Reign "Blood for Blood" Review: Undercover Lover
Reign S02E05: "Blood for Blood"
In "Blood for Blood," Reign plunged into the historical conflict between Protestants and Catholics when a clandestine service held by the former was interrupted by a furious group of the latter. It is VERY hard to pretend a church service is anything but a church service, apparently.
Elsewhere, Kenna heard and instantly identified the unmistakable sounds of love-making, so she followed the noises much like Toucan Sam has been known to follow his nose to a bowl of delicious Froot Loops, and stumbled upon two frisky servants making out behind a curtain of gossamer. Kenna gave the maidservants two thumbs up for their enthusiasm, then hilariously ganked the smutty porn novel that'd apparently inspired their steamy interlude... for further inspection, of course.
Speaking of sexy, Busty Nurse was back and still communing with the spirit of King Henry's ghost, leaving things in Francis's room and then acting like she didn't know what'd happened.
Francis clearly had a lot on his hands even before he learned of the latest skirmish betwixt the Protestants and Catholics... and the fact that it had claimed the life of Louis Conde's nephew! His 20-year-old nephew! How old is your sister, Louis Conde? Were you like, a "happy surprise"-type baby? Because you and your nephew appear to be about the same age, Louis Conde!
Conde was insistent on a full investigation and the prosecution of the Catholics who'd murdered his kin. Francis was like, "Shhhhh... respect for your loss but shhhh please don't make me get involved in this shit." Which, you know, understandable.
Much more fun news: The smutty book that Kenna had found was a sex journal kept by an anonymous lady who'd sampled the sexual prowess of all the gentlemen and some of the ladies at court and then paper-blogged about it. Kenna was having the time for her life reading it and trying to guess the identity of one Sexual Godzilla in particular; he was a nobleman whom the sex diary praised to the skies, a man with a butterfly birthmark on his wrist and an unrelenting ability to make the ladies say YEAH between his hips.
Hilariously, Catherine read the protean Yelp of one-night stands in the space of an hour, and she had PLENTY to say about it because she'd been getting busy on her own time. Kenna and Lola were giving her looks like, "Are you trying to say that you've been like uh you know um doing that thing which uh..." and she was just like, "Henry died. I live." It was perfect. Also perfect: when she sent a servant fleeing simply by looking the girl up and down and saying, "Please, your hair!" I cackled. Catherine may've been demoted to Queen Mother, but she will always be the First Lady of Shade in Fronce.
Catherine revealed that her best guess regarding the Butterfly Birthmark Stud was some dude named Lord Arras. Kenna was like, "Go get it, Lola."
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Meanwhile Mary was missing out on all the sexy fun because she was trying to navigate the deepening conflict between Catholics and Protestants: The Catholics had wheeled in some dude who'd had his head crushed in and claimed that Conde's nephew had killed him, and that's why Catholics had acted against Conde's nephew. Conde in turn bared his man-breast to Mary, revealing the mark of the Dark Riders! The same mark that made the shepherd go full-Manson last week! Conde said he'd been set upon and forcefully branded with "burning acid" by a bunch of Catholic extremists, which, that is like some Joker-level villainy. Branding someone with burning acid?! Like that's terrible and all, but points for creativity and thinking outside the box on that one.
Mary was so busy keeping a delicate peace betwixt two major religious factions that she missed Greer's bachelorette party. And that's a shame, because NO ONE does a better bachelorette party than a Scottish clique. They call them Hen Parties over in Scotland, and if you go to Edinburgh on the weekend there are THRONGS of girls, usually in costume, making the bride carry around a giant inflatable, raising hell, drinking hard, and having the most fun you've ever seen. This proud tradition was portrayed by a drunken Kenna, Lola, and Greer hopping into a fountain together on a hot day, goblets in hand.
Meanwhile, Busty Bessy took a seat on the throne and Francis stepped in, pulling her aside for a long chat while she was in Ghost Dad Mode. Just as things had escalated to the point where he was like shouting, "Yes father, I killed you!" Lord Narcisse walked in and I actually said "Oh shit!" out loud.
Having Narcisse overhear this was a complete worst-case scenario. Francis chose not to kill Narcisse at that moment and almost immediately came to regret it when he pieced together the fact that Narcisse had planned the whole Ghost Dad thing. Narcisse had convinced the nursemaid to pretend to be haunted and run a long con on Francis on the off chance that the situation would escalate to a confession, as it had.
This was a great story decision for Reign. It maintained the show's habit of presenting supernatural threats that turn out to have rational explanations, and it completely amplified Narcisse's power as a villain while isolating Francis in his conflict with Narcisse. We saw that immediately, as Francis bowed to Narcisse's will regarding the Catholics vs. Protestants situation but couldn't tell Mary why, choosing instead to let her believe that he was acting weird because he didn't think she could have a baby.
This scene was so well done that it was kind of hard to watch. Toby Regbo and Adelaide Kane accomplish so much in their shared scenes each week, but this one stood out as portraying the isolation you can feel, even within a marriage, even across from someone you love, when there's something obstructing real communication. Mary's shift from inquisitor to heartbroken newlywed was devastating.
But let's end things on a happy note: the most elaborate wedding we've seen since Mary and Francis's nuptials. There was Greer, Greer and her giant, giant quilted skirt and sheath of flowers and her sky mural, marrying Castleroy. The fact that he sort of came out to her as a Protestant and gave her the option to not marry him and still have dowries provided for her sisters, that was a bold stroke in making this wedding feel like it was really Greer's choice.
Obviously I've been #TeamPepperpot since Day 1, so this was nothing short of a happy ending to me. However, we're still seeing reaction shots from Leith almost every time Greer appears on-screen. Is Greer denying feelings that will come back to haunt her later? Or has her sensible engagement blossomed into a true romance?
QUESTIONS:
... Did Greer make the right choice, or do she and Leith have unfinished business ?
... Narcisse asking Lola to tea: Is he trying to gain control over Francis's only child as another kind of power play ?
.... Narcisse as the Sexual Godzilla: Did you always kind of suspect this?
... How long until Francis tells Mary the truth about his father?
