The Serpent Queen

"The Serpent Queen" may be the latest Starz drama that plumbs the ghastly inner workings of court intrigue to remind us that in the past, as now, a woman's life was far from the stuff of fables. But it distinguishes itself by rinsing away the cosmetics of royal etiquette and self-serious machination with bracing wit.

Samantha Morton, whose career has brought her from strength (“Jesus’ Son,” “Sweet and Lowdown”) to strength (“Harlots”), is just right for the role. ... In the five episodes (of eight in all) made available, Morton is somewhat peripheral, as we see how Catherine came to power through flashbacks featuring an excellent Liv Hill as the younger, more vulnerable version. But she nonetheless casts a powerful shadow across those episodes.

Morton’s adult Catherine only appears on the edges of the series’ initial episodes, but her performance is mesmerizing from her first moments onscreen, and it’s her presence that carries this drama throughout.

The Serpent Queen is a hip show about a woman who understands her power and is not afraid to use it, even — especially — if it means stepping on people's throats to get to where she needs to be.

“The Serpent Queen” grafts its kitschiness onto the nominally bookish genre. While it definitely shares a kinship with Starz’s other Tudor-centric series, Morton’s knowingly malevolent portrayal, alongside Hill, spices up the proceedings just enough to elicit interest.

For all its minor faults, though, The Serpent Queen still feels like a worthy successor to the likes of Becoming Elizabeth, The White Princess, and The Spanish Princess, carrying on Starz’s legacy of lavish period pieces told through a more modern lens.

Morton is the one that guides us through all of the story’s challenges with ease. When making the most of her performance and the character study it creates, The Serpent Queen proves to be more than worth getting wrapped up in, with the story only luring us in — much like the snake in its title.

The Serpent Queen has just enough irreverence to make what could have been a boring period story a lot more interesting, emphasizing Catherine de’ Medici’s cunning over being prim and proper.

Maybe the most interesting about “The Serpent Queen,” though, is the strange tension between its attempts to twist the historical drama with fourth-wall breaks and modern soundtrack and the fact that it is otherwise….well, an entirely typical historical drama. Which is fine!

Justin Haythe’s script may embody all the things period dramas seem to be right now – irreverent, foul-mouthed, darkly satirical – but it needs more psychological heft. As a result, unlike its namesake, The Serpent Queen is good but not great.