Still lively yet being pressured to marry and sure an heir, Queen Elizabeth faces her stiffest female competition yet: the informidable Catherine de Medici (Margaretta Scott) who desires for all of her children to be rulers, and sends her youngest son ( Francis, Duke of Alençon) to woo the virgin queen. Rather crude and ruthless, Catherine de Medici is similar in old world female power to Empress Livia of Rome and Eleanor of Acquataine. The vulnerable Elizabeth falls for the charms of the determined Duke, but finds obstacles with objections from the court. There's also threats of a war with Spain which would impact her union with France.
Veteran British actress Margareta Scott delivers an outrageous performance that starts with two little people in costume, mocking Elizabeth and the Duke of Leischester in a skit. It reminds me in staging of something that Mozart might have set to music in one of his operatic burlesques.
A rather shocking scene has Elizabeth's womb being prodded to see if she's able to give birth, culminating with Jackson being prodded by male doctors. There's also more intrigue in the court with Queen Elizabeth being betrayed on several occasions, banishing one friend, and sending another to the tower. While Jackson had displayed her assertiveness in earlier episodes, here she gets to lose her temper, and it displays the fact that Queen Elizabeth was torn between her love of governing and serving her subjects and her natural desires as a woman.
Veteran British actress Margareta Scott delivers an outrageous performance that starts with two little people in costume, mocking Elizabeth and the Duke of Leischester in a skit. It reminds me in staging of something that Mozart might have set to music in one of his operatic burlesques.
A rather shocking scene has Elizabeth's womb being prodded to see if she's able to give birth, culminating with Jackson being prodded by male doctors. There's also more intrigue in the court with Queen Elizabeth being betrayed on several occasions, banishing one friend, and sending another to the tower. While Jackson had displayed her assertiveness in earlier episodes, here she gets to lose her temper, and it displays the fact that Queen Elizabeth was torn between her love of governing and serving her subjects and her natural desires as a woman.