WILL Episode 4

Episode 4 of WILL continues to bring forth the quality of writing and acting that keeps me watching every week and leaves me excited to see what will happen next.  In Episode 4, the spiritual warfare gets even more intense, manifest both internally and externally.

 

In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, he writes about the internal battle between the flesh and spirit.  To Will, Alice represents the flesh, lust towards the forbidden.  Will’s cousin, Robert Southwell, on the other hand, represents the spirit, encouraging Will to use his God given talents, aided by the Holy Spirit, to finish his manuscript to be given to the queen, in hopes of bringing about peace.  While it is clear that Will is torn, it is also clear that he is leaning towards Alice.

 

Alice’s mother has meanwhile arranged a chance for Alice to meet a specific rich man to potentially marry.  It is fascinating that the show’s tone in pulling for the Will and Alice forbidden relationship initially makes Alice’s mother’s attempted fix-up appear antagonistic, until one gives it further thought and remembers that Will is a married man.  That being said, when the intent of Alice’s mother is made clear, we see that she wills to sacrifice Alice’s chance of finding true love in order to secure her a husband who will provide financial security not merely for Alice, but for the entire Burbage family.  Thus, the initial instinct in opposing this fix-up manifests itself again, but for a different reason.

 

With the encouragement of Christopher Marlowe, Will attends a gathering of men that involves drugs and astrology, attempting to invoke the Archangel Michael in a manner that would be illicit both for Catholics and Protestants.  Will, while under the influence of whatever he smoked trough something that resembles a flute, begins to have hallucinations that torment his soul.

 

Soon afterwards, Will attempts to burn the manuscript written by Robert Southwell.  One could argue that his rationale was that being caught possessing the manuscript would reveal him to be Catholic, jeopardizing both his life, and the lives of the entire Burbage family.  One can glean a much deeper meaning than that surface reason, however, looking at his actions more comprehensively.  Will was engaging in illicit sexual behavior, while furthermore using his talents for personal fame and recognition, rather than to bring about peace and glorify God.  He was drifting away from his Catholic Faith, blaming his Faith for making him feel guilty, and perhaps, burning the manuscript as an action of deeper symbolism in terms of how he was feeling about his religion.  Those who are choosing to drown in sin often make the choice to reject the validity of the teachings of their church, hoping that doing so will ease the conflict of their conscience.  What they find out, however, is that such a decision doesn’t alleviate their pain; it merely blocks their hope and healing, even if they are self-deceived to believe otherwise.

 

Alice stops Will from burning the manuscript, due to fear that the fire would spread.  When she realizes what it is that Will was trying to burn, she becomes outraged at the danger that Will potentially placed her family into, by possessing the manuscript.  Alice shows no outward signs of care as to whether Will believes in and supports the cause behind the manuscript.  Alice breaks off the affair, and meets with the man who her mother set her up with.  Will, however, interferes with that, and Alice regains her feelings for Will.

 

Robert Southwell calls Will out on his affair, placing the central focus not on how Will cheated on his wife, but on how Will took Alice, a woman of virtue, and stole her virtue from her.  (He didn’t phrase it quite so charitably.)  Will’s reaction was to verbally attack Robert Southwell for saying what he said, Will claiming, “You are full of bitterness and anger, cousin, and peace has never been born of these things.”  Will’s words are a typical reaction of people who are desperately trying to deny the inappropriateness of their own illicit sexual exploits.  They take a hateful attitude towards whoever or whatever is confirming their guilty feelings.  We have seen this with the Biblical character Herodias who had John the Baptist beheaded for telling her that her sexual behavior was wrong.  The evil spirit of Herodias tends to remain to this day in those who want to eradicate their own guilt, by trying to deny the wrongness of their actions.   They resent the God who created sexuality and designed it to be beautiful in its proper context, the God who gives grace to enable people to use their sexuality in a way honorable to Him and to the opposite gender.  Will’s true mindset behind his words towards his cousin epitomizes a very real, yet unfortunate coping strategy utilized by a sadly large number of people who have forgotten that God loves them and wants to forgive them.

 

Will is soon summoned by Richard Topcliffe, who has still been torturing and murdering Catholics.  Will willingly consents to meeting with him.  Richard Topcliffe asks Will to write a play that is overtly anti-Catholic, realizing that the arts are an excellent way to subtly yet effectively spread messages of hateful propaganda to unsuspecting people who merely believe they are being entertained, even though they are really being manipulated and indoctrinated, without knowing it.  Essentially, this request is the polar opposite of what Robert Southwell has asked Will to do.  What will Will do?  Tune in to TNT next Monday, July 31, at 9:00 P.M. EDT to find out.  I certainly plan to, as I believe next week’s episode will be worth your time, as was this week’s show.