S04.E06: Love & Death

[PinkRibbons]

NOTE: Reign airs on Thursdays 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 Friday night to view the new episode.

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Mary's potential marriage to Lord Darnley has political consequences she must face. Meanwhile, Charles vanishes, leaving Catherine to handle things; Elizabeth helps Gideon; and an intriguing proposition is made to Claude.

 

[PinkRibbons]

I don't know if it's the actor or the writing, but the portrayal of Darnley is masterful, especially since they chose not to have Mary jump to full besotted like she did in real life. I don't like him but I can see how he can come off so charming with an appealing whiff of many danger at one point, with just that hint (and when not around Mary, a hell of a lot more than a hint) of overconfidence and maniacal-ism (I know that's not a word but it's late). I totally expect Keira to show up floating in some body of water next episode. I don't think Darnley would let anything get between him and a crown.

Leith made me proud. I kept thinking how Catherine made such a beautiful point, but to parallel her scenario, Luc is the Catherine in this situation to Leith's Diane. Does Leith know that Diane went full infanticidal crazy over having to share Henri? In any case, I'm glad he cut ties with Claude. They've both got a real chance to be happy, just not together. And I hope we never have to see them reuniting in Tuscany.

Seems they are teasing Greer and James, and that only appeals to me if I think of it as us knowing that Greer will be around to raise Mary's son after she abdicates, since he'll pretty much become James's own child.

While watching I had two idea that were totally wrong -- I honestly thought all the talk of the rare flower was going to reveal it only grew in Scotland, and that Elizabeth would be forced to pull back on her threats to get the ingredient in exchange. I also thought Mary running away from Darnley the first time was her having morning sickness from carrying Gideon's baby, and *boy* am I glad that's not the case, I am so tired of Gideon. Feel sorry for him and Agatha, but that's all I need to see from him. He never convinced me as a love interest for Mary or even a particularly good diplomat. Let him leave to mourn, and stay away.

Leeza has officially gone too far, outright declaring that Spain would be taking over France. Does she even realize that she's declared war? At this point if I was Catherine I would figure there were zero fucks left to give, have Leeza's entire entourage murdered and Leeza secretly imprisoned. Let Phillip negotiate getting his wife back -- does he really want a war with a Catholic Nation, when there's so much else going on in the world that he needs to war with? Leeza's motives are petty in a way I suspect her husband wouldn't agree with.

As a small aside, I really liked both Catherine's immediate concern for Mary and Mary's apparent disappointment about Catherine not coming to her engagement party. I really loved their relationship after Francis's death. I wonder if it stung Leeza how concerned Catherine was for Mary...

Edited March 24, 2017 by PinkRibbons

[wonderchica05]

Oh Leith. I was kind of disappointed it appeared he was going for the money, but he and Catherine were right- that Sister Wives situation was untenable in the long run. I was pleased he pointed out he didn't want Claude to NOT enjoy the baby making. I suspect Claude will recover quickly, since Luc really does seem like a nice guy. Princesses have dealt with much worse in the arranged marriage department! 

I'm going to have to re watch Greer's pirate episode, because Pirate Baby is looking like a genetic mismatch to me!

Mary's all distraught over feelings with Darnley, but she picked up with Gideon pretty fast after Francis so I'm not too impressed.

Leeza has got to go.

Edited March 25, 2017 by wonderchica05

[Moxie Cat]

On March 24, 2017 at 2:24 AM, PinkRibbons said:

 

I don't know if it's the actor or the writing, but the portrayal of Darnley is masterful, especially since they chose not to have Mary jump to full besotted like she did in real life. I don't like him but I can see how he can come off so charming with an appealing whiff of many danger at one point, with just that hint (and when not around Mary, a hell of a lot more than a hint) of overconfidence and maniacal-ism

I totally agree. When they first introduced Darnley, I disliked him and couldn't see how they could make Mary warm to him. But they've done a good job. I can see how, if you didn't know the history, you might think that Darnley could become a better person via Mary. Wasn't the crown matrimonial a huge wedge IRL? They have laid good groundwork for that but I wonder what changes Mary's mind because she was totally OK with it here.

i ask again: why does Claude need to sleep with Luc if she's sleeping with Leith? How would they know an heir was legitimate in that situation? Unlike Pirate Baby, Claude's offspring would likely bear a resemblance to both Luc and Leith since they have similar coloring.

