Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Henry marries Catherine Parr before taking his army to France. She enters the marriage with an ability to manage both his household and the work of government, and he leaves her as regent while he pursues the campaign. The preparations bring soldiers, guns and supplies together for the siege of Boulogne, giving Henry the prospect of another military triumph. From his pavilion, he orders Brandon to open fire, and the artillery breaks part of the town's defences. The soldiers cheer as a tower collapses. Henry enjoys the destruction as proof of progress, while the men in the trenches begin a much longer and more dangerous wait.
At home, Catherine works through the kingdom's paperwork and receives visitors on religious business, including Hugh Latimer. Her willingness to hear reformers places her household within the struggle over the church, even while her immediate duty is to keep the country governed during Henry's absence. In France, the first excitement of bombardment has given way to casualties and disease. Reports from the surgeons bring the king news he cannot turn into a celebration. Brandon and Surrey discuss the engineer Girolamo, whose plans offer hope but also invite doubt. Henry climbs back to his viewing pavilion in pain and looks over a town that is still holding out. The episode leaves him determined to continue the siege rather than return without the victory he has promised himself.