PinkRibbons

I was absolutely convinced that the Milky Way Stan bought for Zinaida was actually one she had left there with a message in the wrapper. And that when Stan gave it to her she was thanking her lucky stars that she could eat it and hide the wrapper. Consequently, I was shocked that Stan didn't go through the deli's trash. (Or did he? I watched the episode pretty late last night.)

He got part of one before the artist was stopped in "The Equestronauts".

Well, that was gross and I feel gross for having watched it. Except for High!Lola. She was a delight. It's just UGH. MARY. IS. SO. STUPID. How is it not possible for her to see that the only power she has comes from her being married to Francis? Since her marriage she's done exactly one thing for the Scottish people and that's destroy a contract no one ever heard about. Her own mother and Regent have been deposed by a Protestant Council -- what, Mary's just supposed to march in and break them up? And even if she could, she'd need an army of the French at her back. And sure, Francis might have been willing to send her back with help, but she thinks he'll support claim while she marches her lover along with her? I mean, she doesn't even get that her power in France only comes from Francis loving her. The French-Scottish alliance is a bust; Scotland is turning protestant while France has been burning Protestants left and right. They actually want to work with Elizabeth. Francis is getting absolutely nothing from Scotland except a wife he loves that isn't giving him a chance while she moons after his cousin. Screw history, if she tries to go back to Scotland I hope Francis goes for an annulment, ships her off by herself and marries Lola, legitimizing his son. Narcisse was right, he should have married a girl with money, not political issues. Having gotten that out of my system: I love Greer as High-Class Madame. But what, did she lose her hairbrush? When Kenna came to deliver that ruby back to Antoine, I was positive that she accepted his invitation to make up the party because she noticed something fishy. She kept looking behind her; I felt like maybe she was trying to spy. Maybe she is. In any case after Henry I think she knows a lot better than to trust kings.

I love that Louise, while used as a pawn, was gracious enough to Henry in the end. And she wasn't a lose because really all she ever wanted was to expose Millie's psychosis. (And btw, how has Millie not gotten an automatic suspension for trying to choke out Abbie? Just being disqualified from the election is not even close to adequate punishment. My parents' friends grandkid figured out he could miss three days of school at a time if he just pushed someone. That went bad quickly.) Did anyone catch the Burger of the Day(s)? I don't think we got a clear shot of either...

The thing about Martha is that every time the producers have talked about that "marriage", they have specifically cited examples in which, upon hearing the truth, the deceived woman would refuse to believe it despite all evidence. The show is pretty devoted to showing things as they were (with some obvious veers off the course), and I keep thinking the showrunners have been basically telling us this will happen. Then again, they may just be throwing us off to hit us with a hell of a twist! I have a storyline theory of my own, concerning Paige. I think before she even finds out about her parents, something's going to happen at night when they're out, like Henry getting really sick or the house being burgled. And I think when asked by doctors or cops, Paige, without even knowing what her parents are up to, will cover for them. Which would make for an interesting feeling in that house, this idea of "Paige knows that something's up, she just doesn't necessarily want to know what it is anymore". It's a third option with Paige, letting her live in semi-ignorance if that's what she wants.

Yes, definitely. He has a distinctive way of speaking. I wonder if he and Zinaida are in cahoots?

I've got to say the idea of Paige turning her parents in would be deeply ironic, considering the Soviets had a quite a bit of propaganda (most notably Pavlik Morozov) aimed at children encouraging them to inform on their parents. By my parents' time (which is essentially the time-frame of the show), this was pretty much completely rejected by the Soviet people, though lip service was paid. Inform on strangers? Maybe. Inform on your own family? My father just called it a "mortal sin". As an American kid, whose parents refer to my "growing up here" with a tone of relief, I have to say I'd never turn my folks in. But then again I think it's probably more about my family dynamic. My folks could secretly be terrorist nazi spies and I wouldn't turn them in. I wouldn't help, but I wouldn't turn them in. With Paige on the other hand, there is that tangible gap between herself and her parents. She already has this feeling that she doesn't know them, so she may not be as devoted to them as they are to her. Meanwhile when the subject of Paige being kidnapped to Russia came up I had a sudden vision of Philip sneaking back into the country and killing everyone in the Lubyanka on his way to get her out. I don't think the KGB would be above blackmailing the parents with the childrens' lives. As for the competency of the KGB, according to my folks it had its moments of complete absurdity. Apparently a big issue was that they would get intelligence but take forever to act on it. Plans Elizabeth and Philip are stealing would most likely end up on someone's desk, unread for ages.

