Reign: 4x03 “Leaps of Faith”

Mary: “We all die, Gideon. Question is what we stood for while we lived.”

Wow, there were so many broken hearts in this one, I lost count. There were also few unexpected turns of events and I simply love it when I get surprised. More on that below…

“Abdication, peaceful life in the estate in Kent and son as an heir”. The writers have presented us with a nice loophole around the real events with a historically preserved outcome, since Mary’s son did become the King of England. That was a way out for Mary and a chance for all of the fans who were secretly hoping for a different fate for our beloved heroine. We almost took the road. Almost. I’m sad that Mary had to walk away from a beautiful fairy tale, but I am proud that the writers decided not to take the easy way out.

When Gideon laid out his marriage plan to Elizabeth, I was genuinely interested whether he is deluding himself? Considering Mary’s state of mind lately, I was sure he is in for a cold rejection, instead they almost got married. Color me shocked. I guess I underestimated Mary’s will for love and happiness, especially if it meant peace for her country. Elizabeth might have been partly genuine regarding this plan, but also very realistic. The peaceful resolution was just not in the cards. It would’ve never worked and thank God lady Lennox knocked some sense into Mary spelling out for her what would happen. Ironically, Mary’s power, her crown, at the moment is the only thing that protects her.

Convincing Mary not to make a mistake, Lady Lennox then quickly broke poor Keira’s heart and married her off, while poor Lord Darnley was waiting for his love on the bridge. Back in Scotland Mary breaks up with Gideon before his return to England. Darnley and Mary are about to enter into relationships with broken hearts. That is always a recipe for a disaster.

This was the first time I sort of liked James. Being offered the power he craved, he found it in himself to give Mary pretty sound advice. Too bad she didn’t take it, but at least he has shown us he is on Mary’s side. He also re-started his courtship of poor lady Knox, despite felling guilty. He is all in and that is good for Mary.

We spent a lot of time in France, with no progress whatsoever.  Narcisse is back and fighting for his position. Teaming up with Catherine and Claude they were trying to send poor Cardinal on his way, blinding him accidently in the process and curing afterwards. What a mess. If only Charles was himself their task would’ve been mush easier.

Speaking of Charles, he is terribly tortured and haunted by all the deaths. When you are a King and your country is at war or your crown is in constant peril, people die. Remember what Buffy said? “You lead people into battle – they die”. I guess Charles’ mind is simply not equipped for this heavy burden.  When they sent that sweet young girl to his chambers I thought: “lamb for slaughter much?”, but even I didn’t think he’d kill her! He did kill her, right?

Catherine has love-hate relationships with all her children. Leesa’s hate however is tremendous, it’s in every cell of her body and it is quite unpleasant to watch I only wished we had a bit more of a context, like a glimpse of a back story that would explain this level of hatred.

Historical bits

Mary has never been imprisoned in Sandown Castle. I thought they would reference a different castle for the sake of the story. 

Some observations  

John is now in France and will be under Catherine’s protection. It is good. It is also bad.

Is it me or was there a slight spark between James and Greer?

Wardrobe department

The costume department must have had a bad day, since there were so many MANY wrong dresses, wrong colors, wrong everything. It was hard to choose a beautiful dress, but I managed: Lady Lennox is the proud recipient of this week ‘Best dress’ award.
 















Bianca’s dress was awful on so many levels. It was too adult for a girl, it was also too dark, although that might have been intentionally. Since she probably died it, by tradition I am not going to award her for the dress, and instead send it Catherine’s way. The style of the dress was interesting, but the fabric and mismatched colors didn’t give it the glory it deserves. So “Worst dress’ it is.
 

Memorable Quotes:

Elizabeth of Spain: “A saint can become a witch very quickly in the eyes of an angry mob.”

Mary: “Fearful queens cannot be trusted to let their rivals run free, or to live up to their promises.”

Lady Knox: “To break an oath is a great sin.”
Kames: “To break a heart is an even greater one.”

Sol’s rating: I have a feeling this was the last happy episode; 4 out of 5.

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