Reign: 3x17 “Intruders”

"My queen. My light. My love."

Who was the intruder in this one? Mary storming into her own castle ruining Knox' plan? Claude’s ex in the person of Martel de Guise falling onto our heads with the revenge of his own? Narcisse sneaking into Lola’s chambers dressed like a priest? All of them? None of them? Honestly, I have no idea. Do you? And who comes up with these titles?

The Red Knights seemed so mysterious and powerful in their silent rage against Catherine and her family, that I was starting to think they will stick around for awhile. Alas, they died silently and quickly, and all it took was some heavy fog and they were defeated by four King’s guards led by Leith, who thankfully didn’t die in the previous episode. We were never clear on how many they were, the Knights I mean. The original were thirteen… this reincarnation group was less than twenty for sure. Where they all killed in that field? How many of them left? And why do we have to care, since most of them died and Charles has escaped?

Mary got her sweet revenge. How careless it was of Malcolm Merlin Munro McFee to invite his enemy into his chambers. Did he think the fragile queen would not dare to take him? I was thinking her plan was doomed, since they were surrounded by enemies (sort of), and Munro was played by wonderful John Barrowman. If you cast this actor why on earth would you want to kill him off like few scenes later? Such a waste, if you ask me. Anyhow, Mary killed him with a necklace and used Francis’ gift to finish him off. The weapon choice was kinda appropriate.

Distracted by her revenge, Mary almost lost her throne. Fortunately James was hesitant long enough and it allowed Mary to get to the castle right in time. The Queen is back! She came for her throne, as she declared entering the castle so dramatically and all covered in blood. What will be next at Scottish court. Will she fight with John Knox with the help of her nobles and Bash? Will we finally see the Reign? Some of her nobles were quick to jump ship, others were quick to dissolve the monarchy, so how many allies does Mary really have? Forget the nobles, even Lola was ready to support Elizabeth. Yes, she thought Mary was dead, and Elizabeth is surely the better option than John Knox, but it still was awfully quick.

Historical bits

Elizabeth mentioned not being a zealot and promised Lola to be tolerant to Catholics and to not prosecute, as she was in real life. Her personal religious convictions were, shall we say, mixed, as she was a Protestant, but she kept some Catholic symbols, such as crucifix.

In this one we hear Elizabeth talking about uniting England and Scotland under a single monarch. Ironically, in real life that happened only after her death and James VI King of Scots, Mary’s son, was that monarch.

We heard the name of Henry Darnley for the first time, as a next candidate in line for Scottish throne.  Through his parents he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, and he was Mary’s husband. Will we see him in season 4?

Martel de Guise was born in the writers room, never in real life.

Some observations  

Martel and Claude had a dalliance once in Florence. Did they add this little detail to create an unnecessary tension for Claude and Leith?

John Barrowman quite succeeded in his Scottish accent, don’t you think?

I bet the note that Lola received with an order to kill Elizabeth, came from Elizabeth and it is some sort of a test. And why would she share the content of the letter with a servant? As loyal as this servant might be, that is not the information you share. For someone as wise as Lola she can sometimes be quite stupid.

Lola forgave Narcisse and they are back together. I like them better apart, that is when you see the sparks, as soon as they start living happily ever after, they become domesticated and boring.

Wardrobe department

The “Best Dress of the week” Award goes to Catherine, loved that outfit.

The “Worst Dress of the week” Award goes to Claude. Well, no. Just no.

 

Memorable Quotes:

Knox: “Fornication is a sin, even if it is a perk of the regency.”

Sol’s rating: for a penultimate episode this was rather a weak one, but not as bad as the previous one, so only 2 out of 5.