Victoria Season 1 Recap “The Clockwork Prince”

After meeting cute over a piano last week, the sparks fly between Victoria and Albert. So why is everyone trying so hard to get them together?

After his grand entrance over a piano last week, this episode gave us what we had been waiting for. Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, spoke. And though there are many among us I am sure who are still yearning for the chemistry between Jenna Coleman and Rufus Sewell to spring into some non-historical romance, instead of the daddy-issue laden friendship it was in real life, for the rest of us, the discovery that Albert has an accent a thick as those hipster mustaches made us weak in the knees.

"Victoria: So everyone who wants to send a letter….will have to lick my face?"

Too bad Victoria is not nearly as impressed with him. His brother, Prince Ernest, who is far more charming and able to say all the right things on command, almost seems the better match. But they say that the romantic heroes are always adapted to fit the times, which certainly explains the mustaches on both men. It also explains the deep and brooding self-righteously intelligent behavior of the man who would be the Queen of England’s husband. One can almost imagine replacing those Saxe-Coburg royal togs with a pair of beat up converse, skinny jeans and a ’90s-style flannel, and sit him in a coffee shop muttering how he cannot believe said girl of his affections does not know her Leonardo Da Vinci paintings, or how he has great admiration for those who invented the royal mail.

Jenna Coleman as Victoria

(C) ITV Plc

But while Albert struggles to make gains with Victoria (and her dog, whose role in this week’s episode is damn near excellent), when he forgets to be “a prig” in the words of the Queen and starts being himself, he turns out to be quite an excellent fellow. Interested in the latest technology of the daguerreotype photograph, having his servant give money to little match girls, and proving that he likes the Rubenesque type paintings and the piano. (“All that wobbling flesh” indeed.) He also is clearly clueless about politics, asking if he can do a Parliament ride along, with no idea of the uproar it might cause.

"Victoria: I would rather marry Robert Peel!Lord M: I wonder what Lady Peel would say to that."

Poor Lord Melbourne, slowly but surely seeing Victoria go through the pangs of her first adult relationship, keeping that “stiff upper lip” as he goes about the day waiting to be replaced in her affections. And clearly Albert is having an effect, when we catch Victoria the next day practicing her scales after Albert’s admonishment at her skills. When Albert cuts in just as Melbourne is about to ask for the Waltz, the man knows when to step back. After all, history must be allowed to take its course. The gardenias Lord M gave Victoria from the Brocket Hall greenhouse? In a stroke of irony, Victoria gives them to Albert since they remind him of his mother. And they will remain next to Albert’s heart. (Let me tell you, a man who cuts his shirt for you, right in the middle of a waltz, without missing a step? A keeper, even if he is a prig.)

Nell Hudson as Miss Skerrett

(C) ITV Plc

Meanwhile, downstairs the drama continues with Skerrett who is apparently attempting to pay for a sister or a relative who is the real Eliza Skerrett (and does not have this job because she has a child.) We learn that Skerrett’s real name is Nancy. There’s a will she or won’t she thieve a diamond pin. (She won’t.) But the real interest, at least on my end was the confluence of German and English as Albert’s butler, Lohlein, attempts to navigate the politics of downstairs. Penge sneers at him, demanding he speak English and drinks. Meanwhile Lady Portman turns out to be completely fluent in German, and clearly has opinions about Englishmen like Penge and how those like Lohlein have a duty to be better than them. That is…until Penge turns out to speak German just fine—let’s just say Lohlein’s not the only one who is shocked by this development either.

"Mrs. Jenkins: Windsor on a Wednesday? Whatever next?"

Back upstairs, Albert continues to sway Victoria’s interests, and next thing we know, we’re off to Windsor on a Wednesday, as Albert’s love of trees had inspired the queen to go check them out. (As well as her picture collection.) It’s too bad that Albert still when put on the spot says all the wrong things. But a discussion about art? Or in this case “Oliver Twist by Mr. Dickens”… or her dog sustaining injury, and suddenly the man comes alive. Self righteously alive, to be sure, but it’s still a sight to behold. Remind me to demand my men rip their sleeves off to bandage my kitty if said feline is ever injured.

Screengrab via ITV

But of course, despite his best efforts to step back, Lord Melbourne still gets in the way. Albert can’t contain his jealousy when Victoria mentions him as a friend, and in return, Victoria has had just about enough of having her own country mansplained to her by this proto-fedora and his overly serious ways. They may have arrived at Windsor on a Wednesday, but they leave again just as quickly. And while Albert storms that Victoria doesn’t see the poverty around her, she quietly proves him wrong, by gifting Skerrett several lace collars, after intuiting that the girl sold hers.  “Sometimes she sees me” says Skerrett. I suppose Albert would insist we thank him for it.

Next: Victoria Season 1 Recap: Brocket Hall

But all is repaired by the end of the hour. A gentle push from Leopold at Victoria to ask the man to marry her already (after all, he’s so self serious and dumb about life if he says yes, she’ll know it’s because he actually wants to marry her). Meanwhile, during the Parliament ride along,  a few well placed words from Lord Melbourne about how he will retire anyway, and be moving on home soon to Albert suddenly make the boy realize he’s been the world’s biggest idiot. All the obstacles magically melt away into a proposal for the ages, complete with gardenias and a promise that this marriage will be inconvenient for all involved. We can’t wait for the drama that follows.