Reign – Leaps of Faith

By: Stacy Miller

Mary (Adelaide Kane) knows she needs the power of a marriage with a well-connected groom in order to help her secure Elizabeth’s (Rachel Skarsten) throne. So as the episode opens, she is “interviewing” potential suitors. We even get to see Prince Magnus again. And no, he doesn’t even make the top two in “The Bachelorette: Royal Throne Edition.”

Even though Darnley has agreed to go to England to make his mother Lady Lennox (Nola Augustson) happy, he assures Keira (Sara Garcia) that he’ll find a way for them to be together. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is quite annoyed that the money needed to get Lord White to call off his marriage to Keira never made it into his hands. Since it’s looking like the plan to get Darnley (Will Kemp) to marry Mary has fallen through, Gideon (Ben Geurens) offers Elizabeth a Plan B. As he is not royalty, if she’ll allow him to marry Mary he could convince his bride to abdicate the Scottish throne, which would lessen her claim to the English throne. Elizabeth could also give them a parcel of English land so they could live in the style befitting of a former queen and make their first born son heir to Elizabeth’s throne.  That way, Elizabeth won’t have to worry any longer about the Mary/Elizabeth battle for the English throne and also about being pressured to marry and produce an heir.  No one loses; Elizabeth gets her throne and Mary gets love.  Queen Elizabeth is very interested in this plan.

Gideon arrives in Scotland and Mary is very happy to see him.  He tells her of the plan he presented to Elizabeth.  Mary tries to consider it, but worries that if she leaves her position as queen the people of Scotland will be in danger. She could abdicate the throne, put James (Dan Jeannotte) as temporary regent and then Elizabeth could order the deaths of the people of Scotland without cause. Gideon is sure that Elizabeth wouldn’t do anything to Scotland as retaining her throne is what Queen Elizabeth wants.  Later, Gideon shows Mary his love and commitment via a romantic river boat ride and a night of passion.

James is unsure of Gideon’s plan.  After all, the people of Scotland aren’t exactly fans of the Queen of England and plus would find it hard to believe that Queen Mary chose to abdicate to wed an English commoner. As seeing is believing, Mary throws an elaborate ball so the Scottish people can see for themselves how much she loves Gideon.  At the ball, Mary and Gideon look lovingly into each other’s eyes while they dance.  And when Lord Darnley and Lady Lennox witness the romantic dance between Mary and Gideon, Darnley informs his mother that he is going back to England and will marry Keira.  Lady Lennox doesn’t seem to stop her son, which should make Darnley suspicious as his mother was hell bent on him marrying the Queen of Scotland.  Lady Lennox assures her son that she’ll talk with Mary so there won’t be any misunderstandings.  But when Mary tells Lady Lennox that she will be marrying Gideon and living on lands provided by Queen Elizabeth as Elizabeth’s honored guest, Lady Lennox tells Mary she’s familiar with the lands in which Mary speaks.  The house is undergoing renovations so it resembles more of a dungeon than a home. Does Elizabeth intend for Mary to be her honored guest or prisoner? Believing that Elizabeth will go back on her word and put all their lives in danger, Mary tells Gideon she can’t marry him after all and will marry Lord Darnley.  She says to Gideon that even though they all die one day, it’s more important to stand for something while you live.

But Lord Darnley is on his way to marry Keira so Mary is minus a royal groom.  No problem, Lady Lennox has it covered.  You see, she forged a letter from Darnley to Keira telling her that he wanted to end things between them. With Keira married to Lord White, Darnley can marry Mary without any obstacles.

James and Emily Knox (Claire Hunter) are growing closer. Though Greer (Celina Sinden) gives James a warning to stay away from Mrs. Knox. Personally, I’d rather see Greer and James together.

Gideon is angry with Elizabeth that the plan for him to marry Mary fell apart due to Elizabeth’s insecurities with her security/prison renovations.  Elizabeth tells Gideon that the renovation had been taking place long before any plan for a marriage between Gideon and Mary. She tells Gideon it will always be her vs. Mary. “Only one queen is coming out of this thing alive and I intend it be me.”

In France, Narcisse (Craig Parker) has returned with little John.  Catherine is very happy to see her grandson, especially since her three children are causing her headaches. Leesa (Anatasia Phillips) is still determined for Cardinal Rosales, a Spaniard, to step in as Chancellor.  I guess she doesn’t care that Narcisse has returned to resume his duties.  Narcisse asks Catherine why Leesa seems to hate her so much. “I was a terrible mother. I mean, all my children say that, but in Leesa’s case it’s true.” So, in order to get Cardinal Rosales out of the running, Catherine arranges to have him poisoned.  But the scheme goes wrong and he is blinded. Luckily, the effects of the poison are temporary and he regains his sight.  Cardinal Rosales believes that Claude’s (Rose Williams) tears and prayer restored his sight. Cardinal Rosales thinks Claude is a saint. Leesa doesn’t buy any of it and knows her mother was responsible for the cardinal’s blindness.  She issues Catherine a threat, “I will destroy you for daring to take me on.”

As for Catherine’s other child, Narcisse suggests to Catherine if Charles (Spencer MacPherson) is not appreciating the duty of being King, why not give him a reason to be grateful with some of the advantages of it? To that end, a young girl named Bianca (Sofia Banzhaf) is offered to give the king pleasure.  But it seems that this king enjoys talking about pain and death more than pleasure. What’s with Charles?