Reign Revisited: "Kissed"
My introduction to Reign came in the form of an On Demand three episode mini-binge. I remember it well. First the pilot, then "Snakes in the Garden," then "Kissed." All one right after the other. And when the screen went black at the end of "Kissed" and I realized I was actually going to have to wait to see if Mary and Francis could put their engagement back together...Well...
But, we're safe now! We know Mary doesn't end up with Tomas, we know Mary and Francis wed, we know--
We know it all goes to shit.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let's pick up where "Snakes in the Garden" left off, shall we?
The Revisit
- British Invasion. In the previous episode, the English threat finally materialized. Here, in the opening scene of "Kissed," we see how events are escalating. Some poor Scottish lad gets an unwelcome surprise when he finds his morning egg gathering routine interrupted by a surly English soldier. (Wait, does the soldier look familiar? He definitely looks familiar!)
(My apologies to those of you who have never watched Outlander)
The scene cuts away just after we pan to the horizon, where a shit-ton of English troops are now marching into Scotland. Ruh-roh.
- A Man of Vision. Early on, Nostradamus finds himself in the midst of another premonition, and I find myself wondering why I had forgotten how often these visions were used as framing devices in the first episodes. He's not onscreen much, yet he remains a driving force in the plot because Catherine believes in his gift so strongly. It's kinda jarring to realize that Nostradamus basically becomes a non-entity on the show after 2x02, at which point he disappears, only to return 20 episodes later to see his prophecy about Francis's death come to fruition. It's sort of weird to see him just, like, hanging out.
It merely hits home once again that the show I fell in love with in these early eps bears very little resemblance to the clusterfuck that saw me peace out in season 2.
- Gossip Girls. Next, we get a sweet little scene of Mary and her ladies playing a round-robin game of spilling secrets.
Kenna shocks them all (of course), though her friends are unaware that the grown man whose kisses she's sighing over is none other than King Henry. (Gross. How old is Kenna supposed to be?) Greer's response is surprising in a different way: she has never been kissed at all. As she points out, she has to be even more careful than the others, as she alone out of the group has no title to cover up the sins of minor indiscretions. Her words here really put her later feelings for Leith into context. They must be strong, indeed, to prompt the rigidly careful Greer to risk becoming involved with him.
It's wonderful to see Mary and her ladies enjoying their friendships and youth, and in this ep we're really starting to see their individual personalities emerging. Greer, as I just touched upon, is ambitious yet practical. Kenna is headstrong and reckless; Lola, passionate and outspoken. Aylee, who comes across as the youngest, also serves as the gang's voice of reason. She also seems to be the one on whose counsel Mary depends the most.
(Rewatching, I wonder why I always thought of Aylee as the sweet, quiet one. There is a sweetness to her, for sure, but she may be the most brutally honest of the bunch. There are no dreams of romantic grandeur clouding her eyes. Oh, so Greer is angling to land herself the son of a king? Dream on, girl. Mary doesn't want to accept Tomas's proposal, which could save Scotland, because she would rather wait around for Francis to get his shit together?
Aylee calls 'em like she sees 'em.)
As for Mary herself? She's learning to adapt to her new environment, but she hasn't lost her fun-loving spirit just yet. In this ep, we not only see her happily gossiping with her ladies, but also kicking a ball around with Charles and even--le gasp--climbing a tree (so undignified), followed immediately by falling out of it (even more undignified).
In doing so, she lands slap on top of Tomas, the bastard son of the king of Portugal, and the man whose interest Greer is hoping to spark. We'll come back to him later. He's kinda important.
But I love, love, love this Mary. This ball-kicking, tree-climbing, turn-around-and-don't-look-up-my-skirts-sir, slightly awkward Mary. She's a girl you can relate to, and one you want to root for.
I wish she had stuck around for the long haul.
- Say Uncle. What's this? Is Mary actually speaking to an advisor? And not just any advisor, but her uncle Claude de Guise, Duke of Aumale? (The show leaves that last part out, but, historically that was his title.)
