The show opens with the assassination of a political figure in Italy, stabbed to death by several French people in a scene reminiscent of Julius Caesar's murder at the end of the first season of Rome. Except, you know, for the French people. This person turns out to be King Henry's ambassador and uncle. King Henry is Jonathan Rhys Myers, and the fact that this role requires him to wear tights strikes me as a very good thing. I wonder if he knows one of his kids is going to be a vampire. Oh, sorry. Wrong show.Catherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Henry's wife, pines rather for her husband while he tumbles other women, most of them blonde, and plays some kind of tennis whilst wearing funny pantaloons. In the meantime, the Duke of Buckingham plots to gain Henry's throne for himself. Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Niall) spends a good deal of time cleaning up Henry's messes, like the fact the king has knocked up Catherine's lady in waiting. He also tries to convince Henry not to go to war with France, and to secure his place in history by forging peace, instead. Although when it comes down to it, Wolsey's kind of a badass. And also could become Pope Badass. Elsewhere, other plots begin to unfold as Anne Boleyn's father works up his own political intrigue.
Overall assessment: Guys in tights and big boots! And? Jousting! What's not to love?