I actually don't mind Leeza, because it is fun watching Narcisse and Cath figure out how to outwit her.

The Agatha story was sad. Does anyone have a take on what she had? No one seemed to be worried that it was contagious. I didn't catch enough symptoms to hazard a guess.

[PinkRibbons]

1 hour ago, Moxie Cat said:

i ask again: why does Claude need to sleep with Luc if she's sleeping with Leith? How would they know an heir was legitimate in that situation? Unlike Pirate Baby, Claude's offspring would likely bear a resemblance to both Luc and Leith since they have similar coloring.

Presumably Claude has been using some kind of birth control, since she's been sleeping around for years already and presumably never got pregnant. Kenna mentioned Henri using a condom once, I think, and who knows what concoctions Catherine could come up with. I think we were supposed to believe that every. single. one. of Mary's lady's got pregnant out of wedlock because they were simply too well-bred to know about birth control. (Kenna was probably being lax because she expected to marry her baby's father soon enough. Now that I think of it though, there's no excuse for Greer, who was the Madame of a brothel when she got knocked up and definitely would have known about birth control by then. Unless she did use something and it failed.)

If Claude's midwife is canny enough to know when she's ovulating though, she really shouldn't have been sleeping with Leith at that time, birth control or not.

2 hours ago, Moxie Cat said:

The Agatha story was sad. Does anyone have a take on what she had? No one seemed to be worried that it was contagious. I didn't catch enough symptoms to hazard a guess.

I don't think the writers even have anything specific in mind; I don't know if there's any disease that matches the few symptoms we've had (I think just fever? And some other "symptoms" without description) along with the considerable amount of time that has passed, long enough for Elizabeth to import a doctor, and definitely at least two weeks, since that was confirmed outright. Maybe some sort of pervasive recurring infection? I'll ask my nurse sister when I see her next time. If it was just fever I would wonder at Agatha making it through two days even as much as two weeks. Back then the kind of diseases that came with fevers could kill within hours.

[dreamcatcher]

First of all, I just found the forum and I'm glad I did because none of my friends are watching Reign!

I agree that they are doing a great job with Darnley. We're not supposed to like him like Francis, but making him a monster wouldn't really make the fans glue to their screens. I'm just wondering; with 10 episodes left, how are they going to go through everything that happened in real life? They're still not married and Mary needs to go through a pregnancy, kill him, marry again, "move" to England.... They're taking too much time focusing on filler storylines.

And re;Rose, her father was definitely not dark skinned. He was more dark coloured than Greer, but Rose is definitely too dark skinned to be their child.

As for Leeza, I hate her. I don't like the character at all and I certainly don't get her storyline. Her comments about Catherine not being a good mother kinda made sense, but a. Claude wasn't close to her mother either so I can't see Leeza being jealous of her b. her obsession with Spain doesn't make any sense. Yeah ok she got married into the spanish royal family and became the Queen, but that wouldn't give her any real power and I can't imagine the King deciding that overtaking the French throne would make any sense. At most, the spanish would back up another family's claim to the throne to get rid of the Valois -aka the Bourbons, aka Louis in Reign- but that would be a risk and that would weakens Leeza's position as well. That's where I thought this was going because after Charles and his youngest brother (who I don't think is going to become the next King on Reign as there is no time), the Bourbons took over... 

I know it's just fiction and I would love these random storylines if we had more episodes or another season. But they have so much to cover, so I don't get why they chose to waste time on those dead end storylines.

