Requiem of the Rose King

Episode 5

We are at this point about halfway through Henry VI Part Three, which would be the bit where Edward, now king in both his father's and Henry's place, defies the man instrumental in putting the crown on his head, Warwick. And while Warwick is, not to put too fine a point on it, something of an ambitious bastard, it's also hard not to be frustrated with Edward IV. Marrying Elizabeth Woodville was hardly a brilliant political move, and that's even if we discount the fact that (in this version of events) she's actively plotting against him. Not only is she socially beneath him, but by wedding her, he's rebuffed the king of France, which is hardly a sound decision if we consider that the Hundred Years War between France and England isn't that far in the past. (Only two plays ago, really.) Warwick may have an overinflated sense of his own importance, but it's hard to deny that he's miles ahead of Edward when it comes to playing the political game.

He's also not going to let a little thing like being humiliated by two kings stop him. Warwick is very well aware that Edward has two younger brothers with the exact same blood ties to the throne…and that both of those brothers are currently unmarried. And oh, what's this? Warwick just so happens to have two daughters, also unwed! How terribly convenient! And if Richard and Anne just so happen to be close friends, that's all the better, even if the easily manipulated George appears to be Warwick's first choice for the new throne-warmer.

If you know your history, there's actually something very tragic about how Warwick is setting his sights on George. Even if we ignore the way he's taking advantage of Richard's emotional turmoil, his treatment of George is almost infinitely more terrible. George, as the middle brother, has always appeared to be caught between his brothers, the confident Edward and the fragile Richard. He's softer than both of them, and that's not a great character trait to have in this particular time, especially with the way masculinity is defined, something Richard lays out very clearly this week. Twice in this episode we see George seeking comfort in a wineglass, and that's something Warwick appears to encourage when he thrusts a cup practically into George's mouth after he's “caught” with Isabelle. (Or Isabel, if you prefer how most sources spell it.) Warwick's too-timely entrance and his conversations with his daughters indicate the entire thing was a setup so that George would compromise Isabelle and have to marry her, something Warwick pressures him into even further with the possibility that Isabelle could become his queen. We can see from George's body language that he's not sure he wants to be king, but he's also not strong enough to tell Warwick to back off.

Richard, on the other hand, has never even considered taking the crown until Buckingham brings it up. It's less that he doesn't want power and more that he's so uncomfortable in his own body that he never thought about it, which may be one of the reasons Buckingham would back him – in the younger boy's mind, that might make him as easily led as Warwick finds George. Richard, however, is in no position to commit, although he does appear to be at least partly embracing his situation. Why else would he have simply settled into talking to Joan? Maybe he's started to believe her when she says that they're the same: he with his intersex body and she with her unfeminine forays onto the battlefield. (We're sticking to Shakespeare's version of her here, which gives her more of a frontline role.) He's certainly struggling to understand his feelings for Anne versus those for Henry. From the viewer's seat, it looks like his love for Anne is more platonic; she's his best friend, someone he feels wholly comfortable with, while his feelings for Henry are romantic and/or sexual. That makes his overhearing Anne rejecting her father's directive to seduce him a much bigger blow – he's found solace with her, and now he believes that she finds him repugnant. Since the last person he truly trusted and loved was his father, this is a major strike against his mental well-being – and maybe a push towards him becoming the villain that history paints him as.

That's all very heavy, so let's end this on a lighter note – Warwick may be systematically destabilizing the English throne, but it's hard to deny that he has a real way with a set-down: his treatment of Elizabeth's brother as just another parvenu (social climber) was pure gold. Now if only he could channel that into a way to prevent a war between crowns and brothers.

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Requiem of the Rose King is currently streaming on Funimation.