Careful What You Wish For. Retrospective: The White Queen - "Poison and Malmsey Wine"

Season 1, Episode 7

Airdate: Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 9 pm ET/PT on STARZ

Rating: ★★★★★

“We do not need men.” –Countess Warwick

Keeping up appearances, Edward and Elizabeth celebrate before their court.

It appears the happiness and mixed blessings in last week’s “Love and Death” are short lived as The White Queen’s, “Poison and Malmsey Wine” snuff out more major characters.

One of the hit or miss issues with The White Queen is its pacing when engaging viewers with significant events. One year after Jacquetta’s (Janet McTeer) death, we find ourselves in 1473 with Elizabeth (Rebecca Ferguson) ready to birth another one of Edward’s (Max Irons) children. Without much context as to the state of the kingdom, it feels disjointed. It would have been nice to see how Elizabeth handles the transition of taking on courtly affairs without her mother by her side for advice. It would have been equally satisfying to have clarity as to how Elizabeth and Edward resolve any of their personal issues regarding his mistress Jane Shore (Emily Berrington).

More Lover Than Fighter

“Poison and Malmsey Wine” doesn’t hide Edward’s debauchery in the year since he secured the throne. It’s jarring, and disturbing, witnessing the frequency in which Edward makes his rounds between his mistresses, and various “whores” as George (David Oakes) calls them. The fairytale romance viewers saw in the beginning between Elizabeth and Edward is now a cold memory. While Elizabeth delivers another child, Edward spends his time fooling around with a harem of women, one of which is Jane Shore.

If there is any statement to be made by Edward’s depiction this week, it is this man has a voracious sexual appetite. We get it, he’s an animal with the women, but it gets old real quick. Plus, it’s unnerving because he seems so distant from Elizabeth, considering his recent sweet words of her being his “home.” Fans of their relationship will definitely feel the angst since the majority of their scenes express concern about war, and George’s threat to the throne. The one caring scene between them is when Edward returns from France with chest full of gold and some Malmsey wine—Elizabeth’s favorite brand which later plays a large part in the climatic turn of events.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Sons of York have some explaining to do because they take family dysfunction to all new levels. At George’s suggestion, Edward and his men journey to France with the prospect of war. “We will win back our honor!” George’s explains with the hopes of gaining the title of French regent. It’s a wonder Edward listens to anything George tells him, let alone trusts him to be nearby.

When Edward decides to exchange bloodshed for power and money while marching into France, George uses it as an opportunity to gain a new ally with King Louis of France (Andreas Perschewski). The decision to avoid war causes a rift among the brothers which feels like the beginning of the end. Edward’s greed for wealth over power will be his downfall as Richard (Aneurin Barnard) begins doubting him, and George plots his own crusade of sorts to condemn Elizabeth as a witch.

Isabel worries about curses and witchcraft. Anne cares more for Richard’s love.

The Loves & Lives of the Warwick Sisters

One of the better storylines in “Poison and Malmsey Wine” centers on Isabel (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Anne’s (Faye Marsay) relationships with their husbands. Anne ages slightly in the year after marriage with Richard, and now have a son. Meanwhile, Isabel is pregnant for a second time. After delivering a baby girl, Isabel is desperate to give George the son he desires so much and gain his love.

When Richard takes his mother-in-law, Countess of Warwick (Juliet Aubrey), in an effort to stop George from using her to steal the Warwick fortune, Anne begins to wonder if her beloved’s ambition are getting a hold of him. Does he love her or the money?

Isabel, however, sets off a chain of events which leads to the episode’s most climatic scenes. After a conversation with Elizabeth goes badly, Isabel believes herself to be cursed by the “the evil eye” ; she knows Elizabeth played a part in creating the storm which caused her miscarriage. George’s discovery of Isabel’s paranoia as well as the possibility Elizabeth is practicing magic, causes him to combat her through the use of his own sorcerer.

The End of The Road

It was always inevitable George’s restless ambitions would cause his untimely end. With back to back major death tolls in the latest episodes of The White Queen, it’s almost numbing. Other than Jacquetta’s death, Isabel’s death is quite tragic. She stayed by George’s side, took faith in her father’s words and remained loyal until it served her no more; unfortunately, the love she wanted from George would never come true. Contrary to history, Isabel’s death most likely wasn’t due to George poisoning her. Still, it burns the final bridge of empathy for him. The one person who genuinely loved him, became a victim to his greed. It is the same greed and arrogance that lead him to publicly accuse Elizabeth as a witch, and Edward a murderer of the Lancastrian king, Henry IV (David Shelley) during a public anniversary celebration of Edward’s reign.

The final straw is the discovery of George’s alliance with King Louis to murder him, and steal the throne. All things considered, Edward realizes it must be done. Enough is enough. Meanwhile Duchess Cecily (Caroline Goodall), his mother, literally goes on her knees to beg for a pardon. He announces he will let George choose his own manner of death which ends up, oddly enough, drowning in Elizabeth’s favorite wine: Malmsey.

Best Tag Team: Margaret and Stanley

It’s amazing how Margaret (Amanda Hale) has become the dark horse of the series. Hale continues to improve her performance as the religious zealot. The interesting chemistry between Margaret and Stanley (Rupert Graves) proves to be the best tag team of the series; they clearly have a mutual respect for another as they divulge court secrets and gossip. What’s more impressive is the eerie, believable, look of concern Margaret shows Elizabeth. When Elizabeth’s childbirth proves difficult, Margaret has the good fortune of holding the new born prince as he cries for the first time. Elizabeth apologizes profusely to Margaret for any mistreatment in the past, and announces, “I am indebted to you.”

Elizabeth and Edward’s masquerade.

Overall

“Poison and Malmsey Wine” from the beginning is dark and foreboding. The entire production and atmosphere consistently grows darker. Director Colin Teague has a keen eye in creating a very somber, and sometimes shadowy setting for all the characters. The first scene with Edward, his mistresses, and his kinsmen has a somewhat small room with the curtains drawn in; Anne wears consistently darker clothing, and the masquerade ball is shown at night amid torches and confined spaces. Episode writer, Emma Frost wrote very strong scenes for the women, but none more than those with Anne and her mother, Countess of Warwick (Juliet Aubrey). The moment where Countess Warwick tells Anne “We don’t need men” illustrates how far we’ve come as a society, but also how limited theirs was at the time for a woman.

The most problematic issues revolve around the time frames. In the beginning it’s a year after Elizabeth’s miscarriage then later during Edward’s anniversary celebration, Elizabeth remarks it’s for his fifteen year reign. There is also the matter of the dynamic. George’s death was satisfying, but despite the manner of his execution, it felt understated than dramatic. There was not as much suspense, and it’s sad because George’s final attempt to thwart Edward could have easily been as intense as Warwick.Plus, there was no connect between George or his family. For as awful as George has proved himself to be in The White Queen they could have given us more in his last scenes. Oakes’ final scenes leading to George’s death are brilliant, pulling all the stops until the bitter end.

Tune in to The White Queen, Saturdays at 9pm ET/PT, only on STARZ.

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