Where has he been? And, more importantly, where the hell does he go after the next episode? I don't understand why Reign decides to eschew any resemblance to history in this regard by leaving Mary completely alone at court in future episodes. She had extremely powerful family members who, though French nationals, had both her and her mother's interests at heart--in addition to their own, of course. The show missed an opportunity by not using Mary's family to develop some really interesting, complex characters. People whose loyalties are even more divided than Mary's and Francis's. But, I suppose if there had been other characters around who bore power and responsibility, Mary and Francis wouldn't have been pitted solely against one another time and again later in the season.
I mean, I KNOW another one of her uncles eventually pops up. But he's not a character. He's a plot device. He causes trouble for few episodes and then is gone.
- Plotting Along. So we've reached this episode's complication: King Henry, though willing to ship supplies, is unwilling to send any men to fend off England's newly-launched hostile forays into Scotland. Francis, of course, sides with Mary.
He's pretty much going to be doing that from now on. Just FYI.
Francis feels powerless to change his father's mind, at which point Mary suggests it's high time they get some actual power for once. Francis may vow to help the moment he becomes king, but Mary simply can't wait that long. They must do something.
When it comes to maneuvering to get her way, Mary has the advantage over Francis in this particular instance. Unlike her fiancé, she is a monarch in her own right, so she doesn't need to ask permission to strike deals or barter Scotland's resources, which is exactly what she does. It turns out Tomas ('member him?), who just so happens to command his own soldiers, is at French court for the purpose of striking a lumber deal with King Henry. And what do you know? Mary may not have money or might, but she does have timber. And she's willing to better whatever bargain Tomas and Henry agree to, so long as Tomas is willing to pay for her lumber in men, not money.
Like that Jurassic Park velociraptor, Mary is a clever girl.
Francis, on the other hand, has no resources to barter with other than his wits. If appealing to his father's sense of duty doesn't work (and it doesn't), maybe appealing to Henry's competitive nature will. A sparring match, perhaps? Winner makes the final military call.
I feel so bad for Francis when he makes the comment to his father, "You never spar with me." Henry, what the fuck? Would it have killed you to spend some leisure time with Francis? (I'm aware of the irony, given what happens in the season finale.) This takes me right back to the initial days of the fandom, when Mash shippers were portraying Francis as the Spoiled Prince who didn't deserve what he had and Bash as the Pauper Bastard who deserved so much more. But I never bought that, and Francis's comment reminds me why. No, Bash isn't the dauphin. He's not formally recognized at court. But it's made very clear that he is Henry's favorite, and that favor has brought him many privileges. He has his father's love. He lives at the palace, for fuck's sake. He spends his days doing whatever he damn well pleases and returns home to luxury. His mother has been gifted at least one chateau. He's not some nobody, no matter what Catherine says.
Anyway, Francis wins the wager, for all the good it does him. Henry immediately reneges on the deal and basically laughs in Francis's face to boot. Poor Francis goes from beaming pride to heartbroken in two seconds flat.
I feel sorry for Bash, too, after Francis abruptly shuts him down for trying to offer advice on how to deal with Henry. Bash does care about his little brother, and you get a sense that this is the true heart of their relationship: one looking out for the other. I think Bash had the best of intentions in this scene, but to a humiliated Francis, the comment only serves as a reminder that it is Bash who knows their father best.
Mary, in contrast, believes she has successfully secured her deal, before realizing that Tomas wants her hand and her trees. It turns out he's being legitimized, meaning he will be king upon his father's death, which should happen, like, any day now. In other words, Tomas won't be a bastard any more, so it's okay for Mary, a queen, to marry him. (Foreshadowing, anyone?)
This isn't welcome news to Francis, who is falling hard and fast for Mary whether he wants to or not, or Greer, who had hoped to make a match with Tomas before realizing he was a contender for the Portuguese throne. Though Mary had wanted to keep the marriage proposal hush-hush, all her backdoor dealing comes to light in the aftermath of some sort of--I don't know--party, I guess? Or is it just a normal night at the palace? There's a gathering and dancing, and after Tomas twirls Mary sexily about the room in front of everyone, we get one of my favorite Frash exchanges of the series:
We also see Nostradamus passing around predictions like party favors: Greer will fall in love with a man with a white mark on his face, Aylee (RIP) will never go home again, and, cryptically, The lion will fight the dragon on the field of poppies.
