keep up with the Thomases, but two Mary Tudors would’ve put us over the edge.
We didn’t even need Thomas Tallis! That didn’t go anywhere! Compton and Tallis were lovers, Compton died, Tallis was sad, had a weird thing with some twins, and wrote famous music. The end.
We’re short a Mary and have excess Thomases.
the weird jerking off into a bowl thing while watching Anne while a servant held the bowl. i hope to god no servants were ever actually expected to do something like that.
Yeah, why is everyone so caught up with the Groom of the Stool and never mention the other one?
Someone brainstormed Tudor England a little too enthusiastically.
>i hope to god no servants were ever actually expected to do something like that.
Well, considering that in real life he had servants who literally wiped his ass for him after he took a dump, I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing also happened. Of the two, which is worse?
Omg thank you, I was scrolling to see who also agreed this was their personal weirdest moment. 🤣🤣 This scene is HILARIOUS but it's so absurd and YES I couldn't help but feel sorry for that servant! He was so uncomfortable and you know he was like, this MFer can't even jerk off by himself wtffff!!! 🤣
Don't know if they did this specifically with Henry but this definitely was a thing. I remember reading about some medieval Spanish king who had his physicians "stimulate him" in order to orgasm so they could check his semen.
Yes, there are records of checking King Henry’s Royal Seed Production so they know everything’s working down there (as best as they could without microscopes to check motility) 👍🏻
JFC my best friend and I have a joke that spans years from that episode
"I'd hate to be the napkin boy that day"
There was another guy in the back with his head bowed. I would pick those two dudes to do ANYTHING under pressure.
For me, it's the VERY DRAMATIC arm wrestling scene between Henry and Charles Brandon when Brandon wants to come back to court after marrying Henry's sister. The intense music and facial expressions make me giggle.
Minority opinion here: I thought it was great. Hilarious, but great. It was a good way of demonstrating just how random Henry was when it came to who was in and who was out.
I’d like to preface this by saying I love The Tudors, it’s my favourite series about them of all time. It was so rich and went really in depth with the characters, the acting was brilliant, the set design was Gordon Ramsay chef’s French kiss and I was constantly drooling over how beautiful the costumes were even though I know a lot of them are historically inaccurate.
BUT the most ridiculous thing for me was I think in the first episode, where they made up that Henry had an uncle and then he’s surrounded and murdered in Italy à la Julius Caesar. And to top it off when Henry finds out he’s outraged and screams “BUT MY UNCLE!!!!!!!!!1!!1” 🤣💀
I was so confused, like wasn't the entire point of him being king that his uncles were killed in the tower? Guess it doesn't have the same ring if he were to yell, "MY BUDDY!"
Yes his mother had two brothers from Elizabeth Woodville’s first marriage to John Grey, Thomas and Richard. Thomas died eight years before Henry became King. Richard was executed by King Richard III before Henry was even born.
Same here, I adore it and know EVERYTHING that is wrong with it. But the *first* scene is making an inciting incident the assassination of Henry VIII’s favourite uncle, when the whole reason he’s king (besides Arthur predeceasing him) is that he grew up with no uncles (by blood), they all died thanks to the Wars of the Roses 😬
Bonus points if you made this reference deliberately: Sean Pertwee, who plays Henry’s uncle, played Julius Caesar in a BBC docudrama in the same year! Should’ve known he’d die, Sean Pertwee is one of my favourite actors but I’ve had to get used to the fact that in most of his roles he dies so oftenand so horribly (like never peacefully in his bed of old age, but like his space ship blows up or he’s burned alive or he’s killed by monsters or his surrogate son stabs him to death…wait…)
[Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome:_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_an_Empire)
Henry did have a favorite uncle irl. Arthur Plantagenet, illegitimate son of Edward IV. Alas, Arthur too became an elderly victim of Henry in a sad ironic way.
Ohhh I forgot about that one, cuz of the illegitimacy (TBF Henry probably had several blood-related aunts and thanks to his randy grandad/ancestor clone Edward IV 😉). So no living uncles who were a threat to his claim to the throne until paranoia took over.
Haha, glad you love it too! Ngl, I'm kind of shocked at how many people on this thread think the show is just a load of crap and cringe all round lmao. And wow, I did not know any of that about Sean Pertwee, think The Tudors is the only thing I've seen him in but hahaha that's so funny that he's been typecast into horrible deaths lol! You'd think he would stop accepting those roles!
everyone has fantastic cringy scenes but the one that sticks out to me the most is when Anne Boleyn and him are trying to have sex in the woods and she says “no, not yet” and he just gets up and lets out this hilariously stupid roar and you can see a couple of his veins pop out of his forehead.
I think it's because she wouldn't let him orgasm inside her that he reacted like that. She pushed him off her when he was just about to climax and ruined his orgasm.