If we end up in Scotland (OR OMG PARALLEL STORIES OF MARY IN FRANCE AND ELIZABETH IN ENGLAND. THE SHOW IS CALLED "REIGN", NOT "MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS") I can see Mary and Elizabeth seeing each other somewhat regularly. Not accurate of course, but geographically easier to believe.

Gotta say I won't ever be okay with her character again until she is thoroughly called out on the AJ bullshit and can no longer pretend to be above it all. She had no right to steal Archer's sperm, period. When that was brought up she simply changed the subject and no one followed up on it. Don't even get me started on the "making Archer prove he can protect AJ" storyline. I want another Cheryl saying what she's thinking without realizing it moment, basically.

I don't remember it being explicitly told that Kate gave Jared such a damaging portrait of his parents. Frankly, why would she? Jared would work best with his parents, not as a lone spy disconnected from them. I suspect it was just that Kate told him the simple truth and he then processed it in a way no one anticipated. I don't think Kate ever knew that Jared killed his parents, for all he was so in love with her. She seemed just as frightened as everyone else over Larrick and anyone else who could have been the possible culprit. She was a trained field agent; if she had spent so much time pounding into his head how his parents betrayed him, she still might have realized how toxic his feelings for them had gotten and tried to do some damage control. And if she couldn't do anything before the murders, she should have suspected Jared very quickly and put the KGB on alert, because that is the kind of crazy you do not want in your employ.

Clip from the episode!

But the Centre already tried that with Jared? His parents refused to tell him about themselves and they sent in a third party to recruit him. He found out about his folks from Kate and that made him feel even more betrayed. The Centre is going with letting Paige's parents talk to her because they can be around to manage the fallout that comes with her having to reorient her entire look on her life until now. Even if she takes it badly, they can probably still convince her to not blow their cover (she doesn't strike me as the type to willingly have her parents killed or incarcerated -- her relationship with Elizabeth is strained but functioning, and despite the rough parts she clearly adores Philip). Plus, unlike Jared she won't know how to kill anyone yet. The producers have mentioned before that they're interested in the fallout that comes from someone being lied to consistently for a long time. Paige will have her world turned upside down, but she might surprise even her parents. She could completely freak out about how they've lied to her her whole life, but then she could also express relief that her suspicions aren't baseless and take any attitude from apathetic to completely on-board.

I might be misreading him, but I think what he was implying was that he and Catherine had already lived past the age most people got to, and that they should make the most of what time they had left. Clearly he doesn't know Catherine's gonna fight her way to almost 70, which was damn impressive. Although actually she may not even be fifty on the show right now, depending on how old we're supposed to think Francis is.

You know, now I think about it, I'm a little surprised that Gabriel didn't obtain any Novocaine or other anesthetic for Elizabeth. He's such an observant old bastard, I'd think he's notice her toothache. Even in Russia at the time they used anesthetic for tooth extractions.

Did anyone else spend the entire scene with Jeremy's goodbye to Alaric expecting Bonnie to get off the bus Jeremy was about to board? I lost half the scene, I was watching that bus so hard.

Yeah, I came out of that episode (after laughing hysterically the whole way to the end) with one phrase stuck in my head: Lana is an asshole. The woman was ready to let Krieger watch her kid and yet she made Archer take two bullets for the privilege?

