S02.E10: Mercy

[PinkRibbons]

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.

 

Quote

 

Francis tracks Narcisse with a passion for revenge. Meanwhile, Mary discovers Francis was being blackmailed, leading her and Condé to tackle a dangerous mission; Leith begs Greer to flee for her own safety; and Catherine receives a surprisingly erotic visit in her chambers.

 

Trailer:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n09taUWGlI

[dirtypop90]

I'm quickly losing interest in reign. The only two interesting things to me this episode was GhostHenry and Conde's bro Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre!

 

After meeting conde's brother, I'm certain the Amboise conspiracy is happening, so the second half of the season may actually be interesting. And now, since Mary is going to start leaning on conde instead of francis because he lurves her and she's upset with Francis, she's going to end up helping Conde and his bro go after Francis. And the writers will possibly have this lead to francis's death, which would fulfill Nostradamus's prophecy of mary causing francis's death. BAM!

Edited December 11, 2014 by dirtypop90

[brisbydog]

Does everything on this show (and network) have to be a triangle??

 

Poor Narcisse :(

 

Liked Rapist on Fire

[dirtypop90]

Does everything on this show (and network) have to be a triangle??

 

Poor Narcisse :(

 

Liked Rapist on Fire

 

during comic con adelaide kane patted the show on the back for ending the original love triangle because triangles are "bloody boring" and the show had "real plot lines" so it didn't need them. poor girl...little did she know

 

But I will say that I believe this triangle will serve a greater purpose than mary/francis/bash 

[Artsda]

So now Catherine's going insane, seeing dead people just like Henry. 

 

What was with the odd Claude/Bash/Kenna scene when Claude passed out and Bash carried her.  Bash and Claude are brother and sister right? They're going from rape to that now? 

 

Loved that Leith gave up his mulligan that Francis owed him selflessly for Greer.

[PinkRibbons]

This does feel like Bash redux to me. I see just as little chemistry between Conde and Mary as I did with her and Bash. Less, even.

 

I'm guessing whatever's happening to Catherine is what caused Henry's madness. We never did get a solid answer on what was wrong with him that sent him over the edge, and he was seeing spirits too. I'm guessing it's some kind of poison from Clarissa, because I suspect we're meant to believe the spirits are real. That whatever is causing them to haunt Catherine came originally from the pagans in the woods...some kind of hallucinogen?

Edited December 11, 2014 by PinkRibbons

[BooBear]

Loved that Leith gave up his mulligan that Francis owed him selflessly for Greer.

 

I think I only watch for Leith now but it is getting old. It seems like we keep spinning in this storyline where he pines for her and does selfless things for her and she pines for him but won't do anything because Castleroy has been so good to her. At what point is something going to move ahead here?  I am kind of getting tired of Castleroy, he is a fool.

 

I liked that Mary got her revenge close up and personal but do not look forward to the endless moping about it.

[Marie Claudine]

I am a wee bit tired of the mad parents all around. It was fun with Henry, but the Catherine/long dead Henry bed scene was a bit too much now. Then again, I was never a fan of the supernatural allusions on Reign. That said, I find I settled quite comfortably into watching this show, although it still annoys my socks off.

 

The prompt burning of the rapist did not ease my anger at the unnecessary rape scene. Also, angry Francis is funny to me because of the way he keeps his eyes wide open. "I'll stare you down, fiend, by the sheer openness of my eyes! Can you see the white of my eye? Can you?!?"

 

I found myself feeling sorry for Narcisse, who doesn't deserve my pity, but I am glad he lives and am looking forward to seeing what else will happen to him/with him. On the down side, I did get a wee bit annoyed that the Leith/Greer/Castleroy triangle still seems to be going on on some level. I fear the show might kill off Castleroy and lead Greer to Leith with Castleroy's blessing, or some such nonsense, which I would regret because although I don't mind Leith, I love Castleroy. But I shouldn't make predictions, they are always wrong when it comes to this show.

 

Finally, what on earth is wrong with Claude? I get that she is pining for Mommy's love, but being spoon-fed at her age to resolve an argument does ring weird instead of moving, doesn't it?

[scarletregina]

This does feel like Bash redux to me. I see just as little chemistry between Conde and Mary as I did with her and Bash. Less, even.

 

I'm guessing whatever's happening to Catherine is what caused Henry's madness. We never did get a solid answer on what was wrong with him that sent him over the edge, and he was seeing spirits too. I'm guessing it's some kind of poison from Clarissa, because I suspect we're meant to believe the spirits are real. That whatever is causing them to haunt Catherine came originally from the pagans in the woods...some kind of hallucinogen?

 

I was thinking that it's probably syphilis. It can cause hallucinations & dementia.

