Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Catherine learns that an arrest warrant has been prepared against her and removes the religious books that could endanger her household. She approaches Henry with careful humility, claiming that their disagreements were opportunities to learn from him and distract him from pain. He accepts the explanation and declares them reconciled. When Wriothesley later arrives to arrest her in the garden, Henry drives him and his guards away. Gardiner loses access to the king, and the contest over Edward's future moves towards the Seymours. Brandon, gravely ill, comes when Henry summons him. The king tries to command his recovery, but his oldest friend dies with Brigitte beside him.
Henry commissions Holbein to paint him while visions of his dead wives interrupt the image he wants to leave behind. Catherine of Aragon confronts him about Mary, Anne Boleyn insists on her innocence, and Jane challenges what he has demanded of Edward. The encounters leave him facing injuries he cannot reverse by giving another order. He says farewell to his wife and children and prepares for the prince's minority, then dreams of his younger self and a rider who brings death. Holbein's first likeness displeases him, but the new portrait presents the commanding king he wants remembered. Henry approves it and walks away. The series closes on that image rather than showing his death.