Reign 2.04 “The Lamb and the Slaughter” Recap

Plans are underway for the royal child’s christening and as expected, Catherine is looking to make the ceremony as lavish as possible. Though Francis objects to the idea of yet another garish display of their money, Catherine reminds him that it was he who decided to claim Lola’s child and that this is how it works when royal children are christened. Lola leaves once Catherine calls her child a bastard and when Mary tracks her down, she tells the queen that she doesn’t want to live in the castle anymore. Instead, she’s got her eyes on a cottage a stone’s throw away, something that will give them distance from each other and keep things from getting too awkward, seeing as how Mary’s yet to get angry about what happened with Francis. However, before Mary can respond, she gets sick to her stomach and leaves the hallway.

Conde informs Francis of an incident involving three hooded riders, said to have ice cold hands, menacing a local shepherd. While the shepherd is still alive, they don’t know what happened to him; with the recent string of empty graves and the increasing paranoia among the French, Francis tasks his cousin with teaming with Bash and looking into the incident. He then takes Leith, who he’s apologetic toward for swiping his land, out for a drink, just as Greer and Kenna throw Lola a small baby shower outside, complete with a rattle decorated with Scotland’s colors. Their time together gets interrupted when Lord Narcisse arrives at the castle with Estelle, the girl who took care of Lola while she was giving birth. It turns out, though, that she’s Lord Narcisse’s new bride, something that’s especially shocking to Lola considering the last time she saw Estelle, she was in a cage behind a horse. But all is not what it seems, as Estelle gives Lola a secret “help me” note that she hid in a gifted handkerchief.

Outside by the water, Mary confesses to Francis that she’s six weeks pregnant. As expected, he’s beside himself with joy and the two go into their chambers to make love in celebration. However, they don’t get much time alone due to Catherine bursting into the room, having used her spies to confirm her suspicions that her daughter-in-law was with child. Since this gives Mary a better shot at claiming the English throne from childless Elizabeth, Catherine is willing to do everything she can to help the queen, including bringing food and tonics to help with the baby’s growth. When Mary tells her ladies about the baby, they’re all excited for her, yet Lola’s mind is on the fact that she’s alone. Greer reassures her, though, that marriage is a woman’s central means of controlling her life and that she’ll find someone who isn’t terrified of the king and who can give her and the baby the life they deserve. Meanwhile, Conde and Bash meet with the shepherd, who is obviously still shaken up from the events of the previous night. He tells them that the three riders offered him protection for his family and a prosperous future if he would allow them to put a mark on him – a mark that they would only put if he renounced his faith. He said that he wouldn’t and ran as fast as he could, thinking that the men wanted to take his soul.

Lola meets with Estelle and learns about the girl’s fears of her new husband. Estelle claims that she heard that Narcisse was responsible for killing his first two wives, so she’s yet to consummate their marriage, which was born from wanting to protect her property. The reason she contacted Lola? She wanted her to use her connection to Francis in order to annul the marriage and assure her personal safety thereafter. However, when Lola goes to Francis and Mary about the accusations and the safety of her friend, they claim they can’t do anything until they see proof of Estelle being abused by her husband. Once Francis leaves, Lola tears into Mary, saying that her happiness has superseded her compassion and implying that her position as queen has changed who she is as a person. Mary fires back that the cage Lola feels like she’s in is her own doing; that she should feel guilty for sleeping with the man she was obviously still into; and that she protected her when she didn’t have to. Lola retorts that not everybody has the same choices as a royal and when she tries to leave, Mary orders her, as her queen, to turn around and face her. Lola does as she is told, but it’s apparent that there’s no love lost between the two.

Outside, Greer and Kenna come upon Leith with two of his friends. Kenna tries to convince her friend of the value of passion in a marriage and ultimately pushes Greer to listen to her heart. That evening at the pre-christening ball, Bash fills Francis in on the shepherd situation, including that Conde smells fraud. Francis assures his brother that the riders can be caught, as they are fallible men and not the devil’s servants. With Lola having planned to meet with Estelle that night, Mary talks to Conde about Narcisse’s marital life and the ending of his first two marriages. Though Conde doesn’t know the specifics about the deaths, he believes that the only way Estelle is going to get out of this is if Narcisse has a viable alternative. Before he can elaborate or help Mary formulate more of a plan, he’s all but shoved onto the dance floor by Catherine, who forces him to ask Greer to dance. Out on the dance floor, though, Greer ends up dancing some with Leith and leaves as it all gets to be too much for her. Estelle’s plan with Lola goes bust fairly quickly, as she’s caught trying to escape by one of Narcisse’s guards and ends up stabbing him in her desperation to flee. Word gets to Narcisse and Mary as she attempts to persuade him to go after a wealthy widow at court, so his focus goes from that to finding Estelle. The girl makes it back to Lola’s quarters and despite Mary’s urging, Lola refuses to give her friend up. Mary decides to spare Estelle and gets her to a carriage outside, where she escapes into the countryside and heads toward Lola’s awaiting friends.