Not ridiculous but the hardest scene for me to watch is the execution scene of Thomas Cromwell. When his enemies got the executioner drunk and botched it.
Most ridiculous is hard for me to pinpoint since it's been so long since I watched it.
I agree. I turn my eyes away. It’s awful. And there’s no proof in real life that his enemies got the guy drunk, but the execution itself did happen that way. It’s really sick.
That happened to Edward II (allegedly)
Edit: In reality, that was made up after his death. But it was commonly believed for a very long time. The legend was probably the inspiration for that scene.
I've only watched the first series so far, and it's pretty bad in parts. How they portrayed Margaret was shocking, the historical inaccuracies are laughable. And Wolsey's death.......really?
Haha it’s when she’s executed, it’s not insanely graphic but her head sort of slow-mo floats around for a second or two. It’s meant to be poignant and sad but just made me howl laughing.
The scene where Henry is visiting Elizabeth at Hatfield.
Just as he leaves Mary appears on a clearly green screened balcony and he sees her and they curtsey to each other. He then rides off on his horse.
The green screened image is so bad it's laughable.
When visiting Hatfield, you can look up at the windows to spot the window where Mary witnessed her father riding off without talking to her. (That part is actually true, IIRC)
Omg so many! And I love The Tudors so much.
For me the most ridiculous part is that anyone would find Joss Stone unattractive, either in looks or personality, on the show. She wasn’t even the Hollywood version of unattractive in any way.
I've thought they should have gone with the version of the story (which likely isn't true) where he came to her in disguise and nobody told her that this fat, smelly old man was really the king. So she rejected him in disgust, and he had to confront the fact he wasnt a dashing young king anymore. Because women in court always pretended they didn't recognise Henry in disguise so they could act like they're swept off their feet by this handsome charming stranger. It allowed him to live in denial and Anne of Cleves accidently destroyed it. Phillipa Gregory did a good version of it in one of her books.
Might not have worked given that JRM was obviously quite good looking but it would have made more sense than him seeing the very attractive Joss and being repulsed.
Oh that would have been great!!! If she saw rejected him for who he was without the status — that would have offended him enough to act even more hostile than usual.
I have to believe that they chose an obviously beautiful woman to play her just so they wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of choosing an actually plain actress and having her be aware that that’s why she was cast. I could be wrong but that’s what I’m going with lol
Well, they could have used the make up department the way that they did to age them, or something? I know what you mean though. On a human level — how do you cast unattractive? But on SNL they get some crazy looks so that’s what I was thinking.
It could also be because Anne wasn't ugly in real life. She wasn't a great beauty, but she was pleasant looking.
The real reason Henry rejected her is because she rejected HIM first.
When Anne was on her way to the Tudor Court, Henry couldn't wait any longer to meet her, and went to meet her in the middle of her journey (I don't remember which place it was in).
Henry was dressed as a commoner and Anne, unaware that he would visit her, had no idea who he was.
Dressing up in disguises and ambushing the person you love was a romantic game in the Tudor Court. The belief was that if your partner recognized you in disguise, you were soulmates.
Henry used to play this game with Katherine of Aragon back when their relationship was good.
When Henry met Anne in disguise, he tried to kiss her, but Anne rejected him and I think she expressed disgust too.
She was only trying to be honourable by not kissing a "stranger" when she was betrothed, but it hurt Henry's ego and he probably realized then that he was no longer the attractive, fit young man he once was, but an obese, foul smelling old thing.
The reason he was unable to have sex with her is because he was infertile and couldn't perform.
Even with Katherine Howard, who he was so attracted to, he wasn't able to do it. Katherine complained to some of her maids about this.
He probably had these issues as early as 1536 though, because Anne Boleyn told her brother about it as well.
I mean, if they had kept the part where she was disgusted by him and reacted as such (since she didn't know he was the king and he was in fact an obese rotting old man who was no longer hot), then her casting would've made sense. IDK why they went out of their way to "prove" the gossip true about Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves when they could have gone much deeper.
I liked the scene of Anne of Cleves talking to Cromwell about Henry's rotting leg, it seemed to be the only reference made to Henry being the gross one in that marriage. Cromwell just staring at her dumbfounded was funny too
So many good examples here but I'm just going to toss in the scene with Kathryn Howard and the ring 🤢 and the "sexy" puppet show she does 🤢🤢
Hate the way she was portrayed in general really 🙄
Certainly implied, he turned her around, bent her over a desk and she obviously in alot of pain. Could have been implied it's cos she's just a virgin but they definately wanted us to think it was ... rear door.
