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The synopsis for Mary & George Episode 4 (“The Wolf & The Lamb”) promises a showdown between Mary (Julianne Moore) and Lady Hatton (Nicola Walker), and we certainly get that — but we also get a whole lot more. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves — let’s pick up where we left off.
When last we left him in Episode 3, George (Nicholas Galitzine) had finally secured his place in the heart and bed of King James I (Tony Curran) after Mary finally managed to remove the threat of the Somersets — for good. Now, it’s 1617, and two Scottish fellas are digging up some unidentified remains in a forest for someone who’s willing to pay for them but not willlng to divulge who the remains belong to and doesn’t want the gravediggers to, either.
The digging isn’t easy, even for professionals — hours later, they still haven’t reached the body. But perhaps that’s because there is no body. Instead, they eventually happen upon a metal container holding… goodness only knows what. What could it be, who wants it, and for what purpose?
Back in England, George is disturbed to realize that King James has bit him badly on the arm while sleeping. However, James doesn’t see a problem with it. He offers him a quick kiss on the wound and basically expects him to get over it. From the look on George’s face, that may not be so easy.
Meanwhile, George’s brother John (Tom Victor) wades into a lake and promptly drowns… or appears to, anyway. He’s soon dragged in by Mary’s husband, Sir Thomas Compton (Sean Gilder), and they all lament the fact that John still doesn’t realize he can’t swim. Mary acts as if it’s no big deal, but Thomas is getting a bit tired of all the drama his wife has brought to his door.
Mary and George later meet up for a chat, but they can’t gossip too much before James butts in and hands Mary a dead mouse to feed his pet hawk, who we later discover is named Helen. The hawk is uninterested in Mary’s offering, which James remarks “doesn’t bode well.” It does, however, offer mother and son another chance to exchange info, and Mary reveals that she still hasn’t given up on getting Frances Coke (Amelia Gething) to marry John, as this would secure the family’s future. There’s just one (not so minor) problem: Lady Hatton.
This illustrious gathering isn’t just about winning Helen over, it’s for James to announce that he’s planning a trip to Edinburgh for the first time since taking the throne. He needs to assure loyalty from those he leaves behind, though he hasn’t yet decided who will be in charge during the trip. The whole thing disturbs Mary, however, who warns George to keep his eye on James and never lose his focus for even a second.
On the border of England and Scotland, George questions why the trip is happening at all since it’s such a dangerous one, and James simply answers, “Duty.” However, it’s unclear what duty he thinks he still has.
Mary’s attempt to get Edward Coke to sign off on Frances’ marriage to John is finally solidified after Mary points out to her father that George’s relationship with the king now makes the marriage particularly advantageous if he wants to rise in the ranks. Never mind that Lady Hatton is going to have a conniption fit, to say the least — the documents are signed.
Of course, Lady Hatton has already found out about this plan, and she’s hidden Frances away and has already started clearing out the Coke home. She vows never to let Mary get her way, but she seems visibly unnerved when Mary states her intention to do exactly that, at any cost.
In Edinburgh, there’s a feast, where James sits at a banquet table feeding a young man what looks like chunky British “chips” (that’s fries to the American crowd). George meets Sir Peter Carr (Dylan Brady), who’s cousins to one of the Somersets. He seems to have an interest in George, and George seems intrigued. How will that go over with James, of course, remains to be seen.
Mary and Edward Coke are certainly keeping busy, and they’ve enlisted Sandie (Niamh Algar) to find out where Frances is being kept. In the main house, she discovers, and Lady Hatton is in town, so there’s a chance of stealing her away. They bring a load of thugs with them to tear the house to smithereens, but it’s Sandie who finds Frances hiding in the ceiling.
Needless to say, Frances is less than impressed. And while she appreciates that she has no choice but to marry who her father decides, she makes it clear that she’s not on board with the plan, which seems to tug at Sandie’s heart strings (though she says nothing).
George has his way with Peter Carr in a dark hallway despite his brother Kit’s warning that Peter isn’t to be trusted. Peter wants to offer the same in return, but George is worried about anyone finding out. Peter promises no one will, but who trusts a guy they’ve just met? Something tells me this won’t go over well.