Once Estelle is safely out of the castle, Mary and Lola share some wine and make up, with the latter agreeing to live in the castle so that her child can grow up with Mary’s child. Mary then accepts her offer to be the baby’s godmother, which includes being involved in the christening the following day. But close to the time of the christening, Mary has Conde take her to her chambers due to stomach pains that turn out to be from a miscarriage. Rather than having him contact Francis or skipping out on the ceremony, Mary cleans herself up and does what she can for Lola’s child John. Greer turns up at Lord Castleroy’s having ridden all night in hopes of speaking with him. She tries to convince him that she wants to marry him, but he claims that she only wanted him for stability and security, going on to tell her that he won’t let his happiness suffer due to her past mistakes. While Lola learns that Estelle leapt from a cliff and killed herself, thinking that she saw her deceased parents, Conde points Francis toward Mary before leaving with Bash to look into the shepherd. Once he arrives at the shepherd’s home, Conde sees that the man has killed every member of his family with a pair of shears. Though the shepherd insists that he didn’t allow the men to put their mark on him, a guard slides his shirt down to show that the mark was indeed there; the shepherd then confesses that even though he did run, they chased him down and forced the mark upon him, thereby taking his soul.

Lola finds Lord Narcisse with Estelle’s body and brings up the fact that she was troubled and afraid of him. He denies the implications, bringing up Estelle’s father’s debt to him and the fact that she tried to kill herself previously, and tells Lola the truth about his first two marriages. Having been married for the first time at 15, he and his first wife had difficulty in conceiving and she succumbed to a particularly difficult pregnancy. A year later, he was wed to a hemophiliac who simply bled out on him. This means that Narcisse has never been in love, something that makes Lola sympathize with a man she hated not even 24 hours ago. While Mary tells Francis about losing the baby, saying that she kept it from him because she knew how happy he was, Greer tries to get through to Lord Castleroy again. She goes on about the reasons she can’t be with Leith – she worries that his ambition is more for her than it is for him; she doesn’t like the uncertainty that a life with someone still looking to move up in the world will bring; she doesn’t know who he is or who he’ll turn out to be. Whereas with Castleroy, she knows exactly who he is – a gracious, brave, kind man who she knows she can make happy. She then successfully convinces him to give passion a chance and the two make love.

