With Adelaide Kane, Megan Follows, Torrance Combs, Toby Regbo, Jenessa Grant, Celina Sinden, Caitlin Stacey, Anna Popplewell and Alan Van Sprang.
Written by Laurie McCarthy & Stephanie Sengupta, directed by Brad Silberling
“Reign” is a fictional story about Mary Queen of Scots, it is an imaginary version and not Mary's true account. So, forget all your prejudices and just watch the show as nothing more than a fiction, you could be in for pleasant surprise.
The main strength of “Reign” is its mix between political, drama and supernatural intrigues. The starting point is the future alliance between France and Scotland, but since Catherine – the Queen of France – learned that Francis will die because of her future wife, Mary, she will do everything she can to stop the engagement. That is not all, other elements will revolve around the principal plot like drama and supernatural intrigues. The drama is about Mary and her friends' love life. Whereas the supernatural takes different forms in the pilot. The drama and the supernatural intelligently serve the political intrigues because they will have consequences on the characters and theirs futures. Everything is linked by one of the main character, Catherine who controls everything. She is truly the most interesting character in the pilot because she is capable of everything – and by everything I mean everything!
“Reign” has the real potential to become a good show. The pilot intelligently sets most of the characters, their motivations, the political context and most of all, the castle! The place seems to hide a lot of things between secret passages, a dark and dangerous forest, a ghost and Nostradamus. Danger is everywhere and the show is a lot darker than you think. If the writers handle all these elements right, there is material for an interesting mythology. The mix between all these elements gives a singular atmosphere to the show, especially as “Reign” kept the lurid reputation of the French Court. It could not be France without affairs, voyeurism, sex and self-pleasure. It was risky for The CW but I really appreciated the effort – even though they should have cut some seconds. I just hope they will not be too sensible in the future because it would be disappointing.
The production gives the show an authentic atmosphere and it was a really good – and expensive – move to film the pilot in Ireland. The rest of the season will be in Ireland and in Canada. But if I had to be a little more critical, the place does not really reminds me France since the French Court was at the Louvre Palace during this time... Anyway, the castle, which is still gorgeous despite not being French, is sublimated by a really good use of cameras. The director did a good job here too. We are not in a cable show, so it is not a movie but for a CW show, it is really pleasant to see that kind of work. Moreover, the reconstitution with authentic furniture, the rooms... is perfect, except one thing and sadly not the least. You know what I am talking about! The costumes! There is a real problem here because they are very often too modern. Not for everyone, the costumes for the adults are good – not exceptional – but good, but for the five young girls... It is quite embarrassing, especially when Mary and her friends arrive at the castle. What was the costume director thinking? I want to believe it's just a matter of cost for the pilot and the next will be better but I'm not keeping my hopes up too much. But if it is just about to pull more viewer, it is a bad move. Speaking of modern ton, “Reign” uses some pop music at times, just like Sofia Coppola's movie “Marie Antoinette”. It is a good idea since the rhythms and the tones are reminiscent of the time.
Nevertheless, two things bothered me. The first point is the introduction of the love triangle between Mary, Francis and Sebastian. One girl, two brothers... The network seems to be really fond of this kind of love triangles and even if it worked in Vampire Diaries, I really do not think it will work in “Reign”. The show takes place in 1557, Mary is a queen, Francis will be king and Sebastian is the king's bastard! Even if the show is not historically accurate, the context can not be botched. There is no endgame here because we all know from the starting point that Mary will marry the future king of France and she will never marry his brother, a bastard. There is no other option here, except maybe a secret relationship but that is all. This storyline is already dead at this point.
The second disappointment is about the characters. Some of them are well introduced and characterized – Mary, Catherine, Nostradamus and Francis – but the others, particularly Mary's ladies-in-waiting, were better in the script. Megan Follows is clearly at ease with the role of the Queen of France, as Adelaide Kane who is, for me, a real revelation. Toby Regbo who embodies Francis plays his part but he gives off nothing in front of Torrance Combs who is much better. The real problem comes from Mary's best friends. It is not a problem with the actresses, but their characters have nothing to do except Anna Popplewell who is the only one to stand out from the crowd. I think it is mainly a problem of time, the script was quite long and they could not integrate everything into the episode. I saw that some intrigues, introduced in the pilot script, will appear in the next episodes. It is a good thing since one of the best parts of the script have completely disappeared: the scene took place in the forest with Mary and a mysterious element was put in place.
