Prepare to cry when you watch this episode. It is the saddest episode in the entire Reign series. Well, that's just my opinion. But it is depressing and I'll admit, I shed one or two tears (Okay, I shed a lot more than that) during this episode. 

Let's begin with the not so devastating stuff. Elizabeth is still being pressured to marry. The Prince of Spain comes to visit her castle, asking for her hand in marriage. She doesn't immediately dismiss him like the rest of the men that have asked. Her regent advises to accept his proposal because if she doesn't, as we found out last episode, Mary will end up marrying him after Francis dies. And if we know anything, Elizabeth is thirsty for power. If she does marry this man she will also rule Spain, and that is too good of a deal to pass up. 

But her love, Dudley, asks her not to marry him. Which is pretty rude considering he's already married to someone else. He doesn't want to lose Elizabeth or share her with anyone else. Talk about selfish! Elizabeth takes Dudley's request to heart and decides to not accept his proposal. But then is convinced to hear him out again. She keeps going back and forth with this life changing decision. The decision gets easier when she meets with the Prince and he asks for her to prove her womanhood. Apparently there's a rumor going around that Elizabeth is actually a man. Which is hilarious, and was cleverly spread by Dudley's jealous wife.

Dudley finds out about the rumor and confronts his wife. She doesn't admit it, but Dudley still thinks it's her and he becomes angry. He grabs her and chokes her almost to death. He pulls back just in time and is loathing himself. "What have I become?" He asks himself. His wife convinces him that he needs to leave the Queen because her love is turning him into a horrible person.

After the Prince offends the Queen she finally decides not to marry him. Or any man for that matter. Her regent thinks this is a terrible idea, because in this time period a woman needs a man to rule successfully. But Elizabeth is tired of people telling her what she can't do. She is going to rule alone and will prove to everyone that she can be the best ruler even without a man. Yeah woman power!

Lola and Lord Narcisse are already having marital problems.This comes to no surprise considering Narcisse's background. Lola finds out that one of his lands was given to him only because he forced the owner to sign it away. He tells an angry Lola he only did it so he could have enough land to be on the voting party that decides if Catherine is regent or not. Lola believes him and makes him give the land back. Catherine gets Narcisse alone and tells him she knows that he planted the rat in Lola's bath. And now that he finally has Lola, he will become bored and comes back to Catherine. He denies that this will ever happen but watches Catherine walk away for a second longer then he's supposed to. Poor Lola, she can never get the whole marriage thing right.

Elizabeth isn't the only sneaky Queen. To save her mother from the protestants in Scotland, Francis and Charles order two ships to help open Scotland's supply so they can keep fighting. But the two ships are taken over and they are back to the beginning. Mary then comes up with a brilliant plan to trick the French Ambassador from England. She meets with him in her room, and asks for a truce so her mother can live. But he of course refuses her offer and tells her that England is waiting for Francis to die. Mary angrily leaves the room but cleverly leaves one of her mother's coded letters on her desk. The ambassador steals the coded message and the tool to decode it. He tells Elizabeth about the letter and they send their troops somewhere else to prevent whatever was in the letter. But this was all Mary's plan. She tricked them so that they would remove the troops so they could ultimately cut off England's supply. 

Now her mother is safe and sound, but in the end it doesn't matter. She dies anyway in her castle, leaving us wondering what Mary is going to do. Because now she doesn't have her mother taking care of her country which leaves Mary with an even more fragile country.

But Mary has other things to worry about: Francis. Francis was starting to feel better in this episode. Mary brought brought in a physician from Austria who has been helping Francis with this new medicine. Our dreams of Francis being better are crushed when he falls off his horse. He is immediately put to bed and knows that this is his final hours. Noooo!

Mary lays with Francis for his final hours. They talk about having children and how their lives would be. This is the same scene that Nostradamus saw in Season 1. It is so depressing. Francis dies and Mary bursts into tears as her love is taken from her.

But there is hope! Hallelujah! Bash has finally found Daphine, the witch he has been searching for this entire season. He takes her to Francis' chamber, and she brings him back to life, but kills herself in the process. She gave up her life for Francis. Oh. My. God. I can not believe that this happened but I am so happy that Francis isn't dead. I'm hoping this is his final fate and that they don't go with the real story line of the real life character. Because in real life, King Francis does die from an illness. 

This episode was a sad one, but had an incredibly surprising ending. Is Francis' health finally safe? I certainly hope so. 

Reign Season 3 Episode 3 Recap/Review: She's back baby!

