Francis: “I want the same world as
you do, the better one. And the only way to build it is together. We do greater
things when we act as one, when we trust each other as equals. This is not a
coronation for a king. It is for a king and queen.”
For an episode called
“Coronation” the coronation took only about 3 minutes of its entire length. But
the ceremony itself was not as important as the state of mind and state of marriage
of our royal couple by the time they got to that finish line. They went into it
together, hand in hand, united by the idea of making this world a better place
and being different kind of rulers.
Narcisse: “She speaks for you in this?”
Francis: “"She" is my queen. And, yes, she does. In this and
most things.”
That exchange clearly shows
the power balance in our couple. Francis didn’t want Mary to be a part of any
decision making process out of fear, that his people, his nobles will see
him as weak. But as we were shown, it is Mary who is a much stronger ruler, more
responsible and more preoccupied about the situation at court. While Francis
was chasing Henry’s spirit (or whatever), Mary was once again left in a castle,
alone, and had to make a hard decision, the best she could have made in those
circumstances. What did Francis do after returning from spiritual date with his
father? He yelled at her once again! Thankfully by the end he realized that his wife
is a Queen of her own right, who has a very strong opinions about pretty much
everything, and that together they are that much stronger.
The couple that seems to also
live in unison is Bash and Kenna. Even though Kenna destroyed the much needed
evidence of Lord Barnard’s crime, she was doing it to protect Bash. Kenna has
changed tremendously. When she found out that the estate was offered to them as
a bribe, she refused it without a moment of hesitation. There was time not that
long ago, when she would most certainly whine about keeping the castle.
Lord Narcisse, who certainly
doesn’t know when to stop, was finally outplayed by Mary and Francis. As a
result of him underestimating the young couple on the throne, he lost the upper hand in the game, because Francis and Mary managed to get grain elsewhere. He
is also epically underestimating our queen mother, what with him calling her “decorative
like an expensive vase, and not a great deal more relevant”. She most certainly
is nowhere near decorative or irrelevant. And she always has her own agenda. While
France
is starving and her son is desperately trying to find food without giving in
to his noble’s constant blackmail, she uses her family’s money to feed the
people, build churches, dig wells and what not, whatever it takes to secure her
position.
Historical bits
Bash said that Lord
Montgomery left court after he was pardoned for killing Henry and found work as a Habsburg mercenary in Bohemia. In reality, Henry himself, from his deathbed, absolved Montgomery of any
blame, but, finding himself disgraced, Montgomery
retreated to his estates in Normandy.
Some observations
Mary’s
coronation dress was fantastic. I much more prefer when they stick to a historical
accuracy when dresses are concerned. Straight hair I can live with, the
skin-tight dresses from the future, not so much. Come on! It’s a period drama after all!
I picked up a certain chemistry between Lord Conde and Mary. Am I imagining this?
So Henry’s
spirit didn’t know who killed him? He deduced it wasn’t Lord Montgomery by the
way the later handled himself during the tournament, but he didn’t know it was
Francis. Huh! I thought spirits and ghosts learn all the truth of this world,
once they are on the other side, or in between the worlds.
Come to
think of it Catherine gains a world if Mary doesn’t conceive. The smile on her
face at the end made me think she has something to do with this; having all those
potions at her disposal she sure as hell could have been giving something to
Mary to make sure the line of succession stays as it is.
Lord Narcisse and Catherine
make for an interesting couple.
Memorable Quotes:
Mary: “Are
all powerful men so insecure?”
Francis: “A
few. Many. Most.”
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