Reign 1.09 “For King and Country” Recap

Mary and Bash get chased on horseback by several of King Henry’s guards, hell-bent on bringing them both back to court to face the consequences for their decision to flee. Bash leads Mary to the edge of a cliff overlooking a body of water and the two jump off, leaving their horses as a way to put distance between themselves and the guards. It’s been a week since they left the castle and while Francis has been relentless in searching for his brother and (former) fiancée, Henry is more confused/angered by Mary leaving hours before her wedding. He confronts Catherine about why she’s so against Mary joining the royal family and she claims that the English will always hate the Scottish queen and that she brings destruction wherever she goes, destruction that threatens their hearts, family, and standing in the country. However, this proves to be inadequate for Henry, as he warns her that if she had anything to do with influencing Mary to leave, he would be within his rights to execute her.

Francis arrives back from his latest search and informs Catherine that the only reason he went this time was that he received word of Mary being sighted in a nearby village. As not many citizens of France have laid eyes on the Scottish queen, though, eyewitness accounts aren’t the most reliable and it turns out that this sighting in particular was of a girl not more than 10 years old. Since Mary has money and connections, as well as Bash to navigate, it’s understandable that she would be difficult to find, yet Francis, seeing Catherine’s hand in the disappearance of his betrothed, is bound and determined to bring her back to court. Even though he doesn’t believe the reason she left had to do with his putting the interests of France ahead of her own. Meanwhile, Bash and Mary make it to an inn where they warm themselves by the fire and Bash mentions that tomorrow, he’ll find them horses or a boat so they can make it to their destination. The two begin undressing as a way to avoid the illness that wet clothes bring when there comes a knock on the door, claiming to be from the innkeeper. Mary hides under the bed just in time for the king’s guards to burst in the door and seize Bash; they threaten to cut off his fingers until Mary emerges from underneath the bed. However, her presence doesn’t stop them from taking the royal son back to court on charges of treason.

While Bash gets taken to the dungeon once he returns to court, Mary reunites with Francis, who presses her on the real reason that she left. He knows she believed him when he pledged to always be there for her on the morning of their wedding and Mary confesses that when Aylee died, her heart broke, though that’s not good enough reasoning for Francis. Mary then gets called into the throne room by Henry where she tells him she only came back on Bash’s behalf and to foster peace between their nations. He wants to spin her departure as a bridge simply overcome by nerves, but she refuses, causing him to come down on her in a bid of “negotiation.” Namely, since she wants to be treated like a leader, he offers his terms rather bluntly: if she refuses to marry Francis, Bash will be executed for treason and her reputation will be ruined, the girl who let her lover die and destroyed an alliance for her country.

Afterwards, Catherine goes to Mary’s chambers and tells the girl that she should not have come back to court. She advises Mary to lie and say that she and Bash were already married, as Henry would not go against a union held in the eyes of God, but Mary doesn’t want to do that, opting instead to get in contact with her mother looking for advice. However, Catherine produces the correspondence between Henry and Marie de Guise where the latter mentions that she wants Mary to assume the English throne. Mary’s next option? Tell Francis of the prophecy. Catherine reminds her, though, that he’s too logical a thinker to believe in what Nostradamus sees and that due to how relentless he is in his love for Mary, he would talk her out of her belief in the prophecy. Elsewhere, Nostradamus takes a doll into the castle passageway and gives it to Clarissa, who he has locked in a cage due to her culpability in Aylee’s death. He notes that she feels no remorse for what she did to the young girl and reminds her that while kings and queens might be allowed to play God, people like her are not. She was given all the freedom she could have wanted if she just stayed out of sight and didn’t harm anyone, but now, he threatens to starve her if she continues to misbehave.

