What can be noted is that "The Last King" is not historically accurate at times, events that I know didn't happen (through reading the biographies of King Charles and others), or happened at different times in the King's life, appear here. I can understand that a historical drama needs flow, and it doesn't mar the production overall. I would highly recommend doing more research into the many books available on Charles and others.
I loved Rufus Sewell and his performance, it is a MUST SEE for any fans of his. He is absolutely magnificent, and a handsome guy to boot. He really makes King Charles come alive.I felt the mini-series focused a bit **too much** on the antics of Barbara Villiers (Lady Castlemaine) and the Duke of Buckingham. Okay, okay, okay, I get the point, they are delightfully wicked, vile, and conniving, now let's move on already? Enough is enough, and too much is camp. Charles was such a nice guy, what was he ever doing with her, you may think? (I guess this is where that complicated aspect of his character kicks in! LOL)This is really not a show you would watch with the kiddies, as there are *suggestive* (okay, a little more than that) scenes.
Catherine of Braganza comes off as a totally sweet and noble character, never quite saccharine or cloying, which is a bonus. Frances Stewart is fine as a character caught in the manipulations of a licentious court. Nell Gwyn comes across *okay*, and maybe it was the actress playing her, but she didn't really come off as sympathetic to me. A little spiteful and immature, in my opinion.(I wanted to see more wit and less high school, like, you know, snarkiness) Okay, so she had nice legs and a fine wit, and obviously amused Charles, but I am left wondering of the appeal of some of the mistresses (okay, all of them)in the production. It's not necessarily the production's fault! (these women were who they were, that cannot be changed!)
An actress with more grit and drive should have played Louise Keroualle, who, yeah, was **majorly** high maintenance, haughty, and greedy, but in not a delightful, "the girl can't help it" way portrayed here. Hey, girlfriend, ENOUGH! Poor Charles, what he had to put up with! But then again, he asked for it! (you could be shaking your head at this point in the production wondering about the state of Restoration male/female relations) Whew!!!!
I REALLY wanted to see more of his relations with his family, very interesting characters in their own rights. (I don't know, were there more scenes with his family in the 4 hour version? I really cannot say!)Maybe if they focused LESS on Lady Castlemaine they could have included more characters, or focused a bit more on them. Diana Rigg was wonderful as the Queen Mum though I thought she was really less rigid and more sympathetic in real life. Just me, I suppose, but the haughty matriarch makes for smashing good t.v. (LOL) The parts concerning Charles' son the Duke of Monmouth could have been better, as you may see. (I believe some scenes to be pure fiction, but check it out for yourself!) What would have been interesting to see was Charles' life BEFORE he was restored to the throne in 1660. It would have been nice to see more of his relations with his children, or extended family members. I definitely wanted to see more of Minette, Charles' beloved little sister and the woman who REALLY captured his heart. Her own life could make a great mini-series! A fascinating Stuart princess!
This is a very good production overall, and I would really recommend buying it (it's a nice romp through restoration times!) I would of course recommend buying some other books,(for balance and perspective) such as Antonia Fraser's "King Charles II" (MUST, MUST READ!!!) "My dearest Minette" Letters between Charles II and his sister, the Duchesse d'Orleans. (MUST READ)
Finally, why is there no captioning or subtitling in this DVD? Does A&E not care for the hearing impaired or those who don't understand the language of the period and might benefit from the subtitles? My wife is Japanese and can easily follow Brit dramas when she has subtitles to read. Another of my friends is hearing impaired, and neither could enjoy this dvd. I note the british video cassette has captions--wasn't able to find the information for the DVD.