Personally I have no problem with it! I just caught the promo and will be putting it up in next episode's thread as soon as it's up on the Official CW Channel. I have to admit that my knowledge of Mary's life after her return to Scotland is not particularly strong (I tend to focus on Elizabeth in that era). I would love to know what you're seeing in the preview of Bothwell's that you think they're giving to Conde!

Is that spoilers or speculation? Cause if it's the former, please tag it (and then please post about it in a spoiler thread because I would love to know the details). Thank you!

This, but I'd like to put in that twins can be very common in certain families, no magic necessary. My mother's cousin had a pair of twins (preemies in the USSR, poor things didn't make it), then a single girl, then twin boys. The girl has grown up, married a boy who is a twin himself, and they just had their own set of twins.

Commentary on the tooth-pulling scene. Fair warning, this is the entire scene again (sounds included), but with a voiceover added.

I don't really get what happened at the end of the episode? I got the impression that they were hoping to blackmail the guy with sleeping with a minor, but I thought it sounded like the babysitter was coming on to him and he was shutting her down. So why the interest in her being the daughter of the guy's superior? I think I mostly just had trouble hearing the radio conversations. (Although it just occurred to me that that could present an interesting in for Paige. Who would suspect the babysitter's little friend of running surveillance on her father?)

I just...I'm completely bewildered by what they're trying to do with Mary and Conde, because I can almost feel them through the screen, the actors desperately trying to make it work, and yet it won't. I do not buy it, it doesn't matter what the script is saying. The insane lack of chemistry between them is just so ridiculous to me. Well, and I also feel like no matter what the writers try to do to make Conde look good, he's so off-putting to me. Conde from the start always felt dirty to me (seriously, kidnapping prisoners of the crown for his own purposes and then getting praised for his chivalry in taking them? What the hell?), and there's something in his constant righteous anger that really rings almost hypocritical for me. I think it comes down to Lola's assessment of him -- he has this idea of himself as this constantly wronged white knight, but all he cares about really is himself, even if he deludes himself into believing he does things for some great love for Mary. It's such an appalling contrast to Francis's genuine understanding and consideration and, frankly, intelligence. Just UGH to that whole storyline. All in all I'm just so disappointed in the writers lately. They're going so off the mark with this whole Conde debacle. I didn't know Toby was signed on to stay, or I would maybe understand groundwork being laid for Mary's future disastrous marriages after Francis's death, but unless Francis will be hanging around season 3 as a ghost it all looks so tawdry and gross. I am not entertained by married people pining over idiots. I was disappointed about Greer's storyline; where did she get the little money she had already, and why on earth did she never mention the idea of meeting up with Castleroy somewhere? If she won't go back to Scotland she still has a husband. Even penniless they'd be better off together than leaving her alone in a seedy inn. I do think that Kenna may surprise us; she can kind of bounce from silliness to savviness. If anyone is going to blow open the real story of who poisoned Henri, I think it'll be her.

NOTE: Reign airs on Wednesdays in Canada, meaning that the episodes are very often viewed a day before they have aired in the US. Therefore please be aware that this thread will almost definitely have spoilers for those who wish to wait until Thursday night to view the new episode. American Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHAclQTDJD8 Canadian Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbt5ajAaEIQ

Gonna tiptoe in and say while it's probably due to me being kind of baby-crazy atm (damn hormones and biological clock), I actually like Hope. Mostly because the baby(s) they use to play her are so damn cute. So long as she's an adorable little baby (please someone invent a vaccine against SORAS!) I'm okay with having her on my screen. Oh, but did anyone else feel like they did CGI on her eyes in the last shots? They seemed kind of weird to me.

Words cannot stress how much I love that Russian portmanteau. My parents will find it bizarre but I think it's a thing of beauty ("Mishezhda"). I remember thinking very early on that Philip, with his looser look at Centre protocol, would have been more open with Elizabeth about his previous life even before the show began. I even suspected that he would have tried to share with Elizabeth in attempts to win some genuine affection from her over the years. At this point however I don't know...he is just so damn deep and hard to figure out. I wonder if the writers always meant him to be that way or if it evolved naturally over the years?