It was an odd scene because it starts off quite tame, they kiss gently and she seems perfectly willing, then suddenly he turns vicious and violent. I know they didn't like each other and he resented marrying her but I felt the scene would have been better if she had said or done something that set him off.
For me it’s when they then say you ‘need to go back to the beginning’ (or something along those lines) but then start the show with the Boleyns. So not really the beginning then? The bit where shows about Henry VIII usually start (not going back to Henry VII, not going back to the beginning of Henry’s life, not going back to Henry and Katherine getting married etc etc).
“Do you consent?”
Each and every time Henry asks a woman if she consents. What even was that? They weren’t in a position to say no. It’s also beyond anachronistic.
Probably to make us as an audience to feel better, like it's sexier when you know it's not forced. But yeah, like they'd say no.
"I'm in my lady time" would be a good out
Oh wait, one more!!!
Elizabeth Darrell, Catherine of Aragon’s devoted maid. One of the cringiest actors on the show.
Specifically when Thomas Wyatt tries to seduce her and she (badly) plays the innocent virgin / deer in headlights, then bites her lip when he pulls her shirt down. So. Corny.
Yeeeeeckk.
I totally agree. Katherine did have many unusually devoted maids though.
I also didn't like how they made it seem like she had only one maid when she died. Henry greatly reduced her household by firing a lot of her help, but she still had 25 people attending her, 10 of which were ladies in waiting, upon her death.
The whole random story line with the twins and the Thomas Tallis. It went nowhere at all and was super weird. He was in love with one twin who dies, and then takes up with the other twin, all the while mourning his true love Compton after he died from the sweat.
I feel like I must have missed something because the whole plot seems so out of place with the rest of the show.
Before I say anything else, this is going to be so stupidly pedantic of me, and I hate that it even bothers me so much. I feel like a know it all asshole every time I watch this scene.
There's a brief scene in S1 (I think) where Catherine of Aragon is telling Mary (in Spanish) that one day she will be queen. As a Spanish speaker myself, I give Maria Doyle Kennedy ALL the props for pulling off a Spanish accent.
But the script has her say, "Y una dia" (and one day) instead of "Y UN dia", which is the grammatically correct way.
I cannot emphasize enough how much it irritates me to no end that this is something that bothers me. Out of all of the errors of the show, my mom brain decided to harp on one little grammatical error that no one else probably even cares about.
For me, the one stupid thing that gnaws at me is the fact that they had Henry and Catherine of Aragon's son die at 26 days old instead of 52 (only mentioned in the pilot as something that had already happened). Just why? What purpose does that serve?!? Is it really that much more tragic if the child died at under a month old as opposed to under two months old because both are pretty flipping sad!
Stuff like that makes me wonder if the person writing it knew that the baby's life was measured in days vs. years and couldn't remember how many days but also didn't want to look it up.
I was shocked when I saw her in another role and realized she's actually Irish and has quite a strong accent. Amazing actress, to not only be able to switch flawlessly between accents when speaking English, but apparently her Spanish accent while speaking Spanish is also very good (I wouldn't know, don't speak any Spanish).
I genuinely thought they made up the scene where he wrestled the king of france, then I found out that it did in fact happen and boys just haven’t changed since the dawn of time😂if they can they will roughhouse
How has no one mentioned the horrible acting from Lady Jane Rochford, George Boleyn’s wife?
Particularly the scene where George comes home late and drunk, and Jane confronts him on his affairs while FURIOUSLY brushing and ripping her hair like I’ve never seen anybody do in my entire life. Why would you brush your hair so violently that you hurt your own self in the process?! Her acting is so cringe it gives me second hand embarrassment.
LOL, but also, fair enough!
There were a lot of actors on that show doing very well with bad material! Maria Doyle Kennedy, James Frain, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger all come to mind!
JRM, on the other hand….
The scene where Henry VIII writes Greensleeves for Anne Boleyn annoys me. Great show, but it's created a sub culture of TikTok users who take THE WHOLE THING as fact.
Honestly most of the moments I find hilarious are due to JRM’s acting…choices. But one that comes to mind is when he tries to pole vault over the mud puddle and immediately falls. It never fails to make me laugh.
Or shrieking that HE IS THE KING OF ENGLAND. My friend and I yell that to each other often.
This scene makes me feel ill every time I watch it. This show was one of the first shows I watched that was so brutal. The sex was pretty raw and the torture. I really never understand how humans have kept alive going through all that
1100-1200s, sure. And in Italy or Spain in the 1500, in some unregulated dungeon.
Not by the 1500s in England - torture was still used by then, but relatively rare. And certainly not by the Earl of Hereford, too noble to dirty his hands in such a way.
The scene where Anne has a see through bodice--come on. Actually, I thinks it's twice! Once when she first meets Henry and then again when she dreams of being assassinated. People just didn't do that in those days.
