What would TV be without the premium channels?? A sad, dull little place.
Because this HBO miniseries is mad brilliant -- at least the first half.
Helen Mirren's queen is passionate, troubled and intense. It's been a good few years for Mirren and queens -- she's an Oscar favorite for playing another English Queen Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was in an impossible situation -- marry an Englishman, and the other nobles will reject one of their own being raised to such a high position. Marry France, and piss off Spain (and the English). Marry Spain, and piss off France (and the English). Her only option was to sacrifice herself for her throne.
The miniseries does a fine job of portraying Elizabeth's personal struggles, while glossing over most of the politics. Jeremy Irons as Robert Dudley was perfect -- old friends, old lovers -- he and Elizabeth were comfortable with one another. They fit. You could feel why she felt so betrayed when he wed, or why he was so hurt and angry when she courted the Duke of Anjou. They couldn't be with the person they loved, and they couldn't stand to see them with anyone else.
When Dudley leaves the scene is when the miniseries falters. Hugh Dancy was terrible as the Earl of Essex, Dudley's stepson and the queen's late-life paramour. He was oily and false, and his flattery and proclamations of love rang as silly as someone romancing their grandma. I couldn't see Elizabeth being taken in by this guy to the point of endangering her kingdom -- I could see her turning him over her knee and spanking the shit out the little twerp, because that's what I wanted to do. And his boyhood rivalry with Robert Cecil seemed like something out of a bad BBC soap.
Now, if they had gotten Jude Law to play Essex, I might have gone for that. But poor Mirren was left to carry the second half of the series completely on her own, and it was almost too much of a burden for anyone.
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