After returning to their quarters that night, James says he saw George with Peter and he’s not happy about it. George accuses James of keeping him at arm’s length, but James says that sitting at another table shouldn’t make him go off and have sex with another man. The king also recalls a true love he once had who told James that no one else would ever be as loyal to him, and he was right. He then tells George to go find a bed elsewhere, and George doesn’t protest.
As the carriages travel back with Frances Coke in tow, the party is stopped by Sir Francis Bacon, the man holding the king’s seal in his absence. He claims the whole thing is “very sordid,” but she insists that James would agree with her. For now, Bacon wants to make a deal — cutting the baby in half, so to speak — so it’s a bit of a waiting game. It seems Mary and Lady Hatton have joint custody over Frances Coke. Fun!
In Scotland, King James has stopped caring about what’s going on back in England. George believes they should get out and see the country, but James still hasn’t forgiven him for stepping out. While George says the people there are “kind,” James reveals that the Scottish killed his parents and that he’s not at peace there for a single second. He does, however, agree with George that they need to get out of Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, Sandie reveals to Mary that when she visited the house, she found that John had sliced the serving girl and utter chaos was reigning. Mary insists that the girl will be compensated, but Sandie thinks the marriage should be off as John clearly isn’t in a state to be wed. She’s clearly very upset, but Mary promises that she will bring Sandie’s standing up in the world as they continue to rise, so long as they stay the course.
During a walk in the forest, George hopes to make amends with James, but James isn’t doing very well. He suspects everyone of treason when he can’t find the horses, which he swears were tied up close by even though everyone insists they were tied over the hill. James jumps into the water to escape and is pulled out by Peter Carr before being brought back to his quarters.
Unfortunately for him, George is cast out by James, who suspects he may not be so loyal. Peter tells him to let the king crave his return and give him space. In the meantime, he thinks they should go have some fun. However, Kit worries that James is going to have them all murdered in their beds and thinks they all need to get their heads screwed on straight.
Back in England, Mary spots Lady Hatton and Francis Bacon conspiring in the alley outside the brothel. Bacon tells Lady Hatton that he had to keep up the show by pretending to be “fair” to Mary, and she says she approves. What they don’t realize, of course, is that Mary hears it all and won’t take this lying down.
The following day, Peter takes George to Ruthven Castle, and it seems James’ paranoia is wearing off on him as George wonders if they’d been followed. Peter assures him that they’re “completely alone” and reveals that James once stayed there. Peter also reveals that James was in love with a Lord Lennox, who must’ve been the man James referred to during his fight with George a few nights prior.
Peter says that Lord Ruthven kidnapped James for 10 months before he escaped, as Ruthven wasn’t happy about the relationship with Lennox. James later managed to get Ruthven and his entire family executed and erased from history, with the castle now called Huntingtower Castle. Peter then proceeds to try to choke George to death to avenge what happened to the Somersets. Luckily, Kit followed them, and he shoots Peter Carr in the head. Well, that solves that problem.
That night in bed, James apologizes to George for pushing him away and into Peter’s arms. George knows he messed up, but James is sympathetic to the younger man being too trusting. He also opens up about the fact that Lord Lennox was exiled during his imprisonment and that he died in France, impoverished and alone. However, as proof of his love, he gave James “his actual heart,” which was embalmed and sent to James after his death. Ah, so that’s what the gravediggers were digging up. The trip to Scotland, it appears, was to collect the heart to bring Lennox home.
The next day, George helps James bury Lennox’s heart in what is actually a pretty touching moment. When they get back to England, Bacon greets George and asks to talk to James. George realizes that Bacon wants to control the narrative of what’s been going on while they’ve been away, but he’s a bit late — Mary is already there and reveals she’s been having “hours of conversation” with James before his arrival. Nice try, Bacon!
Indeed, the wedding between John and Frances goes ahead, with Frances sobbing at the altar the entire time. I don’t blame her, to be honest. Lady Hatton doesn’t attend — I don’t blame her, either. Either way, Mary is victorious (though unsurprisingly not all that gracious in her victory) and seems thrilled at the big things in store for the Villiers family.
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.