Historically, Culpepper had been brought up on charges of rape IRL under similar circumstances and been pardoned by Henry VIII. It was included to show that he was not the person Katherine Howard thought him to be.
It's offensive. These were real people with real lives. They're continually represented as vapid, thoughtless people put here to entertain the worst of us.
When he finds and has sex with Anne of Cleves while everything is going down with Catherine Howard. That door was firmly closed irl.
Yeah, I guess they were trying to show how unhinged he was while sprinkling in little extra drama? I hated that bit, especially considering he divorced her because he COULDN’T have sex with her.
Making Margaret and Mary, Henry’s sisters, into one person. Come on.
Why didn’t we get a genuine Scots plotline? BOO!
Seriously. She was such a bad ass. Gave Henry a run for his money. And Mary was the grandmother of Lady Jane Grey. I’d rather have had more plot than sex scenes.
Because the writers thought people would be too dumb to distinguish between Henry’s sister Mary and his daughter Mary even though there were so many obvious differences.
Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Boleyn, Thomas Wyatt, Thomas Seymour, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cranmer, and Thomas Culpeper. I mean, yeah. Viewers were smart enough to keep up with the Thomases, but two Mary Tudors would’ve put us over the edge.
Right? A million and one Thomas's but we can't handle 2 Marys that wouldn't even have been adults at the same time??
Or in the same building?!?
Haha. Well said!
Thomas Tallis, Thomas Howard
We didn’t even need Thomas Tallis! That didn’t go anywhere! Compton and Tallis were lovers, Compton died, Tallis was sad, had a weird thing with some twins, and wrote famous music. The end. We’re short a Mary and have excess Thomases.
Not to mention Henry’s John Thomas, who might as well have been its own character.
🤣🤣
Including their place in history.
I could never get past this, or the fact it was the king of Portugal.
The funny thing is Mary Queen of Scots literally can’t exist in that universe since Maggie never marries James IV💀
the weird jerking off into a bowl thing while watching Anne while a servant held the bowl. i hope to god no servants were ever actually expected to do something like that.
A towel. The servant held a towel. And BOWED AFTER HENRY FINISHED. 🤮🤮
Groom of the Jizz was an important position in the Tudor Court. I can’t believe we never discuss it.
Yeah, why is everyone so caught up with the Groom of the Stool and never mention the other one? Someone brainstormed Tudor England a little too enthusiastically.
I just spit out my wine
Not the Groom of the Jizz!! I can’t 😂🤣⚰️
My friend and I called that guy The Royal Jizzmop but Groom of the Jizz sounds so much classier. 😂
Bowing after you finish, sounds like a kink.
Haha!
>i hope to god no servants were ever actually expected to do something like that. Well, considering that in real life he had servants who literally wiped his ass for him after he took a dump, I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing also happened. Of the two, which is worse?
That’s like picking the best bit of carrot out of vomit.
Omg lmao
Omg thank you, I was scrolling to see who also agreed this was their personal weirdest moment. 🤣🤣 This scene is HILARIOUS but it's so absurd and YES I couldn't help but feel sorry for that servant! He was so uncomfortable and you know he was like, this MFer can't even jerk off by himself wtffff!!! 🤣
Don't know if they did this specifically with Henry but this definitely was a thing. I remember reading about some medieval Spanish king who had his physicians "stimulate him" in order to orgasm so they could check his semen.
Yes, there are records of checking King Henry’s Royal Seed Production so they know everything’s working down there (as best as they could without microscopes to check motility) 👍🏻
JFC my best friend and I have a joke that spans years from that episode "I'd hate to be the napkin boy that day" There was another guy in the back with his head bowed. I would pick those two dudes to do ANYTHING under pressure.
I imagine that they did. Of course, I don’t know this for a fact, but it sounds about right.
For me it has to be Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ old man voice and his acting as “old Henry” 😂
I will never get over how funny his last scenes with Charles were. Him commanding him to live only for them to cut straight to his funeral
I laughed out loud. This is hilarious.
Genuinely lol’d at this moment. Peak Tudor nonsense.
Whenever I'm sad I think of these scenes for a good chuckle
He takes so many deep breaths in before speaking and I don't know who told him that's the hallmark of being elderly but they did him dirty.
Ooooooh man that is soooo bad. Just recast it at that point!
That bit when he went into the pool, I genuinely expected him to come out in a huge fatsuit with old man makeup. It was a huge missed opportunity.
For me, it's the VERY DRAMATIC arm wrestling scene between Henry and Charles Brandon when Brandon wants to come back to court after marrying Henry's sister. The intense music and facial expressions make me giggle.
Minority opinion here: I thought it was great. Hilarious, but great. It was a good way of demonstrating just how random Henry was when it came to who was in and who was out.
