‘Mary & George’ Recap: ‘The Wolf & the Lamb’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Nicholas Galitzine and Julianne Moore as George Villiers and Mary Villiers in Episode 104 of ‘Mary & George’ – ‘The Wolf & the Lamb’. (Photo Courtesy of STARZ.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Mary & George’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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We like to believe that once we’ve reached the top or claimed our respective goal, that life will become quite easy in nature and understandably so. After all, we see the joy the famous and the downright skilled, exude, when they speak of being at the top of their game. But what’s funny… is that sometimes being at the top doesn’t yield exactly what we want. In part because we may not have thought beyond just claiming what we want, but also because, our dream may rely upon others to help us fully realize it, and people as we know… can sometimes muck up the system. If anything, this particular surprise is top of mind today, simply because it was put on display in the next episode of Mary & George on STARZ.

Which was fascinating to say the least, since ‘The Wolf & the Lamb’ should have explored how Mary and George were thriving. After all, George was now everything to King James and Mary had clout and standing and the spoils of the King’s Court and all of England should have been at their fingertips. But alas, they were not. For all George and the King did was make love often, complete with some strange behavior from the King since he took to biting George now and again, and Mary… saw her son John, falling to pieces. For he truly was listless here and foolish and well… in order to get something going, to exude power and standing… they both felt they had to nudge some people along. Which for Mary… involved trying to get John married to Frances, which would give her more sway, with minimal luck.

Because Lady Hatton was not having it, and she wanted no part in her daughter marrying a psychopath. Since John did resort to some messed up stuff. But she also wanted Mary to have no agency or power in this life or in the world of royalty. So, she hid Frances away and made use of Lord Bacon to manipulate power to her favor and while that happened… George did his best to try and please the King on a trip to Edinburgh. Wherein he hoped being away from the world would strengthen their relationship and give George more to do than just screw with reckless abandon. But a chance encounter for a good time just made the whole experience awful for everyone, really. So, instead, all George could do was sit back and ponder best upon how to impress his King to finally be given some semblance of power. 

Which came forth… by being vulnerable. Since George’s fling was a relative of Somerset and wanted nothing more than to impart harm upon George. But thankfully Kit was there to save the day, and well, George facing death helped James grow closer to his sweet and open his heart, and through sharing a moment, one involving the King’s first love… George was finally in a spot to do more and be more. And of course, Mary knew exactly what she was doing as well. Since she figured out how to end around dear Lady Hatton to get the marriage she wanted for John and to further gain power in this life. In fact, she was able to get more of her sons’ great power in the court of the King and in doing so, Bacon was hamstrung and forced to simply watch as the Villiers continued to cement a standing in the most powerful government in the world.

All of which, gave rise to a fascinating exploration about how our dreams don’t always magically come true when we obtain them. Since sometimes, we do need people to help them along and bring them to fruition and in order to do that, we must figure out how to get them on our side and that led to some powerful moments here. The kind that showcased a side of King James I that we had not seen before and reminded us of how badly Mary wants her agency and her power, since she will stop at nothing to get it and well, now that Mary is in control and George finally has the heart and the ear of his King, it would seem the dream is about to come to fruition. For at last, the Villiers have power, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it after lusting after it for so long. Until next time.

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