hello all, first off I would like to thank you for coming by my page. for my very first post I want to talk about something I have been completely obsessed with as of late and that is the War Of The Roses. specifically the series on STARZ following the women of that time period and the struggles they faced as women fighting for power.

[SPOILER ALERT]

The White Queen

[WARNING] to any who might be interested in watching this series for themselves, if youre younger or gentle of nature. this might not be the show for you. sexual content, language, and bloody violence are heavy. but otherwise it was a fantastic show.

while I didn’t expect the show to be perfect, there were a number of serious faults. being a show supposedly “for women, by women” the writer Emma Frost took some creative liberties in a diection I felt was unflattering to her female leads.

namely in one of the first scenes we get of our two main love interests, we see Edward and Elizabeth, instantly full of lust for eachother and sneaking off into the forest to be together. Edward being every inch the king already finds himself used to getting what he wants. he crosses a line with Elizabeth and not taking no for an answer it ends with Elizabeth holding a knife to her own throat to make her point. I felt it strange that this incident was never mentioned again. but “almost rape” is not the optimal way to have the first intamite scene play out.

admittedly I had extremely high hopes for the magic system the Rivers women seemed to posses. the first scene or two it was presented seemed okay but later on it felt extremely forced and presented as more of a cure all or band aid for all of Elizabeth’s problems.

as far as character arcs go most of the main cast left me satisfied. by the end of the series Elizabeth ended up extremely unlikeable. around episode 6 or 7 her character took an odd turn into more of a villian and I felt like she never fully recovered from that

among some of my favorite characters I do want to highlight Richard of York, Jacquetta Woodville, and Anne Neville were exceptionally likable. every actor who took part in this is superbly talented and I plan to support their work in the future

Episode One starts off pretty fast paced when we get our first look at the freshly widowed Elizabeth Woodville. Edward IV has seized power from his cousin Henry and the country is restless and blood stained. They waste no time in lumping the two main love interests together. I do feel like the way that they met was extremely forced and I believe the story line would have been better if the writers would have done that differently. but even so, its love at first sight for the two of them. . . within the first five minutes of the episode.

as the storyline proceeds we get some feel good moments as we watch young Edward settle into Royal life. And the chemistry between Max Irons and Rebecca Ferguson is electric.

now we begin to be introduced to the conflict of the show. stemming first from Lord Warwick, then later, Margaret Beaufort. while I love warwick as an antagonist, I feel like they painted Edward as extremely niave. as Warwick betrayed him time and again, Edward always welcomed him back into the court and could have saved a lot of bloodshed if he would have demoted Warwick as an outcast from the first betrayal.

coming into the third episode. as Elizabeth grieves, she takes on a avenging persona that felt out of place for her previous actions. the glimpse into the lives of Warwicks daughters is pleasant and I found myself especially attatched to isabelle. The Duke Of Clarence on the other hand I found repulsive. tention builds for Margaret and the king and queen find themselves facing new enemies at every turn.

margaret of Anjou was an unexpected yet refreshing source of conflict. I felt like by the time they finished with warwick his story line as “the king maker” was extremely exhausted. Anne and Richard finally finding eachother made it one of my favorite episodes. with the sons of York finding their brides and another queenly pregnancy things seem to finally begin looking up for the royal family.

the seeming peace doesn’t last long before warwick is up to trouble as usual and this time it ends in tragedy for isabelle and the duke. things begin spiraling out of control all too fast as we seethe passing of elizabeths mother and a slew of troubles arise between Edward and Elizabeth. George begins embracing his role as a villain versus a pawn in warwicks games. trouble for the king and queens marriage ensues.

the death of George and edward

episode 7 gives us a closer look at Richard and Annes domestic life. George and isabelle have a daughter, and another prince for Edward and Elizabeth. we see the sons of York once again lust for blood and march to take france. Margaret and the queen momentarily find themselves on good terms. unrest once again stirs as the king is put in danger of being unseated again in his later moments. dozens of eyes ares set on the throne. George reaches his final defeat, Edward follows soon after. the country is left kingless.

uncertain of their fate. with Richard pointed lord protector and no clear allies, Elizabeth and her children flee to sanctuary. being tainted with the poison which seems to drip from the English throne of that time, Richard decides that he deserves the throne himself and him and anne find a period of happiness ruling before Margaret beaufort shows herself with young henry plotting at any time to seize the throne.

unsure of his future and attempting to deal with his demons Richard invites elizabeths two oldest to come to court and releases her from hiding. his heir falls ill and queen anne soon follows. Richard is stricken with grief and driven straight intio the arms of his new lover.. and niece. lizzie. now despite the fact that this pairing is.. unsavory. I personally enjoyed this pairing, however short of an arc it might be. lizzie being betrothed to the coming force henry and Richard being married it takes on an air of forbidden love that I found myself rooting for. I would have enjoyed a royal wedding.

Bosworth Field

as things finally begin to reach their climax between the two houses, we finally get to see a close look at henry being now a man. Margaret is sure that this is the moment her son and the tudor house are meant to take the throne. York prepares to defend their places until the two finally meet to let the fates decide on Bosworth field. Richard and lizzie are finally fully in love and before the king marches on henry we see her follow him into the battle field and we get a sweet love scene between the two of them.

in the final moments of the series we see Richard meet his untimely end on the battle field.. henry is crowned and englands fate as well as what remains of the rivers family left uncertain, left to be picked up in the sequel the white princess.

overall I loved watching this show. not without its problems naturally but the exciting plot, riveting actors, and fast paced action more than made up for it. I will be revisiting this story in the future and will be covering the white princess in a future post.

rate 8/10