Side question: Why doesn't Nostradamus ever have a vision about Mary? He's all, Mary will kill Francis, Mary will kill Francis, but he never adds, And then Mary will return to Scotland, choose chaos every single day, and eventually get her head chopped off. I mean, death and disaster predictions seem to be Nostradamus's, well, thing, right? And Mary Queen of Scots is one of the most notorious disasters in history. But...nothing.
Anyway.
So we fast-forward to the next evening, when there's another party, only this time it's a boat party. It all looks very pretty. With the marriage proposal no longer a secret, Mary arrives walking arm-and-arm with Tomas, which simultaneously devastates Greer and sends Francis into panic mode. He's going to lose her. For real lose her.
He's not going to let that happen.
Having picked up on the subtle signals passing between Kenna and his father, Francis is suddenly inspired. He's tried asking. He's tried being reasonable. He's tried issuing challenges. But, as our young prince is learning, a strong moral compass does not always serve one well, especially when that someone is a king.
So maybe it's time to resort to some good old-fashioned blackmail.
Hey, you can't grow up in the shadow of Catherine de Medici and not pick up a trick or two, right?
The most intriguing part of this scene, for me, is Henry's reaction. He's not angry. No, not at all. He listens to Francis's veiled threat, takes in the shrewd gleam in his son's eye, and says one word.
Finally.
You get the impression that Henry's refusal to send troops was partly a test for Francis. Henry knows that when a king wants something, he can't always take the obvious route, nor the virtuous one. But if he wants it bad enough and can't find a way, a true king will create a way using whatever means necessary. Henry seems pleased to have been outfoxed by his heir and agrees to send the men, which means Bash must now be dispatched to ride out and alert all six companies that it's time to mobilize.
'Cause he's the fastest and bestest at everything, apparently.
Okay. I'm a little confused here. We're talking about a time period in which written correspondence set the course of nations. Messengers, heralds, couriers...however you want to describe them, there were men at hand whose sole occupation was to deliver information quickly. There were networks of stopovers where these men could switch out their tired horses for fresh ones, or even hand their messages off to a different rider if the journey had been a long one. I just find it strange that the best method for Henry to get word to his military commanders (with whom he must be in daily contact) is to yank a drunken Bash away from Kenna's side and send him tearing off into the night. Surely there were professionals for that.
I'm not mad at Bash for doing Francis this favor. I'm mad at the show for strong-arming him into Mary and Francis's storylines at the beginning, even when it didn't make sense for him to be there. Francis's efforts can only be successful if Bash is there to see them through. There's a love triangle to sell, after all. Can't let one brother do more for Mary than the other.
I did enjoy baby Kennash in this episode, though. Such potential they had. *Sigh*
Everything appears to be working out neatly, but just when we think we're going to get a happy ending, Bash shows back up at the castle the following morning, skewered like a sexy shish kabob. He is conscious enough to report that the French soldiers have been slaughtered. Francis looks ready to collapse. He's horrified by his role in what happened, horrified that his father seems to so calmly accept the calamity that may cost him a son ("I know you love him," Francis says in dismay, putting an emphasis on the word him that implies Henry doesn't extend the same affection toward Francis. My poor bb.)
In Francis's mind, he's just led a few hundred men to their deaths and nearly gotten his own brother killed. All for Mary. It's not a price he is willing to pay twice.
Thus, one of the most bittersweet first kisses in all of fandom:
AHHH! The passion! The longing! Francis's sweater paws! *chef's kiss*
But episode isn't titled "Kissed" for Mary's sake alone. Greer, too, has found budding romance with Leith, whose charm and smile practically fill up the kitchen where he works. Just how serious is this mismatched pair going to get? The last shot gives us a clue:
A white mark.
The prophecy!
And so the episode ends with Mary accepting Tomas's proposal. As she stands on the shore with her new fiancé, watching as his men set sail to protect Scotland, her face registers shock as she sees the flag bearing Tomas's symbol unfurl in the air.
A dragon.
The prophecy!
Dun dun DUN.
And we are left in
FINAL THOUGHTS
Gah, these early episodes were so good, weren't they? The locations were beautiful, the cast was beautiful, and the show feels so full of promise. It's romantic and sexy and there's an undercurrent of danger that keeps you wondering what's going to happen next.
Unfortunately, I know what happens next. When, exactly, does it all start going wrong?
On to episode 4...
