There is edginess to The Tudors that draws you into the action; everyone has an agenda, and you never quite know (except for a few of the main characters) just what they will do. Or how. But you will know why. No wonder Shakespeare had so much fun with characters of this era.
Henry, himself, is a brat. But a brat with absolute power - a dangerous combination if ever there was one. Rhys-Myers scowls and bellows like a spoiled child denied his favorite toy. But instead of holding his breath until he turns blue, Henry disenfranchises, imprisons and otherwise does away with his opponents.
Even when he is with his beloved (for the moment) Ann Boleyn, you get the sense that he might tire of her on a moment’s notice as he had with Katherine of Aragon. Rhys-Meyers voraciously overacts, in my opinion, in contrast to pretty much everybody else - all rage and excess. It could be the character, presenting all of his cards, wearing his heart and emotions on his sleeve in contrast to the manipulative chess playing of the Boleyns, particularly Thomas, Ann’s Machiavellian father.
Last season, Sam Neill played the devious and corrupt Cardinal Woolsey, chancellor to the King. Woolsey died in prison (whether he committed suicide as implied by the show is a matter of controversy). This season, Peter O’Toole has joined the cast as the Pope, threatening to excommunicate Henry for divorcing Katherine, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella (yes, that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.)
None of the characters in The Tudors are particularly heroic, nor particularly likeable. Sir Thomas More is beautifully underplayed by Jeremy Northam (who is seen far too infrequently these days in film). More was a man of scruples; a devout Catholic, and the man who wrote the Utopia, and was friend to Renaissance philosopher Erasmus. He was a lawyer and both teacher and friend to Henry - as well as his chancellor (after Woolsey’s demise).
When Henry breaks with the Church, More resigns rather than serve his self-interest, pledging his allegiance to the Church, and at great risk. He warns of a king who feels himself answerable to no one but God, who is above morality and can set his own rules. But More, for all of his ethical ideals, fought the reformers, burning heretics at the stake. So not even the heroic More is, well, heroic.
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