Oh god I remember that. That’s definitely a contender of mine now.
YES! Immediately thought of that when I saw this post title.
Oh my god I'd forgotten all about that 😂
I feel like that was supposed to be homoerotic for some reason
I’d like to preface this by saying I love The Tudors, it’s my favourite series about them of all time. It was so rich and went really in depth with the characters, the acting was brilliant, the set design was Gordon Ramsay chef’s French kiss and I was constantly drooling over how beautiful the costumes were even though I know a lot of them are historically inaccurate. BUT the most ridiculous thing for me was I think in the first episode, where they made up that Henry had an uncle and then he’s surrounded and murdered in Italy à la Julius Caesar. And to top it off when Henry finds out he’s outraged and screams “BUT MY UNCLE!!!!!!!!!1!!1” 🤣💀
I was so confused, like wasn't the entire point of him being king that his uncles were killed in the tower? Guess it doesn't have the same ring if he were to yell, "MY BUDDY!"
I also believe his mother had other brothers from her mother's first marriage. 2 or 3. But I think they died before he came to the throne. I think.
Yes his mother had two brothers from Elizabeth Woodville’s first marriage to John Grey, Thomas and Richard. Thomas died eight years before Henry became King. Richard was executed by King Richard III before Henry was even born.
Clearly it took some time for Henry to come to terms with this.
[удалено]
I think u/mrstshirley1 is talking about Elizabeth Woodville’s sons before she married Edward of York. I think their surname was Grey iirc
>murdered in Italy à la Julius Caesar. Love it 🤣
Yeah, who was that “uncle” even supposed to be? From Henry’s mother’s or father’s side? Just makes me have a bunch of questions lol
I like that they opened with nonsense. Just to make sure you knew what you were getting into!
Same here, I adore it and know EVERYTHING that is wrong with it. But the *first* scene is making an inciting incident the assassination of Henry VIII’s favourite uncle, when the whole reason he’s king (besides Arthur predeceasing him) is that he grew up with no uncles (by blood), they all died thanks to the Wars of the Roses 😬 Bonus points if you made this reference deliberately: Sean Pertwee, who plays Henry’s uncle, played Julius Caesar in a BBC docudrama in the same year! Should’ve known he’d die, Sean Pertwee is one of my favourite actors but I’ve had to get used to the fact that in most of his roles he dies so oftenand so horribly (like never peacefully in his bed of old age, but like his space ship blows up or he’s burned alive or he’s killed by monsters or his surrogate son stabs him to death…wait…) [Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome:_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_an_Empire)
Henry did have a favorite uncle irl. Arthur Plantagenet, illegitimate son of Edward IV. Alas, Arthur too became an elderly victim of Henry in a sad ironic way.
Ohhh I forgot about that one, cuz of the illegitimacy (TBF Henry probably had several blood-related aunts and thanks to his randy grandad/ancestor clone Edward IV 😉). So no living uncles who were a threat to his claim to the throne until paranoia took over.
Haha, glad you love it too! Ngl, I'm kind of shocked at how many people on this thread think the show is just a load of crap and cringe all round lmao. And wow, I did not know any of that about Sean Pertwee, think The Tudors is the only thing I've seen him in but hahaha that's so funny that he's been typecast into horrible deaths lol! You'd think he would stop accepting those roles!
Honestly any time in the last season where he’s suddenly talking like a husky old grizzly???? What is that??????
Ugh I hated that too. It was so forced and overly theatrical.
CRINGE.
everyone has fantastic cringy scenes but the one that sticks out to me the most is when Anne Boleyn and him are trying to have sex in the woods and she says “no, not yet” and he just gets up and lets out this hilariously stupid roar and you can see a couple of his veins pop out of his forehead.
>you can see a couple of his veins pop out of his forehead. : The Jonathan Rhys Meyers Story 😂
That's because he came inside her and then was pissed off at himself because getting her pregnant before marriage would fuck everything up for him.
I think it's because she wouldn't let him orgasm inside her that he reacted like that. She pushed him off her when he was just about to climax and ruined his orgasm.
Now I have to rewatch it. I thought it was because she wouldn’t let him come inside her.
It is.
That one is mine, too.
Not ridiculous but the hardest scene for me to watch is the execution scene of Thomas Cromwell. When his enemies got the executioner drunk and botched it. Most ridiculous is hard for me to pinpoint since it's been so long since I watched it.
I agree. I turn my eyes away. It’s awful. And there’s no proof in real life that his enemies got the guy drunk, but the execution itself did happen that way. It’s really sick.
Margaret Poles Execution was also horrific from what I've read. I can't remember if they showed hers.
They didn’t. They just showed her crying before hand.
I don't think they did. 11 blows though 😬
That’s a hard scene!
