So I'm rewatching eps of "Mary & George" and I feel like this should've just been about Mary. While I get how the gayness of King James's reign is the main selling point, it didn't have to be.
This woman fascinates me. I read up on her before the show dropped. Mary Villiers is the most interesting character in the entire show and I would've gladly watched entire seasons of her outwitting her enemies, especially Lady Hatton (Nicola Walker). In fact, Walker's commanding performance serves as a reminder that this show should've been all about the women of that era, including Queen Anne, James's long suffering wife, and the vicious Countess of Somerset (I *really* wanted them to draw out the fall of the Somersets).
The Villiers family deserves the Tudors treatment; they're every bit as interesting, if not more. As it stands, we're only getting seven rushed episodes of underdeveloped characters and repetitive boy love. We could've had the latter while watching Julianne Moore compellingly lead a whole series.
one thing i want to point out is the west as a collective demonizes black and brown people in the global south to the extent where they think taking a stand against genocide is like picking a football team to "support."
As predicted, they're floored by the mayhem in the pilot. To which a commenter replied, "This is literally one of the least stressful episodes in the entire series." 馃ぃ