'The Spanish Princess' Season 2 Episode 1 Review: How long before doomsday sets in for Catherine of Aragon?
Closing the deal on all speculations and concerns surrounding the courtship of the titular Catherine of Aragon (Charlotte Hope) and her would-be-husband, Prince Harry (Ruairi O'Connor), now King Henry VII, Starz's 'The Spanish Princess' opens on a jubilant note. Catherine is married to her beloved Henry and together they have a beautiful baby - who is announced at the first joust of the season in a very Lion King-esque manner. With 'The Spanish Princess' being the only installment of the War of the Roses anthologies to get a second season, it becomes clear that Starz wants to set off on a lighter note before the inevitable tragedy falls Catherine's way.
The tagline for the season proudly proclaims 'fight like a woman' and in retrospect, it's only ironic because the warrior's battlefield isn't the only place Catherine will have to fight her way into this time. The second season's premiere, titled 'Camelot' also shows Catherine's wifely duties being highlighted more than her worthy counsel, so how long will Starz put up this facade of a blissfully happy marriage before everything falls to shambles?
Based loosely on the works of Philippa Greggory, the Starz show still feels rushed in its pace as the second season rolls in. We meet Catherine at the coronation, but that is just a memory she fondly reminisces while making the 'most precious one' of the crown ready for her father's visit to the kingdom. The moment doesn't last long for Catherine, who is soon grabbed by the arms by two burlesque men and carried off to somewhere else. Almost as if foreshadowing the tragedies she will be hit by, however, this ends on a happy note. It's just Henry's way of flirting with his awfully busy wife.
Even once Catherine's father, the King of Spain arrives and she is busy trying to convince him to join England's war against France, their talk is interrupted by Maggie Pole bringing in Catherine's newborn baby. Later, what Catherine calls is her father feeling challenged by her husband, is relayed in emasculating connotations from the progenitor himself. After much back and forth and Catherine having to defend her husband and the quality of man he is inside the metal, the King of Spain finally leaves England with the promise of fighting with them against France. He does, however, also leave his son-in-law with the advice to listen to his daughter's counsel - another element foreshadowing what's to come.
Elsewhere in the episode, sweet moments between Lina and Oviedo are contrasted by Meg Tudor's impossibly difficult times in Scotland, as her sister Mary gushes and is fawned over by her new suitor. Lina and Oviedo's love is pure and altruistic - their understanding of each other and the chemistry they share significantly and visibly still missing from Catherine and Henry's relationship, but anybody with an idea of their inevitable future knows that's not a big deal. So when Oviedo comes home for a sole night and leaves to fight France the next day, our hearts ache for Lina. Catherine's husband and his frivolous jousting are petty compared to the harrowing ordeal the English face when left stranded by the Spanish as Catherine realizes her lying father has betrayed them again.
Hurt and her pride wounded, Catherine takes the blame upon herself. And while the court rushes to reassure her she is not her father, especially Lina, the one person who should be doing the assuring, recoils into his shell. As Henry refuses to allow Catherine to join his bed in his chamber, Catherine returns to hers to find her beautiful baby boy dead. Heartbroken and crushed beyond anything that had marred her wonderful matrimony and prospects as a future ruler of England, Catherine is devastated. This is when Henry reconciles with her, the two make love and promise to have another child.
But as Catherine takes the podium to address her citizens about Spain's betrayal, her painful loss foreshadows more grief and the obvious history noted within the pages of countless books keep pricking the situation. We know Catherine wasn't able to deliver a male heir in real life and the series goes to a vast extent to paint the vulnerable side of the heinous Henry VIII in real life. What's left to be seen is how long before Henry VIII sways from being this loving husband to the man who had his wife's head on a plate.
'The Spanish Princess' Season 2 airs on Sundays at 8 pm only on Starz.
