'Victoria' Season 3: "Foreign Bodies" Recap

Previously on Victoria: Victoria and Albert are vacationing at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, because London supposedly isn’t safe thanks to all the political upheaval going on. Victoria frets about being so far away from her government, but Albert is having the time of his life, bullying his eldest son Bertie through overbearing educational practices and occasionally bossing his wife around. Surprisingly, Victoria and Lord Palmerston – after much sniping and scrapping – finally come to something of a tentative détente, while the Foreign Secretary and the queen’s sister Feodora both discover some secrets about one another. (If you need more details, our recap of "Et in Arcadia" is here.)

In its third season on-air, it’s nice to say that Victoria is still capable of surprising you. Rather than settle for a paint-by-numbers recitation of history, the show is more than willing to lean into the often ridiculous nature of royal life, make things up for the sake of narrative drama or kill off one of your faves that it can’t quite figure out what to do with. It does all three of these things here, and “Foreign Bodies” is an episode that works on multiple levels as a result.

It’s a surprisingly modern look at gender roles through the prism of Victoria and Albert’s marriage, as the queen continues to reiterate that she’s, well, the queen, and as such has certain roles to fulfill. Sure, she’s maybe a bit overly attached to the idea that that she has a “relationship” with her people that’s anything more than superficial, but it does motivate her to take action in ways that Albert does not. (And, for what it’s worth, does not understand.) While Albert is off standing for Chancellor at Cambridge and lecturing the dons about how unscientific they are because they don’t follow the protocols of his German schools, Victoria is visiting sick houses and literally mothering the least of her subjects.