In the previous episode, Maxi convinced the Tsar’s son that Franz had a hidden agenda. When Elisabeth killed a wild boar instead of letting the Tsar’s son kill it, the Tsar’s son took offence. He left Austria on a bad note.
The Empress (2022) or Die Kaiserin is a Netflix limited series about the Empress Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria. There are 6 episodes in this series where Devrim Lingnau plays the role of Elisabeth and Philip Fraoissant plays the role as Emperor Franz Joseph.
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The Empress - Episode 5 Summary & Recap
Duty
The episode starts off with a flashback of Ava and Egon killing the actual Countess Leontine so that they could steal her travel documents. That was how Ava could pretend to be the countess. At the current moment, Ava and Elisabeth were getting closer, even sneaking out together at night.
Austrian troops were repositioned to the border to get ready for Russia’s attack. Emperor Franz found it difficult to make a speech to the army, especially when his army are the ones sacrificing themselves for the country and for him. On top of this, the banker, Sina also pulled out from the loan because Franz broke his promise to focus on the railway instead of the war. All of these left Franz extremely frustrated. he even recalled the time when a man tried to assassinate him. This man was the one hung in Episode 1.
It seemed that Elisabeth had reconciled with her emperor husband, though they still do not see each other much. Sophie still blamed Elisabeth for infuriating the Russians. Elisabeth was made to drink more raw eggs and as part of her duty to calm the people down, the queen arranged for her to visit the people with Countess Esterhazy and the emperor’s youngest brother. Countess Esterhazy reminded Elisabeth to not make eye contact, touch or engage to a one-to-one conversation with the people.
Ignoring orders
However, Elisabeth ignored those instructions. When she met the people, she was disturbed by the horrible working conditions of the iron factory. She entered the iron factory, causing the emperor’s younger brother to cough. She also gave her shoes to a young girl who was wearing a pair of torn shoes. After that, Elisabeth wanted to continue walking barefoot, but Countess Esterhazy demanded that she was carried. This caused the surrounding people to rile up because they thought Elisabeth was too pompous to walk barefoot. The situation went out of control when dirt was thrown at the emperor’s young brother’s face. The officers started getting violent and the other visits were cancelled.
Amalia, the lady-in-waiting who was suspicious of Ava sneaked into Ava’s room and stole a letter “Leontine” wrote to her father. Amalia also discovered some clothes with blood in Ava’s room. Ava was initially about to enter as she went through Ava’s belongings, but Ava was stopped by von Bach. Von Bach had been mesmerized by Ava and wanted to take her out on a date. Although Ava agreed, she saw Amalia leaving her room from the corner of her eye.
As a last resort, Franz asked to meet his ex-lover, Countess Gundemann who is now engaged to Baron von Sina. Franz asked the countess for help to convince the baron to assist with the loan. When the countess wanted Franz to beg, he did and the countess asked that the emperor repays her someday. She then kissed the emperor but they were stopped when news of the empress visit came.
Moving pieces
Sophie and Countess Esterhazy blamed Elisabeth but Elisabeth blamed the countess for forcefully carrying her. When Elisabeth and Franz argued about it in private, Elisabeth told Franz that the royals did not seem human to the people, as if the royals are always above them.
Again, Maxi was making his move to secretly overthrow Franz. The council told Maxi that he still need support from three parties- the army, the church and his mother. The people were already against Franz, so Maxi decided to talk to the pope, Rauscher and proposed that they get a new emperor. But Rauscher did not want to follow along because he was unclear what Maxi is standing for.
At night, Elisabeth could not sleep and ran into Maxi downstairs. There has always been an air of chemistry around them. This time, Maxi offered to run away with her to Prague and Elisabeth was tempted. But she could not agree. Meanwhile, Ava ran to another hidden revolutionist in the castle, Elsa to abort their mission because Amalia might have known something now. However, Elsa said that it’s too late. The mission is already under-way and could not be aborted. Ava then ran back to her room to find her closet ransacked. Soon, Elisabeth came to her room for her company. Ava appreciated the empress’s kindness towards the little girl and Elisabeth wished Franz was not an emperor.
The episode ended with the little girl who received Elisabeth’s shoes finding out that the police had killed her brother. The people used this as fuel for anger towards the royals.
Additional Observations From Episode 5
- Maximillian once had a fiancée, but she passed.
- Sophie threatened Countess Esterhazy that her position will be in jeopardy should Elisabeth fail to bear an heir.
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