Reign: The Prince of the Blood Recap

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTOQNXq9xAE]

Reign: The Prince of the Blood (2×07)

Synopsis: Princess Claude is in town and she’s ready to cause trouble between Bash and Kenna. The nobles and Narcisse blackmail Francis into signing an edict which would force all citizens of France to publicly declare their faith in front of the king, but Lord Conde foils the plot by publicly renouncing his Catholic faith just in time. Lola grows closer to Narcisse and refuses to help Francis frame him as an English spy.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Honestly, I think the three star rating is partially because I never got to see Kenna interact with Princess Claude at all in this episode and I’m a little bitter. Hopefully more interactions between the two are in the stars.

There’s a new girl in town on Reign. Or rather, new to us. However, she most certainly takes after her mother.

Princess Claude, one of Catherine’s children, traipses onto the scene this week – using her feminine wiles to seduce her pastor caretaker and her way back into the castle.

Meanwhile, Narcisse’s scheme-of-the-week is blackmailing Francis into signing an edict which would force all citizens of France to publicly declare their faith in front of the king. The edict would cause civil unrest, as the Protestants would be persecuted in a Catholic France.

Mary, appalled by the edict, in part because she discovered Lord Castleroy is a Protestant and Greer will have to convert to her husband’s faith. Mary and Francis are united in their opposition to the edict, but Francis cannot afford to disobey Narcisse’s orders because he fears being charged with regicide and condemning Mary as an accomplice to the crime.

With Francis’ hands tied, Mary goes to Lord Conde for assistance. She wants him to find a few nobles who are Protestants in order to get them to protest the edict. Conde has an obvious admiration for Mary, and he promises to do his best. Later, Mary discovers that Conde was originally the next heir to the French crown when Francis was a sickly baby, so his intentions might be a little less than honorable in more than one sense.

I say more than one because I also predict Mary and Conde (Maconde? Cory? I’m sure there’s a better ship name out there) will hook up in about three episodes’ time.

Francis admits murdering King Henry to Bash so that the two brothers can figure out a way to get rid of Narcisse and his minions – a perfect opportunity arises when Catherine shows Francis an English cipher key she found on the guardsman spy from last week.  Francis uses Lola to plant the key at Narcisse’s house to accuse him of treason and put him to death.

Unfortunately for Francis, Narcisse intrigues Lola. After a very predatory scene where Narcisse suggests another bath with Lola, he proposes that they can either trust one another or let their arrangement continue superficially. Lola chooses to trust Narcisse, and she learns about King Henry’s death. Afterward, she refuses to hide the cipher in Narcisse’s residence and promptly tells Francis to stop using her as a pawn in his political games.

She also kisses Conde, even though she slaps him afterward in a ‘do not take what I have not given’ moment. You go, Lola.

Back in court, it appears as though Francis will have to sign the edict into law. Just before he does so, Conde steps forward as a Protestant, revoking his faith as a Catholic – prompting three other noblemen to do the same. This act buys Francis the time he needs to reconsider the edict, but what it doesn’t buy is marital bliss between Mary and Francis.

Francis refuses to give in to Narcisse, until  he finds out that Mary and Catherine’s lives are threatened more directly because Narcisse has witnesses to their part in Henry’s assassination attempts as well. With no other option, Francis signs the edict. Francis still won’t tell Mary about his role in Henry’s murder, and Mary is so done with Francis’ secrets. She walks out on him at the end of the episode, and they don’t seem like they’ll be getting back together anytime soon.

Back in Claude-land, we find out that Claude and Bash had a fling at one point during their childhood. It seems like Claude convinced Bash that they didn’t share a father. Either way, now Claude is jealous of Kenna, and hopefully we’ll get to see that confrontation later this season.

Unfortunately for Claude, Catherine sends her away from the castle at the end of the episode, because she’s been seeing visions of two dead daughters. The daughters ask why Catherine allows her one daughter to stay when they weren’t allowed to stay at the castle – the two girls proceed to threaten Claude while she sleeps until Catherine gives in.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSWy4TTRYbo]