Bash and Conde return to the castle and put the shepherd in the dungeon. Normally a skeptic, Francis is beginning to doubt his belief that spirits don’t exist after this incident and “reuniting” with his father. In the hallway, Catherine bumps into two ghostly little girls who ask for her help before fleeing, while Francis takes Mary outside to look at “fireflies,” a memory he cherishes from when they were eight. He then vows to fight any and all darkness with her due to her being his light.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Good morning. How’s the happy trinity? Father, mother, unborn son – oh, I’m hoping for a son.”
-“If I have to hear one more tale of the two of you knocking your bed through the floor…”
-“This ball’s enjoyable as a clergyman’s eulogy.”
-Just some logistical questions: What’s Ghost Henry up to when he’s not possessing random ladies in hopes of talking to his son? Is he going to body hop into somebody else or is the one nanny the only person he’ll be able to speak through? And why haven’t we see Little Henry and Charles at these family events? I understand not including them much due to their age and the fact that this show doesn’t have a place for children, but they should at least pop up at christenings, coronations, and the like.
-The final conversation between Mary and Francis felt like a retread. Is every episode going to end with him declaring his love for her? I mean, the gesture was nice, but didn’t we just have him going on about how they’re in this together literally one episode ago?
-I’m still so in the dark about where this ghost thing is going. If I knew what the end goal was or had any idea what we were building toward, I’d be able to read these scenes where the topic pops up a lot better. Now, though, it just seems a hair too silly for this show and this show can be pretty silly, so that’s saying something. Francis being confronted by his guilt and having to listen to his inner fears being told to him through his father? Okay, I get it. Catherine seeing two pale little girls in the hallway and having to brush sage aside for them? I don’t know. And I find it ironic/interesting that they’re delving into ghosts after sending their supernatural conduit Nostradamus to a safe haven to be named later with no return date in sight.
-I will say, though, that I like the idea of the riders. Personifying all these threats is a way for them to be real and valid, a way to raise the stakes while keeping the mystery surrounding their existence. Show me tiny ghosts and I’ll look at you in befuddlement, but show me three hulking, faceless figures on horses who will make you give up your soul and I’m listening.
-While I’m at it, does anybody else kind of miss the Pagans?
-I think I’m watching Reign wrong because I’m all about Greer and Lord Castleroy. I think they’re the most intriguing couple on the show (Francis and Mary are a snooze; Bash and Kenna don’t yet have an emotional connection that matches their physical chemistry) and I was beyond thrilled to have a show that doesn’t take passion as the end all, be all of relationships. And while the idea of a couple with other strengths working on their physical connection is fairly inventive for a show like this, and Greer’s monologue telling Castleroy why she loves him was beyond gorgeous, it all felt like build up for the other shoe to drop. They’re not going to let this triangle go and I can’t see them putting Greer with Castleroy for good, not when The CW is, well, The CW and thrives off of beautiful teens and 20-somethings bumping uglies. So the final Greer/Castleroy interaction, lovely as it was, just read to me like delaying the inevitable.
-Kenna’s been really underwritten this season. I understand that the show has quite a bit going on and that they’re not going to be able to service everyone at the same time, but she’s decidedly the odd lady out with Lola, Greer, and Mary all having fairly big storylines. Here’s hoping they employ her a bit more in the next few episodes because if she’s still this sidelined, I might get a little worried.
-What’s ironic is that Bash has been done well by this season. He’s probably the strongest character on the show aside from Catherine when he’s given things to do and I like getting to see different parts of the country through his eyes.
-Shout out to Reign for having a scene with all four ladies. It’s like they were reading my recaps and wanted to appease me. Consider me appeased. I also really liked the mini-baby shower thrown by Greer and Kenna and the Greer/Kenna scene talking about passion, since it’s also nice to see the friendship the other three ladies have with one another. Mary is such a presence in this show that scenes like that will deepen the supporting characters and the universe as a whole; we need to know who these people are away from Mary and this is a good way to keep adding on to her ladies.
-Do you believe Narcisse? I think I might. Obviously he wouldn’t tell Lola that the rumors about him were true, but everything about him, from body language to tone of voice, suggested that he was telling the truth. Plus, the detail he went into didn’t seem like it was made up on the spot. But I could be wrong, as I often am.
-Does every episode have to have Mary reminding people that she’s a queen? We get it, girl; you are the queen and we are mere peasants. It becomes quite repetitive after a while, though.
-It was nice to see fun Catherine come out to play this episode, especially with the interruption of yet another Francis/Mary love scene. The line about the clergyman’s eulogy, her face when Conde went over to Greer, and her obvious contempt for Claude and Elizabeth wee also highlights of what was a nice episode for Megan Follows.
-Why were Lola and Estelle talking about the escape plan WHEN GUARDS WERE LESS THAN 10 FEET AWAY? They were low-ish talking, but it wasn’t low enough for them to not be heard by people who were right there, so it took me out of the storyline a bit. Way too much with the plot leading the characters and not the other way around.
-However, I’m willing to overlook Lola’s lapse in judgment considering the verbal beat down she gave Mary. This entire storyline makes Mary look incredibly gross (where’s all this righteous indignation for Francis?) and I’m glad that someone isn’t afraid to stand up to her now that she’s been crowned queen. Mary did not choose Francis; she chose to be with Bash and just because she had a history with Francis doesn’t mean that she has claim over him forever, especially since Lola’s fling with him was a one-time thing and wasn’t the result of a long-standing crush. It’s not as if she was lurking in the shadows, waiting for Mary to cut him loose, or anything. It was two lonely people who found comfort in one another and it was over the morning after, so Mary needs to (finally) get a grip and move on. It’s been a year-ish and Lola isn’t going anywhere due to Mary making Francis claim the baby; continuing to be petulant and awful about the situation isn’t going to help anyone. I know that she’s taking out her feelings of worthlessness and insecurity on Lola due to not being able to get pregnant, but slut shaming your friend isn’t a good look on anybody – not even the Queen of France.
-Next week on Reign: Greer’s wedding nears, while Bash and Leith uncover a secret about Castleroy, Francis gets an unwanted gift from Henry, and Kenna finds a journal describing the best lover at court.