The Hollow Crown - Henry V [2012] + Announcing Hallowatch 2026

Welcome back to My Year of Shakespeare, the blog series where I pretend I am qualified to talk about a play because I've seen the movie.

Henry V

Henry V is the first series finale of "The Hollow Crown" and is an adaptation of the play of the same name; Henry V leads an England, united for the first time since the beginning of Richard II, in conquest against France; however even when united, the play goes to lengths to consider the ways in which there are unaddressed divides in a "united" kingdom — of life satisfaction and quality between classes, of language between nobles being assimilated, of the church not paying taxes and still desiring to wield power. The play can be interpreted both as having a pro-War message — all the "Once more into the breach"/"we band of brothers" of it all — and an anti-War message with the perspective of the soldiers, the focus on the tumult introduced by those with whom might makes right, the church wanting to avoid taxes on its wealth, even the final straw that causes the muster being a crate of tennis balls from France. Shakespeare has written a koan, one resolvable at time of performance by who the strongest performers are. Neat.

Unfortunately for us, we have Tom Hiddleston and John Hurt as King Henry and the omniscient narrator chorus; They are strong performers. The pro-war bend provided then rallies an audience around the King and his conquest; I don't think I've ever felt that for a country — our presidents have been a subject of scorn and ridicule since I can remember, even when W had a 9/11-given free pass; more of a concern is the libertarian fragments that fantasize about doing violence against soft targets within the country that ultimately acts as a blooded cudgel for reinforcing right-wing goals — but having seen it here, I can imagine that hits quite different if you're bought in. Especially for a "good" king, Hiddleston's joviality giving way to threats when addressing Harfleur is chilling. This is the sausage of The Nation and how it is made.

The way this depicts the crown as passing to a 'rightful' king is interesting; like Bolingbroke's broken promise to Richard II being righted by his son, who leads England to conquer France, is very interesting in a sense that you can feel the illusion break on the whole writing-of-history due to the inherent fiction of the play/movie. I'm not sure whether that was intentional — almost certainly, right? — or if that's a "newer" or ahistorical read on the whole apparatus. I may be bringing a sort of "gods are falsehoods told by people in power to justify their actions" to this that monarchists don't really vibe with; or I may be an expert at spotting rationalizations due to partaking in them so often. Who can say.

The vulnerability and nervousness Hiddleston brought to the scene when meeting Katherine, Princess of France, made that scene land for me in a way that none of the other couples-introductory scenes in the non-historical plays did. Both Hiddleston and Mélanie Thierry have such a flighty chemistry, like both want to be there, both are interested, but neither wants to make a false move or one that would endanger any potential relationships and so both freeze. Fantastic work. Curious how Branagh will play this when we watch his version of Henry V in a month.

I also didn't completely hate Pistol and the lower caste's role in this one? Lacking Falstaff and plot-centrality, they weren't nearly as obnoxious.

For anyone who isn't watching along, this is where I pass along a strong recommend for the first series/season of The Hollow Crown. I enjoyed it, even with my distaste for Falstaff and befuddlement at Henry IV, Part 2 as its own play.

Next Week

We are beginning series two of The Hollow Crown, starting Henry VI, part one, which I understand covers some of its adjacent play (Henry VI being broken into three parts, The Hollow Crown's version rewriting them into two parts)

• October 4 - The Hollow Crown, Season 2, Episode 1: Henry VI part 1
• October 11 - The Hollow Crown, S02/E02: Henry VI part 2
• October 18 - The Hollow Crown, S02/E03: Richard III
• October 25 - The King (2019)
• November 1 - Chimes at Midnight (1966)
• November 8 - My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• November 15 - Henry V (1989)
• November 22 - The Black Adder [series one] (1983)
• November 29 - The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Also Next Week, Hallowatch 2026 begins

We're going to watch a scary movie every day for a month. I'm going to write a little about it — I probably will not have Big Thoughts but I will have Thoughts — and also do a little sketch for it.

In previous years, I've done this (though never with an actual audience or drawing/writing, more on an ad-hoc basis, haphazardly and unceremoniously dumped onto social media) but without a plan or watch list of some kind, ended up revisiting movies I'd seen before, defaulting to "next in the franchise" type maneuvers. Not great for branching out.

I won't be pausing My Year of Shakespeare for this, so I expect to get very comfortable on my couch as the summer fades here.

This year's selections are all movies I have not seen before, released per-year going backwards; I believe, until 2003 drops off the list, this is the only year I can use this format, so I'll be Actually Creative next year (or stick to a theme like Giallos or something):

• Oct 1 - Exit 8 (2025)
• Oct 2 - Bone Lake (2024)
• Oct 3 - No One Will Save You (2023)
• Oct 4 - Swallowed (2022)
• Oct 5 - Antlers (2021)
• Oct 6 - The Rental (2020)
• Oct 7 - Midsommar (2019)
• Oct 8 - The Nun (2018)
• Oct 9 - Rings (2017)
• Oct 10 - Train to Busan (2016)
• Oct 11 - The VVitch (2015)
• Oct 12 - Unfriended (2014)
• Oct 13 - Proxy (2013)
• Oct 14 - Tulpa (2012)
• Oct 15 - 11-11-11 (2011)
• Oct 16 - Insidious (2010)
• Oct 17 - Triangle (2009)
• Oct 18 - Pontypool (2008)
• Oct 19 - Spiral (2007)
• Oct 20 - Evil Bong (2006)
• Oct 21 - House of Wax (2005)
• Oct 22 - Il Cartaio (2004)
• Oct 23 - Gothika (2003)
• Oct 24 - Long Time Dead (2002)
• Oct 25 - Visitor Q (2001)
• Oct 26 - Uzumaki (2000)
• Oct 27 - House on Haunted Hill (1999)
• Oct 28 - Tomie (1998)
• Oct 29 - The Wax Mask (1997)
• Oct 30 - Tales from the Crypt - Bordello of Blood (1996)
• Oct 31 - Village of the Damned (1995)

Thank you for reading along with My Year of Shakespeare. Let's get spooky.