or does there seem to be a definite hint that Urquhart has some idea in mind of making an attempt to seduce the King's ex-wife? I very much picked up on that idea, but I'm wondering if I'm reading this correctly. Did anyone else get a sense of this?
shareIt seems possible he was considering the advantages and risks of doing so. As a master manipulator he may have understood it was possible(?), but his sexual interest in women seems to be based on how useful they can be in other ways, so he was probably just making sure he could return later if she did prove valuable to his agenda.
shareThanks for the response. Yes, that would make sense. I'd expect that any sort of advances he might have made in that direction would have been in large part based on how useful she could be for him in his stand-off with the King. Even after the abdication, I'd imagine that she might have been quite a useful acquisition for Urquhart since the underage new King would require a regent and she'd be very involved in the process of appointing one (I'm not sure about the fine points of British monarchical law, so I'm uncertain if she could act as regent herself); if she were Urquhart's bedmate, it's quite likely he'd have a very profound say in shaping policy, and he'd naturally seek that.
shareAfter watching The Final Cut, I also believe you've come up with a more interesting follow up story idea then the one we were given. While there were interesting points in the third part of the trilogy, it lacked the intensity of the first two. I know when I'm in the mood to watch this series, it usually involves 1 & 2, skipping 3.
I'm not sure what the King's ex's position would be, but she would be mother of the newly crowned King, and that should be a powerful influence. Imagine if Francis rid himself of a weak opponent, only to find the mother and son a far stronger force against him. We were already shown Francis could make mistakes, as he did with Stamper, but we never really saw him battle an opponent who was his equal.
A modest thanks for the compliment--I liked The Final Cut, but, like you, I felt it was decidedly weaker than the two preceding installments, and definitely missed out on having Urquhart go down fighting against someone who was as powerful/cunning/ruthless as himself--if not more so (unless you count his wife, of course). And it would have made for an intriguing turn of events to have that opponent be a woman, particularly a current or former lover. The King's ex-wife could have been the perfect setup for carrying that out--a bit of a lost opportunity there.
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