Episode 15 - The Hollow Crown Season 2

If you've trudged through the first History Tetralogy alongside us, you'll be wondering if there's any real opportunity to redeem the Henry VI plays and their obtuse combination of too many characters, complete lack of linear time, and wandering focus. Thankfully the BBC and a very talented set of actors, writers, directors, and producers have answered that wondering with a resounding yes. Join us for our examination of The second season of the Hollow Crown, which condenses the Henry VI plays down into two two-hour dramas that manage to focus the plot, cut the extra characters, and weave a better story out of Shakespeare's original text.

Notes:

Production Cost - there's at least a mention of the first season costing approximately 9 million pounds (approximately $11.6 million USD as of writing, but much more before the pound started sinking these past few years). This is particularly impressive given the level of the cast that was assembled for the show, as well as the extremely high production value we remark on in the course of this episode.

Marriage Counselling - this episode we looked at what we would have brought back from the original Shakespeare, that the Hollow Crown left out. In doing so we also pick out a few of the weaker items from the TV series that could have made way for pieces of the Shakespearean play.