SPOILERS: the finale played out in probably the most satisfying way possible. Joe M got to solve the mystery but Alan Carr truly, completely deserved that win. National Treasure status is in the post.

The current glut of “prestige dramas” (movie scripts that have been stretched more than Mike Teavee) have made us all forget what real TV is about: masterfully crafted weekly schlock

Awww that’s so sweet, thank you!

I just hope the BBC keep the format going long enough that they stoop to the level of “moderately successful indie podcasters”

Also Joe Marler going full Poirot was just glorious

Most interesting plot thread so far is that everyone very clearly knows [SPOILER]* is a traitor, have done for days, but are unwilling to actually vote for him.

*if you know, you know

I replicated this survey in the wild with actual friends who i respect and got the same answer. What is up with this fucking airport

Dude that’s you!

This then leads to dialogue that’s total historical nonsense. At the end of episode 1, Edward declares that the “blood of Wessex” will be excluded from the royal line. But the blood of Wessex… is his! The English royal family - the line of Alfred - IS the HOUSE of WESSEX!

But in this show the Earldoms are presented as ancient dynastic houses - pretty much exactly the same as the Houses/Kingdoms of GoT. This is an incredibly important point because it totally misunderstands the structure of English politics and society!

Anglo Saxon earldoms were invented by Cnut in the 1020s as regional governorships. Earls are royal appointments who were regularly dismissed at the king’s pleasure

This then creates a cascading problem where we fail to explain why England needs to elect a new king at all - we are just told that “the earldoms have decided to.” And that brings us to probably the most irritating part of this- the show doesn’t know what an earldom is

But why was Edward in Normandy at all? This is never explored (at least in the first ep) because we never Cnut, Harold Harefoot, Harthacnut or indeed any Danes at all - kind of problematic when they’ve been ruling the country for the last 26 years

This immediately breaks the narrative in exciting ways. First, Edward and William were now children together in Normandy - in reality Edward was a good 25 years older, and that age gap is sort of the entire reason William is able to swan in in 1066 and usurp the throne