Since Elisabeth arrived in the palace, she has been facing countless difficulties. Her freedom was limited and now she was blamed for the riot at the iron foundry visit.
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 6 Summary & Recap
Complicated relationships
Since the issue at the iron foundry, Elisabeth felt unwanted and her relationship with the emperor grew distant. She spent most of her nights partying with Maxi and would turn up drunk for breakfast. In an effort to make the relationship better, Franz gifted his empress a horse.
But the Viennese royals have a bigger issue. The people were starting to gather outside the palace gates. Archduchess Sophie, Franz’s mother believed that Elisabeth was distracting the emperor. So, she gave Elisabeth two choices- to return to Bavaria and let Franz remarry or to stay at the palace but face even stricter rules. Elisabeth was broken by the choices given to her and wanted to discuss this with her husband. However, Franz refused to see her.
After that, Elisabeth walked back to her place. She felt dizzy on the way and almost fell but Maxi arrived to help her. Again, Maxi told Elisabeth that she would be better off with him. During the heat of the moment, the two shared a kiss but Elisabeth pulled away. When Elisabeth returned to her room, Ava confirmed that Elisabeth is pregnant.
Political games
Meanwhile, on the side of the ladies-in-waiting, Amalia was gathering information about Countess Apafi as she did not believe Ava is the actual countess. She gathered some photographs from the Apafi family and realised that Ava was in the photograph as a mere maid, not a countess. Ava, not realizing her cover was about to be blown, decided to betray her revolutionist group. She told Egon that she’s ready to cooperate towards the mission to assassinate the Emperor and the Empress.
On the other side, Maximillian received news that the Russian borders might be retreating, which meant that Franz’s strategy might have worked. Pressured that the window of opportunity to overthrow Franz is closing, Maxi went to Sophie to bring her to his side. But Sophie did not give him her word.
This still gave Maxi a lot of hope and so, he approached the emperor privately and asked him to make the transfer of power peacefully. Maxi claimed that he had the support of the army, the church and most importantly, the empress. When Maxi mentioned Elisabeth, Franz punched his brother and asked him to get out or he would have him hanged. Maxi would later try to convince his mother again, but Sophie claimed that what Maxi doing is treason and that Maxi is not fit to rule.
Events at night
Later that day, when Elisabeth went to tell Franz about the news of her pregnancy, Franz was upset by what Maxi had told him. He cooled off after Elisabeth convinced him that she loves only him, but agreed with Sophie that Elisabeth can’t behave like she currently does. Elisabeth said if he wanted that, he should’ve married Helene, and Franz replied that maybe he should have. This hurt Elisabeth and so she decided to leave the palace for Bavaria. She did not manage to tell Franz about the pregnancy.
At night, Egon snooped into the palace to assassinate Franz, but Ava had ratted him out. Police officers caught him and presumably, shot him dead. Although Ava was devastated by her own decision, she had to face another problem. Another lady-in-waiting, Charlotte told Ava that Amalia had photos of the Apafi family. Without hesitation, Ava chased down Amalia and pushed Amalia down from the railings of the second floor in an attempt to kill her. We are not sure if Amalia is dead, but Charlotte caught Ava in the act.
As Elisabeth got ready to leave the palace, Franz’s right hand man implored Franz to rethink about his decision to let the empress go. He gave Franz Puck’s hair that Elisabeth gifted the emperor in the first episode and Franz had a change of heart. When he was at the door, he saw that Elisabeth was at the gate, but the police officers wouldn’t let Elisabeth go due to the riot of people waiting outside the palace gates.
Nevertheless, Elisabeth demanded that they open the gates and addressed her people. She told them of her pregnancy and presumably, won the heart of some people there. This news reached Sophie who was watching by the window. Expressionless, she claimed that it was great news that the empress is pregnant. Meanwhile, some men came to take Maximillian away.
Additional Observations From Episode 6
- Countess Esterhazy was demoted. Another countess took her place.
- Elisabeth gave Ava a necklace she received from Sophie. That necklace was Franz’s family heirloom.
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