The ‘Mary & George’ Sex Romp Ends With a (Literally) Buried Heart

As much fun as Mary & George can be, what with all of Julianne Moore’s plotting and perversion as the devious Mary Villiers, it surprises when it reminds us that a soul is lurking somewhere beneath all of the show’s delectable lechery. After a bout of orgies and murder in last week’s episode, the limited series returns tonight with an installment that’s slightly more tempered, though no less packed with sex and manslaughter—you’ve got to give the people what they want! Episode 4 sees the show continuing to operate at a level higher than most contemporary series ever reach. It’s a deftly written, droll chapter in the life of Mary and her second-born son George (Nicholas Galitzine), one that pushes the show past its halfway point, but still promises plenty more action to come.

Episode 4 opens in 1617, just before the show’s normal timeline, with two lowly gravediggers in Scotland tasked to dig up something from an unmarked grave. The men unearth a human heart below the soil, and, shocked, wonder what kind of demented man this organ has been passed down from. The episode makes no secret of that, cutting immediately to a sight of King James I (Tony Curran) and George in the king’s bed, naked. Why James is preoccupied with getting his hands on someone else’s ventricles and vessels we don’t yet know, but a bare heart resting six feet underground doesn’t bode well for George. James stirs and lifts George’s arm around him, stroking his soft skin, before bringing George’s forearm to his mouth and biting it like a hungry dog.

When Mary meets George at the royal palace’s grounds, she balks at George’s bite mark, while George likens the force of the king’s nibble to a hunting terrier. The king approaches, overhearing their conversation, and asks who the terrier among them is. Mary, always quick on her feet, responds, “Me!” and begins to bark and growl like a dog. She’s happy to embarrass herself in this fashion if the king can remain unaware of their discussion, but when James invites Mary to toss a mouse at his prized hawk and the hawk has no response, she recoils. Whether or not the bird takes any interest in the rodent is no concern of the king’s, but Mary reacts to any social blunder like a life-threatening injury.

James announces his plans to return to his native Scotland for the first time since becoming king, and enlists Sir Francis Bacon (Mark O’Halloran) to be the royal seal in charge of matters of state while the king and his court are away. The stubborn Lady Hatton (Nicola Walker)—Mary’s most formidable foe, whose daughter Mary wants to marry off to her first-born son John (Tim Victor)—is also planning a trip. The king and Lady Hatton’s mutual vacations are a perfect chance for Mary to do some scheming. George will get closer to the king while they’re away together, and Mary will attempt to get Lady Hatton’s daughter, Frances (Amelia Gething), away from her mother to wed John.

“The thought strikes me every day like a hard fist: I do not own my home or any asset,” Mary tells George. “My children are unwed. If the king’s affection for you curdles, we have nothing. And I will not return to that, George—ever.” Mary encourages her son to keep an eye on the king, as James seems particularly concerned with loyalty in his court lately.

George heads to Scotland with the king, and Mary meets with Sir Edward Coke (Adrian Rawlins)—Lady Hatton’s husband—to propose her plan for Frances to marry John while Lady Hatton is away. Mary ensures him that, if he assists her, she will help Edward advance in the king’s court. “The king is George’s now, no doubt,” Mary says. “Join our family and the stage is yours.” When Edward tells her that Lady Hatton’s riches will pay the marriage dowry that will keep both of them moving up in society, Mary laughs: “Yes, I love that part!”

Unfortunately, Lady Hatton is one step ahead of Mary, sending Frances off to a secret location and having her valuables tucked away for safekeeping. When the two meet outside of Lady Hatton’s estate, it’s war. Mary assures her that her plan will come to fruition. “Oh, really do get fucked,” Lady Hatton says. “No, I really will get Frances,” Mary replies. It’s such a joy to watch Julianne Moore be so bad that it’s almost a disappointment when the episode focuses on George’s trip to Scotland, but in typical Mary & George fashion, there’s plenty of drama there too.

George has brought his younger brother, Kit (Jacob McCarthy), along for the trip. At a large royal dinner, George and Kit are seated away from the king, who publicly dallies with another male member of his bedchamber, making George jealous. Another party at their table, Peter Carr (Dylan Brady), introduces himself. “The Earl of Somerset [was Robert Carr],” Kit says, referring to the king’s former right hand man, whom Mary plotted to have killed in a brilliant roundabout plan in last week’s episode. Peter tells them that the Earl of Somerset was his cousin, but George thinks little of this small revelation.

