Marie de Guise: “Your magic has
changed. How silly and marvelous.”
Well, that happened.
It is not a secret that I
like the character of Catherine very much. She’s never boring or one-dimensional;
she is crafty and manipulative, but also loving, smart, strong and hilarious.
What’s not to like? Naturally I didn’t want her to die, but there was never
really a risk, wasn’t it? I was pretty confident they wouldn’t kill her off.
However watching her rehearse her own execution, plan
everything down to the last detail, was a genuine delight. Only she is capable
of something like that, worry about flowers and integrity of her necklace,
while not being particularly concerned about her head. That was somewhat brave,
also unsettling, but a lot of fun. She was definitely ‘going out in style’.
The prophecy of Mary being
the cause of death of Catherine’s first born came true. Literally. If only
Clarissa stayed dead. When I questioned last week about what else they could do
with a character of Clarissa it never once occurred to me that the prophecy was
about her. How very clever it was to shift the weight onto Clarissa to let Mary
and Francis get married. Whereas I was totally on board with that, as I love
them together, I felt a bit cheated.
Nostradamus didn’t know
Catherine had another child, so it is understandable that he assumed the
prophecy was about Francis. But Catherine knew she had a child; yes, she though
the baby died at birth, but still shouldn’t she at least have questioned it? Also
this new theory does not explain why Nostradamus had a vision of Mary and
Francis blissfully living together and having children, while Clarissa was
alive. He thought Clarissa was dead and he had this vision, then the second he
realized Clarissa’s alive, his vision changed accordingly. Are his visions
influenced by what he knows or doesn’t know? Then again, he first had a changed
vision and only after deduced that it was about Clarissa being “the first
born”. How is that possible? Or has he just had the exact same vision both
times, but interpreted it wrong the first time, because he didn’t see the end
of that conversation? Now my head hurts.
My guess it that it very
well might be that Clarissa has nothing to do with the prophecy, since not once
did Nostradamus ever see her in his visions. Is it possible that it was always
about Francis and the writers were always planning to stick to the history
course and kill him off eventually? The scene of Francis’ death supposedly took
place a year from marriage, so not much time left; of course they could stretch
that year into few seasons, but they seem to be moving quite quickly. We are
only in the middle of season one and they are already married. I think it also depends
on whether Mary’s life is the one at the center of the story, or Mary/Francis’
is.
Anyway let’s move on to all those people who came to the castle, some with fake news, some to visit and some to stay.
Marie de Guise with her down to earth attitude and
total dismissal of all things mystical was a much needed breath of fresh air. Not
only that, she also seems to be a loving mother who wants her daughter to marry
the man she loves. Of course it is easy to be that supportive when the man your
daughter loves is accidentally exactly the man you want her to marry. She didn’t
hesitate to fake the message from England only to push Mary to make a
choice. Amy Brenneman
was convincing enough as Marie de Guise, but she felt a bit too modern for 16th
century. Someone should have arranged an etiquette crash-course for her. Her
manner of walking and demeanor were nowhere near royal level. In my opinion.
Lola and Francis came back to court together. Francis’ intentions were to plea for his mother’s life and then disappear. I bet Lola was half expecting him to invite her to tag along. He didn’t. For him it was a one night only, for her, I’m not so sure. As much as I want their night in Paris stay in Paris, it didn’t look like it will be dropped any time soon. Their perfect little lie about meeting at some castle near Angers didn’t fool anybody. How much do you want to bet it’ll come back to bite them? Plus, she definitely looked jealous during consummation
Speaking of, I recall
another consummation, the one that took place in a pilot, when Princess
Elizabeth and Philip II of Spain
consummated their marriage. I remember the bed had some sort of baldakin, so
the newlyweds had some hint of privacy, here there was none. It was very
invasive. If that wasn’t enough there was Bash. Not long ago Henry claimed Bash
was his favorite son, but what he did here was outright cruel.
Everybody knows there were two versions of consummation scene. They are only slightly different, but I wish they'd included the so called 'steamy' version in the episode. No, not because it shows Mary's bare legs, but because Mary's reaction to Bash was more appropriate and more in character.
Remember I said
few reviews back that someone will get hurt, and most likely it will be Bash.
Damn, I was right. The second the prophecy was changed, Mary immediately
switched to the other brother. Poor Sebastian, between prophecy, two mothers and
Mary’s heart, he didn’t stand a chance in hell. Not only he lost the woman he
loves, but he also lost a brother. And now Bash believes someone at the castle gave
orders to kill him.
Historical bits
Marie de Guise’s main goal was an alliance between the powerful French
Catholic nation and small Scotland,
which she wanted to be Catholic and independent of England. In her conversation with
Mary, she said exactly that.
Francis did die of an ear condition, as was hinted in Nostradamus’
vision.
Some observations
We have new
opening credits and Reign finally lost its rather pompous voiceover.
Morocco and Sweden, those are Francis’ choices
of escape. Really?
Nostradamus
in bed with a woman – that’s the imagery I could happily live without. Not
that he couldn’t or didn’t or wasn't supposed to, it just came out of nowhere and
felt odd. Plus does he have to almost choke himself to death to have visions
these days? Another sex reference that just didn’t quite work for me.
Dress that
Mary wore for her secret wedding was amazing, as was her hair style. I
preferred that to her actual wedding dress and hairdo. Whereas her wedding
dress didn’t impress me, Francis’ reaction to it was precious.
I must say the writers do
write the mothers parts perfectly. They steal all the best lines.
Henry and
Catherine dialogues are the highlight and I always watch them bicker with a
huge smile on my face.
For once, Kenna
played her part right and sort of secured her future.
Memorable Quotes:
Catherine:
“Must I do everything? Shall I catch my head in my own hands, too? When can we
talk about my tomb?”
Henry: “A
Florentine sculptor? 20 tons of marble? I can't afford it. After the 100
musicians, the dozen ships made of silver and gold...”
Catherine:
“Symbolic of my journey to Heaven. I'm not asking for a fleet.”
Henry: “You're
not headed for Heaven either. You're dragging this out.”
Catherine:
“You have to wait for final word on Bash's legitimization anyway. Why kill me
if the line of succession reverts to my sons?”
Henry: “You're
a treasonous adulterer.”
Catherine:
“Then I'll continue with the seating chart.”
Marie de
Guise: “French court has gone to hell. But I'm here now, dear.”
Maries de
Guise: “Now that Mary's come of age, they look beyond me, they want her, and I
want
her
protected by France.
France's
true king. Not some bastard they can knock off the throne, whose life only took
form because you couldn't keep your husband's interest in bed.”
Ouch!
Marie de Guise: “One
charlatan scared you by whispering in your ear about your son's death... a
future no one could know... and you changed the course of nations.”
When you put it like that,
it does sound silly.
Henry: “If
you want the Vatican's
righteous support for anything you do, for the rest of your life,
you will claim
England
now. If you want France as
an ally, you will claim England
now. If you want to take England,
you will need the next king of France
by your side. And you will wed one of my sons tonight.
Mary: “I
will take my life in my own hands. And I will not be bullied by you.”
Good girl!
Way to go, Mary!
Kenna: “It's
nice to see you're still on your feet.”
Henry: “What
does that mean?”
Kenna: “I
watched you take it lying down for weeks now, from all the women in your life.”
Sol’s
rating: I loved it, so 4 out of 5.
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