Mary & George Episode 3 “Not So Much as Love as by Awe” borrows its name from a letter sent between King James I (Tony Curran) and lover Robert Carr, the Earl of Somerset (Laurie Davidson) in real life. The Starz show’s creator D.C. Moore paraphrased the letter to Decider thus: “Somerset was playing up because George (Nicholas Galitzine) has arrived [in court] and he said, ‘In your mad fits, it seems to me, you mean to hold me not so much by love as by awe, and in my reverence for you, I’m afraid to upset you or resist your appetites.’” It’s a fitting reference for an episode that delves into the dangerous tug-of-war that took place between Somerset and George Villiers for the king’s heart.
When Mary & George Episode 3 begins, George is downtrodden and forced to watch as Somerset keeps the king firmly in his literal and figurative grasp. However, by the episode’s end, the tables have turned. George’s mother Mary is able to find proof that Somerset and, more specifically, his wife (Pearl Chanda) used a mix of poison and witchcraft to murder a nobleman who opposed their union. As Somerset’s star falls, he makes a final gambit for survival. He doesn’t beg the king’s pardon…but George’s?
Yep, after weeks of torturing George, mocking him, and even threatening to cut off his hands (!!), Somerset visits George as he recuperates from smallpox. The handsome Somerset tearfully declares that this whole time he has been in love with George. He wasn’t jealous that George could steal James from him, but that James had stolen George!
George and Somerset proceed to have sex, but afterwards, the situation turns. Somerset pleads for George to intercede on his behalf and George coldly reveals that he wants to see his rival hang.
“I just wanted, like my mother, to fuck you,” George confesses with a laugh. “Let it be the last thing you think of before you hang.”
So George played Somerset like a fiddle in the scene — or, I guess, because it’s George, a cello. But was Somerset being vulnerable in any way? Or was he merely attempting to save his skin by any means necessary?
Did Somerset actually love George?
“I think I’m going to resist answering that one because I feel like I like what’s in the show,” Moore told Decider. “I don’t want to give any further [indication into] what actually is happening, but I feel like…I feel like just believe George when he says what he says.”
Somerset’s feelings may be forever shrouded in mystery, but George Villiers simply wanted to fuck his rival over.
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