TV Review: Reign 2×5 – “Blood for Blood”

This week’s episode proved that Narciss is in the running for best villain of the 16^th century. He pulled the ultimate scheme and left me screaming at my TV one moment and dumbfounded the next. Narciss, you old devil you. Apparently, he’s also the greatest lover in French court?

 

Let me explain. Kenna found a smutty journal by an anonymous lady at court documenting all her encounters. Apparently the lover to be with is a man who has a butterfly birthmark on his wrist. Lola’s jaw nearly hit the floor when, after declining Narciss’ date, she sees the mark on his wrist. She literally gasped, and it was actually hilarious!

 

But even though Narciss may be a great lover, he is indeed a terrible person.

He was the one in charge of sending extremist Catholics to interrupt a Protestant church service. Not only did they barge in, but they also set the barn on fire. The poor churchgoers had to flee for their lives and one of them was Lord Castleroy. The biggest casualty from the attack was the death of Lord Conde’s nephew, a poor boy who was beaten to death.

Again, let me remind you that Narciss was behind everything. Because lighting fire between the Protestants and Catholics of France puts King Francis in a very tight spot. Will he rule just punishments for all, or will he side by those that give him power, the nobles? Conde was now insisting on an investigation to his nephew’s death and the execution of the Catholics who killed his kin. But doing so will mean that Francis advocates the Protestants’ beliefs– it’s a religious uproar that’s building!

But even though people are being stoned, in the castle there was a big event to distract everyone—Greer’s wedding… to Lord Castleroy! After Greer gave herself to Castleroy last week, it seems their relationship is going great. But, Leith does spill to Greer about Castleroy’s hidden beliefs. Castleroy as always is an open book and says he’s looked into this new religion looking for peace after Ivette’s death. He refused to change his beliefs for Greer and understood if she didn’t want to marry him anymore – still willing to pay her sister’s dowries! This guy is too nice! I like Castleroy, really, I do—but he’s not Leith.

Greer was left to decide, and for a second I thought she was going to become a runaway bride. Leith was present, holding his breath for her not to show up. But she did, and I’m pretty sure I could hear his heart breaking into pieces. They keep putting Leith and Greer together in various scenes, so I’m wondering if there is still room for something to happen between them? I truly do not condone extramarital affairs, but Leith and Greer do belong together! So, can the Reign writers make this happen already?!

But let’s get to the part of the episode that truly knocked it out of the ballpark.

Caroline, the nanny possessed by Henry’s spirit, isn’t getting any better. In fact, it seems to be toying with Francis even more. She went as far as leaving the piece of wood that struck King Henry’s eye on Francis’ pillow.

When Francis goes to confront her, she keeps claiming she doesn’t know what’s going on with her. But this lady is out of control! She goes as far as sitting on the royal throne, and at that point Francis had to pull her aside. Narciss noticed everything.

Francis begins to confront Caroline/his dead father’s ghost, and things begin to get heated. Just then, Francis admits that he killed his father in order to avoid getting killed by him. As we all know, this is true, since Henry had gone mad, but killing the King no matter who you are is a horrid crime that calls for execution.

As Francis is yelling his confession at the top of his lungs, Narciss walks in, having heard every word. Francis decided not to kill Narciss, but later realizes he made a mistake. Narciss had paid Caroline, the nanny, to act like she was possessed in order to confirm his suspicions about Henry’s death.

So basically Narciss has all the power he could ever desire with Francis right in his hands. Francis is up against a wall as he’s going to have to bend to Narciss’ requests—that’s going to mean going against what he had promised to Mary and Conde about punishing the extremist Catholics. His reign just got a whole lot more complicated.

To make it all worse, telling Mary the truth could put her in grave danger. If Mary knows about Francis killing his father it means that she could be sentenced to death right along with him. Mary knows her husband well enough to know something isn’t right, and after she pesters him she gets the answer she dreaded.

In order to protect Mary, Francis lies to her saying that he’s upset at the fact that she miscarried their baby. He says he’s afraid that she won’t be able to provide an heir and confirms Mary’s worst fears—he would lose hope if she was able to conceive.

Mary’s face of heartbreak, shame and pain was delivered perfectly by Adelaide Kane. This scene made us forget that these two are King and Queen of France and it became a very real scene of a marriage with severe communication issues. Communication continues to be the very destroyer of these two.

Though Francis’ choice to lie was out of love, it also is going to have severe repercussions. Have they not understood at this point that when they’re not in it together things always get worse?

Narciss pulled the greatest charade of all and he’s feeling confident right now. Can’t someone come and knock him off his high horse?

Maybe his interest in Lola could become a distraction enough to strip him of his power?

Will Lola be curious enough to give Narciss a chance?

Also, does anyone think that Conde has a thing for Mary and what Francis told her could lead her into his arms? Or is that just me?

Leave your ideas and comments below!

Gif Credits: Marys-ladies Tumblr

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