The Tudors, Reign and the end of Downton Abbey

***Trigger Warning: brief mention of rape in the second indented paragraph.***

Downton Abbey finished so I needed new period dramas.

Finally got round to watching the last episode of Downton Abbey, the Christmas Special. Very sad to see it end (extremely sad that I no longer have the Dowager Countess in my life) but also glad the series won’t be dragged out.

Yes, in the middle of summer, but with my lack of tv and internet connection at uni, both my mother and I had to wait until I was back from uni to watch it. The Christmas Special didn’t have the best storyline though I’ll forgive it because it dealt with wrapping everything up to keep the audience happy and done in a satisfying manner.

When Anna was raped in one of the series, people complained that it shouldn’t have been in the show because Downton was meant to be a nice programme. Yet people seem to forget that the first series had the lady’s maid put out soap on the floor to make Lady Grantham lose her unborn baby ON PURPOSE. I think that should have been a clear warning to viewers that malicious people existed in the Downton universe and that they’d most likely return.

So Downton ended: my older brother was in Poland with his girlfriend; my younger in France with my dad; and my mum and stepdad were in Vienna (seeing all the palaces in their pictures, I am very jealous). So I was booked to dog sit. House to myself with the dogs to cuddle with? Perfection for me.

Searching for period dramas, I came across The Tudors first (I think ‘The Tudor’ would’ve been a far better title). I liked it. Between the politics and intrigue, I reflected and decided Game of Thrones was similar to it.

Better costumes, better crowns, worse hats, better manners, no magic (boo!), no dragons (unforgiveable), less gore (though when it was there it was far more gruesome!), less swearing, less commoners… both had their strengths and weaknesses.

Looking at reviews, one person said the show lacked originality, having two of Henry’s wives divorced and another two beheaded. This had me in hysterics because this individual didn’t seem to realise this show was based on a real person and what really happened to his real wives! Or hopefully they were being sarcastic for reasons of their sanity, but for the sake of my humour I’ll carry on thinking it’s the unrealised option.

Then I came across Reign.

It is such a feel-good programme! Plus there’s that odd enjoyment you get when you recognise an actor from something else you liked: in Reign there were plenty of these. Though the Series 3 cliff-hanger is pure evil (translate: the writers did a successful job of pure genius of a cliff-hanger).

I liked that each episode had its own, clear plot yet there were clear over-arching plots as well. It was odd that the actor who played King Henry pronounced France as ‘Fronz’. It turned out to be a constant source of bewilderment for me. The script wasn’t as good as it could be, housing many stereotypical sayings and expectations of a show with royalty, though there were loads of lines everywhere which were really thought provoking and interesting.

Just my kind of humour, too. Catherine d’Medici is by far my favourite. She was so funny. Being able to stop her execution just to discuss her daughter not liking prawns just demonstrated her awesomeness.

With both of these done, I am now on a search for more period dramas.