'Wolf Hall: The Mirror & the Light's' Timely Return Sets Pride Before a Fall

It's been a decade since Wolf Hall first graced our screens. In the intervening years, we've seen plenty of takes on Tudor England, from the somewhat faithful (Becoming Elizabeth) to the stridently feminist (The White Princess, The Spanish Princess, Firebrand) and the downright fantastical (My Lady Jane). But while most of them have been enjoyable, none have reached the prestigious heights of the BBC's award-winning tale of Thomas Cromwell, which becomes glaringly apparent within the first moments of the sequel series Wolf Hall: The Mirror & the Light. The long-awaited adaptation of the final novel in Hilary Mantel's award-winning trilogy bristles with menace and horror; each scene feels as though it's balanced on a knife's edge.

Mantel's story is clear-eyed about the monstrousness of many of the men at its center, but in case you've forgotten, the premiere opens with a reasonably brutal reminder. We revisit scenes from the first series, forced to watch all over again as Claire Foy's tremulously terrified Anne Boleyn mounts the scaffold. This time, scenes featuring her quaking with fear are interspersed with her husband lazily dressing for the wedding planned for the woman who will replace her. (In real life, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour around ten days after Anne's execution, but for dramatic purposes, this works better.) The casual cruelty of it all is stunning, as Henry is draped in glittering gold and presented with a quietly proper Jane just as his previous wife's now-headless body is packed into a crate.

Thomas Cromwell is there for it all, quietly watching the destruction of the woman he helped raise to the throne before turning on his heel, changing his clothes, and making his way to the celebratory festivities at Hampton Court, where he is rewarded for orchestrating a queen's murder with the fancy new title of Lord Privy Seal.