I had to remind myself several times during this episode that this is just an episode. I'll admit it, I cried during this episode. Yes, I know this is just a show but it pulled on my heart strings like no other episode. Why are they killing off my favorite character? I get so involved with these characters it's a little crazy.

So this episode is a sad one, so grab a tissue. Especially if you love Francis as much as I do.

Francis is becoming more ill, and this becomes a problem when the French Ambassador from England  and King of Navarre come to visit. Francis has to pretend to be well, because if anyone finds out, they will try and steal the crown. It reminds me of season 1 when King Henry was going mad, everyone had to pretend nothing was wrong. It's so upsetting how fragile the crown can be in this time period.

Even with all of the stress of Francis' sickness, there is some happiness floating around the castle. Lola and Narcisse are more in love then ever. At first Francis is against this union, and Lola plans to marry Narcisse anyway, but after Francis passes. Which is a little inconsiderate to be honest. Geez Lola! Luckily Narcisse proves himself to Francis when a bad situation comes up.

Charles rebels again when a a girl he's always liked, Constance, comes to court. To impress her he steals Francis' opium and Constance overdoses on opium. She passes out and Charles freaks out and calls his sister. She calls Narcisse, prepared to hide the body. Luckily Narcisse discovers that she's not dead and helps her throw up the drugs, and Constance is back to normal. This heroic action wins Francis' approval. And he throws the two a wedding. It's about damn time!

The King of Navarre, Anton, comes to court to hopefully get his brother from French custody. Yes, Conde, was finally caught, and will eventually be killed for his treason. Anton however wants the French court to give him his brother, so they can go back to Navarre. Francis and Mary at first think this idea is ludicrous, because Prince Conde has done way too much against the crown. But then Francis and Mary think about it a little more, and think it may be a good idea to trade Conde for Anton's promise to take back his claim on the throne. If Anton signs away his claim to the throne, then Francis and Mary have no reason to worry when Francis passes.

Anton's decision becomes easier when he finds out King Francis is deathly ill. This is only because Francis tries to pretend to be normal when he talks to Anton. This leads to the saddest moment ever in this entire television series. Francis and Mary are going down the stairs to meet with Anton and Francis falls coming down the stairs. He's too sick to meet with him and goes back to bed to rest.

Later he goes to a party to pretend he's in good health and almost can't handle it, but Mary helps him through it and he successfully looks like a healthy King. Later he finally talks to Anton about the deal and this is where everything goes south. Francis can't hide his illness anymore and Anton realizes they only want him to take back his claim because Francis soon won't be there anymore. They remind him of Prince Conde's situation and how he can save his brother.

The French Ambassador hears of this deal, and tells King Anton not to go through with it. He tells Anton that if he keeps his claim to the throne, Queen Elizabeth promises to make it worth his wild. King Anton is torn because he can either save his brother, or have the Queen of England on his side. The Ambassador advises him to not let Prince Conde hold him back, even if it's his brother.

After hearing about the Ambassador's offer to King Anton, Francis and Mary come up with a plan of their own. They bring back Catherine! She goes to the Ambassador and tells him that if England doesn't take back their offer to Anton, she will tell everyone about the Queen of England's wrong doings. Catherine tells him that she will admit to meeting with Elizabeth and planning Queen Mary's take down. Even though this would mean Catherine's head, she puts herself on the line to save her children's future. Which is what Catherine is all about, putting her children before her.

Afraid of having Elizabeth's secrets exposed, the Ambassador from England leaves, taking back his offer to King Anton. And now Catherine is back in the castle, proving herself to Mary and Francis. And, now that they know they can trust her again, they decide that she will be the best regent when Charles become King. So now Mary won't marry Charles. She plans to wed the future King of Spain, because that would be the best option for her country.

What a whirlwind of an episode! I'm really glad Catherine is back, she's a good character to have on your side.

Reign Season 3 Episode 2 Review/Recap: A sad, sad Episode

Can this show get any sadder? This episode focuses mainly on the impending death of Francis. Whom is my absolute favorite character, so his death is going to be really sad and I can't promise I won't shed a tear or two when he passes.

Francis is accepting his untimely death and is planning the future for his country and his wife. He tells Mary he wants her to marry his brother Charles. Charles, even though he's only thirteen will be Francis' successor as the King of France. He wants them to wed so that Mary isn't immediately a target (well, more of a target) and doesn't have to run back to Scotland. He also thinks it's a good idea for Charles so that he has a confidant at his side that knows what she's doing. Even though nowadays it would be weird to strongly suggest your wife marry your brother after your demise, it makes sense in this world. If they do end up getting married, it also means France and Scotland will still be strong allies. You can never have too many allies in the Renaissance period.

