It’s the morning after Mary and Francis made love for the first time and they’re decidedly closer than they were prior, with Francis wishing that Mary was already pregnant so their wedding can be pushed up. Their time gets cut short, though, when one of the servants comes into the room and informs Francis that a Cardinal was in the throne room and waiting for him. Over in another part of the castle, Kenna complains to Henry that he’s maintained his distance from her and hasn’t been by her side to help her recover from the injuries she suffered from Count Vincent’s men; she also tells him that she knows about the trysts with Diane and how he hasn’t given her the boot. He claims that he cannot let Diane go, even though Kenna informs him that she’s sacrificed quite a bit to be with him, that she was attacked because of her association with him, and that she is “destroyed” after losing her virtue to him. Henry’s response? She knew what she was getting into when they started the affair and if he’s forced to choose between Kenna and Diane, he’ll choose Diane every time.
Elsewhere in the castle, Diane approaches Bash to give an update on the progress (or lack thereof) of her quest to have him legitimized. She goes on to tell her son that this way, he’ll be able to win Mary, as she’ll marry the next king of France, no matter if it’s Francis or him. Though Bash may be resistant to the idea of getting Mary this way, Diane reminds him that if Francis can win her this way, what’s stopping him from doing the same? The papal emissary brings word to Henry and Catherine that the Tudor queen is dying, meaning that it’s nearing time for the next Queen of England to assume her title. The next queen? Mary. As a marriage to Francis will help her cause, Henry proclaims that it’s time for a marriage between his son and Mary, but during the pomp and circumstance, Nostradamus has a stronger vision of the death and destruction this marriage will bring, which includes Mary with blood on her hands.
Mary’s worries about pursuing the English crown due to her chief rival Elizabeth having the time to raise armies and gather supporters for her cause don’t phase Henry, as he assures her that Elizabeth will be declared illegitimate due to being Anne Boleyn’s daughter and that the Pope won’t want to lose such an important nation to Protestantism. However, a Catholic Scottish queen on an English throne is likely to rile up a certain sect of the population and could lead to an uprising, something Mary doesn’t think she can win since Elizabeth is known to be cunning. Henry believes that England will never be more vulnerable than it is right now and now is the time to strike and make up for the 50 years of bloodshed the English inflicted on France. Together, he says, they can rule half of Europe and subsequently urges Mary to not let fear deter her from greatness. As the meeting breaks up, he pulls Catherine aside and threatens her life if he loses out on control of England.
With Elizabeth’s claim to the throne up in the air, the Vatican isn’t going to rule on Bash’s legitimacy anytime soon, which he doesn’t have a problem with. His mother does warn him, though, to not want Mary, not even in private or in his heart of hearts, since Francis will be able to tell. Her advice? Keep his distance from her. Meanwhile, Kenna secretly goes to Diane’s chambers in hopes of talking to her; while she’s not there, Kenna runs into the papal emissary and learns of Diane’s plan to have Bash declared legitimate, as the emissary is the one who Diane was corresponding with and thought Kenna was Diane. Outside, Mary and Francis take a walk to get away from the madness of the castle and the pressure of Mary’s decision about England. She’s terrified at the prospect of starting a war and of no one supporting her in her cause, but Francis assures her that he’ll be there every step of the way and that they now have time before anyone gets in the way of their love for one another. As such, he proposes marriage to her, claiming that they can figure out later what they’ll do with England; he’ll listen to her, pressure her, argue with her – whatever she needs. Mary says yes to the proposal and the two run off to the castle.
Kenna bursts into Catherine’s room and tells of her Diane’s plans, which Henry doesn’t know about. Kenna questions why Catherine chooses to co-exist with Diane and thinks that they could use the information they have over her to drive her out of the castle (and Henry’s bed) for good. Catherine seems to like the idea, as Diane is rattling the line of succession at the wrong time and could conceivably be charged with treason, and asks for 
time to ponder how exactly a move against Diane would benefit her. Elsewhere, Mary and her ladies bask in the afterglow of the marriage proposal. While Lola worries about Mary’s safety, Mary assures her that Francis is a good man and that their wedding tomorrow will be a good thing for all involved. As Aylee, Greer, and Lola dream up how Mary will look on her wedding day, Catherine goes to Nostradamus, worried that Francis doesn’t believe that his future can be read and therefore won’t take the prophecy seriously. Nostradamus condemns Catherine for terrorizing Mary, informing her that the girl is an innocent, and suggests that one way to save Francis would be to tell Mary of the prophecy, meaning that she can end things on her own terms and Francis could have a chance at life. Catherine feels as if that could result in the two of them being declared heretics and burned at the stake, but Nostradamus reminds her that they would burn anyway if they’re responsible for killing the next Queen of France.
