Reign – Highland Games

By: Stacy Miller

The episode begins with a mother enjoying a picnic with her son until he disappears into the woods. Cut to the palace and we later learn that the boy is missing. Catherine (Megan Follows) and Lord Narcisse (Craig Parker) are questioning Charles (Spencer MacPherson) about the abduction; not believing that is was a bear or wolf that took the child. The young king insist that he is innocent, even though he can’t explain that he was stopped by some servants returning from the direction of the woods and he had blood on his mouth.  Narcisse comments that he heard talk of whether a silver bullet or stake should be used on the king.  It’s obvious that King Charles is being viewed as a monster. Charles won’t tolerate such treason. Catherine tells Charles that is the least of his problems.  He should be concerned that his sister Leesa (Anastasia Phillips) as Queen of Spain will get her army involved if she thinks he is possessed. Catherine and Narcisse tells Charles that he’ll have to make some appearances as king to keep suspicions at bay.

In Scotland, preparations are being made for the Highland Games. James (Dan Jeannotte) tells Mary (Adelaide Kane) that her lowly subjects are accepting a marriage between she and Lord Darnley (Will Kemp) but of course the snooty ( my words, not James’) nobles are not so eager to embrace Darnley. James encourages his sister to be careful of who she marries and Mary shows him the letter from a person who wrote that Darnley started the fire. She asks him to find who sent the letter but regardless of whether she believes it to be true, Mary knows that she has to marry Darnley in order to secure Elizabeth’s (Rachel Skarsten) throne.

Narcisse walks into Luc (Steve Lund) and Claude’s (Rose Williams) bed chamber the morning after their wedding. “Father, you should be announced” Luc says. Or better still, don’t walk into your son’s bedroom while he’s in bed with his wife!  Narcisse asks to speak with Luc in private and tells his son that Leith (Jonathan Keltz) has returned from the dead and he has imprisoned him in the dungeon.  Luc wants Leith released and insists that Claude be told.

Mary talks to the people of Scotland about the Highland Games and her engagement to Lord Darnley.  But a man named Lord Taylor (Chad Connell) questions Darnley’s worthiness to marry queen.  He has a way to prove that Darnley would be a good match and challenges Lord Darnley to a boxing match. Because nothing says suitable husband material than the ability to win in a fight, right? If Lord Taylor wins, he wants Darnley to withdraw his marriage proposal. But if Darnley wins, he’ll be accepted as Queen Mary’s future husband. Lord Darnley accepts the challenge.

Lord Darnley is confident that he’ll beat Lord Taylor. Mary questions him about whether he started the fire in order to save that child to look like a hero in her eyes. He admits that he did and explains his reason was to gain her trust; they will have many difficulties to face as husband and wife so he wanted her to know that he is a good match. Mary doesn’t like that he deceived her but forgives him. She tells him never to deceive her again. Mary suggests that her brother James train Darnley as James has fought Lord Taylor before and knows his fighting style.

Greer (Celine Sinden) welcomes her husband Castleroy (Michael Therriault) and daughter Rose to Scotland. Castleroy is less than pleased to be back and having to live on lands that were owned by Lola.

Luc tells Claude that Leith is alive and was in the castle dungeon but he had him released. Despite the fact that they are married, Claude rushes out of the room to be with the man she truly loves. Claude runs into Leith’s arms and assures him that her marriage won’t stop them from being together.

James and Lord Darnley have a training session and Darnley (whose first name is Henry, though no one calls him by it) proves to be a good fighter and seems to have a good chance of winning the fight with Lord Taylor.  However when Lord Taylor is later poisoned, he confronts Darnley with doing the deed.  Mary also wonders the same thing but Lord Darnley insists he’s innocent.

Catherine is angry that Narcisse had Leith locked away in the dungeon.  She tells him that Claude will always love Leith so her marriage to his son is a fraud. Of course Catherine is right as Claude wants to have her marriage annulled and asks Luc to lie that he was drunk so they never consummated their union.

Mary and Greer talk about the men in their lives.  Greer tells her friend that Castleroy hasn’t shown that much interest in her since he has returned to court. Greer urges Mary to give Lord Darnley a chance; he may surprise her.

Lord Darnley’s mother Lady Lennox (Nola Auguston) finds him drinking in a tavern and accuses him of going back to his old ways which includes fighting as she obviously heard up the boxing competition with Lord Taylor. Darnley tells his mother the purpose of the fight is to ensure that he and Mary will end up together. But Lady Lennox thinks her son is just Queen Mary’s pawn. A tavern patron rams a knife in Darnley’s hand.

Claude surprises Leith in his bed and tells him that Luc has agreed to say that their marriage was never consummated and Charles has agreed to back the annulment. Leith questions Claude about why she married Luc in the first place. She admits that she was in a bad place when she thought he had died and did something that would have had her sent to a nunnery. But that’s over now and they can finally be together.  She and Leith are about to make love but then he notices her wedding ring (what a way to kill the mood) so Claude suggests that they just hold each other instead.

King Charles addresses the people in the village and tells them that it was a bear that killed the boy.  But they have caught the beast and killed it. But they don’t believe him and throw blood on him. Charles runs off with his mother Catherine calling his name.

Greer speaks with her husband and find out why he’s been so distance with her. Castleroy confesses that he has fallen in love with someone else. Although she’ll always been grateful to him for giving her daughter Rose a name, Greer releases him from his marriage obligation.

Emily Knox (Claire Hunter) tells James that even though it’s wrong, she’s been having impure thoughts about him. “If I’m destined to burn in Hell, there’s no reason to resist your touch,” Emily says.

Narcisse makes it known to his son that he will not allow Luc’s marriage to Claude to be annulled; since he saw them in bed together, Luc’s claim that he and Claude didn’t consummate their marriage won’t work. He insists to Luc that he is doing this for him. Narcisse states that after he is dead, Luc will need the power with coming from being married to a princess. So, Luc meets with Claude and Leith and tells them that he can’t lie so she’ll get her annulment. Claude tells Leith that they can run off together, but Luc reminds that if they do so Claude’s sister Queen Leesa will have Leith put in the dungeon for kidnapping a princess and make sure Claude is sent to a nunnery. Luc proposes another option: He and Claude can have an open marriage. That way, they can see whomever they please while maintaining the image of a married couple.  The only condition is that Claude give him two or three heirs. Leith finds this option unacceptable; he will not share the woman he loves with another man.

When others turn up in the infirmary from food poisoning, Mary apologizes to Lord Darnley (and finally calls him by his first name Henry) for accusing him of poisoning Lord Taylor’s flask. As his hand is bandaged from the altercation he had in the tavern, Mary suggests that he call off the fight. But Darnley refuses to appear the coward so he wants to go through with it. However, his injury puts him at the disadvantage during the fight. Mary calls a brief time-out to attend to Darnley wound. However, attending to the wound is code word for helping him cheat. She gives him an object to conceal in his bandaged hand so when he returns to the fight, Darnley easily knocks Lord Taylor out! Mary declares him the winner.

After Narcisse tells her that Charles his hiding in a cave, Catherine goes to bring her son home. He tells her how he and his friend had to endure the hardship of eating animals and dirt when they were abducted and reliving the horror helps him to cope with what happened to them. Catherine wants Charles to come home with her but he pushes her to the ground and runs off again.