The plight of Shirling's progeny is played out a bit more, with a pro-feminist sensibility. A 'nun-come-outlaw-witch's' prediction for the incumbent monarch plays out. (With her obligatory half-naked 'shagging-scene'). A prior continues to prove his cunning and political powers to great effect, together with the aid of some rather flamboyant (bordering obscene) CGI sequences. With the greater powers-that-be conspiring to subjugate the 'humble' Prior and his troupe, together with their plans for building an ambitious Cathedral, there is some sense of justice and heroic triumph to balance the atrocity opening the episode. We're left on some sort of cliffhanger by the end.
The limitations of realising an epic novel to the (television) screen are felt a bit more in this particular episode - I felt anyway. With the constraints of Episode production time (a maximum of 54mins), you really get the sense that there have been some rather severe efforts to condense the material into the allotted screen time. The result is something that feels forced, has an unnatural sense of pacing, and a near-ridiculous melodramatic series of events by the end of the episode: like they had to fit in as much as possible, and a Director wanted to put in as much as possible for his one and only chance at the project.
Curiously though, despite this, I'm still highly intrigued as to how the next four parts of the story are going to play out. The grand design and epic aspirations of the production still make compelling viewing, though lacking in that expert finesse, an attention to the nuances and the niceties to really make this something. At the very least, it has encouraged me to read the book! Still looking forward to the next episode!
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