Mary & George's Nicholas Galitzine, Tony Curran Break Down 'Profound' Shift for Their Royal Lovers

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Nothing soothes a strained relationship like a little pillow talk and that's exactly how George Villers (Nicholas Galitzine) gets back in the good graces of King James I (Tony Curran) in this week's episode of Starz's Mary & George.

The trip home to King James' native Scotland in Episode 4 is one of the show's first chances to mine deeper into the king's story beyond his radical embrace of the sexual politics of the monarchy. Discovering the person behind the lust is what Curran first found so intriguing about the series.

"I think certainly the way it was written by [D.C. Moore], it really delves deep into these individuals, into their psyche, into their souls in many ways," Curran tells TVGuide.com. "And I think certainly for me, and I think for Nick as well, when we read the scripts, that was really compelling because there are many dimensions to these characters. There is a real depth to them, they are searching for something and I think people who watch the rest of the show, I think it quite apparent that the journey these two characters are on is a beautiful journey. But in many ways, it can also be a very destructive one."

The duality of beauty and danger is alive and well in Episode 4 as the trek to Scotland starts on a sour note for the hot-and-cold couple. James finds a new plaything in his visit to Edinburgh, while a spurned George takes his own lover in Peter Carr (Dylan Brady), the cousin of the late Robert, Earl of Somerset (Laurie Davidson), who Mary (Julianne Moore) and George conspired against all the way to the gallows last week.

Oscillating wildly between his affection for and rejection of George, James rebuffs his lover's claims he has been faithful while in Scotland. He goes so far as to kick him out of their bed chamber, leaving George fearful that he has lost his place at the king's side. But Peter reveals there is something deeper to James' volatile return to the motherland. The king's first love, Lord Lennox, who taught him the ways of ruling and loving, died after the two were separated and the return brings up unresolved feelings for his late partner. Peter distracts George with this tantalizing intel so that he doesn't recognize Peter's true motive — to kill George for his role in his cousin's downfall.

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Nearly strangling George in the throes of passion, Peter is shot and killed by George's brother Kit (Jacob McCarthy). The near-death experience — just the latest to leave George with scars on his neck — brings the king and George closer than ever in the final moments of the episode. James even reveals the real reason for the trip was to dig up Lennox's heart, which had been encased for him to have even after his death. Truly alone for one of the first times in the series, James shows a vulnerability that shifts the balance of power in their relationship.

"George enters this relationship in a purely transactional way and I think actually giving James this sense of humanity and vulnerability and this softness actually appeals to the softness that George still kind of has as a young man," Galitzine says. "That is not eradicated when he comes back from France [in Episode 1]."

Thinking back on the scene for the first time since shooting it, Galitzine and Curran see the shared moment of tenderness between George and James as a turning point for the relationship.

"I love that scene," Galitzine tells Curran.

"I do too," Curran adds. "It is an incredibly moving and profound act to go to Scotland. That's why they went up there to find, to dig up, his first love's soul, if you will. His heart. The fact that he brought George with him was a sort of tender and moving, intimate and profound thing to do. I think it brought them closer together, and George sees James in a different light at that point."

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In the same breath as his confession about Lord Lennox, James also asks George to learn under him in the ways of being king — just as Lennox had done with him. George joyously agrees, fulfilling the plan he and Mary set forth when they first orchestrated his crossing paths with the king. But will this newfound truce between James and George last? Despite the affection they share for each other in this scene, Galitzine warns the aforementioned softness in George may not survive what comes next.

"There is this real sense that, 'Oh, we could live together and we could be partners,'" he says. "But that softness is killed off at various points later on."

Mary & George airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Starz. All new episodes are available to stream on Starz.com or with Starz channel add-ons at midnight on the day of premiere.