In this episode of Mary & George, we are thrown into the political games and personal dramas of the court. Sir Walter Raleigh’s return from Guyana causes a problem with Spain, and Mary (Julianne Moore) sets her sights on getting her family married to people who will be good for them.
MARY AND GEORGE EPISODE 5 RECAP
At the beginning of the episode, Raleigh (Joseph Mawle ) and another man are talking about a fight with the Spanish in a confusing scene that ends with Raleigh stabbing his friend. We learn that Raleigh, who is now 66 years old, has come back from Guyana looking for El Dorado. However, the Spanish ambassador, Count Gondomar, is angry about Raleigh’s actions and wants him sent away or killed for breaking a peace pact.
At the same time, James gives Mary a house in London and makes her Countess of Buckingham, which increases her power at court. Mary wants to set up a wedding between George (Nicholas Galitzine) and Katherine Manners (Mirren Mack ), who is the daughter of the Earl of Rutland and very rich. But George’s father and Katherine’s father are both against the match.
Mary also has problems trying to get John and Frances to get married. Frances’s cheating and John’s rough behavior make the marriage unstable. Mary gets into a fight with Sandie, who is Mary’s counselor, because she wants Frances to be freed.
Mary encourages George to stand up for himself publicly, but he fails when he mishandles a council meeting about Raleigh’s actions, which brings England closer to war with Spain. James doesn’t like what George did, which makes things difficult between them.
In this time of political unrest, we see more of Charles, James’s son, who doesn’t like George and thinks his father cares more about George than for Queen Anne, who seems to be sick. Mary talks to Anne to learn more about James’s feelings. She finds out that James grew up in a world ruled by men, which suggests that women don’t have much power over him.
As the story goes on, Susan, Mary’s daughter, plans to marry a baron’s son but needs Katherine Manners’s gift to make it happen. Susan’s plan is to lock George and Katherine up together. This will cause Katherine to admit that she knows George’s true nature and accepts him for who he is.
In the end, Raleigh is put to death by order of James in an effort to make peace with Spain, even though the people were angry about it. When George finds out that Mary and Sandie may have killed someone, he starts to distance himself from them. This sets the stage for more tension and mystery in the episodes to come.
Alliances change and loyalties are put to the test as the show goes on. It turns out that Sir Francis Bacon (Mark O’Halloran) is a major player who uses George to further his own goals. Raleigh’s public execution at the end of the story is a brutal warning of what happens when you lie and try to get what you want.
There are only two episodes left of Mary and George, and they set up an intense showdown. Mary’s hold on power is weakening, and George’s revolt could change everything. As war looms, the mother and son must find their way through dangerous seas to protect their futures.
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