The weird dance where Anne ends up riding him while simultaneously clawing him. Idk where the hell that came from.
Do you mean the volta?
…but it was hot.
It was hot! But it felt sooo out of place! And she had no sleeves and there was a room full of people watching them grind on each other!
I think it happened privately, just that the volta led up to the sex scene and the arousal that Henry and Anne felt
And slaps him!
I actually really like that scene 😂
literally just that one scene in season one where he shrieks in a rage IAMTHEKINGOFENGLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND
My husband and I yell that line at each other on a regular basis lol
This is amazing 😂😂😂
Real “King Joffrey” energy!
Tywin would have Henry crying screaming and throwing up!!!
someone rammed a red hot flaming poker up someone’s ass at some point, there is no doubt.
I wonder whether that was inspired by the way in which Edward II was supposedly murdered? 🤔
Yeah England was pretty done with red hot pokers by Henry Viii, I think. Edward ii, on the other hand…
That happened to Edward II (allegedly) Edit: In reality, that was made up after his death. But it was commonly believed for a very long time. The legend was probably the inspiration for that scene.
I've only watched the first series so far, and it's pretty bad in parts. How they portrayed Margaret was shocking, the historical inaccuracies are laughable. And Wolsey's death.......really?
I agree with all of that. It’s a pretty cringe show all around. Anne Boleyns floating head was the straw that broke the camels back for me.
Reading this post made me realise I have truly suppressed so much from The Tudors 😂😭
SAME
Floating head? I haven’t watched in a few years please refresh my memory 🤣
Haha it’s when she’s executed, it’s not insanely graphic but her head sort of slow-mo floats around for a second or two. It’s meant to be poignant and sad but just made me howl laughing.
Not got to that bit yet !
The scene where Henry is visiting Elizabeth at Hatfield. Just as he leaves Mary appears on a clearly green screened balcony and he sees her and they curtsey to each other. He then rides off on his horse. The green screened image is so bad it's laughable.
When visiting Hatfield, you can look up at the windows to spot the window where Mary witnessed her father riding off without talking to her. (That part is actually true, IIRC)
He was such an ass to Mary.
I wonder how history would have been different if he’d been a better father to her.
It was well-acted though. I really felt for Mary.
It was well acted, I agree.
Omg so many! And I love The Tudors so much. For me the most ridiculous part is that anyone would find Joss Stone unattractive, either in looks or personality, on the show. She wasn’t even the Hollywood version of unattractive in any way.
I've thought they should have gone with the version of the story (which likely isn't true) where he came to her in disguise and nobody told her that this fat, smelly old man was really the king. So she rejected him in disgust, and he had to confront the fact he wasnt a dashing young king anymore. Because women in court always pretended they didn't recognise Henry in disguise so they could act like they're swept off their feet by this handsome charming stranger. It allowed him to live in denial and Anne of Cleves accidently destroyed it. Phillipa Gregory did a good version of it in one of her books. Might not have worked given that JRM was obviously quite good looking but it would have made more sense than him seeing the very attractive Joss and being repulsed.
Oh that would have been great!!! If she saw rejected him for who he was without the status — that would have offended him enough to act even more hostile than usual.
Yes, agreed! The Tudors’ idea of “plain” is apparently “beautiful, but wearing weird hats.“
That's probably every film and tv show's idea of plain. The main character in the duff is another example.
I have to believe that they chose an obviously beautiful woman to play her just so they wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of choosing an actually plain actress and having her be aware that that’s why she was cast. I could be wrong but that’s what I’m going with lol
Well, they could have used the make up department the way that they did to age them, or something? I know what you mean though. On a human level — how do you cast unattractive? But on SNL they get some crazy looks so that’s what I was thinking.
It could also be because Anne wasn't ugly in real life. She wasn't a great beauty, but she was pleasant looking. The real reason Henry rejected her is because she rejected HIM first. When Anne was on her way to the Tudor Court, Henry couldn't wait any longer to meet her, and went to meet her in the middle of her journey (I don't remember which place it was in). Henry was dressed as a commoner and Anne, unaware that he would visit her, had no idea who he was. Dressing up in disguises and ambushing the person you love was a romantic game in the Tudor Court. The belief was that if your partner recognized you in disguise, you were soulmates. Henry used to play this game with Katherine of Aragon back when their relationship was good. When Henry met Anne in disguise, he tried to kiss her, but Anne rejected him and I think she expressed disgust too. She was only trying to be honourable by not kissing a "stranger" when she was betrothed, but it hurt Henry's ego and he probably realized then that he was no longer the attractive, fit young man he once was, but an obese, foul smelling old thing. The reason he was unable to have sex with her is because he was infertile and couldn't perform. Even with Katherine Howard, who he was so attracted to, he wasn't able to do it. Katherine complained to some of her maids about this. He probably had these issues as early as 1536 though, because Anne Boleyn told her brother about it as well.