Francis goes to Mary with the knowledge that though Bash’s life is at stake, she still refuses to marry. Mary finally comes clean about the prophecy and Francis has the reaction that Catherine warned of – he refuses to buy into the superstition that others have, even with the vision of Aylee’s death and other weighty visions having occurred in the past. Francis thinks that Mary shouldn’t let fear rule her life, yet he pressures Mary about talking Nostradamus into recanting and she begs him to stop, both for his own safety and the safety of both Nostradamus and Catherine. Afterwards, Mary goes to Henry with her ideal she will lay her claim to the English throne, only if she’s allowed to marry Bash, who will then be legitimized. Since the Vatican doesn’t want England to fall into the hands of the Protestants, they would support this type of union and Mary argues that she wants to alleviate the pressure her mother is under from her advisors regarding England’s throne. Henry and Catherine suggest making Bash a Duke or an Earl, but that’s not enough for Mary, even with the threat of civil unrest on the table. However, were Bash to be legitimized, Henry’s marriage to Catherine would have to be annulled and he would be forced to marry Diane, thereby stripping Catherine of her fortune, her crown, and her legacy, which she doesn’t want to have happen.

When they’re alone, Catherine confesses to Henry that Diane was plotting to have Bash legitimized behind his back and that that might be the reason Bash fled the castle, just as Mary and her ladies discuss the possibility of Mary marrying Bash. Lola and Greer are supportive of Queen Catherine, considering the kindness that she’s shown them, while Kenna doesn’t want to give up her relationship with Henry, which she would have to if Diane moved back into the castle. Kenna also brings up that had the fall not have killed Aylee, the poison that was brought to them, the poison that was meant for her, would have; she argues that both Diane and Catherine had something to gain from killing her and Mary bursts into Catherine’s chambers to ask her if she had anything to do with the poisoning of her friend. Catherine admits to giving Diane the poison and knowing about the plan to legitimize Bash thanks to Kenna, but she denies doing it herself, stating that she was too fond of Aylee to do something like that. Even when Mary mentions that she could have done it to fulfill Nostradamus’ prophecy, Catherine denies involvement and suggests that Mary leave for Scotland, where she would be able to use her connections to get a husband. Mary, however, refuses and rushes to the dungeon when she learns that Catherine told Francis about Mary’s decision to wed Bash.

Mary finds Francis beating his brother up and stops it before too much damage can be done. She takes full responsibility for the idea and Francis lays into her for taking the inheritance from him, his mother, and his brothers, claiming that Nostradamus knows nothing and that he wouldn’t forgive her. Once he leaves, Bash says that he never wanted the crown or the path that his brother was on, but he would be willing to think about the idea if given proper time. Catherine goes to Nostradamus about the prophecy of Aylee’s death and how he didn’t tell her due to fear that she would kill one of Mary’s ladies herself. Catherine mentions that without power, she and her children would be vulnerable and she cannot have that happen, so she sets a plan into motion to kill Mary with a forged goodbye note, a bribed jailer, and an assassin. That night, Mary goes to the cellar and meets with Henry and Bash; Henry ultimately agrees to Mary’s “whim” of marrying Bash, assuming the Pope gives his approval, though he does warn Bash that if Francis is stronger than given credit for, there might be trouble brewing in the castle.

As a way of getting Catherine to relinquish her crown, Henry has the assassin that she hired killed and drags her to the throne room, where he lets her know that he was steps ahead of her and that he knows her next plan would have been to kill him. Francis corroborates and warns his mother that if any harm fell to Bash, Henry, or Mary, the second he became king, he would execute her himself. He then turns to Mary and Bash and all but gives his blessing, telling them both that he’s going to take full advantage of the freedom that he acquired for the first time in his life. Later, Catherine goes to Mary with the reality that an annulment wouldn’t be good enough for Henry; he would look for a reason, any reason, to have her dead. Mary suggests that she leave France and find the happiness that she had been missing, but Catherine knows that happiness isn’t something queens get to feel. As Catherine is about to leave the castle for a “visit to her aunt” at a nunnery, Henry stops her and refuses to let her leave the castle grounds, as he knows what she’s capable of and doesn’t want her to do anything to interfere with his trip to Rome. She’ll be guarded round-the-clock until he returns, just as Nostradamus returns to the Clarissa’s dungeon and gets stabbed with the blade that she kept inside her doll.