[TaurusRose]

Apparently, the only way Mary can justify having sex (heck, even being horny) is too fall "in love" with the object of her lust.  Whatever. I'm completely over her and I really don't care.  Are the writers only capable of writing love triangle dramas? I mean even for the CW their skills at writing, plotting and pacing suck.  It's like watching someone wash their hair--lather, massage, rinse, repeat.  I guess the animosity they're trying to build between James and Darnley will lead to James' part in plotting Darnley's murder.  BTW, how long are they going to drag out actually getting married?  No comment on Claude-Leith-Luc because I see no point in this storyline.  Ditto for the vanishing king and the petty Spanish queen.  Seriously, Catherine should just outright kill Leeza and her goon squad, send her husband their heads, and let the chips fall where they may.  I'm way past being bored with France.  Rose.  My disgust with this plot device was expressed in an earlier thread.  A child of color is not a pet.  Fuck you, show.  And finally, no. They never said what ailed Agatha. Probably because they didn't care enough to make it even a little bit worthy of attention and figured that most of the still watching audience wouldn't care either. I know I didn't.  Sadly, it looks as if they will leave no ridiculous stone unturned to pad this season until they finally get to the chopping block.

Edited March 28, 2017 by taurusrose

[megsara]

This ep felt a bit overstuffed, though the flow is pretty terrible on the CW app because of all the commercials.  This will be a good one to rewatch once it hits Netflix.

Baby Rose was so freaking adorable in that scene with Mary and Greer.  She was very entertained by something, and so was I.  I really don't remember Rose's father very well.  What ethnicity was he supposed to be?  I vaguely thought Middle Eastern?  But I am very hazy on that plot.  I think Greer and James have good friend chemistry but nothing more.  Honestly the only person James has good chemistry with is Mary, so.....

 Still hoping the loyal watchman is Bothwell.  I am ready for him!  

Were we supposed to think that the assassin wasn't set up by the English?  The ambassador seemed very confused/surprised so I wasn't sure.

Of course Narcisse hits on Leeza.  Might as well try to get the trifecta I suppose.  And Leeza seemed fairly into it, which is rich considering her moralizing.

Continue to really adore Luc.  He's so nice, and tall, and has the most beautiful un-waxed chest.  Climb him like a tree, Claude! 

[dreamcatcher]

I don't think they ever specified that pirate's ethnicity, but as far as looks are concerned, he had pretty much the same coloring with Conde and that spanish prince. He was definitely not black. Still, Greer is supposed to be scottish so Rose would definitely have darker skin than her, but it wouldn't be that obvious. Then again, Rose was just a plot point to break Castleroy and Greer up. I'm not sure why that was important though. She could have spent her entire life away from her husband and it wouldn't be that weird back in the day-and as a Catholic, a. she couldn't have married somebody from another faith b. she wouldn't get a divorce. That's literally why Henry created the Church of England, like wth?

I'm thinking that they aren't going to show Mary's third husband at all.

[Scarlett45]

On 3/30/2017 at 4:33 PM, dreamcatcher said:

I don't think they ever specified that pirate's ethnicity, but as far as looks are concerned, he had pretty much the same coloring with Conde and that spanish prince. He was definitely not black. Still, Greer is supposed to be scottish so Rose would definitely have darker skin than her, but it wouldn't be that obvious. Then again, Rose was just a plot point to break Castleroy and Greer up. I'm not sure why that was important though. She could have spent her entire life away from her husband and it wouldn't be that weird back in the day-and as a Catholic, a. she couldn't have married somebody from another faith b. she wouldn't get a divorce. That's literally why Henry created the Church of England, like wth?

I'm thinking that they aren't going to show Mary's third husband at all.

My thoughts were with Martin being a pirate we have no idea what his ethnic background his. Martin could be multi-ethinic and Rose resembling one of his grandparents or something. It happens.