Thus, Catherine meets with Mary and questions her of her thoughts on Nostradamus’ legitimacy before telling her of the dark prophecy of Francis’ death. As his visions almost always come to pass, Catherine suggests that Mary walk away from Francis, causing Mary to recoil in surprise. She doesn’t want to leave Francis and begins questioning the prophecy, even though Catherine gave her tremendous ammunition by telling her of its existence; if Henry knew about what’s been going on, both Catherine and Nostradamus would be killed. The reason she told her? She trusts that Mary won’t use that against her and her desire to protect Francis is stronger than her desire to live. Catherine warns her to be very sure about her resistance to the prophecy and asks her to think of a prophecy of his that didn’t come true, something she cannot do. Also a condition of the agreement? Don’t tell Francis of the prophecy, as he’ll try to talk her out of her fears and convince her that they can choose their own fate.
Mary goes to Nostradamus, proving that she at least somewhat believes in the prophecy, and he tells her the only way that the most recent prophecy can be changed is if she agrees to leave Francis. Every incarnation of the vision has his death tied to her hands – a Francis barely older than he is now, cold to Mary’s touch. She’ll be childless and alone at court with no friends around to help her, a thought that scares her immensely. He then tells her that one of their own will die before the frost melts and that cannot be changed. Mary then takes her ladies to her room where they converse about this latest setback. While Greer doubts the validity of Nostradamus, considering that she’s not fallen in love with a man with a white scar yet, and Lola questions whether this is a desperate act put on by Catherine, Mary can’t get the thought of the lion and dragon fighting on a field of poppies out of her head. As such, she goes to Bash, where she learns that bastards get to choose their own sigil. His own? A lion, carved on the handle of the sword he used to slay Tomas. Tomas’? A dragon. Their battle location? The forest, rife with poppies.
After Henry and Diane get through making love, he goes to the kitchen to fetch her apples and salted biscuits, leaving enough time for Catherine to come into the room and confront Diane. She tells Diane that the only reason she puts up with her presence is to keep Henry off of her and mentions that she knows about the plan of legitimization, humorously recounting how it was Kenna (of all people) who informed her of the betrayal. Catherine throws Diane’s robe at her and commands her to disappear or else she’ll tell Henry about the plan; Diane thinks that since Henry loves Bash more, there won’t be a problem, but Catherine assures her that Henry loves power above all else and that since Francis is marrying into the English throne, he’s likely the favorite right now. But one thing before she goes – Catherine produces a vial of sage and tells Diane to poison Kenna. The queen can handle stupidity and betrayal on their own; together, they’re insufferable, so it’s time to take out Kenna, who would be dead the first time she crossed Catherine anyway.
The morning of the wedding, Mary’s ladies gather and Aylee brings both the jewelry that her powerful family sent to France with her, sharing it with her friends, and a drink that features lemon, honey, and sage. In Francis’ room, Mary admits that she’s scared that they’re tempting fate by having everything they ever wanted. He tells her that they’re doing what’s right for their people, just as they hear a loud noise from the stairwell. The two rush out to find that Aylee had fallen over the railing and hit her head, which was surrounded by a pool of blood. Mary goes to her side, hears her friend’s final words (“we must go home now”), and wipes the blood on her dress, beside herself with grief. She then sees Nostradamus by one of the windows, the frost just then melting, and claims that he’s the devil. Later, Diane finds Bash and tells him that she’s going to leave the castle, find Henry, and win their way back into his good graces. Bash declines to come along, though.
Nostradamus quickly figures out that the poison used wasn’t anything of his, since his newer poison doesn’t lead to blackened veins like Aylee had, so that rules out Diane as a perpetrator. It turns out to be Clarissa’s doing, as she wanted to make sure that Mary believed the prophecy and didn’t marry Francis. Furious, Nostradamus tells her that though she thinks of herself and Mary as victims, Mary is a beautiful queen and she is a monster, as evidenced by the fact she killed a child of God to make a point. He then takes off the burlap mask she was wearing and forces her back into the passageway. Meanwhile, Mary quickly packs her things, as she fully believes in Nostradamus’ gift and doesn’t want to risk the lives of anyone else she loves by ignoring his prophecy. Lola assures Mary that she should go at it alone, since she has a better shot of making it out of France without them, and Mary pledges to bring them all back to Scotland once she has a chance. Before she leaves, she goes to Henry and lays no claim to the throne of England; even though he claims she’s risking everything she’s waited so long for, she still walks away, though Francis catches up with her and tries to get her to stay. She says that she can’t trust his claims of only wanting her, that “love is irrelevant for people like” them, and that she won’t let anymore people die for her.
Mary goes out to the stables where she tells Bash that she’s going far away for the time being. He says that “away” is where he was going, too, and the two ride away from the castle, just as Francis comes running out after Mary, falling to his knees when he realizes he lost her.
Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Don’t let fear keep you from greatness.”
-“Why must I always be the one with blood on my hands?”
-So, this was kind of tremendous, right? It felt like a really strong season finale and the show has been in existence for eight episodes. Most shows take a while to figure out what they do well and how best to approach their stories; Reign has went from what could have been a tawdry guilty pleasure and turned into a legitimately capital-G Good show in the span of less than two months. Amazing.
