BWW Recap: REIGN's Queenly Adventures

This week's episode of REIGN was unlike anything we've ever seen before. Mary and Catherine working together, impostors of the royal couple, and Lola and Narcisse? REIGN never fails to excite, but this episode was even more crazy than usual.

Mary and Catherine have an adventure outside of the castle gates and seeing Catherine in disarray for much of the episode was one of the most entertaining parts. Mary decides to accompany Catherine on her way to a noble's party, but on the way there Catherine reveals that she wasn't headed to a party at all but to visit a village that she is a patron of. In the middle of Catherine's political lesson about the importance of gaining the love of the peasant class, the carriage is overtaken by peasants who happen to be shouting, "Kill the royals!" #uhoh

Mary and Catherine flee into the woods and start walking back to the castle, with Catherine limping along comically on her sprained ankle. They eventually find a tavern where they pose as mother and daughter ladies' maids, whose employers died of the plague. Catherine isn't entirely thrilled with their charade, but Mary seems to be quite the actress and happily works in exchange for their meals.

While they eat, the two queens have one of the only genuine conversations they've had in the show's entire history. Mary admits that she only wanted to come with Catherine to see a celebrated women's physician in that town because she is upset about disappointing Francis. Catherine urges her to give up her "foolish romantic expectations" and accept the distance between her and Francis as normal. It seems like Catherine has actually come to love and respect Mary as she's watched her blossom into a ferocious young queen. Catherine is by far one of my favorite characters, so it made me ecstatic to see her and Mary getting closer. They're both intelligent and cunning women, who would be much better as allies than enemies.

Their heartwarming conversation is interrupted when imposters arrive at the tavern, posing as King Francis and Queen Mary. The couple is going around the countryside asking the peasants for money, supposedly for troops to fight their nation's enemies. A clever scheme in a country where few people know what the king and queen look like.

Mary and Catherine have a plan, as always, and meet with the fake queen, Jenny, However, guards from the castle soon show up and, after killing the imposter king, take Mary, Catherine, and Jenny back to the castle. Jenny reveals that the guard is actually part of the plot and a fight ensues when he tries to kill Mary and Catherine. He stabs Jenny, but Mary causes the carriage's horse to trample him just as he's about to kill the two queens. Conveniently, Francis and his guards show up at the very moment the danger is gone. It was a lot of action to process in a very short amount of time, but the most shocking part was that the imposters were backed by Elizabeth I!

Speaking of shocking, it turns out that I was right about Narcisse and Lola. Lola is disowned by her family, after they find out about her baby, and meets with a banker to try to get her dowry back before it is sent to Lord Julien's father. The man refuses to help her (Lola and Kenna may be feminists, but the banker certainly isn't). Narcisse offers to help Lola get her dowry (and therefore her financial independence) back in exchange for having tea with him.

At tea time, Narcisse teaches Lola how to shoot a bow and arrow while making thinly veiled innuendos. And by teaches her to shoot, I mean the cliché arms-over-hers-on-the-bow-standing-behind-her teaching style. At least Narcisse's motives are becoming clearer and clearer.

During a ball at the castle (seriously, do the nobles do anything other than go to balls?), Narcisse offers to get Lola's dowry back for her if she'll let him watch her bathe at midnight. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds. And for a minute, I thought that it worked....but Lola gave a servant woman money to take her place to play a trick on Narcisse. She meets Narcisse where he is watching the bathtub and the two are incredibly flirty. Be careful, Lola, Narcisse is a dangerous man who seems to ignore any boundaries when in pursuit of something he wants.

Francis and Mary continue to struggle after his explosive rant about his disappointment in her ability to bear children last episode. Even though he apologizes and says that he didn't mean any of it, it seems that something has shifted between the two. He asks Mary if she's only acting like the dutiful wife like his mother did and she assures him that she isn't...but it's clear to the viewer that she is. Is Mary becoming Catherine after all? Is the distance between the couple permanent? Or will their passion simply continue to be on-again, off-again?

See what the REIGN writers have to say about this week's episode:

What do you hope to see next episode? I'd personally like to see a more Bash and Kenna centric episode, though I am intrigued by Lola and Narcisse's budding romance. With the anger stirred up by the imposters and the religious strife, it seems that trouble is brewing in France and I'm sure it's not long before it explodes.

Get a sneak peek at next week's 'Prince of Blood' episode below:

What did you think of this week's episode? Do you think Narcisse is bad news for Lola? Comment below or tweet @nicoleackman16 to discuss.

Photo Credit: REIGN's Official Tumblr Page

To post a comment, you must register and login.