The Tudors – The Final Season (2009 – 2010/CBS/Showtime DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B-
Whereas
my initial reaction to Showtime’s The
Tudors was quite positive, this final season did not sit quite as well with
me. The entire cast from beginning to
end reunites to haunt the end of King Henry VIII’s life as he recounts the
choices and missteps he has made in life.
The series had always taken many historical liberties and had no qualms about
doing so for the purposes of drama, sex and entertainment; but this final
season went a little too far off track even for this reviewer.
In the Final Season Henry is on his way out;
the series having rushed through the life of a man who reined nearly 60 years. Henry has dismissed his fifth wife and taken
his final of six wives, but is tormented by what he has done and never had the
chance to do. He sets out to invade France, but he
will be gone before his endeavors are completed. He is crazier in his final years, but
concurrently reflective; never being too bashful of his accomplishments either.
My
problem is that this final season is too dramatic and tangential from history;
not that the rest of the series wasn’t, but this all just seems more
explicit. This is down to the fact that
Henry isn’t even fat and ridden with syphilis as he was by this point in his
life. They keep the young actor (though
aged and ill) looking as charming as ever; which in the end was flat out
distracting from the known historical record.
For a
look back at my review of the first two seasons, please refer to the links
listed below:
Tudors: The Complete First Season
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6716/The+Tudors+%E2%80%93+The+Comp
Tudors: The Complete Second Season
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8477/The+Tudors+%E2%80%93+The+Comp
The
technical features on this final season are adequate at best; but apparently
don’t come close to what the Blu-rays offer that other countries have received.
The picture again is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
Widescreen format for 16 X 9 televisions that demonstrates nice flesh tones and
backdrops, but continues to have some degree of grain, pixilation and
compression issues in many scenes. The colors are once again bright as
each scene displays its own mood, generally being crisp and not overly stylized.
The sound is again merely adequate with its 5.1 Dolby Digital Surrounds,
failing to pop as much as I would have hoped.
The
extras include nothing related to The
Tudors, but rather a couple episodes of other Showtime series like United States of Tara and Dexter.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