Mary finds a pensive Bash, in disbelief that he’s about to become king and that Mary will be his wife. She can’t believe either herself.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“I grew weary of you a decade ago.”
-“You can watch him bleed to death on your wedding altar.”
-“I will not be the cause of your death.”
-“Let God mock the English for a change.”
-“Aren’t you ahead of me? It’s as if we have one mind.”
-“You’re going to be my wife. How very unexpected.”
-One thing I noticed about the episode that I liked was that it was continued the trend of the show relying more on score than on contemporary music. Part of the weird charm that Reign had early on was that 2013 rock/folk music was inserted into a show about 16th century France. While I never had a problem with it, I think that picking and choosing the moments where a contemporary song gets used has made the show better as a whole, as the times they’ve been used become more impactful (see: Francis going into the dungeon), while using a score keeps things mostly grounded.
-I wonder what happened to the horses that Bash and Mary left behind when they jumped into the water. Did they just wander around the woods, eating grass until someone found them?
-Although I kind of wanted to see what Reign would have looked like had Mary and Bash been able to go on the run for an extended period of time, both in terms of how the castle operated and the demeanor of those like Catherine and Francis, I think the show did well in bringing them back into the castle and putting the pedal to the medal in terms of political maneuvering. While Reign has provided some nice costume porn, a heck of a performance from Megan Follows, who continues to elevate every scene she’s in, and primo romantic angst, it absolutely shines when we see the wheels turning in everybody’s minds and there’s betrayal after manipulation after scheme to keep track of.
-I love that Francis and Bash have switched roles this soon into the show. There might have been more ground to cover how things were before, but it’s encouraging that Reign is willing to shake things up and I think that if/when things get reset, there’ll be a different dynamic that keeps things from feeling like a retread. This episode, in particular, was great for Toby Regbo, who I’ve liked thus far but who never really had much to do aside from play moon-eyed lover boy to Mary. His best two scenes here, and likely through the series thus far, are when he gets nasty with Bash and when he flaunts to Mary and Bash that he’s going to enjoy his freedom now that he’s all but delegitimized, both due to the different shades they show of his personality and the fact that Regbo got to do things a little differently.
-For as much as they lean on Henry’s romantic foibles, as well as his brimming hatred of Catherine, it was more than a little awesome to watch his ruthlessness as king when it came to negotiating with Mary. I hope that the show will be able to show him in action more.
-Do you think that the letters from Mary’s mother that Catherine produced were real? Or did she have those drawn up knowing that she would be able to use them to her advantage?
-Still dying to see Clarissa’s face and learn her story. I love how much of a wildcard she is and think that having her off her leash and lurking in the castle without restraint could produce some great material.
-Although I feel as if Catherine deserves some type of win against Henry, seeing as how watching her get emotionally beat up and ramming her head against the wall trying to get her way will eventually grow old, I do like watching her work. Anytime you put a smart character on television and allow them to be smart, it will always be compelling, as long as they’re allowed to make some type of progress, however small. Catherine isn’t going to completely strike down Henry or anything, especially considering the time period, but unless this is a grand commentary on the power of even the most powerful of royal women, give her something to hang her hat on, something dramatically interesting that keeps things at the castle off balance.
-Favorite dress: I loved Mary’s leather riding outfit; her side-braid definitely added to the look. Otherwise, Kenna’s blue dress when Catherine was about to leave was very pretty.
-Sexy Nostradamus Watch: He ends up bringing food to Clarissa, so he’s not as much of a bastard as he portrayed earlier. Also, as much foresight as he might have thanks to his vision, he couldn’t tell that a knife had been fitted into the doll that he gave her, nor was he willing to check to make sure the doll was just a doll, so he’s the most trusting captor that has ever captured anyone.
-Next week on Reign: An attempt is made on Bash’s life, while Mary offers assistance to a jailed peasant and Lola tries to stop Catherine from meddling.