When Francis tells Charles of his last dying wish, Charles refuses. He tells them that he wants to marry a girl of his own age and basically that it would be weird marrying his brother's wife. Charles doesn't want to be King and makes this clear with his outburst. I don't blame the poor kid, being a King at age thirteen sounds a little terrifying.

Francis tells his imprisoned mother about his plans for Charles to marry Mary, even though Charles has already refused. Catherine of course doesn't like the idea, but is more concerned about her beloved son's untimely death. This episode is just too sad for me to watch. She begs him to let her help him but he refuses, telling her that he can't trust her and there really isn't anything anyone can do. Can't really blame him here can we?

Charles runs to his mother, asking for her advice on what to do. She tells Charles to pretend to agree to this wedding engagement, but to never go through with it. Instead of marrying Mary he'll take Catherine as his confidant when he's King of France. Catherine advises her son to ask for the country's finances. She tells him to word it in a special way to look important and grown up. Catherine tells her son that they won't take him seriously as King if he doesn't seem responsible.

But this of course isn't her only motive. She tells Charles to ask for the finances in a certain way because this certain way is actually a code for assassins. The assassins, when told this code, are paid to murder the entire Bourbon family line. Catherine wants them all to be killed so they have no chance to overthrow the future King and take the throne. Apparently they have been on the throne before and can steal it back.

Luckily Francis and Mary know Catherine too well and have been watching her and Charles. They immediately stop the assassins and inform Charles of what his mother's real motives were. Thank goodness Charles is a decent human being and is angry at Catherine immediately. He confronts her and tells her that he could have murdered babies and not have known. She basically tells him that you have to do what you have to do. Charles tells his mother and Francis that he will marry Mary after Francis passes. This time actually meaning his engagement. Catherine tells him this is a mistake but he doesn't listen, having enough of Catherine's lies for one day.

Mary visits Catherine later in the dungeon after Charles agrees to marry her. She tells Catherine that when Francis is gone she will convince Charles to have her beheaded. Francis doesn't want to order to kill another parent after already murdering his insane father. She leaves Catherine feeling frightened and angry towards her future. So angry in fact her hands bleed after slamming and punching the door after Mary leaves. If Catherine ever gets out Mary better be hiding.

While all this sad unfortunate events are happening in France, things are heating up in England. I'll be honest, this story line is a little confusing to follow, but interesting nonetheless. Queen Elizabeth feels like a prisoner in her own castle with everyone watching her every move. Especially now that there are rumors going around telling about Catherine's visit to the Queen. Which would be treason against France and would ultimately start a war, and make Elizabeth look weak.

Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, Elizabeth plots to have another take the fall. Her friend Lady Donatella is the victim and Elizabeth pushes her to take responsibility of Catherine being there. Her friend agrees and take the fall for it, but changes her mind. She tells Elizabeth she's going to take it back because she doesn't really get anything in return for helping Elizabeth out. Elizabeth promises her lands and money if she continues to lie and say it was her fault Catherine was there. However when her friend leaves she orders her guards to murder her for treason against the Queen. Taking a stab to the back to a whole new level.

While she's trying to figure out how to not be blamed for Catherine's treason, she also has to appoint an ambassador to the French court. This is an important job for one of her lords to do, and she has to decide who. Everyone attempts to persuade her to choose Lord Dudley. But Catherine dismisses this idea because as we found out in Episode 1, Dudley is her lover. And because she wants to keep him close to her in the castle, she chooses another lord as the ambassador. This makes Dudley angry toward her because she basically told everyone that he wasn't good enough. Queen Elizabeth and Catherine have so much in common, both being incredibly deceitful to get what they desire.

Back in France, Lola and Lord Narcisse are getting closer then ever. Lola still insists on just a fling with Narcisse, especially after an unfortunate event when she takes a bath. She finds a planted dead rat after bathing for a couple of minutes. She assumes it was Catherine's doing (I would too) and tells Narcisse that this is another reason they can't marry. But he wins her heart finally after surprising her with a picnic. She tells him that she wants to marry him when Mary tells her that Francis is dying. Mary asks her friend to think about what she really wants between Lord Narcisse and her because Francis won't be around long to protect her and their son. This gives her the push to finally follow her heart. Hooray! But of course, Narcisse has to ruin it. Toward the end of this episode we find out that he was the one that planted the rat in Lola's bath. I'm not sure why he would to this, but I'm very disappointed in him! He was finally being a better man and I was beginning to like this character. Now we just have to wait until this all blows up in his face, with Lola never trusting him again. Which of course will happen, because people always find out others' secrets in this show.

