If you’re jonsing for a Kit Harington fix and you’ve already binge watched Game of Thrones, and you’ve even sunk so low as to watch Pompeii, well, the BBC has you covered. Last night saw the premiere of Gunpowder, a three-part series dramatizing the infamous gunpowder plot where papal loyalists sought to bring down parliament and end Catholic prosecution in England. Here, Kit Harington plays Robert Catesby, one of the principle instigators of the gunpowder plot.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the gunpowder plot was all about Guy Fawkes. Readers from Britain will at least know of the plot if, at least, only because of Bonfire Night. Furthermore, the accompanying nursery rhyme (remember, remember the 5th of November) makes no mention of anyone other than Guy Fawkes. However, Guy Fawkes was only one of a number of people involved in the plot to blow up the House of Lords. It was Robert Catesby who devised the plan.
Catesby was described as ‘a good-looking man, about six feet tall, athletic and a good swordsman’, so Harington is a good fit, even if he is only 5’ 8”. And in fact, Catesby and John Wright, among others, had already used their good swordsmanship during the reign of Queen Elizabeth in Essex’s rebellion, though that had nothing to do with Catholic emancipation. It was just a group of disgruntled subjects and it was quickly quashed. For his part Catesby was fined and released.
Jon Snow trades Longclaw for a nice hat and a gun.
Gunpowder takes place after Catesby’s involvement in Essex’s rebellion, after Queen Elizabeth has died and the kingdom passed to James Stuart. Many had hoped that James would be more sympathetic towards Catholics than Elizabeth had been, and although Gunpowder does depict the King was being unwilling to be unnecessarily cruel in their pursuit of Catholics, Catholics were still being arrested and tried for treason for their faith during his reign. Disillusioned, Catesby begins to see violence as the best answer to their problems.
This first episode puts a personal spin on the story, showing Catesby and his relatives involved in a secret mass, at which point Sir William Wade, played by Shaun Dooley, descends upon the house. Some quick efforts are made to hide the priests and a long, intense scene brings the viewer to the edge of their seat waiting to know if they’ll be found. Eventually one priests is found and one of the women gives themselves up to protect the others.
What follows is a scene as gruesome as anything we might have seen in Game of Thrones. The woman is crushed under weights in a torture act known as ‘peine forte et dure’. The priest is hung, drawn and quartered. And as horrendous as these executions are, these were the penalties applied to criminals charged with treason in the 1600s. Even if some of the characters are fictitious (there’s nothing historically to suggest that any single execution prompted Catesby’s destructive rebellion), the series is being extremely accurate in its depiction of how Catholics were prosecuted.
After the fairly violent first half, the latter portion of the first episode involves more intrigue and family drama, most notably with Mark Gatiss’s Sir Robert Cecil manipulating and blackmailing others to a – convince the King to place harsher laws on Catholics, and b – to infiltrate a group of Catholics in Flanders. The first is successful but the second results in an alleyway stabbing by none other than Guy Fawkes. The second plot doesn’t really seem to have had any importance other than give us a dramatic introduction to the other character whose name people are likely to know.
Remember, remember, it’s not all about Guy Fawkes.
Given that the gunpowder plot took about a year between conception to execution, and that the show is likely to portray the literal executions afterwards, this first episode moved extremely slowly. I like court intrigue and bloody executions as much as the next guy (hung, drawn and quartered has nothing on the blood eagle) but by the end of this episode, which marks one third of this series, Catesby had only just shared the idea to blow up the House of Lords. If this were a ten episode series then sure, they could take their time with the nuance of the story and character motivations, but as it is, they’re packing a lot of the actual planning and recruitment into the next episode, as well as the execution and reveal into the finale. Not to mention that the intended date of destruction was changed because of a plague.
As it is, it’s an enjoyable, although for historical drama I’ll still stick with Victoria or Vikings. But the story is compelling, and it isn’t a part of history that gets a lot of attention outside of bonfires and fireworks. The acting is solid all around and I’m looking forward to Harington being more charismatic and inspiring when it comes to gather new members for the plot. But part of me just can’t be bothered getting invested when it’s only three episodes long. It feels like it’s just not substantial enough for me to sink my teeth into, though honestly it’s an issue I have with a lot of British, so it’s not unique to Gunpowder.
What did you think of Gunpowder? Did it satisfy that craving for Kit Harington? Or does it need more shirtless scenes? Fire me a comment and let me know your thoughts. The comment box or my social media profiles are all open, so send me your thoughts. Or if you are looking for more Kit Harington you can find my Game of Thrones reviews in the archives. If you like what you see you can follow this blog to keep up to date with new content, or follow me on the various media accounts. Or, if desperate for original fiction, check out my novel, Carrion Youth, over on Swoonreads.
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