S04.E11: Dead of Night

[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.

Quote

Mary and Darnley are a odds as they put their plan to seize England into action. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's conflicted about her feelings for Gideon as she tries to find a Catholic to wed; and Catherine's son Henri attempts to claim the throne from Charles.

 

[PinkRibbons]

This whole episode I kept expecting Mary to outright say, "that's it, he needs to be dead. Yesterday." about Darnley. There is absolutely no advantage in keeping him alive, all he does is pose threat after threat. I mean, obviously they're setting up his murder, but I was surprised that this show's loosey-goosey history didn't have him gutted by Bothwell at the immediate end of this episode. Kudos once again to the actor playing Darnley, he is perfect. Overconfident to the point of incredible stupidity and thinking he can keep fixing his mistakes by backtracking as quickly as he can.

Speaking of stupid ideas for King, seriously Narcisse, you back Henri? I understand being fed up with Charles at this point, I really do, but better a King that is puppeted by his mother and advisors than one so clearly -- well, overconfident to the point of incredible stupidity. That thing with the rocks (not to mention making a scene at the dinner table) was so unsubtle and ridiculous it was mind-boggling. These are Catherine De'Medici's children for shit's sake. Why are they all so stupid?! I just realized that if I made a descending order of ruling competency among the Valois children, frikkin' CLAUDE would be third. (I give Leeza the tiniest edge over her because even though she's horrible, you can't say she's a weak ruler. Obviously poor Francis is at the top of the list.) Although frankly I don't know where to put Charles on that list because he's hard to figure. Hopefully Catherine's Black Magic will bring out another side of him that is a better King. I kept thinking that Henri should have met his doom at that dinner party for teasing Charles about his mental health. Clearly he doesn't know how scary Dark!Charles can be. Maybe he doesn't believe it since Charles look five years younger than him.

Just LOL at Catherine dabbling in black magic because of course she would. I do like that it's in keeping with her character not to harm Henri, but instead to strengthen Charles. Still a Mom at the end of it.

Gideon surprised the hell out of me by fessing up to Elizabeth. Well, I mean I was also surprised that he actually believed Elizabeth wouldn't go apeshit over the plot and want Mary dead (I wonder if this will be used to lead to Mary's execution instead of the whole 20-year imprisonment first), but it's refreshing to see someone being actually loyal to the Queen they swore loyalty to.

On a final note, Elizabeth needs some lipstick. It would go miles in helping her look less washed-out. They do a pretty good job making Mary look almost make-up free, I don't know why they can't apply the same kind of almost-natural-but-not-quite to Liz.

[LoveTheGame]

Am I the only one that feels like this episode was missing something? I don't know, just didnt feel like the same show I've been watching. 

[waving feather]

I like that they have kept Gideon's character consistent. Even when he was sleeping with Mary, he was always loyal to his queen and I like that he did not hide Intel from Elizabeth in this episode. Even though it was an aborted coup, it's still an intended coup and now Elizabeth has confirmed Mary's intentions.

Poor Mary, she's a huge mess. She has lost control of everything. The people around her truly suck but she also jumps into things impulsively. I feel like she could have handled the Darnley situation better instead of facing it head on. Catherine or even Elizabeth would have been more cunning or manipulative in how they would have handled Darnley.

[treeofdreams]

My favorite episode - Drama! Drama! everywhere.

I'm glad they are continuing to follow events in France - Catherine will always be my favorite character.

[Moxie Cat]

On May 5, 2017 at 9:25 PM, PinkRibbons said:

Maybe he doesn't believe it since Charles look five years younger than him.

I love when someone said, "He's bigger, he's stronger than Charles..." To which I added, "and he's magically five years older than Charles...."

Great episode, it held my attention more than others have. Darnley must have very little time left, at this rate. Not a good idea to threaten the queen with blackmail.

On a related note, Ovation is airing the Tudors and on the weekend's ep, Henry announced Mary Queen of Scots' birth. They had a plan to marry Henry's son to Mary and take over Scotland. Guess that plan didn't last long. And in the same ep, you had the roughly 10-year-old Elizabeth swearing that she would never marry!

[TaurusRose]

The French court is ridiculous as is Catherine turning to black magic.  Mary is a user and an idiotic one at that.  She's impulsive and reckless and rushing headlong to her doom.  I continue to enjoy watching Darnley talk trash to Mary and I'm waiting for the blood bath that hopefully includes Rizzio.  I don't like him at all. 

[dreamcatcher]

I still think that they are taking too long to kill off Darnley. I wouldn't mind if this wasn't the final season or the final few episodes, but we have 5 episodes left and Mary isn't even visibly pregnant.

And once again, Elizabeth's scenes are all about her relationships. What a great, strong Queen. Wth is wrong with the writers? I don't really like Rachel so I don't care about Elizabeth on Reign but if they insist on having her on the show, the may as well give her some personality.

[sabretooth]

On 5/8/2017 at 11:49 AM, dreamcatcher said:

I still think that they are taking too long to kill off Darnley. I wouldn't mind if this wasn't the final season or the final few episodes, but we have 5 episodes left and Mary isn't even visibly pregnant.

I thought the opposite, as Mary appeared to have a significant baby bump by the end of the episode. But I still wonder how they are going to fit in all of Mary's story plus the France shenanigans before the season ends. 

[dreamcatcher]

8 hours ago, sabretooth said:

I thought the opposite, as Mary appeared to have a significant baby bump by the end of the episode. But I still wonder how they are going to fit in all of Mary's story plus the France shenanigans before the season ends. 

Maybe I didn't notice the bump, but still. They can't possibly fit everything in the remaining episodes. Maybe they will skip a lot of things and kill off Mary without imprisoning her first. And with everything going in right now, she will have to give birth in one episode, kill Darnley AND marry Bothwell in the next. And then die.

[wonderchica05]

I'm pretty sure "Oh, Mary" with a sigh is what I've said at the end of every episode since Francis died. That was a good bit of acting from Adelaide in the final scene when Darnley threatened her- you could tell by the look on her face she knew she was well and truly trapped. Until she gets the brilliant idea to off him, of course.