Victoria

                  This third season of Victoria was really difficult to get through.  There was a lot of sulking (and sulking … and sulking … and sulking), manipulation, abuse, and a good character died.  Lord Palmerston was definitely needed for comic relief.  Without him, these episodes would have been even harder to get through.          

                Queen Victoria (Jenna Coleman) is expecting her sixth child while much of the world is experiencing revolutions.  Except for the Chartists, who are fighting for their rights, not trying to overthrow the monarchy, England is a fairly peaceful place.  It’s only when the overthrown king of France, King Louis Phillippe (Vincent Regan), is allowed to stay at the palace with the royal family that things start to unravel.  A protest is held at the palace gates because of his residence.  It is a terrifying sight for those witnessing it, and it causes Victoria to go into labor.

                By Victoria’s side at this time is her husband Prince Albert (Tom Hughes) and her sister, Princess Feodora (Kate Fleetwood).  Feodora has come from Germany, claiming it is unsafe for her there.  Victoria is wary of her sister’s sudden appearance, despite having been close to her as a child.  And Victoria has every right to be on guard.  Feodora is not at all what she is pretending to be.

                While Feodora acts as though she is a caring sister, she is really trying to create a rift between Victoria and Albert.  Out of jealousy for what Victoria has, and revenge for the small possibility it could have been hers, Feodora says things to both Victoria and Albert privately, causing problems between them. 

Albert is especially susceptible to Feodora’s games.  She tells him women can become crazy after childbirth, and makes references to an ancestor who went mad.  Albert takes Feodora’s murmurings and starts to question not only Victoria’s mental state, but also her intelligence.  He implies her intelligence level is so low it can become overtaxed.  Albert then berates Victoria for wanting to be loved by the people of her country and enjoying their cheers, while never once recognizing that if the cheering and love stops, they will ALL be overthrown.  Instead, Albert tells Victoria everything she thinks and does is wrong, and that all his ways are right.  It’s funny how often Albert has to later come back to Victoria with the knowledge she was right all along.  It is nearly every time they have an argument.  Before that happens, though, there is a lot of sulking.             

                Thank goodness for Lord Palmerston (Laurence Fox).  The Foreign Secretary, Palmerston does not care what anyone thinks of him.  As long as the crowds love him, the opinion of those in power does not matter.  Palmerston will tell off anyone, including Albert, who definitely needs someone to set him straight with his brother Ernst (David Oakes) away. 

                Victoria is the only one Palmerston does not usually tell off directly, although he does speak his mind.  In fact, Palmerston and Victoria seem to have a great time sparring with each other, despite her claims to the contrary.  Palmerston is the only one who doesn’t treat Victoria as though she is dim in the head.  When she outwits him, messing up a plan he had to prevent the Chartists from delivering their demands, Palmerston finds out just how wily and intelligent Victoria is.

                Below stairs things are changing.  Mrs. Skerrett (Nell Hudson) and Mr. Francatelli (Ferdinand Kingsley) get married and leave the palace, much to Victoria’s displeasure.  In Mrs. Skerrett’s place comes Abigail Turner (Sabrina Bartlett).  An outspoken woman, she helped Victoria with the Chartists by letting her know what their intentions really were.  As a Chartist herself, she knew.  Now in Victoria’s employ, Abigail continues to let Victoria know what is going on with the outside world.  She also seeks out information for Victoria that is not so easy to find.

                Joseph (David Burnett) is a new footman.  While at first he is only looking to get ahead in the world, he finds himself falling in love with one of Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, Sophie, the Duchess of Monmouth (Lily Travers).  A woman with an abusive husband, at first Sophie starts after Palmerston, who uncharacteristically pushes her away.  Then, as Joseph keeps coming to her aid, Sophie falls in love with him.  They begin a dangerous affair, one her husband, Charles, the Duke of Monmouth (Nicholas Audsley), finds out about.  The consequences are horrible and Charles has Sophie locked up for insanity.  Thinking he has won over his wife and Joseph, Monmouth is very proud of his actions.  There is just one thing he did not count on to ruin his success.  More I should say person … Victoria.

                The season ends with a couple of cliff hangers.  By this point Victoria has had her seventh child and Albert has woken up to the fact that Victoria does know what she is talking about most of the time.  He is also lighter with his son, Bertie (Laurie Shepherd), a child he has been chastising and calling stupid the entire season.  From what I have heard historically about these two, I do not expect this father and son will remain on good terms for long.

                A character I really missed this season was Ernst, Albert’s brother.  Every time Albert would start to sulk, I would wonder, “Where’s Ernst?!”  He was always so good at telling Albert he was acting like an unreasonable idiot, especially when it came to Victoria.  Without him, their marital feuds had a lot longer life.  In fact, the feuds went so long and became so bad I started hoping some literary license would be taken and Albert would get knocked off early.  That didn’t happen, which is why is was such a good thing Palmerston was around to set Albert straight on things, even if it wasn’t about anything personal.

                Since there are cliff hangers, I suspect a fourth season is in the works.  I hope Ernst returns for it, as well as Palmerston and his wife Emily (Pandora Clifford).  Feodora I can do without.

                As for the storyline, I wonder to what extent the years are going to be stretched.  We’re only about ten years from Albert’s death.  Still, that is ten years for things to happen.  Two more children need to be born.  Other children need to grow up and start down their adult paths.  Then there is always something happening in England itself.  If the show is doing the whole ten years in one season, that is a lot to pack in, especially if there are only eight episodes.  I could easily see these ten years being broken up into two, or even three, seasons.  If the show goes on after Albert’s death, it could go on for quite some time.  With Victoria living another forty years after Albert, there are a lot of years and events to cover.