Will came to London for the explicit purpose of providing for his family on a much larger scale. Of course, he could have figured out a way to support his wife and children on his glove maker salary, but they would have had a much more difficult time financially than they would if he hit it big in London. Shakespeare finding fame not only allows him an outlet for his creativity, not only allows his ego to be stroked in a way glove making didn’t permit, it meant that his family wouldn’t have to want for anything. However, since arriving in London, Will has found himself falling for someone else in a way he didn’t expect, with the thought of his wife and the life he left behind in Warwickshire seeming more like a memory with each passing day.
On the next episode of Will, Shakespeare is surprised when his wife Anna arrives in London. While on some level he’s glad to see her, considering that they’ve been apart for some time and she’s the mother of his children, her timing couldn’t have been any worse considering that he’s still up against Topcliffe’s deadline. There are other issues making this visit not especially pleasant, namely his guilt over his relationship with Alice and how different he feels after tasting success on the theater circuit, but given the time constraints and the impending danger that he faces, the deal with Topcliffe takes precedence above all else. It’s not something that he could just freely talk with his wife about, so Will runs the risk of having to drive her out of town via other means while working to either complete the anti-Catholic propaganda that was requested or figure out a way to avoid it while keeping himself safe. But if Will and Anna part via less than savory means, would their relationship be able to survive? Might Will have to use his affair with Alice as a way to drive Anna out of London and keep her safe from Topcliffe’s reach?
Elsewhere on Will, Marlowe goes on a vision quest looking for answers to his past trauma, while Topcliffe deciphers one of Will’s codes that sends the young maestro spiraling.
Will airs Mondays at 9:00 on TNT.
How is Shakespeare going to handle having his wife arrive in London? Is this transcendental experience going to cure Marlowe of his writer’s block? Could Topcliffe get the upper hand in his relationship with Shakespeare as a result of his code-breaking?