-Favorite dress: The lime green dress Diane wore when she had her first two run-ins with Bash was very pretty, though we couldn’t get a good look at it due to her cape. I also liked the blue dress Aylee wore in bed with Mary; it reminded me of the red dress Mary wore to dinner with Count Vincent.
-The very mention of Tudor queens and Anne Boleyn makes me long for a Natalie Dormer guest appearance. I doubt that will happen, of course, but I just miss The Tudors, okay?
-I love that we got another image from the opening sequence in the final moments of the episode. It’s almost Easter egg-y whenever they come up and it feels like another step toward the show establishing itself, which can only be a good thing.
-Props to the show for going there with killing Aylee. Although I thought the character was sweet, she was objectively the most extraneous of Mary’s ladies, so her death tightens the show, raises the stakes for everyone at the castle, and sends the plot driving in the direction the episode ended on. I figured that the ladies would be in danger sometime late this season, so it was a surprise when it turned out the body in Nostradamus’ vision was Aylee’s. In all honesty, the first time I saw the vision I expected it to be Olivia’s body recovered from the passageways.
-Well, Catherine poisoned her bird in the most (unintentionally hilarious) non-chalant way possible. I’m about as big an animal rights supporter as you’ll meet and even I found the sight of the poor creature falling onto the floor of its cage in the middle of a scene way too silly. The episode had a weird vendetta against animals, though, since the bird was poisoned by Catherine and the cat drank the poison from Aylee’s cup, which I still don’t fully understand. Love animals, Reign. C’mon.
-Speaking of, Catherine again dominated this episode for me. Between her vulnerable conversation with Nostradamus where we saw just how much the prophecy was wearing on her to the warning she gave Mary about pursuing Francis and the blistering verbal beatdown she gave Diane in Henry’s chamber, both the character and Megan Follows’ performance were fabulous to watch, as Catherine’s wheels were turning the entire episode and the performance got to revel in all that is Evil Queen with a Soul. Follows got to bring a slice of humor to go with Catherine’s well-masked insecurity and the show evidenced that it can add a touch of camp/soapiness while staying true to itself. Plus, I’m a sucker for a period drama where powerful women go head-to-head, so it was like that scene was specifically written with me in mind.
-Sexy Nostradamus Watch: He was all up in this episode, very much to its benefit. He got to be tough by shoving Clarissa back in the passageway and he managed to stand up to Catherine when it came to Mary, the latter of which being especially awesome. Unfortunately, when he unmasked Clarissa, we only got to see some stringy hair and a bald spot, so I’m dying for her to be drawn out into the open more when the show returns from hiatus and for her friendship/connection to Nostradamus to be explored. Because I’m still unsure why she’ll only show herself to him and no one else.
-Also, Nostradamus is apparently so hot that he can melt frost. Ooh la la.
-Nostradamus is such an interesting character to me because of how his power, as pure as it may be and as much as he may shun it, exists in a world where power is something to acquire, to take by force, to hoard as with jewels or resources. It’s something that can’t be commodified and can’t be used as collateral in an alliance; it’s something that haunts him, a curse rather than a blessing, an albatross that guarantees he will never see a peaceful day for the rest of his life.
-When do you think we’ll see Diane again? Is Henry actually going to forgive her for trying to legitimize Bash at the worst time she could have attempted such a thing?
-Good for Mary for leaving France. The show has been consistent on how she makes her own decisions and how she values her country above all else, so she got to do the honorable thing of protecting the ones she loved while standing up for what she believes in. Plus, she didn’t let Henry bully her into making a claim on England’s throne; it was a most welcomed sight to see him not get something he wants for once, but when she returns to the castle, she’ll have to work her way back onto his good side, especially if the prophecy is proven incorrect and the path to marrying Francis clears.
-The scene where we find out it was Aylee who drank the poison and that Clarissa was the one who shoved her over the railing was quite well shot. The show is one of the better directed series that I watch and the editing there was especially tense.
-I like that the show reminded us just how young and naïve Kenna is. She may be having a thing with the King of France, but she doesn’t have a whole lot of experience with men and it shows in how she acts in Henry’s presence. Granted, he’s an entitled ass for how he treats her and for flat out telling her he would choose Diane over her; it’s just that she’s not helping her case by nagging at him and going behind his back to pull the strings necessary to get Diane out of the castle. I understand why she’s so invested in this, since she sacrificed any chance she had of getting a husband to be his mistress and she’s wasting her youth on someone who doesn’t feel the same way about her, but if she’s not careful, when Henry finds out why Diane ultimately left, he could be apt to end their relationship, leaving her alone and without the opportunity to find someone of her own.
-One thing about their relationship that has been especially intriguing is the fact that a romance between an older man and a young girl isn’t being romanticized. Other shows have glossed over the differences that can arise in relationships like this and the power dynamic that can reveal itself, but here, we see the different standing the two are on and how their life experiences (or lack thereof) are clashing with their sexual chemistry, an interesting conflict for them to examine through the rest of the season.
-As this was the winter finale, Reign is now off until January 23rd. The show will stay in its post-Vampire Diaries timeslot come midseason.
