Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
The Tudors Season 2 Episodes
Season 2 Episode Guide
10 Episodes 2008 - 2008
Episode 1
Everything Is Beautiful
Sun, Mar 30, 200852 mins
Henry presses to have his marriage annulled but still meet5s resistance from the church in England. Thomas Boleyn bribes Bishop Fisher's cook to poison the chief opponent of the marriage and other clerics who are dining with him. Thomas More does not take any of the deadly soup, but the toxic brew kills four bishops and incapacitates Fisher. Although he is tortured, the cook goes quietly to his death of being boiled alive rather than risk the consequence Boleyn's threats against his family. When she finds Katherine is still making Henry's shirts, Anne insists on her exile from the court, but Katherine refuses to give up her queen's jewels. Officially the Pope tries not to alienate Henry or the Emperor, but privately sanctions Anne's assassination.
Episode 2
Tears of Blood
Sun, Apr 6, 200855 mins
Having sends Cranmer to be envoy to the Emporer and encourages him to investigate Ltheranism when he passes through Nuremberg. Henry, realizing that he will not get a divorce from the Papacy ,cuts off all ties with Rome and declares himself head of the church in England. Katherine is banished as Anne is made the Marquess of Pembroke. Despite Brandon's opinion that she may not be a virgin, Henry is besotted with her and journeys with her to France to announce that she is to be the next queen of England.
Episode 3
Checkmate
Sun, Apr 13, 200853 mins
Henry destroys all ties with authority and the past. After many failed attempts to have his marriage to Catherine annulled by the Catholic Church, Henry's patience finally wears out and he marries Anne in secret, appoints his Lutheran chaplain Thomas Cranmer the head of the Church of England, and strips Katherine of her title and status of Queen. The king and new queen are disappointed that their first child is a girl, whom they christen Elizabeth.
Episode 4
The Act of Succession
Sun, Apr 20, 200855 mins
After princess Elisabeth's baptism, Henry orders Thomas Cromwell to draw up a bill of succession favoring his and Ann's offspring, to be accepted by an oath from all subjects. The affront to the imperialist party is maximized by making princess Mary a lowly lady in waiting to her half-sister.
Episode 5
His Majesty's Pleasure
Sun, Apr 27, 200855 mins
Efforts to legalize the Henry's marriage and further advance his authority and power come to steadfast obstructions. Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher demand that only God can govern the church. Arrested and confined to the Tower of London, both men are confronted with charges of high treason and a possible beheading unless they receive the Oath of Allegiance. In the mean time, Henry's adventurous eye endures to stray.
Episode 6
The Definition of Love
Sun, May 4, 200852 mins
Cromwell convinces Henry the religious houses' immorality justifies spoliation, which even finances plays to show the people the papist 'debauchery'. Henry wants the French king's junior son to marry Anne's daughter Elisabeth. The French envoy, an admiral entertained by duke Charles Brandon, proposes, rather then legitimize the royal son, the dauphin to wed Katherine's daughter Mary- or the emperor's. Charles tells Chapuys he believes Anne is a witch. After More's ghost haunts Henry, Anne further looses openly unfaithful Henry's favor.
Episode 7
Matters of State
Sun, May 11, 200856 mins
While the Pope still hopes that tide will turn Henry's England back to Rome's fold, Cromwell and Cranmer use a catalog of real, exaggerated and invented clerical abuses to close all religious houses and confiscate their immense wealth for Henry's treasury. The Boleyn family worries Anne's position is perilous without a son, but waits for Katherine' illness to prove fatal. Henry is prepared to ally himself with the emperor despite Anne. Hunting with duke Charles, Henry meets fellow France veteran John Seymour's enchanting daughter Jane.
Episode 8
Lady in Waiting
Sun, May 18, 200853 mins
Lady Jane Seymour arrives at Court but receives a frosty reception from Queen Anne. The Queen's father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, sees the Seymours as rivals and questions their loyalty to the new religion. The King quickly seeks to begin an affair with the beautiful Jane. On Maundy Thursday, a visibly pregnant Queen Anne distributes money to the poor and washes their feet. The Spanish Ambassador tells William Brereton that Queen Catherine was poisoned. He also tells Sir Thomas Cromwell that the Emperor will recognize King Henry's marriage to Anne if the King names Lady Mary as his heir. King Francis of France travels to Rome as a penitent where he is told by the Pope that he will excommunicate King Henry VIII. He also asks Francis to use his armies to invade England and eliminate him. At a jousting tournament, the King is severely injured and preparations are made to declare Elizabeth Queen with Sir Thomas Boleyn as Regent. The King miraculously recovers but after the Queen catches him in a compromising situation with Lady Jane, she miscarries.
Episode 9
The Act of Treason
Sun, May 25, 200854 mins
Jane Seymour's brother, Edward, is appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Anne believes she can still marry off Elizabeth to France and repel the Seymours, but Cromwell is only following Royal orders to get rid of the Boleyns and switch to the imperial side, as her father Thomas senses. They believe to have triumphed when Henry refuses Chapuys's discrete alliance offer, but Cromwell tortures musician Mark Smeaton into a false confession of adultery with Anne. Brereton confesses to ensure the Queen's death, Sir Henry Norris and her own brother George Boleyn are equally found guilty and precede her beheading, only Thomas Wyatt is -wrongly- acquitted.
Episode 10
Destiny and Fortune
Sun, Jun 1, 200850 mins
May 1536, Henry hopes Anne Boleyn's beheading and marriage annulment will allow an anti-French alliance with the emperor. Eager for a 'renaissance', Henry can't even await the arrival of the reputed executioner from Calais to 'ask' Jane's father John Seymour for her hand. She asks him to reinstate princess Mary as heir. Charles Brandon enjoys fatherhood and tells Thomas Boleyn he may leave court, stripped of everything. Anne confesses haughtily but dies graciously.
