Reign: Forbidden Recap

Synopsis: Drama between Bash/Kenna and Mary/Francis pairings causes more strain than ever. Mary plans to leave for Scotland, and she hopes to bring Louis with her.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Marie de Guise is back and on more opioids than ever!

What does this mean for our crew at the castle? Well, for one, it means that an accidentally drugged-up Lola is frolicking through the castle spouting some wonderful truths about how ugly the Hapsburg baby is and how much she wants to have sex with Lord Narcisse.

To his credit, Narcisse sends Lola to her chambers after he realizes she’s not sober. And to Lola’s credit, I think the Hapsburgs were better known for their wealth and power than their looks. Unfortunately, this probably means that Lola’s baby won’t be engaged to the Hapsburg baby, which would have secured his position outside of the French court.

Other than that, the opioids also mean that Mary’s mother is dying and Mary has to secure her rule in Scotland. Preferably with an heir. Even after Mary tells her mother that she was raped.

There’s a wonderful conversation between Mary’s mother and Lola, which ends with the line that “disposable queens are disposed of,” and that Marie de Guise will remember who caused her daughter’s death after Lola made Mary appear disposable.

With her mother’s advice in mind, Mary decides that she wants to try sleeping with Francis again. The couple tries to have sex, but Mary is still understandably traumatized and Francis stops.

Afterward, Mary and Francis argue – Mary admits that she has feelings for Louis and Francis forbids them from being together. Overall, it seems like an ineffective and childish order coming from Francis, and we’re made to believe from Mary’s expression that she doesn’t intend to obey.

Francis has been telling Mary for weeks that he doesn’t plan to be with anyone other than her, but the king can’t stop looking at Lola. So that’s probably going to happen. Again.

In other news, Antoine is still revenge-courting Kenna. He has her plan an elaborate party and not invite her husband. Which is fine, since Bash is kinda being a child anyway – neglecting his wife for his duties as the King’s helper. This week, he’s off looking for the healer in white who brings people back from the dead.

He finds her and she prophesies that he will lose someone close to him soon. Upset, Bash storms into Kenna’s party and causes a scene. The two fight, and near the end of the episode, Antoine proposes to Kenna. She doesn’t turn him down.

In the village, Greer arranges for her prostitute-friend Charlene to go to Kenna’s party and meet new, high-class clientele. It looks like Greer has finally hit her stride and she’ll quickly become the most sought-after madame in France.

Louis and Mary meet up and she tells him directly that she and Francis fought over him and her feelings for him. Honestly, it feels redundant after last week’s episode, but hey. I’m all for team Mary/Louis.

At the end of the episode, Mary tells Conde she intends to flee to Scotland without Francis’ permission, and she wants Louis to come with her.

After she makes her offer, Antoine arrives with news for his brother: Queen Elizabeth wants to court Louis.