Review: The White Queen ‘Love and Marriage’

Last time on The White Queen, we saw Edward and his allies finally get everything settled down a bit.  He had a firm hold on the throne, the French factions were dead and/or captured and Warwick is gone for good.  Only crazy Margaret and little Henry have any hope of causing trouble, and not until he grows up a little more.  So will Elizabeth and Edward finally have peace?  Well, with five more episodes to go, it’s not bloody likely.

First we have Anne, begging her pardon for being caught up on the wrong side of the war.  Edward lets her back into the fold, but things get complicated.  She fears that the Yorks are trying to steal her family fortune, Elizabeth is not happy with Anne’s return and with Edward’s brother George as her guardian, Anne is unable to do anything, including seeing her mother.  Other brother Richard, however, is in love with her and so eventually makes his own move to settle the situation by offering to marry her.

Poor Elizabeth ends up walking in on Edward and another lady.  Add to that the fact that her mother is dying and that she’s pregnant again and you can see why she’s having a hard time of it.  Not to mention that George, the man she hates, is getting bolder and bolder in his taunting of her and making his intentions known that he is actively working against her interests.

And crazy Margaret is, naturally, still upset about everything.  Her husband is dead and now her mother kicks the bucket as well.  But that frees her up to start making more plans.  So she marries herself to an influential man and worms her way into court, right by her rival Elizabeth’s side.

This week’s episode was filled with moments that were supposed to be emotional, but the show often has a hard time evincing that emotion.  Most of the characters are hard to sympathize with, so we just don’t care if they are in pain or what-not.  Elizabeth is back and forth between being a vengeful pain in the butt, Margaret is just plain crazy and Edward remains mostly undeveloped.  Only Anne and Richard’s story seems genuine enough to matter right now.

Still, I shall continue onward until the bitter end.  For a look at next week’s episode, ‘Poison and Malmsey Wine’, head to the BBC site here.

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Love and Marriage courtesy of bbc.co.uk