From the
moment the series order was announced it received mixed feedback. On different
boards and sites people have been complaining about the silly premise of the show,
some didn’t even want to try it, others were more willing to give it a shot.
Then, before the premiere, Reign has received three additional script orders.
Again there was a lot of speculations regarding the quality of the show and its
potential, many were hopeful, many predicted it’s certain and quick demise.
The period drama
premiered on October 17th this year and…. it turned out to be much better than
many expected. It had
good parts and it had “rolling eyes” parts. It was not the best pilot ever seen, but people loved it. I loved it!
Let’s see
what we have.
Mary, Queen
of Scots (played by Adelaide Kane) returns to France
to marry heir to the French throne - Francis (played by Toby Regbo). It is
obvious from the beginning that those two were good friends as children and
have rather easily reconnected with each other. No love story goes without a
good old fashioned triangle and therefore we have Sebastian, handsome son of
King Henri II and Diane de Poitiers, who instantly falls for Mary. At court
Mary is joined by her ladies-in-waiting who came from Scotland in search for husbands of their own. We are also introduced to a mysterious person that hides in the tunnels under the
castle and seems to be looking out for the young queen. Those fall into “friends of Mary” column. The other column a.k.a “foes”
is less populated but very powerful - Francis' mother, Queen Catherine de
Medici, who is secretly trying to prevent Mary’s marriage to Francis, as
well as her advisor none other than Nostradamus. Not clear which column King Henri
belongs to, he does seem to be more concerned about his bedroom affairs than state ones.
Let’s move
on to the “eyes” parts.
It seems that
the creators decided not to bother themselves with coiffure part of the story
at all. I’m talking about the hairstyle of Mary and the girls. I guess why
bother when you can simply comb the hair (and in some cases even that seemed to
be too much of an effort) and be done with it?
They also
didn’t bother to look for a bit era related names for Mary’s waiting ladies. Lola?!
The name is a good as any and it was even ranked as the 51st most
popular name for baby girls in England 2007, but not 1557 Scotland.
To say that
Reign is not very accurately follows history is an understatement of the year.
Yet lots of
people loved it. Absolutely loved it. Of course there probably are (and probably always will be)
those who can’t stand it, but there are a lot more of those who can’t get
enough of it. Why? It is a period drama about teenage angst and forbidden love.
The historical bits are so off-track it’s mind-hurting. And everybody at French
court speak English! :) So, again – why?
Nobody yet have come up with a good and reasonable answer why they love this new show. Nobody seems to be able to formulate what it is that is so addictive in this one. I am one of those people. Are you?
I don’t
have an answer. I so don’t have an answer that I wrote an entire article about
it, where I stated more reasons why not to watch it. But here is why you should
at least try…
The actors
are doing a very good job, the stories the writers tell are entertaining and
interesting. Mary’s chemistry with Francis is maddening. The relationships and characters
actions and motivations are totally believable. But also because right from
the start Reign was honest with its audience. It is not a historically accurate
documentary and it doesn’t pretend to be one. But it is intriguing. It is dark. It is
fun. It is 40+ minutes a week well spent.
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