But the more time that James spends in Scotland, the more paranoid and uncomfortable he becomes. The king accuses George of sleeping with Peter—which he did out of a jealous retaliation toward the king’s public advances on another man at the group dinner. Both George and James are filled with envy. “I had a love once, a true love,” James tells George. “And he told me once, ‘No one would ever be as true to you as I.’ How right he was.” And with that, James tells George to find somewhere else to sleep. He might be a king, but James can certainly be a bitchy little queen, too.

Back in England, Mary, Sir Edward, and Mary’s prostitute girlfriend Sandie (Niamh Algar) find and kidnap Frances, hauling her off to be married to John. They’re briefly stopped by Francis Bacon, who tells them that, while he can’t legally object to the wedding, he does have certain powers of the state at his hand to employ while the king is away. Bacon arranges for Lady Hatton and Mary to have joint custody over Frances until the King’s return, when he can decide Frances’ fate. John and Frances are married, but things quickly go south when John descends into a fit and slices a servant with a dinner knife. Relaying this trouble to Mary, Sandie asks her lover when all of this will end. “Nothing ever ends,” Mary replies. “Everything is a ceaseless fight. But I vow to you, as I battle, you rise.”

As their Scotland trip winds down, Peter takes George to a remote castle so the two can be alone. There, Peter tells George more about the king’s mysterious former lover, Lord Lennox. “Lennox was older than the king, and James was besotted,” Peter tells George. “He let Lennox rule us by his every whim, just like my cousin Somerset ruled you. But other Lords here were not happy with Lord Lennox.” Peter goes on to detail a plan forged by Lord Reven, who kidnapped the king and brought James to the castle they’re standing in, where he was held prisoner for 10 months before escaping. After he freed himself, James ensured Lord Reven was erased from history. Peter is initially seducing George while telling him all of this, but then wraps his hands around George’s neck and starts to squeeze. “So, if anything happened to you in this castle,” Peter says, “All in Scotland would know its significance, its beauty.”

Peter tries to exact revenge for the death of Somerset by killing George, but is stopped by Kit, who followed the two men to the castle and shoots Peter at point-blank range, killing him. George’s brush with death brings him back into James’ good graces and elicits some vulnerability from the typically guarded royalty. “Whilst I was detained in that awful tower, Lennox was exiled,” James tells George. “He died in France, impoverished and alone. No one ever let me bring him back.” James tells George that Lord Lennox left physical proof of his love for James: his heart. Lennox left instructions for it to be embalmed and sent to James, who had it buried in Edinburgh in a secret spot. The real purpose of their trip to Scotland, James reveals, is to give Lennox’s heart a proper burial and a real gravesite.

This candor from the king is extremely rare, which George knows very well. The two men gaze at each other softly before kissing and going to bed together, waking up the next morning to bury Lennox’s heart once more. After the burial, George stumbles upon Francis Bacon, who has traveled to Scotland to meet with James and inform him of pressing matters: Mary’s machinations with Lady Hatton, John, and Frances. George, having received letters from his mother about her progress, asks Bacon, “Why ride out to meet us, did you want to make sure it was your version James heard first?”

“Am I quite so transparent?” Bacon asks, laughing. “Not just you,” George replies, before leading him into a tent where James and—surprise!—Mary are seated, having a conversation. Mary beat Francis to the punch, ensuring that she could have the king’s ear and make sure that her son stays wed, which will ensure her continued rise in society. The king tells Francis that he’s even made Kit an Earl as a reward for saving George’s life.

Now, Mary has two sons in the royal court and her first-born son is securely wed, with a dowry in her pocket. It would seem that she’s at an ideal station, but even a member of the king’s bedchamber must be wed eventually, meaning that it’s time for Mary to find George a beard—sorry, I mean, a wife. “Don’t worry, I’ll choose well,” Mary tells him. “I look after you, don’t I? All of you.” There’s confidence to Mary’s words, but an instability in the atmosphere. Though Mary may be a magnificent antihero, she’s had to fight every step of the way. And more power only means that there will be more people waiting to try to take it away from her so they can have it for themselves.