Reign – A Bride. A Box. A Body.

By: Stacy Miller

As the episode opens, Mary (Adelaide Kane) is still reeling from the murder of David Rizzio (Andrew Shaver) at the hands of the Privy Council members and vows to make the conspirators pay. Privy Council Treasurer Lord Ruthven is surprised to learn that the Queen of Scotland isn’t under guard in her chambers as he believed.  He sees that Mary has gathered her army. She sits on top of her horse like a regal General. Outside the castle, Lord Ruthven (John Ralston) is arrested and hung for his crimes. But hanging one of the guilty men responsible for the death of her dear friend isn’t enough.  Mary wants all the members of the Privy Council brought to justice, in particular John Knox (Jonathan Goad) who she views as the ringleader. In fact, Mary thinks that if she is able to get one person in the Privy Council to testify against Knox she’ll have the evidence that he’s been the mastermind in take Scotland from her plot, including what happened to poor Lola. But John Knox isn’t worried. He taunts Mary that he’s the least of her problems. What about her own husband Darnley (Will Kemp)?  How does Mary know that he’s not still planning his own takeover? Normally Lord Bothwell (Adam Croasdale) does not agree with John Knox on much (if anything), but he too thinks that Darnley is still threat to Mary and her kingdom. But when Darnley comes to see Mary, he tells her that he no longer has interest in the crown matrimonial or the power of being the king of Scotland.  All he wants is to be a part of their child’s life. Mary asks Darnley how can she believe that he’s changed when this isn’t the first time he’s insisted he has. Darnley says that he’ll prove it to her by helping to find the other members of the Privy Council. To that end, Darnley comes up with a plan.  He arranges a meeting with one of the members of the Privy Council and tells the man that Queen Elizabeth (Rachel Skarsten) is offering a reward for the men who were attempting to overthrow Mary. Darnley tells the man that if he can get the rest of the Privy Council members to a secret location for a meeting, he can make sure they can hide out in England.  But when Lord Bothwell comes to the place of the meeting, all he finds is a charred out house.  It seems the remaining Privy Council members were inside so now they are all dead and there is no one left to testify against John Knox.  Darnley tells Bothwell that the obvious suspect in the torching is Knox himself.  He probably learned that the other Privy Council members were planning to turn on him. But when Bothwell talks with Mary about the incident, he tells her that he thinks Darnley was responsible.  He has a history of setting fires so that he will appear the hero. Regardless, without the testimony John Knox gets off scot free. Bothwell still manages to convince Mary that Darnley is a danger to her so he’s placed under arrest for the arson and thrown in prison.

Mary receives an unexpected visit from Narcisse (Craig Parker). He tells Mary that he knows of all the plotting that has been going on against her to take over Scotland. But that isn’t the only reason for Narcisse leaving France and coming to Scotland. He wants to get revenge against John Knox for his role in getting Lola executed. Narcisse wants an eye for an eye, but Mary prefers that John Knox is tried in a court of law and put to death legally. However, after the fire which eliminated everyone who could have testified to John Knox’s guilt, an impatient Narcisse takes matters into his own hands. He rounds Knox up and tortures the man. John Knox has caused so much pain in his (Narcisse) life, now Narcisse is going to cause him pain. John Knox is screaming during the torture, but when he is able to get a few words in he reminds Narcisse that he was the only one responsible for Lola’s death. Narcisse shouldn’t forget that Queen Elizabeth was the one who ordered the execution.  I doubt that Narcisse could ever forget that and I’m sure he’ll make Elizabeth pay, too.

Over in England, Elizabeth doesn’t know that she is a target of Narcisse. Her biggest concern is convincing her fiancé Archduke Ferdinand (Steve Byers) that she ended her affair with Gideon (Ben Geuren).  You see, Elizabeth loves Gideon and didn’t have the heart to send him permanently away from court (and away from her), but she needs Ferdinand to believe she has. So, she’s been having Gideon leave the country on various matters of state. Gideon hasn’t been feeling well though. Although Gideon was the one who initially encouraged Elizabeth to marry Ferdinand, he’s concerned for her safety and wants to keep her out of danger. Gideon doesn’t feel the throne of England is worth Elizabeth risking her life, but Elizabeth loves Gideon and doesn’t want to lose him. Although they can’t marry for the world to see, Elizabeth takes Gideon to a church where they pledge their love to each other and “marry” in the eyes of God. They even talk about the people in their lives that they’ve loved (Gideon’s daughter and Elizabeth’s mother). The scene was very moving and touching and spoke volumes to Elizabeth and Gideon’s love and commitment for each other. They obviously will love each other until death do them part, which sadly and unexpectedly occurs shortly thereafter.  As Gideon and Elizabeth are taking a walk in some fields near the church, Gideon suddenly slumps over AND DIES! Elizabeth is shocked (as are the viewers) and saddened (us too) and cries over her loss. A moment of silence for the beloved Gideon Blackburn. Now, back to our recap. Her servant Jane (Megan Hutchings) reminds her queen that she can’t be found with the body of Lord Blackburn. We learned that Gideon, who had earlier talked of being tired from all his royal traveling, wasn’t sick or suffering from fatigue. He had been poisoned! Who could have done such a thing? Was it Archduke Ferdinand to get rid of his rival for Elizabeth’s affections?

Over in Scotland, Mary learns of Gideon’s death and receives another visit from Narcisse and this time he comes bearing gifts. Narcisse, you shouldn’t have. I’m serious, you really shouldn’t have! Upon opening the box, Mary gasps in horror. Is that what she thinks it is? Narcisse tells her he decided to punish John Knox by hitting him where he’d hurt. And to a man like John Knox, where would he hurt the most? As John Knox is a man who values his manhood, Narcisse takes that away from him (John Knox) by ‘Bobbitcizing” him!  Mary is horrified as she holds the box with John Knox’s testicles inside (that’s nasty); how could Narcisse be so barbaric? She learns the extent of his cruelty when he tells her he also poisoned Gideon and is the one responsible for Blackburn’s death. Elizabeth took what he loved the most (Lola) from him that he wanted her to feel the pain that he felt. Mary orders Narcisse to leave; she’s can’t be a party to such cruelty.  She wants to stop the violence and killing. Mary has Darnley released from prison.

While all this is going on in England and Scotland, France too is seeing its share of drama with the Valois brothers and the woman King Charles (Spencer MacPherson) and brother Henry (Nick Slater) both fancy Nicole (Ann Pirvu).  The young woman finds Henry trying on her clothes. He tells her that he doesn’t want to be a woman, but they make him feel good. I applaud Reign for this storyline in showing that Henry has no problem embracing his feminine side. Henry finally tells Nicole that he loves her and she is thrilled. Luc (Steve Lund) tells his wife Claude (Rose Williams) about Henry’s affair with Nicole. She can’t believe Henry’s dalliance with the woman Charles likes and is especially worried how Charles will react when he finds out given his mental state. Later, everyone gathers when King Charles announces the woman that he has decided to take as his bride. He thanks his brother-in-law Luc as their talk convinced him to follow his heart. Charles tells France that the woman he wants to be his queen is Nicole “What’s your name?”

As the episode concludes, Lady Lennox (Nola Augustson) comes to see her son and asks Darnley about the fire that killed the Privy Council members. He admits responsibility and tells her that even though he didn’t want to kill those men, Keira told him to. Keira? As in your dead love? Has Darnley gone mad?