Medieval Family - The Tudors

Every family has their issues; some it appears are more dysfunctional than others though. And this has been true across the ages. It's especially difficult when the family goes through a contested divorce and has custody battles and so forth. Now, imagine sticking all of this somewhere in the mid-1500's where plagues and witch-burning were common and indoor plumbing wasn't and you can see that a Medieval Family, like the Tudors was bound to have challenges.

King Henry VIII has a bit of a reputation but of course he didn't live alone, he had family, friends, advisers and enemies and they were all part of the troubles surrounding the reign of the Tudors. That's the focus of a superb showtime original series that's now available on Netflix. "The Tudors" takes us back in time and deep into the family life of one Henry Tudor of England. It's attention to detail and use of costume is one of the most remarkable aspects of the show, which lasted for 3 or 4 seasons. Now, it is very difficult to review something as massive as this show given the sheer quantity of storyline it tackles, so we will return to it from time to and focus on specific parts of the series. Today we're going to introduce the head of the family, Henry...

These troubadours were immediately beheaded after this impertinent performance

Is it better to be feared or loved? We soon found out what Henry VIII thought...

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays King Henry and throws himself into the role immediately. His King Henry is more youthful and girl-crazy than we might have imagined but that seems to make sense given when they begin the story. Meyer's has played some offbeat characters before, notably the psycho confederate raider in "Ride with the Devil." He is supported by a wildly talented cast including Sam Neill, Henry Cavill (who will be the new Superman) and Natalie Dormer (who had a cameo in Captain America as the hot blonde) among others. This show is gripping, it's educational, its sexy and its just fun to watch. And Henry is by no means the only bad guy in the story. In fact, he seems surrounded by a host of characters far worse than himself which seems hard to believe but it's true. Most of all though Henry is a man in love, in love all the time with a lot of different women but a few times with just one and he takes it to the extreme. We were wondering what would have happened to England if they had No Fault Divorce back then. Anyway, like the intro tells, to really know a story like this one, you'll have to sit through at least 3 seasons of episodes to truly understand what's going on. Lucky for us, they were all easy to watch.

This is King Henry VIII's lesser known 7th wife, Queen Sofia of Spain

A condensed history of the first 2 seasons of the Tudors

There are also a great many lessons to be learned in this series as well. We'll refer to these as the Tudor's Family Counseling Guide:

1. Never kiss your brother behind closed doors.
2. Don't threaten to chop off people's heads unless you're actually going to do it right away.
3. Don't count on the King of France for anything.
4. Don't joust with the King.
5. Don't have daughters and expect to live.
6. Don't start your own religion just to get divorced.
7. Don't get an apartment in the Tower of London.
8. Don't disagree with the King, daddy knows best. 
9. Don't end your sentences with "I am the Kind of England" it just comes across as arrogant.
10. Don't marry off your 4 year old daughters.
11. Don't introduce your hot girlfriend/wife/daughter/aunt/niece/grandma to the King and not expect her to get booty-called.
12. Don't run around in drafty castles naked (or you may end up with Consumption).

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