The first season of Reign arrived on DVD earlier this week, and the “Complete First Season” set counts deleted scenes and featurettes in addition to the show’s 22 episodes.
Here’s a review of that set.
The Episodes: I admit, when pilots went out in the summer of 2013 I wasn’t that big on Reign, and predicted a quick death. Mary, Queen of Scots, really? With a Sexy Nostradamus? I don’t know about this… or at least that’s what I was thinking. As Season 1 progressed, I’d see how the KSiteTV audience quickly grew to love the show, and Shilo Adams’ recaps promised or alluded to a show that I’d probably enjoy. After finally seeing some episodes, I did enjoy it, though if I’m confronted with it I’ll say I’m only watching for Megan Follows’ hilariously awesome Queen Catherine.
Seriously, though, if you leave possible historical inaccuracies at the door (if they didn’t have them, Francis would be dead pretty soon), and of course embrace the fact that Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo, and company are much more attractive than their real-life counterparts surely were, it’s a fun show with some beautiful sets and design. Sometimes a TV show just has to be fun, and Reign can often be fun.
The Extras: There are two featurettes on this DVD: “Reign: The Making of a Queen” talking about how the show came to be, with the creators and cast talking about it; and “The Authenticity of Reign: Recreating the 16th Century.” There’s not a lot by way of being illuminating, though the anecdotes about shooting in Ireland were really interesting to me. There are also deleted scenes.
Graphics & Sound: The set looks and sounds good.
Packaging & Design: The cast shots on the menus and on the box art are heavily edited, especially in certain cases: Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo, and Torrance Coombs don’t look like themselves at all! Maybe they were going for a classical painted look; in any event, it looks weird.
Is It Worth It? Reign is a show that I think someone could probably make a fun weekend out of, to see what you missed out on before the second season begins next week. As I said, if the fun part of it all is embraced, you’ll leave happy.
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3 Comments
REIGN is the best! Anyone who says otherwise is just a kill joy. Mary and Francis are perfect, so are Kenna and Bash. And Megan Follows OMG does she knocks your socks off as Catherine de Medici!!!!
Reign is #1 in my books. As far as historical inaccuracies as stated above (who cares) and why nit pick about the packaging & editing, Gee’s A Lou, the show is in one word GREAT.
I think you’re missing the point of a “review.” It’s not supposed to be overly glowing, and it’s supposed to care about the things that one might not like. If everyone said “that’s perfect” all the time the world would be a boring place.
I don’t particularly care about the historical inaccuracies either, because I know this is loose fiction, and meant to be fun. But I should at least have the right to make that opinion in an opinion piece.