When we last visited our royal friends at French Court, Mary had insisted that Conde and Lola marry, which would be ridiculously convenient and simultaneously bizarre since Conde is in love with Mary and Lola is the mother of Mary’s husband’s bastard son. It’s a tongue twister, we know. Meanwhile, Conde’s brother, Antoine, King of Navarre, isn’t too far away from the castle throwing debaucherous bashes with women heaving themselves at Princes and stable boys alike.
Mary was still hesitant to be approached, let alone touched, by a man, but she allowed Francis to spend the night in her chambers (on the sofa of course). We were hoping it might help them get back to their more romantic days. It seems this week that Francis’s efforts have worked, sort of. Mary at least let him touch her hand…
Spring is upon the castle with the first purple blossom rising to the surface of the all-encompassing snow and bringing with it new guests. The King of Navarre has come to court for the sole purpose of establishing peace between his country and France. Oh, and to ask for “funds.” Since he’s a Bourbon, Catherine is obviously against granting them a single cent.
After speaking with Francis, Antoine sees Bash talking to Kenna and believes him to be the man who killed his deceased brother. He tells Conde he will not leave court until he finds out the truth.
Catherine’s hallucinations are worse than ever and she’s now imagining her potentially-dead, severely disfigured daughter, who’s death ensured that Francis could marry Mary. If you remember, the prophecy said that if they wed while Clarissa was still alive, Francis would die within a year of marriage. This time, however, Mary walks in on Catherine’s hallucination.
The doctor’s diagnosis is a true testament to karma’s all-powerful judicial hammer- syphilis. Her greatest concern? Not the sores erupting all over her body. Not the mental degradation she is currently suffering from. But, her legacy: “I don’t want to be remembered as a mad, syphilitic queen. Say that I died of consumption while helping orphans.” Of course we will Catherine.
Now that Narcisse is solely allowed to remain living if he obeys every word of the King, he’s much less entertaining. Though, he is still vying for Lola’s attention despite her new connection with Conde and his invitation to the Winter Ease (a celebration of spring in the form of a grand-ish ball)
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the fact that the doctors employ birds to peck and rip apart Catherine’s feet to cure her syphilis!
Things have taken a positive turn for Francis and Mary. She allows him to sleep next to her in bed and though his breath startles her, he ultimately helps ease her pain with his embrace. His patience and willingness to do whatever it takes to help his wife heal seems abnormal for a King, making him all the more endearing. We certainly adore him.
Antoine on the other hand is nauseatingly pompous, constantly putting his foot in his royal mouth. “Thank god for nepotism, otherwise what would our bastard brothers do?” he says to Kenna, who in case you’ve forgotten, is married to Bash aka bastard brother of King Francis. See what we mean?
It turns out that Navarre actually does need money from France, otherwise they’ll get the money from somewhere else (else meaning England, which as you can imagine would be very problematic for France). Mary asks Conde to spy on his brother to discover whether England is truly a possible provider of this money, but, for the first time, Conde declines her request. He demands that since she does not reciprocate his feelings, she should not treat him as an “intimate.” Look who grew a pair. Good for you Conde.
As always, Narcisse is in the right place at the right time and helps Catherine discover that she doesn’t actually have syphilis, but instead has been slowly poisoned from reading Henry’s old journal. Henry, who went mad before his son ultimately killed him. Coincidence, we think not.
And just when we thought things might be starting to go right, Mary tells Francis he should start sleeping with other women, because she loves him…?
Check out the trailer for next week’s episode. It seems Conde and his brother is in deeper than they thought:
Tune into Reign Thursdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com