"The Serpent Queen" presents Catherine de Medici as a cultivator of chaos. She sows it carefully and waits for it to grow to its fullest height before cutting it down to weave it around enemies and would-be friends. It's a tough material to fashion, let alone master, which can only be achieved through conquering other areas of expertise . . . starting with survival.
With apologies to those mourning Britain's recently departed monarch, there's no shortage of TV queens at the moment. Between Westeros, Middle Earth, and the array of historic dramas that populate Starz's and PBS' respective catalogs, audiences are in no danger of forgetting how tough life can be for a royal.
-copy-29e15046.jpeg?w=600)
