Catherine: “These next moments of
your life will either define you as a victim or a powerful queen untouched by a
failed assassination attempt.”
Oh, my! Reign just grew up into something painful and dark. It is no
longer fun games, silly dances and children playing royal house. It crossed the line and became realistically harsh and adult.
Reign has always had dark-ish storylines and torture scenes - sometimes uncomfortably vivid ones - but it has always managed to stay light. Not anymore. Did they really have to go there? Could we live with mercenaries just attacking
the castle and retrieving when failed? Could we feel the impact of this attack, if
no one we know was hurt? Why is it that every other storyline in TV series
these days has to be about rape?
Although we most certainly would be more comfortable not ever seeing Mary as
a victim of rape, the event definitely reset the layout of the series and amped
up the stakes, not to mention changed the course of this war. It also led to
one of the most powerful scenes to date – Mary’s conversation with Catherine. Catherine,
being a queen and most importantly a woman who had suffered
the same fate, was probably the best person in a position to talk to Mary and
somehow comfort her. She said all the right words, she offered help and
support and she was genuine as probably never before.
As right as those things she said were, it was unbearable for Mary to face the court and hold herself in front of everyone after such a
traumatic event. The panic in her eyes broke my heart.
I loved that they didn’t
conceal the truth from Francis. One might argue that she could have
successfully hidden it from him, considering their strained relationships, but it would have been so silly and childish, and quite possibly ruined the impact of the episode. I’m so
glad that instead they went with a more adult and reasonable option.
Conde who is more than ever before in love with Mary agreed with her plan
to bring some peace to an already torn country by marrying Claude. Too bad he
left right when he could have helped Mary. If he ever finds out what really
happened that night, he will never forgive himself.
Another one, who will never forgive himself is Francis. He was under a lot of pressure already and his guilt was
already at the highest possible level, now it’s even worse. His revenge will be
brutal.
Narcisse who is always so right, so ahead of everyone, so sure of himself
was played and didn’t even see it coming. It was about time the King got an
upper-hand in this never ending blackmail situation. Francis brought the right
amount of madness to their conversation to have Narcisse worried. Hell, he had
me worried for a second, before I realized it was a trap. Narcisse didn’t. His
leverage over Francis and Mary is now gone, the only witness who could tell the
truth about Henry’s death is now dead.
Narcisse however realized what might happen when people lose all hope,
what they are capable of when they have nothing to loose. Despite his
narcissistic nature, pun intended, Narcisse was honest enough to admit that he
fueled the events of this night and quite possibly lit the match. When his mask
comes off, which doesn’t happen very often, he is very sympathetic. And he still
cares about Lola. Or so he says. Lola still cares about him, though she didn’t
admit it, she was very obviously uncomfortable with a possibility of Narcisse
and Claude being together.
Some observations
Poor, naive Lord Castleroy, thinking he was fighting for the right cause
and giving money to build schools, when in fact he was financing the
assassination of a King. That can’t end well for him. And now Greer decided to
convert. That can’t end well either.
By organizing this attack Protestants destroyed the only person in power
who was on their side.
Adelaide's work on this one was simply outstanding.
How this was not a mid-season finale?
Sol’s
rating: 5 out of 5. Wouldn’t you agree?
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