[Eolivet]

Wow, that wasn't predictable or anything.

 

I hate TV subplots where the characters have to act supremely stupid in order for them to work. The moment Francis chose to withhold Narcisse's information from supposedly delicate flower Mary (you know, the same one who killed a guy while he was out angsting over his new son or slit another guy's throat when she and Catherine were on their own several episodes ago). The same Francis who promised they were going to rule together, but sort of looked askance at her ruthlessness last season. Suddenly that Francis was nowhere to be found and his wife was a delicate little flower who needed to be protected from the big, bad Narcisse. Ugh. And if it was because of her miscarriage, that's really gross. If anything, that proved her strength, not her weakness.

 

Francis is such a bad ruler -- but they've sidelined both Mary and Catherine (and can someone please suffocate the twins again? They're insufferable. At least Clarissa was mildly threatening. They just rely on being creepy-looking. UGH, I just hate that badass Catherine is reduced to a quivering lump by two eight-year olds who look more like they need a bath than they're going to wreak any sort of havoc) for this...plot with Narcisse. Just get out ye Royal yardstick, pull down ye Royal breeches and be done with it.

 

I don't understand if we're supposed to feel sympathy for Francis when he's gone from plague-ignoring angsty insta-daddy to a bloodthirsty tantrum-throwing Royal toddler, who shut his wife and mother out of his problems to protect them. Buddy, you're the one that needed protection...from yourself.

 

If the show thinks Francis is their main character, they are really utterly mistaken. Knocking Mary down to make him a "strong" "ruler" is a joke. She's your lead, show -- not him.

[dirtypop90]

If the show thinks Francis is their main character, they are really utterly mistaken. Knocking Mary down to make him a "strong" "ruler" is a joke. She's your lead, show -- not him.

 

I think it's the other way around. The writers believe Francis must be shown as a weak, incompetent, and dumb King, so the audience will believe he needs Mary because she's the strong, competent, and intelligent ruler.

 

Doesn't work for me because, based on what we've seen, I think they're both idiots and have no business running two countries and so need to hand their crowns over to Catherine.

[treeofdreams]

I'm no history expert, but doesn't Francis die fairly young (brain tumor or something?), Mary goes back to Scotland, and Catherine takes over?  Who reigns after her?  I'm too lazy to look it up.

 

Of course, Reign's version of history might completely change the above in favor of some strange new storyline.  Which could be interesting - I love alternate history stories.

[PinkRibbons]

Francis is set to die fairly soon of some kind of ear hemorrhage, I think? I'll miss Toby. This show's timeline is so strange -- they skip weeks at a time...according to Nostradamus's vision Francis will die around the time he and Mary have been married a year. They got married in episode 13 last season and we're on episode 10 of this one,  but who knows how much time has past. I suspect they'll hold off Francis's death until the season finale.

 

Catherine didn't exactly become ruler; Charles, Francis's heir, was too young so Catherine became regent until he grew up. Three of her sons ended up sitting on the throne and dying without legitimate issue, and finally the next King after them was one of their cousins, who just happened to be married to one of Catherine's daughters. (Don't quote me, I'm too lazy to double-check myself.)

[scarynikki12]

No need, PinkRibbons, that's an accurate summary. 

[Bosman]

Catherine wielded  A LOT of power through her sons. 

[rtms77]

I think it's the other way around. The writers believe Francis must be shown as a weak, incompetent, and dumb King, so the audience will believe he needs Mary because she's the strong, competent, and intelligent ruler.

 

Doesn't work for me because, based on what we've seen, I think they're both idiots and have no business running two countries and so need to hand their crowns over to Catherine.

Which is interesting becuase Mary proved to be just as incompetent as Francis is being protrayed here.  She went from one mishap to another, culminating in her being captured by Elizabeth 1 and imprisoned for 20 yrs.

[PinkRibbons]

Which is interesting becuase Mary proved to be just as incompetent as Francis is being protrayed here.  She went from one mishap to another, culminating in her being captured by Elizabeth 1 and imprisoned for 20 yrs.

And the cherry on top would be her part in a conspiracy to usurp the English throne that ended with her losing her head! If I understand correctly, she came up with a secret code that went straight in the hands of Elizabeth's spymaster, no? And then she used that code to put her compliance with the act in writing. She was...yeah, she was a bad queen. Objectively speaking. Her life was a string of bad decisions, each following the other up to the executioners block.

[ulkis]

And the cherry on top would be her part in a conspiracy to usurp the English throne that ended with her losing her head! If I understand correctly, she came up with a secret code that went straight in the hands of Elizabeth's spymaster, no? And then she used that code to put her compliance with the act in writing. She was...yeah, she was a bad queen. Objectively speaking. Her life was a string of bad decisions, each following the other up to the executioners block.

