How George Villiers became the Duke of Buckingham
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The Sky Atlantic channel released the series “Mary and George”, in which the story of the future Duke of Buckingham is told in the spirit of “Game of Thrones”.
The viewer of the Soviet musical about the three musketeers may be very surprised – is the series really talking about the polished duke to whom Anna of Austria sang: “I didn’t say yes, my lord,” and he twirled his mustache, rattled his doublet and threatened France with war because of for her refusal? The very first scene of the series puts you in a serious mood: the second son of Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore) is accidentally dropped to the floor by the midwife during childbirth. At first, the mistress doesn’t even want to raise him – they say, the devil knows whether the child is worth the trouble: the house is not rich, an unenviable fate awaits him. But, having decided to nevertheless pick up her son, Mary will never leave him – when George (Nicholas Golitsyn) turns eighteen, she will crawl out of her skin, but send him to France to receive an education and learn graceful manners. Here another shock awaits the viewer – in the realm of endless promiscuity, as the scriptwriters imagine 17th-century France, the guy will first of all acquire the skill of choosing lovers and mistresses literally from a heap of intertwined bodies, so much for gallant science.
George, however, will also be taught to dance – the cunning Mary will take advantage of this when she wants to introduce her handsome son to the voluptuous King James I (Tony Curran). Staggering debauchery and nepotism reign at court, and everything is run by the royal favorite, the Earl of Somerset (Laurie Davidson). Born poor and ignorant, but having achieved a certain status, Mary considers this situation to be in the order of things and feels in her element there. She immediately begins the hunt for the king, pushing her little son into the royal bedchamber with the full approval and patronage of Queen Anne (Trine Dyrholm), who is sick and tired of Somerset’s tyranny.
Nikolas Golitsyn has nothing special to play here – handsome, he is handsome. Just blink your eyes languidly and strike graceful poses—this was at first the function of young George Villiers under James I. But Julianne Moore seems to appear in the series in her best form and role – a smart, cynical red-haired bitch who wants to take everything from life, albeit through dirty or even criminal means. The matter is not limited to love affairs: bribery, poisoning, witchcraft and murder will be used – Mary organizes all this with the help of her closest friend Miss Brooks (Neve Algar), whom she dug up in a brothel like a pearl in a pile of manure.
The frivolous story about the queen’s pendants from the Soviet musical looks like children’s tricks against this background: the author of the series D.S. Moore (Killing Eve) apparently watched Game of Thrones closely, which seems to set the tone here. “This family belongs in Sodom,” the next enemy they will crush on their way to power will say about George and Mary. But the dramaturgy of the series is structured in such a way as if it wants to tell us that all of England is pure Sodom: the libertine king, the queen-brute, their stunted, downtrodden and unloved son Charles (Samuel Blenkin) timidly huddles in the corners while rot and arbitrariness
The plot, so heavily involved in sex, is quite an unusual sight on television in these days. Explicit scenes and unabashed depictions of violence were a trend in historical series of the 2000s, such as Rome (2005–2007) or The Tudors (2007–2010). But after the end of Game of Thrones, where this style experienced its heyday, a new puritanism reigned in the series. And suddenly the British again revealed this style that does not recognize restrictions, albeit not in all its glory (there is not much nudity in the frame, there is more talking and hinting than showing).
The spectacle becomes a little calmer only when George – the Marquis, Earl, and then Duke of Buckingham – dives from the alcove into politics. The story of the fall of Sir Walter Raleigh (Joseph Mawle) and the disgrace of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon (Mark O’Halloran) is retold close to the historical outline, although the writers’ imagination still focuses on disgusting details instead of elegant ones: how Raleigh’s head is cut off only from the third times, or how Bacon hides his syphilis-eaten nose under an iron plate. Politics as a plot in the second part of the series will turn out to be much more interesting than sex – and much more obscene. Only here can we finish the verse sung by Buckingham from the musical: “The politics of Britain must now be decided by the affairs of the heart of its minister,” – this is exactly what happens in the series. As for the manner of turning out the royal underwear, the idea of the authors of the series is obvious: no historical fantasy could ever dream of what happened in real history.
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