DVD - The Tudors, the Complete Final Season


Jun 29, 2011

Having enjoyed the first three season's of Showtimes "The Tudors", I was anxious to view this fourth and final season.  In this final season, we meet King Henry VIII's last two wives, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr, who are played beautifully by Tamzin Merchant and Joely Richardson, respectively.  The entire season is comprised of only 10 episodes.  The first five episodes deal with King Henry's affair and marriage to the very young and morally questionable Katherine Howard and his difficulties with his northern subjects, the Scots.  The second five episodes show his subsequent marriage to the older and intelligent Catherine Parr and the King's campaign into France to reclaim Boulogne and his death.  While I enjoyed the first 8 episodes as much as the previous seasons, I was not happy with the concluding two episodes of the series.  I felt they should have aged Henry slowly throughout this season, instead of changing his appearance more drastically at the end.  However, this is just one more historical inaccuracy given throughout the series and didn't take that much away from the overall entertainment value of the series.  As a side note:  while this is quite enjoyable to watch, it does contain graphic violence and sexual content.

Reviewed by Library Staff