‘Becoming Elizabeth’ Exclusive Clip Reveals the Moment Elizabeth Finally Gains Some Savvy

The thing that makes Starz‘s Becoming Elizabeth simultaneously so fascinating and frustrating is that we get to see Elizabeth (Alicia von Rittberg) before she ascends the throne and transforms into England’s Virgin Queen. We have not seen her as a power player or a savvy strategist. She’s a clever and brave teenager, sure, but she has hitherto lacked the wisdom to play the great game and not be played. So far in Becoming Elizabeth, Elizabeth has been an unwitting victim and accidental conspirator. Where in this girl is the woman who would become England’s most formidable monarch? Will she ever, you know…become Elizabeth?

Cut to this week’s all-new episode of Becoming Elizabeth, premiering this Sunday on Starz. In Becoming Elizabeth Episode 6 “What Cannot Be Cured,” we finally get to see some of the fire that would define Elizabeth and her reign. In a single scene, the show delves into the rigorous examinations that Elizabeth was subjected to after Thomas Seymour’s (Tom Cullen) arrest. Elizabeth’s household was also seized, her governess Kat Ashley (Alexandra Gilbreath) arrested, and Elizabeth is being accused of conspiring with Thomas Seymour to topple her younger brother from the throne.

In the show, Elizabeth is only conspiring to marry Thomas quickly after the death of her stepmother Catherine Parr (Jessica Raine). So she must walk a careful tightrope so as not to self-incriminate herself beyond her already scandalous actions. Historically, we know that Elizabeth managed to impress her inquisitors to the point of exasperation. She deftly used logic and their own words against them to steer clear of multiple rhetorical traps. While her main interrogator was actually Sir Robert Tyrwhitt — who was still convinced of her guilt! — Becoming Elizabeth gives this scene to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (Jamie Parker). Dudley was the father of Elizabeth’s best friend Robert Dudley (Jamie Blackley) and would soon position himself as one of the major powers in the court. Still the narrative

You can see in this exclusive Becoming Elizabeth clip from Starz the beginning of this scene. Dudley and Elizabeth kick off a duel of wits to ascertain if Elizabeth is guilty of treason, as it seems Thomas Seymour is. Instead of being played, this is the moment where — for me, at least — you can see glimmers of the woman Elizabeth is to become.

If I was watching this scene with a date, I would tap them on the shoulder, point to the screen, and whisper, “She’s becoming Elizabeth.”

Becoming Elizabeth Epiosde 6 “What Cannot Be Cured” will be premiere on Starz on Sunday at 9 PM EST and will be streaming on the Starz app.