 

Not exactly . . . I don't think she made up the code. I've seen a couple of tv series/movies that theorize that Elizabeth's spymaster set her up, that the conspirators were people who worked for Elizabeth the whole time.

 

The cousin who became King after Catherine's last son was Conde's nephew.

 

I have no idea if the show is gonna make it to a third season, (sounds like no from what you all are saying about the ratings) but imo if they're planning to move the action to Scotland with Mary (which is what it sounds like from an interview I read last year) they should have already introduced some hot* version of Darnley or Hepburn that came and visited Mary a couple of times. Not that the show has to have a male lead of course, but it seems they're scared of losing Francis/their male lead.

 

*yes, I would like him to be hot. I'm shallow. This is a serious deficiency of Reign's, imo. All the guys are so blah looking. I'm here for MF/Catherine but it would be nice to have some eye candy.

 

Not gonna lie though. I've never really warmed up to Francis and don't mind his demise simply so Megan Follows can get some good material. (Of course, that means we'll lose her soon afterwards but hey, if she has to go, might as well go out with some good stuff.)

 

Of course, I'll settle for an alternate universe where Mary has to stay in France if it means keeping Catherine on the show.

[dirtypop90]

Based on where we are now, Francis is set to die a year from now, so I'm guessing middle of next season, if there is one.

 

Due to the ratings this season, it's highly unlikely the show is going to scotland even if it gets a third season. It literally won't be able to afford to switch to a new location with new sets and a new cast. 

 

In a new interview Adelaide said she was looking into new roles on the assumption the show won't be renewed.

Edited December 19, 2014 by dirtypop90

[Kcat1971]

Not surprising.  Both myself and my 19 year old are "meh" about the series.  We usually get around to watching it sooner or later but it can stay or go.  I like historical fiction and I'm willing to be pretty accepting if the fiction outweighs the historical but I'm pretty over how "teen" this is and my teen is telling me it isn't very good teen either.

[Featherhat]

If they want to attempt to move the show to Scotland they need to introduce either or both Darnley and Bothwell this season, unless they are planning on Bash becoming one of them.

 

IDK if its about  Mary being strong whilst Francis is weak. They are both fairly poor monarchs, its just that Mary gets a lot of the pro action speeches whilst Francis doesn't. His whole arc with Narcisse was fairly terrible for me though, especially the Not Telling Mary or his mother to "protect" them malarkey. If it had ever come to it, no one would have believed that they had zero knowledge of a proven plot, their enemies wouldn't have cared if they were innocent or guilty and if you are a medieval or nearly-post medieval King one noble manoeuvring to try and blackmail you or become "the power behind the throne" is a blessing because usually it was 8 and you probably had *publicly* killed your predecessor.

[dirtypop90]

I disagree. Francis may have made the decision to keep the blackmail a secret from Catherine and Mary but he hasn't been allowed to make one decision for france based on what he believes is best for his country. The showrunner said she's been thinking of this s/l since the end of last season as francis's comeuppance for killing his father. She said another was mary's rape. (sick I know) She's punishing francis in her mind, which is probably why there's been no mention of the fact that the reason Narcisse is blackmailing francis is because Mary killed narcisse's son instead of listening to Catherine because of her gigantic ego.

 

Mary has not been limited in this way. She's been plotting with Conde all season behind francis's back doing what she actually believes is best for France. 

Edited December 27, 2014 by dirtypop90

[TheGourmez]

I know the whole season has been driving a wedge between Mary and Francis, but I still don't buy that she wants to live apart from him so strongly. Take some time apart, sure, but she seemed pretty final in not wanting to be near him again at all. I get that she's displacing some of her anger over the rape onto Francis, but I still don't buy that decision.

[Rhondinella]

I was thinking that it's probably syphilis. It can cause hallucinations & dementia.

 

 

That was my assumption as well.  Which means Catherine could very well have it also, although I hope not.  She's honestly the only reason to watch this mess.  Well, that and the beautifully anachronistic costumes.

 

Doesn't work for me because, based on what we've seen, I think they're both idiots and have no business running two countries and so need to hand their crowns over to Catherine.

 

 

Completely agreed!  And I was happy earlier in the season when the finally showed Mary having to reap some of the real consequences of her horrible decision-making. Previously she or Francis had always found some clever way out of their problem, and they've done it again since.  But at least at one point there was some recognition of the fact that acting from conscience may make you feel better, but it's actually a lousy way to run a nation.

 

Do we have any confirmation of the fact that the character of Francis is actually going to die and be written off the show?  I mean, I know he did IRL, but so much of this has not been accurate, and even when it has the timeline has been off quite a bit.  So I don't think we should assume it just because it, you know, actually happened.