Reign is back after its holiday hiatus, and with it comes a mixed bag of quality in terms of plot lines. The last episode at the end of last year was a little on the ridiculous side, what with that whole BDSM near-murder scene and all. “Our Undoing” was a little better, though the entire Don Carlos story line may never sit well with me. Let’s jump in!
Usually, when Reign works, it works so very well, and when it doesn’t it can be a little hard to watch. This week’s episode fell into an unusual and unexpected middle ground as there were both parts that I loved and elements that still had me cringing. Things are rather dramatic in the home of France’s royal family. Narcisse is now in power, Catherine is all but declared guilty of Francis’ murder, Mary has both Don Carlos and the future of Scotland to worry about and Greer is wondering why she’s still a character on this show. But as Mary and Catherine were once again forced to work together to save the future of their countries (aka cover up what really happened with the heir of Spain), there were some magic moments. It’s always the political intrigue, high stakes and complex character dynamics that keep me coming back to Reign, and this episode had plenty.
It’s when the plot is stretched far too thin that things start getting uncomfortable, as we got to experience a bit of this week when Mary finally got engaged to Don Carlos, who has no memory of the accident and some seriously reduced brain functions. But apparently that’s okay since Spain is rich and will actually applaud Mary for taking on their prince now that he’s in a less than ideal state. Yeah, it’s hard to get behind any of this, but I doubt this show will leave their main character with a non-viable love interest for long, and at least for now Mary’s country gets the grain it needs.
At least some characters seem to be landing on the right side of justice. Oh Narcisse, it all comes tumbling down for you now doesn’t it? Only an episode after gaining the regency, he has lost Lola and Catherine has regained her hold on the French court. Of course, poor Catherine had to dig up the corpse of her dead son in order to clear her name, which was pretty awful all around. And now Lola is off to English court, which I actually think is a great move in order to help viewers care more about what’s going on with Queen Elizabeth, and maybe potentially bridge the gap if the show ever has to move to Scotland. Any chance we can bring Greer along with Lola?
All in all, this was one of the more solid episodes of the season so far and for the first time in a while I’m feeling optimistic about what will come next. It probably didn’t hurt that both Queen Elizabeth and Bash’s new love interest were only mentioned in passing, which I’m sure won’t last long, but at this point, long suffering Reign fans are willing to take what they can get.
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