Reign: 2x02 “Drawn and Quartered”

“Same thing happens every plague. Justice suffers and dies with the rest of us.” 

The plague has come and has already gone, the pandemic didn’t last as long as it might have been expected. Things have pretty much come back to normal. The loved ones were buried and  people were dancing and drinking and celebrating the safe return of their King. 

Reign: 2x01 "The Plague"

Catherine: “Welcome to your rule, my queen. And welcome to the real France.”

Mary on the throne of France, alone, gazing at an empty throne next to hers…. What a haunting image of things to come, because it will almost always be like that, well of course if history is any indication here.

Reign started its sophomore year on quite a strong note. The theme followed the main idea behind the season one finale: power shifting to two young kids, who just starting to get a grasp of what being a ruling monarch is.

Grimm: 3x22 “Blonde Ambition”

“Turn back, turn back, thou pretty bride,

within this house thou must not abide.

For here do evil things betide.”

Trubel: “If you could choose to be a Grimm or not, what would you do?”

You don’t need to be super strong to take out a Grimm, all you need is a woman. Here it was “chercher la femme” in action. Prep some potion, smoke some fumes through the witchy hat, add sex to the mix and you got yourself a recipe for Grimm no more. What a simple way, although a bit easy, not to mention ridiculous, but who cares? It’s the consequences that matter.

Reign: 1x22 “Slaughter of Innocence”

Henry: “Betraying someone you love blackens your soul. It's a weight you carry all of your days.”

It seems as almost every single television series this year decided to pass on the big cliffhanger in their respective season finales. All the shows that I watch tied up the plots nicely, opened doors for new possibilities and strangely didn’t leave me hanging. I kept thinking about times when every season of Alias ended with me saying “Wow!” followed by “How am I ever going to wait until fall?” This year I haven’t said it once. 

Reign’s first season finale wasn't an exception, as it left things in quite an organized manner. No ‘on the edge of the seat’, no ‘I can’t wait to see what happens next’. Well, I do want to see what happens next, but I CAN wait.

It doesn’t mean I didn’t like the episode. I liked it quite a lot. It felt a bit slow, but at the same time appropriate, since the episode took its time and paid attention to every character and each story and sub-plot somehow was nicely brought to an end. The episode resolved the main issue, set up several new developments for the next season; it surprised me few times, and it even had a total OMG moment that I didn’t see coming. Let's look at an episode more closely.

Grimm: 3x21 “The Inheritance”

“‘No,’ said the King. ‘I had rather die than place 

you in such great danger as you must 

meet with in your journey”

Rosalee: “I have this feeling something awful is going to happen.”

Of course it will. It is a finale, a wedding with all sorts of wesen attending, not to mention two  Grimms, and that very special guest in disguise that no one invited. Hell will certainly break loose. But I believe that will be the next episode. Let’s catch up on what happened in this, penultimate one. 

Reign: 1x21 “Long Live the King”

Francis: “There are risks that you take... for the people that you love. You used to know that.”

For a penultimate episode this one felt disjointed. The task of the last few episodes is usually to tie up the loose sub-plots and to introduce new ones that will be developed in the next season. I think it somewhat failed at both.

Grimm: 3x20 “My Fair Wesen”

“No longer a dark, gray bird, 

ugly and disagreeable to look at, 

but a graceful and beautiful swan.”

Hank: “Yeah, we can say she's a, uh... criminology student?”

Family could be a lot of things and have different meaning for different people for different reasons. For Nick family means a lot. He lost his parents at a young age, but he did know the comfort of having someone who loves you unconditionally. It makes sense that he brought Trubel home. Knowing how hard it must have been for her not having anyone who she could share this horror with, and most importantly no one who could understand, explain and help. They are distantly related [emphasis on distantly], albeit through centuries; they do share a bloodline and a Grimm gene, therefore are a family.

Reign: 1x20 “Higher Ground”

John: “Are you sure you know what you're doing? Those men are rumored to have carried out the massacre of your countrymen. They're monsters.”

Mary: “Indeed they are... but they're my monsters now.”

The “Higher Ground” will always stand out by being an episode where Mary lost her innocence, quite literally. Not only she ordered to kill Hortensa, she also employed the very monsters that killed her countrymen. Mary crossed that line and went ahead past it full speed. It was delightfully ruthless and kind of scary. Mary Queen of Scots, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.  

Grimm: 3x19 “Nobody Knows the Trubel I've Seen”

“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen,

nobody knows my sorrow”

Teresa: “They call me Trubel.”

I bet! Young girl with powers to see and fight monsters without knowing why or how, constantly questioning her state of mind, she must have been trouble alright! Back in season two we learned that women know of their Grimm-abilities sooner than men. Unlike Nick’s mother who had her father to explain the Wesen world to her, unlike Nick who had his aunt, poor Teresa didn’t have anyone. How is she still sane, beats me!

Reign: 1x19 “Toy Soldiers”

Henry: “Are you even pregnant yet? Could you possibly be any less use to France?”

For a rather unimpressive episode it did lay the foundation for the future, at least I see it that way. Or maybe I have to stop looking for similarities between fiction and actual history.