Season 2 – Wolf Hall

Audience Reviews

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Siri G I waited for ten years for this and was, unfortunately, disappointed. No one can argue with Mark Rylance's brilliant yet understated performance as the complicated (cold-blooded, cruel, tormented, guilty) dog's body Thomas Cromwell, but Henry VIII is a caricature; the scheming lords are all evil and superficial; the characters' motivation is underdeveloped; and most of the time it felt like a dressed-up soap opera. The plot line is murky due to poor explication, and the cinematography is so dark you can barely make out the (many) dimly-lit interior scenes. The soundtrack is incredibly annoying -- the eerie, keening female voice that is present in almost every foreboding scene is like fingernails on a chalk board. Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln? Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/27/25 Full Review Andrei D Rylance and Lewis rock and the entire season is built to challenge what modern audiences think about historic epics and about the past Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/25 Full Review Audience Member An utterly sublime performance by Rylance and Lewis. The whole programme is beautiful. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/25 Full Review Cellarius M Passable though I suspect that’s more a result of the source material since the dialogue has taken a major decline. It’s pretty jarring if you begin immediately after watching the first series. The atmosphere/lighting seems over polished. Evidently there’s been a massive influx of new citizens from other continents in the year since we were last here. Finally, majority of supporting characters have underwent some brain damage in the interval as well as we now find once deep characters now all single dimensional “generic white male buffoon” archetypes that BBC became so fond of between 2015-2024. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 12/30/24 Full Review William F Grim grim grim - but brilliant performances by Rylance and Damian Lewis as the leads. The series is basically the tragedy of Thomas Cromwell, from all-powerful advisor to the fall. I love the Tudor music accompanying the action. Rylance as Cromwell is inscrutable but reveals emotion when rejected by Wolsey's daughter and when confronted by his own (unknown) Dutch daughter. It is hard to decide whether he is hero or pariah. Through it all Henry (Lewis) remains true to his murderous egomania. You'd have to be mad to want to be his wife, but I guess the victims had no choice. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/15/24 Full Review joanna d There’s no doubt that the BBC sank more money into Wolf Hall 2 after the excellent Season 1. Sets, costumes and daily Tudor life are portrayed in glorious depth and colour. This new season however has managed to destroy all historical credibility, while the screenplay erases Cromwell as a once cautious man of few words; he is now a reckless braggart regaling tales of his clever machinations to anyone who will listen. The most jarring part is being thrust into the 21st century at every turn. Colour-blind cast are randomly inserted into the Privy Council, Royal Court and inner sanctum of the Royal Bedchamber, Tudor nobles, every other palace guard, Wolsey’s daughter, and even Jane Seymour’s sister. It seems no history or famous literature is safe, and everything nowadays ends up looking like a gap ad with castles. Shame on everyone involved in this production. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/01/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Wolf Hall — Season 2

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