I Am the State

After a frenetic and racy first episode things settle down for the second episode. In fact their is a severe lack of nudity in this episode apart from King Louis still servicing his gay brother's wife because he will not.

Of course the episode started with the reveal that the baby was born black and the king really did not believe the rather implausible medical reason given by the physician. I think the list of suspects for who the real father can be will be a short one.

The highlight was his brother Phillipe who arrived at court wearing a dress and accompanied by another man. He gouged someone's eye out for sneering at him. Apparently Phillipe did sometimes wear a dress so that bit is not historically inaccurate.

Louis still knows that there is intrigue and an aristocrat was publicly humiliated and stripped of his lands for colluding with the Spanish.

A more subdued episode but I think actor George Blagden just feels ill at ease in the title role, he is just too bland compared with the actor Alexander Vlahos who plays his brother.