Reign: The Siege Recap

Synopsis: As Louis starts his siege on the French castle, allegiances shift leaving General Renaud no choice but to betray the king and sending a pregnant Mary running to Louis for asylum.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Wow. We’ll deal with the bombshell that Mary dropped on Louis at the end of the episode later, but first, can we talk about how quickly things turned from slightly grim to inescapably bleak in the course of one episode?

After Louis decided to stake his claim to the throne, he’s been using Elizabeth’s connections and a Protestant rebellion army to march on the castle. Meanwhile, inside the castle, Francis and his men have been searching frantically for the would-be usurper without much luck.

Renaud and Kenna are going strong, with Kenna going so far as to ask Bash for an annulment before Renaud switches sides to fight for Louis. To be fair, Louis managed to capture Renaud’s abducted son to use him as a bargaining chip for Renaud’s loyalty.

In other romantic plotline news, Bash and creepy-not-nun-witch lady are also hooking up. Bash offers to secure her a position at court as Nostradamus’ replacement; the two hook up at the castle, and she decides to get way too real too fast by telling him she sees a vision of them and their children living happily together in the future. Woah. Pump the brakes there, chica. You’ve been seeing him for barely more than a hot second.

Chica performs a super creepy ritual with a bloody shirt of Bash’s where she has sex with one of the servants who magically turns into Bash in the middle of the act. Or something. It wasn’t super clear. I just accept that it was twisted.

Catherine tries to secure Narcisse’s loyalty yet again, this time by giving him his favorite horse he lost when he gave up all his property. Stephane (I swear this is the first time they’ve ever used his first name) doesn’t like that Catherine keeps bribing him when he’s already demonstrated that he’s willing to jump through hoops to be with her.

Back at the castle, with Louis’ troops encroaching, Francis decides to evacuate the royal family. Catherine and Mary offer to stay – Catherine does, but Francis insists that Mary leave.

As Mary leaves the castle, she is captured by General Renaud’s men; after she realizes that she’s been tricked and Renaud has switched allegiances, her guards fight Renaud’s men long enough for Mary to escape and warn Francis.

While this is happening, Lola and the baby prepare to leave the castle. In walks Narcisse – he tells Lola to be careful, and Lola calls him out for spreading the explicit drawing of her to the other nobles last week. She knows that he’s under Catherine’s thumb; she’s disappointed. He tells her that no one ends a relationship with a Medici, but if he could, he’d be with her. The two kiss – as a maid in the hallway watches and reports back to Catherine.

Later, Catherine takes her revenge on Narcisse by ordering the kitchen to slaughter and cook Narcisse’s favorite horse and feed it to him. Very Hannibal. To be fair, I thought she’d straight-up poison him, so this is rather tame in comparison (*cough* true love *cough*). She proceeds to explain to Narcisse that she loves him and that they’re equals. It’s not very effective. Narcisse isn’t into the whole ‘being-fed-your-horse-as-a-threat’ thing. Best not eat at IKEA, bro.

Back at the battlefront, Francis captures Renaud and imprisons him. Conde and Francis meet, and Conde offers to save Mary and make her his wife if Francis gives up his crown. Francis refuses, and tells Mary they’re both doomed. There is no scenario where Elizabeth lets her live, even if she converts to Protestantism. He’s also intercepted all of Francis’ messengers to Spain for reinforcements. There’s very little hope for the French royals.

Laith has some pre-romance with Claude by helping her escape through the tunnels during the castle breach. He explains that Greer and him are no longer an item. Not the best timing, but hey. Carpe diem.

At the end of the episode, Mary escapes through the tunnels to see Louis. She asks for his mercy. She’s pregnant with his baby.