Things pick up at French court two weeks after Mary’s attack. She’s still very much shaken and frightened, startled at any physical touch. Her reaction is normal for someone who is keeping such a traumatic experience a secret.
Francis is doing everything possible to get as close to Mary as possible. He’s even going as far as fetching her wood just to be able to exchange a few words.
Mary, however, has caught on to Francis’ plan and calls him out on it. Mary decides that she needs some time and space away from Francis and that she will be traveling to one of their Chateaus.
French court has also been dealing with the aftermath of all those who were sentenced to death by Francis for the attack on the castle. The terrace is full of frozen bodies—yuck. It’s been noted that all the attackers carried the mark of the dark riders. A Cardinal has arrived from the Vatican and decides the Protestants made up the mark as a coverup, and it’s actually a marking for radicals. Surely, that’s the logical explanation. Bash believes that the bodies were marked after their deaths in order to fuel hate against the Protestants. Conde’s life is on the line when one of his old flames tattles to the Cardinal about Conde being marked as well.
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The Cardinal is thrilled at the opportunity to trap the Protestant Prince, but Mary overhears the conversation and helps Conde escape. They go to his brother’s estate where King Antoine is throwing quite a curious gathering. The party is basically a 16th century version of a swingers get together. Antoine pairs people according to the chemistry they have with each other, and at that point Mary and Greer decide to exit the party. Props to you gals for being responsible, married women. I found it funny that Greer motioned for Leith to leave the party too, but he points out the fact that he’s NOT married—putting Greer in her place. Good for you Leith!
Back at French court, King Henry’s ghost is getting frisky with Katherine as he also incites her to continue poisoning Claude. Reign has played the supernatural card quite often this second season, but there has always been a logical explanation behind it. It’s hard to figure out if Katherine is actually seeing ghosts or if she’s just starting to lose her mind. After that Nanny trick I’m extremely skeptical. I do enjoy seeing King Henry; Alan Van Sprung really does wonders with this character, and he’s quite funny.
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Kenna is on to Katherine’s plan and she attempts to save Claude, who continues to be a huge brat and utterly ungrateful. Claude can be a wench but she’s really just an insecure and lonely young girl, whose mother is trying to kill her—let’s have some sympathy. It’s hard to when she even resorts to telling Kenna about her and Bash’s past rendezvous just to hurt her. Awkward. Thankfully, Bash is honest about the whole ordeal.
Claude confronts Katherine about being poisoned and she finally fesses up. The confession cracks open the reason why Katherine always had disdain for Claude. But the poor girl was five years old and claims she can’t remember ever stuffing those roses down her twin sisters’ throats. Which makes me think, what if it wasn’t Claude who did it? Katherine and Claude embrace and it drives Henry and the twins’ ghosts away. But the question is if it’s for good?
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Bash and Francis decide to take matters into their own hands against the Cardinal. The only way is to brand the Cardinal’s lover in order to change his mind about what the mark means. The Cardinal finds out that Bash was behind the whole mission and though the original plan failed, it is Francis’ speech on love that saves the day—and Conde’s life.
But, Conde and Mary don’t know that. Back at Antoine’s place they have a heart to heart as Mary lets him know that she knows about his true feelings for her. Poor Conde is a little embarrassed, but doesn’t hesitate to give his opinion on Francis as a husband. To which Mary firmly stands on Francis’ side as she’s realizing that everything Mary has gone through is not only affecting her but Francis as well.
Messengers from the Vatican arrive at Antoine’s to retrieve Conde. Mary will still have Conde’s back no matter what, and she comes up with a solution—they must burn off Conde’s mark. They heat up a sword in the fire and Leith then brands off the marking from Conde’s shoulder as Mary holds his hand for support. If only Conde had known that Francis solved the Cardinal problem and he basically burned his skin off for nothing—LOL.
In that moment, Mary realizes that she is still strong and that she can’t continue distancing herself from everyone. She ditches the chateau idea and heads back for French court to try to work on herself and consider working on her marriage with Francis. But when she arrives back at French court she finds Francis asleep with his son and Lola—awful timing much?!
I’m assuming Mary is going to get the wrong idea and what a shame, because it seems she is right—nothing is simple anymore between her and Francis.
Still going to keep crossing my fingers for these two, but with Conde in the mix I don’t know how things can work out. I have a feeling that temptation will come knocking on Mary’s door very soon.
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