‘Victoria’ Season 2: “Entente Cordiale” Recap
Previously on Victoria: There was sadness all around as Victoria lost her beloved dog Dash, learned Lord Melbourne had a terminal illness and battled a severe case of post-partum depression after the birth of her second child. Elsewhere, Albert faced his own set of problems, thanks to Uncle Leopold’s confession that he might actually be his father. Oh and everyone finally found out about that storyline where Mrs. Skerrett lied about her very identity in order to land her job, but everyone’s surprisingly chill about it in the end. (I don’t even know, y’all.) If you need them, more details can be found in our full recap of "Warp and Weft"/"The Sins of the Father."
After putting us through four hours of intense drama and emotional pain in the opening episodes of Season 2, Victoria finally takes some pity on us viewers. The second season’s third installment is a frothy, light-hearted romp that’s pretty much nothing but glorious costumes, jealousy-inducing hairstyles and good old fashioned period drama fun. That is to say, despite the fact that basically only one thing of any consequence happens during “Entente Cordiale,” it is an immensely entertaining episode. In fact, it feels like a breath of fresh air after everything we’ve been through so far.
The basic gist of the story is pretty simple. French king Louis Phillippe wants his youngest son, Antoine, to marry Queen Isabella II of Spain. Elsewhere, Uncle Leopold, who seems to have literally nothing in his life but free time and eligible relatives of marriageable age, is shoving yet another nephew or something at the available Spanish queen. Victoria, for her part is not really into any of this. On the one hand, she seems to feel bad that the poor girl won’t get to choose her spouse for herself, as she did. But on the other, both of these options are fairly problematic for her on a global political scale. England would prefer that France wasn’t aligned so closely with Spain, obviously. And while Victoria doesn’t necessarily mind her uncle attempting to take over Europe with his endless army of unmarried relations, trying to shove a Coburg into every royal house on the Continent is starting to look kind of bad. It’s a mess.
