Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Cromwell invests his hopes in Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves and questions Holbein about the portrait commissioned to guide the choice. The minister wants an image that will help the alliance succeed, but the painting cannot control the king's reaction when the bride arrives. Henry rides to meet Anne and is disappointed as soon as he sees her. Their first exchange is awkward: she struggles to understand him and is distressed by the hostility she senses before she has had a chance to know him. Henry leaves with the gifts he brought, taking his displeasure back to a court where Cromwell has been celebrating the arrangement.
Henry summons his advisers and complains about being forced to marry for reasons of state. His objections fall most heavily on the man who promoted the match, but the political arrangements leave little room for an easy retreat. The marriage goes ahead without resolving his aversion. Anne tries to understand what is expected of her and talks with the women of her household about the couple's nights together. Lady Bryan explains what her account has left uncertain, making the private problem plain. Henry and Anne attempt intimacy again, but the effort fails and leaves both humiliated. She cries while he turns away in anger, and the alliance Cromwell presented as a solution has become a problem inside the royal bedchamber.