This episode was so depressing but really intriguing. I think Francis' plan for Charles and Mary to wed is the smartest thing for everyone and the two countries. I'm unsure how I feel about Queen Elizabeth but she makes for an interesting character. Do you think Mary and Charles should get married? Let me know!

Reign Season 3 Premiere Review/Recap

I adore this show so much, and Season 2 tore my heart to pieces. And I can already tell Season 3 isn't going to be any easier on my heart either. Season 2 ended with Queen Mary killing Lord Conde to save King Francis's throne. I felt for Mary when she had to stab Conde because she also loved Conde, but I honestly was relieved. I always hated Lord Conde, I have always been for Francis and Mary, even after everything that has happened between them. Not quite sure where Conde ran off too, but I have a feeling his story isn't over yet.

Also in the Season finale Catherine is finally exiled. This has been a long time coming, she's a very deceitful character and has done a lot of terrible things. Which is why she is one of the greatest characters in this show. After Catherine is exiled, she meets with Mary's enemy, Queen Elizabeth.

The season starts off with a love struck Mary and Francis. They are finally happy to be back in each others arms and all seems well between the two. But of course as we found out in the Season 2 finale, Francis is dying. He eventually tells Mary in this episode, explaining why he is more focused on their love then politics. He tells her, " Every moment matters. I knew that before, I just didn't realize it."

Francis' impending death isn't the only thing they have to worry about. Scotland is in trouble..again. And they are out of money, meaning they can't send soldiers to defend their country. Although, they think of an interesting solution. Pirates. Yep, pirates. I personally think having pirates in this show was a great idea. Who doesn't love pirates? Mary and Francis order the pirates to steal gold for them, to save Scotland. But Martin de Lambert, the handsome pirate in charge, has his own conditions. He sees Greer and instantly wants to marry her. Mary denies his request immediately, but when she talks to Greer, Greer agrees to be in an engagement with Lambert. She tells Mary that it won't matter because when they receive the money from the pirates, Greer will take back her engagement.
But Greer's heart has other plans. She falls for this pirate, and decides to go through with the engagement. But this pirate hasn't been honest either. This isn't the first time he's slept with a high born with a promise of marriage. We find out this is a common thing that the pirate does to sleep with high born ladies. Greer is left scorn, but still deeply intrigued with this dashing pirate.

The episode goes back and forth between the two queens, and we see more of Elizabeth's life. While everyone is pressuring her to marry a man quickly to reinforce her power, we find out she's been in quite a scandal. She is in love with an already married man. And in this time period, marriage is final and there is nothing she can really do to be with her love. Near the end of the episode after several times rejecting his advances, she finally sleeps with him. She had been rejecting him for quite a while, because she wanted to keep her virginity for her future husband. But her emotions get the best of her and she makes the mistake of making love to another's husband. His wife isn't clueless and we see her sleeping with another as well, plotting her revenge against the queen.

This isn't the only scandal in this TV series, Lola and Lord Narcisse are at it again. Lola rejects his proposal, telling him she's scared of him and doesn't trust him to be her husband. Later she decides she still wants to be with him and surprises him with a bath. But he rejects her attempts, telling her he wants all of her. He wants her hand in marriage, not a fling. As much as Narcisse has done, I still think these lovebirds have a chance. Open your heart Lola!

While Mary and Francis wait for the money from the pirates, Elizabeth and Catherine are conspiring. Catherine has several plans for Mary's demise. She wants to take away Mary's crown and have Elizabeth be the ruler. How does she plan to accomplish this? Well, her plan consists of her son Charles, marrying Elizabeth. Of course it would be a few years until Charles becomes of age, but they know that an engagement between the two will promise Queen Elizabeth more respect and power.

When Francis and Mary receive the letter from Elizabeth regarding this engagement, they consider it, for a second. They find out Catherine has hung herself over an accident with a lover. If anyone has ever met Catherine they know she would never kill herself over regret. After finding out that it had been a decoy all along they've been following, they realize Catherine is helping Elizabeth. They soon come up with a plan of their own. They tell Elizabeth they want to meet near her castle, on the coast. Elizabeth takes her castle guards with her, fearing her enemy's intentions. While she is waiting, Mary and Francis steal Catherine back, angry at Catherine's treason.They put her in a cage with a tiger that the pirate Lambert brought in the beginning of the episode. The premiere ends with Catherine being taken away in the cage, holding tightly to the side of her cage, fearing for her life.

This episode had a lot of deceit, scandal, and love. But doesn't this show always? I know this show is going to rip my heart into pieces. I am nervous to see where this story goes, even if my favorite character is most likely to die. Did I miss anything in this episode? Let me know in the comments below!