Review: The White Queen ‘The Final Battle’

So this week brings with it The White Queen’s grand finale.  Or rather, it brings the last installment of a ten-episode story that is continued in The White Princess.  Unfortunately, that addition will not make it to television, so we just have to be happy with what we got.  When last we left off, civil war was looming, Richard looks kinda screwed, Elizabeth is staying out of the whole thing and playing both sides and Margaret is hoping that little Henry Tudor will put it all on the line and come out the victor.

So Elizabeth ends up back at home, where the whole thing started, but the younger Elizabeth ends up at court as a hostage of sorts.  Margaret is having a bad time of it and is unable to do anything from her position.  What’s more, her husband won’t tell her which side he’ll end up fighting for.  But Henry has declared his intention to take the throne so the war is imminent.

Richard’s bad luck turns worse when his son and heir dies and, shortly thereafter, his wife Anne goes as well.  With the heir dead, Henry sees his chance and marches.  And while Richard is trying to seduce the younger Elizabeth in order to make her look bad in the eyes of the people (so Henry won’t see her as a link to the throne), he doesn’t have the mettle to carry through with it once Anne dies.  Eventually, it all boils down to two armies and a question of which side Lord Stanley will take.  Of course, Henry Tudor wins, since you can’t change history.

So now that the series has ended, was it any good?  Well, the biggest issue I had with it is that it tries to tell a 20-year-long story over the course of less than ten hours.  The continual jumps in time mean that cast members are constantly coming and going, which gets a little confusing at times.  Add to that the rotating cast of each son and daughter that grows old and remembering names and faces is a pain in the butt.  Ultimately, this sort of tale is better suited for a book or a much longer series.  But all-in-all it really wasn’t such a bad show.

Since The White Princess won’t be making it to television, it looks like we’ll never know all the political intrigue that Elizabeth the Elder’s daughter has to deal with.  But if you’re interested enough to find out, you can always do what people have done in the past - read the damn book!

Photo Credits -           

Henry Tudor courtesy of royalcentral.co.uk