As this dog, Dash, is a bit of a plot point this week, this seems like a good moment to note that he's a VERY cute dog.
This is correct, on Albert's part. If you own a Leonardo, you should be aware of it. This also seems like a good point to do a little Deep Dive on Ernest, who is very interesting, and who also slept around like crazy and probably gave his wife an STD that rendered her infertile (in this episode, in fact, he pops round to the local brothel). He and Victoria had a very hot-and-cold relationship, most of which centered over each of their respective protectiveness (or lack thereof) of Albert.
I felt that you should know that whoever decorated the guest chambers at Buckingham Palace in this era was REALLY into curtains.
ME NEITHER, kid.
I loved this scene, wherein Victoria is learning what stamps are -- she amusingly notes that anyone who wants to send a letter is going to "lick [her] face" -- and Albert is all moody at the window and she asks him something glib about the stamps and he's like "I THINK STAMPS ARE AMAZING." Albert cares about progress! He likes mail! He has dramatic bangs! She's obviously going to fall in love with him.
This just seemed like a beautiful shot, wherein Victoria and Lord M are discussing once again whether or not Albert feels like a good match for her. But it's also an apt place to talk about how this episode did a good job with creating, if not tension, then interest in a plot point of which we all know the outcome -- thanks to history and all the giant monuments that Victoria erected for Albert all over London. (One of the reasons that Heather and I kept Victoria intact in our fictional British monarchy for The Royal We was that you lose SO MUCH of what makes London London if she never existed [also, she and Albert are a good love story].)
I hope you've learned by now that I am incapable of resisting a shot of a table setting. It is here that we are reminded that, once the Queen stops eating, everyone has their plate removed...
...and ALBERT IS STILL HUNGRY.
This is the rare Victorian Hair that I think doesn't look totally bonkers, and of course this gown is lovely. As a kid, I had a great paper doll set that was all Victorian ladies, and I think this was one of the dresses. This show is doing an excellent job with at least vaguely period-apt clothing (I say that as someone who is not an expert in that topic) that is also flattering in a way that Victorian gear sometimes was not.
I must apologize that I couldn't get a great shot of Victoria and Albert playing a HIGHLY SYMBOLIC DUET, during which everyone else gave each other MEANINGFUL GLANCES, and at the end of which Victoria is basically panting. "He played my keyboard as if it were HIS OWN," she complainss to Uncle Leopold here, and he makes the most amusing "UH-HUH" expression in response. Seriously, someone, please kiss this poor girl.
This episode is placing a lot of importance on male grooming. (I'm fine with that. I'd be happy to watch a whole show where people are just constantly shaving their faces.) It's all about the writers figuring out different interesting settings for Albert and/or Victoria to announce they're not interested in the other person when, in reality, they are actually coming around.
In which we learn more about how Albert is nice to everyone's mother -- even if said mother is basically terrible -- and how much Victoria loves a caplet.
This shot was beautifully composed, for yet another conversation about why Victoria might or might not want to marry Albert. This episode was, now that I look back at it, pretty repetative, but that didn't bother me while I was watching it. Rich people in olden times trying to decide who to marry is one of my favorite topics.
MAKE OUT.
You can tell that Victoria is starting to Feeling Stuff for Albert -- thanks to his hot bod, ability to dance, Sad Faces, and propensity for ripping open his shirt on the dance floor when overtaken by The Feels -- because she's dragging everyone to Windsor in the middle of the week because it has trees there, and Albert loves trees
HIDEOUS. (Per Wiki: "Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made Windsor Castle their principal royal residence, despite Victoria complaining early in her reign that the castle was "dull and tiresome" and "prison-like", and preferring Osborne and Balmoral as holiday residences. The growth of the British Empire and Victoria's close dynastic ties to Europe made Windsor the hub for many diplomatic and state visits, assisted by the new railways and steamships of the period." Learning!)
You can also tell that Victoria Loves Albert because she actually asks one of her staff at Windsor to give her a crash course in all the art they've got. He's clearly DELIGHTED that someone finally cares.
HIDEOUS Part Two.
Herein, Albert and Ernest (and all the other men) are wearing -- courtesy of Victoria -- "the Windsor uniform," which is actually still a thing, although it doesn't look like this anymore, which is A TRAGEDY. (Wills and Harry wore it just this year, in fact.)
Obviously, as in all good love stories, Albert and Victoria almost make out in the woods, where he saves her dog's broken leg before they fight about whether or not she's still in love with Lord M and he runs off into the forest dramatically.
And then she has the Sads.
But a good cure for the sads is a bracing Get a Grip from Uncle Leopold and his Whimsical Ascot....
...and a good cure for Albert's concerns is Lord M being totes cool to him when he and Ernest pop over to Parliament to observe democracy in action. I mostly included this shot because this building is amazing, whatever it actually is. I love a soaring arch!
"Does this look like the right thing to be wearing to propose to a sad, tree-loving German hottie? YES. Yes, it does."
So she asks, and he accepts, and finally WE HAVE MAKEOUTS. Will next week bring us more heaving bosoms? We can only hope.