Roush Review: Heads Roll in Henry’s Court in Magnificent ‘Wolf Hall’ Sequel

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

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King Henry VIII’s court wasn’t known for happy endings. (Just ask his wives.)

And so it goes, with bitter irony, for his most trusted — until he wasn’t — minister, counselor, and hatchet man Thomas Cromwell. Sacrificing his soul to do the mercurial monarch’s grisly bidding, the cunning statesman learns the limits of obedience when palace intrigue contrives to condemn him to history’s chopping block.

Returning to their Emmy-nominated roles from the Peabody-winning 2015 adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s bestselling Wolf Hall novels, Mark Rylance as the melancholy Cromwell and Damian Lewis as the king of conniption resume their dastardly duet in Masterpiece‘s masterful six-part sequel, The Mirror and the Light. In a production shimmering with period authenticity, filmed on actual locations from Tudor times, Rylance reaffirms his status among U.S. acting royalty. He memorably creates a figure weighted by sorrow and remorse, haunted by the execution of Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn (The Crown‘s Claire Foy).

As the series begins, the blood is barely dry from Anne’s beheading before Henry takes to wife the lovely and more agreeable Jane Seymour (Miss Scarlet‘s Kate Phillips), about whom the king gushes, “Such freshness, such delicacy. I have come out of hell into heaven, and all in one night.”

Nick Briggs / Playground Television (UK) Ltd

Even the most casual history buff knows peace and goodwill are fragile concepts in this kingdom, and Cromwell spends precious political capital in his attempts to reconcile Henry with his eldest daughter, the rebellious Princess Mary (Lilit Lesser), who’s being asked to take an oath of obedience against her will. Time and again throughout The Mirror and the Light, Cromwell tries to rein in Henry’s more destructive impulses, embodied by the sensational Lewis in a series of petulant rants, forever sensing treason.

In one of the series’ more cliched devices, Cromwell turns often for solace and advice to the spirit of his beloved Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), who warns him, “Never enter a contest of wills with the king” and “Don’t turn your back on him.” He might have added not to stick one’s neck out for him, either, because it often ends up in a basket.

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And with few allies, Cromwell eventually succumbs to his karmic fate with fatalistic pride. After the tragic passing of Jane and Henry’s ill-fated and brief union with Anne of Cleves (Dana Herfurth), a calamitous backfire of European diplomacy that seals his fate, Cromwell learns the king is about to wed again, and muses, “History is against her.” (Poor Catherine Howard.) To which his archrival, the Bishop Gardiner (Alex Jennings), responds, “I fear it’s against us all.”

Fair point, but has any reign provided as much fodder for juicy historical reenactment? Once again, Wolf Hall does not disappoint.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, Series Premiere, Sunday, March 23, PBS