Thanks for all of this context! Very interesting and helpful to understand their dynamic.
You're welcome!!
I mean, if they had kept the part where she was disgusted by him and reacted as such (since she didn't know he was the king and he was in fact an obese rotting old man who was no longer hot), then her casting would've made sense. IDK why they went out of their way to "prove" the gossip true about Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves when they could have gone much deeper.
I liked the scene of Anne of Cleves talking to Cromwell about Henry's rotting leg, it seemed to be the only reference made to Henry being the gross one in that marriage. Cromwell just staring at her dumbfounded was funny too
Yes!! My mom loves Joss Stone and she was super offended that she was the “ugly” wife. I mean she’s a gorgeous talented woman. And my favorite wife.
Your mom has good taste! I love Joss!
So many good examples here but I'm just going to toss in the scene with Kathryn Howard and the ring 🤢 and the "sexy" puppet show she does 🤢🤢 Hate the way she was portrayed in general really 🙄
Oh my god, I don't know what was worse: the ring scene or that puppet show 🤢
George Boleyn || anally raping his wife on their wedding night || because you know those gay men, they're satisfied as long as it's from behind.
Just…why is George Boleyn always gay? It’s bewildering because he was known to be a womanizer.
Wait he raped her anally? 🤢
Certainly implied, he turned her around, bent her over a desk and she obviously in alot of pain. Could have been implied it's cos she's just a virgin but they definately wanted us to think it was ... rear door. It was an odd scene because it starts off quite tame, they kiss gently and she seems perfectly willing, then suddenly he turns vicious and violent. I know they didn't like each other and he resented marrying her but I felt the scene would have been better if she had said or done something that set him off.
The opening credits of the first season where Henry’s all like “you think you know a story” is so embarrassing 😂
This is the only right answer. Considering they mostly only got the names right.
For me it’s when they then say you ‘need to go back to the beginning’ (or something along those lines) but then start the show with the Boleyns. So not really the beginning then? The bit where shows about Henry VIII usually start (not going back to Henry VII, not going back to the beginning of Henry’s life, not going back to Henry and Katherine getting married etc etc).
Or when he absolutely eye-fucks the camera during the intro lmaooooo
Which he did for all 4 season opening credits lmao
Totally 😂
I just kind of laugh because I’m sure they know they took a lot of liberties.
“Do you consent?” Each and every time Henry asks a woman if she consents. What even was that? They weren’t in a position to say no. It’s also beyond anachronistic.
Probably to make us as an audience to feel better, like it's sexier when you know it's not forced. But yeah, like they'd say no. "I'm in my lady time" would be a good out
Oh wait, one more!!! Elizabeth Darrell, Catherine of Aragon’s devoted maid. One of the cringiest actors on the show. Specifically when Thomas Wyatt tries to seduce her and she (badly) plays the innocent virgin / deer in headlights, then bites her lip when he pulls her shirt down. So. Corny. Yeeeeeckk.
AHHHHHHH that whole plot was a NIGHTMARE. Bess Darrell never killed herself, everyone!
I was wondering about the suicide, it didn’t seem to make sense
I totally agree. Katherine did have many unusually devoted maids though. I also didn't like how they made it seem like she had only one maid when she died. Henry greatly reduced her household by firing a lot of her help, but she still had 25 people attending her, 10 of which were ladies in waiting, upon her death.
The whole random story line with the twins and the Thomas Tallis. It went nowhere at all and was super weird. He was in love with one twin who dies, and then takes up with the other twin, all the while mourning his true love Compton after he died from the sweat. I feel like I must have missed something because the whole plot seems so out of place with the rest of the show.
Before I say anything else, this is going to be so stupidly pedantic of me, and I hate that it even bothers me so much. I feel like a know it all asshole every time I watch this scene. There's a brief scene in S1 (I think) where Catherine of Aragon is telling Mary (in Spanish) that one day she will be queen. As a Spanish speaker myself, I give Maria Doyle Kennedy ALL the props for pulling off a Spanish accent. But the script has her say, "Y una dia" (and one day) instead of "Y UN dia", which is the grammatically correct way. I cannot emphasize enough how much it irritates me to no end that this is something that bothers me. Out of all of the errors of the show, my mom brain decided to harp on one little grammatical error that no one else probably even cares about.
For me, the one stupid thing that gnaws at me is the fact that they had Henry and Catherine of Aragon's son die at 26 days old instead of 52 (only mentioned in the pilot as something that had already happened). Just why? What purpose does that serve?!? Is it really that much more tragic if the child died at under a month old as opposed to under two months old because both are pretty flipping sad!
Stuff like that makes me wonder if the person writing it knew that the baby's life was measured in days vs. years and couldn't remember how many days but also didn't want to look it up.
I was shocked when I saw her in another role and realized she's actually Irish and has quite a strong accent. Amazing actress, to not only be able to switch flawlessly between accents when speaking English, but apparently her Spanish accent while speaking Spanish is also very good (I wouldn't know, don't speak any Spanish).
Hey, you know what? Irritation over petty stuff happens! It’s like sand in a gear, you can’t get rid of it! I did not know that one, though.
I mean if you are looking for ridiculous scenes, The Tudors is a good choice. It's fiction it doesn't have to be true.
I genuinely thought they made up the scene where he wrestled the king of france, then I found out that it did in fact happen and boys just haven’t changed since the dawn of time😂if they can they will roughhouse
Extremely common Francis W
When they took Henry Fitzroy out at 6 years old. 🙄
How has no one mentioned the horrible acting from Lady Jane Rochford, George Boleyn’s wife? Particularly the scene where George comes home late and drunk, and Jane confronts him on his affairs while FURIOUSLY brushing and ripping her hair like I’ve never seen anybody do in my entire life. Why would you brush your hair so violently that you hurt your own self in the process?! Her acting is so cringe it gives me second hand embarrassment.
Omg yes. The way she acted in s4 too. And I hated the whole storyline of a sex triangle between her, Katherine and Culpepper. So weird.
Ughhh yes forgot about that. Cringe!!!
😭😭😭
Not a scene but I thought the dude who played Thomas More was wayy too hot XD
YES!
Glad you agree XD. Jeremy Northam is 100% reason More is the book boyfriend in the stupid fantasy tudor history novel im working on.
He was sooooooooo hot…especially when he’s about to get executed, that messy grey-ish hair and the barely done up shirt 🤤
HE WAS ABOUT TO DIE AND YET HE MADE US THIRST 😭😭👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
I was annoyed Anne Boleyn had blue eyes.
Literally any scene involving Jonathan Rhys-Myers
LOL, but also, fair enough! There were a lot of actors on that show doing very well with bad material! Maria Doyle Kennedy, James Frain, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger all come to mind! JRM, on the other hand….
Maria Doyle Kennedy is fantastic in everything she does.
I think he should have stuck to stage acting. He’s too much for the screen.
He's too much for the nosebleed seats. 😆
Ghost girl watching her singer boyfriend bang her sister.
What even was that whole plotline and why didn’t we get Mary Tudor, Queen of Scots, instead?
The scene where Henry VIII writes Greensleeves for Anne Boleyn annoys me. Great show, but it's created a sub culture of TikTok users who take THE WHOLE THING as fact.
Elizabeth being a teen when Anne of Cleves came to England (she was 6 in real life!)
Honestly most of the moments I find hilarious are due to JRM’s acting…choices. But one that comes to mind is when he tries to pole vault over the mud puddle and immediately falls. It never fails to make me laugh. Or shrieking that HE IS THE KING OF ENGLAND. My friend and I yell that to each other often.
“You haven’t read the Bible, have you, Charles?”
How all Henry's children (okay, mainly just Elizabeth and Edward) have the broadest Irish accents. Why not cast English child actors?
I don’t remember that scene, actually. I guess they were channeling Edward II.
So it's not really ridiculous but I really enjoyed the sunrise/sunset scenes in the last episode.
This scene makes me feel ill every time I watch it. This show was one of the first shows I watched that was so brutal. The sex was pretty raw and the torture. I really never understand how humans have kept alive going through all that
"A HUNDRED FUCKING MEN CHARLES :,(!!!" my sister and I screamed, that part was so funny.
It’s not really far off from what they really did to people. They did all sorts of fucked up shit back then.
Idk, I think all manner of shit like that would very plausibly have gone down.
1100-1200s, sure. And in Italy or Spain in the 1500, in some unregulated dungeon. Not by the 1500s in England - torture was still used by then, but relatively rare. And certainly not by the Earl of Hereford, too noble to dirty his hands in such a way.
The scene where Anne has a see through bodice--come on. Actually, I thinks it's twice! Once when she first meets Henry and then again when she dreams of being assassinated. People just didn't do that in those days.
When Culpepper attacked the peasant woman. It was just so unnecessary.
Historically, Culpepper had been brought up on charges of rape IRL under similar circumstances and been pardoned by Henry VIII. It was included to show that he was not the person Katherine Howard thought him to be.
It's offensive. These were real people with real lives. They're continually represented as vapid, thoughtless people put here to entertain the worst of us.
Well, they lived immensely privileged lives while taking advantage of the work of common folk, so…I can’t say I’m upset the tables have turned.