“Reign” is an ambitious show for The CW and despite some flaws, the pilot is quite entertaining and mostly interesting. It's not really a "Gossip Girl" like show, it is a lot more darker but it is not a "Game Of Thrones" like show neither. My advice would be to give it a shot, even if you have some reticence, because you could be surprised.
GRADE: 3,5/5
"Reign" will air tomorrow at 9/8c on The CW
The main strength of “Reign” is its mix between political, drama and supernatural intrigues. The starting point is the future alliance between France and Scotland, but since Catherine – the Queen of France – learned that Francis will die because of her future wife, Mary, she will do everything she can to stop the engagement. That is not all, other elements will revolve around the principal plot like drama and supernatural intrigues. The drama is about Mary and her friends' love life. Whereas the supernatural takes different forms in the pilot. The drama and the supernatural intelligently serve the political intrigues because they will have consequences on the characters and theirs futures. Everything is linked by one of the main character, Catherine who controls everything. She is truly the most interesting character in the pilot because she is capable of everything – and by everything I mean everything!
“Reign” has the real potential to become a good show. The pilot intelligently sets most of the characters, their motivations, the political context and most of all, the castle! The place seems to hide a lot of things between secret passages, a dark and dangerous forest, a ghost and Nostradamus. Danger is everywhere and the show is a lot darker than you think. If the writers handle all these elements right, there is material for an interesting mythology. The mix between all these elements gives a singular atmosphere to the show, especially as “Reign” kept the lurid reputation of the French Court. It could not be France without affairs, voyeurism, sex and self-pleasure. It was risky for The CW but I really appreciated the effort – even though they should have cut some seconds. I just hope they will not be too sensible in the future because it would be disappointing.
The production gives the show an authentic atmosphere and it was a really good – and expensive – move to film the pilot in Ireland. The rest of the season will be in Ireland and in Canada. But if I had to be a little more critical, the place does not really reminds me France since the French Court was at the Louvre Palace during this time... Anyway, the castle, which is still gorgeous despite not being French, is sublimated by a really good use of cameras. The director did a good job here too. We are not in a cable show, so it is not a movie but for a CW show, it is really pleasant to see that kind of work. Moreover, the reconstitution with authentic furniture, the rooms... is perfect, except one thing and sadly not the least. You know what I am talking about! The costumes! There is a real problem here because they are very often too modern. Not for everyone, the costumes for the adults are good – not exceptional – but good, but for the five young girls... It is quite embarrassing, especially when Mary and her friends arrive at the castle. What was the costume director thinking? I want to believe it's just a matter of cost for the pilot and the next will be better but I'm not keeping my hopes up too much. But if it is just about to pull more viewer, it is a bad move. Speaking of modern ton, “Reign” uses some pop music at times, just like Sofia Coppola's movie “Marie Antoinette”. It is a good idea since the rhythms and the tones are reminiscent of the time.
Nevertheless, two things bothered me. The first point is the introduction of the love triangle between Mary, Francis and Sebastian. One girl, two brothers... The network seems to be really fond of this kind of love triangles and even if it worked in Vampire Diaries, I really do not think it will work in “Reign”. The show takes place in 1557, Mary is a queen, Francis will be king and Sebastian is the king's bastard! Even if the show is not historically accurate, the context can not be botched. There is no endgame here because we all know from the starting point that Mary will marry the future king of France and she will never marry his brother, a bastard. There is no other option here, except maybe a secret relationship but that is all. This storyline is already dead at this point.
The second disappointment is about the characters. Some of them are well introduced and characterized – Mary, Catherine, Nostradamus and Francis – but the others, particularly Mary's ladies-in-waiting, were better in the script. Megan Follows is clearly at ease with the role of the Queen of France, as Adelaide Kane who is, for me, a real revelation. Toby Regbo who embodies Francis plays his part but he gives off nothing in front of Torrance Combs who is much better. The real problem comes from Mary's best friends. It is not a problem with the actresses, but their characters have nothing to do except Anna Popplewell who is the only one to stand out from the crowd. I think it is mainly a problem of time, the script was quite long and they could not integrate everything into the episode. I saw that some intrigues, introduced in the pilot script, will appear in the next episodes. It is a good thing since one of the best parts of the script have completely disappeared: the scene took place in the forest with Mary and a mysterious element was put in place.
“Reign” is an ambitious show for The CW and despite some flaws, the pilot is quite entertaining and mostly interesting. It's not really a "Gossip Girl" like show, it is a lot more darker but it is not a "Game Of Thrones" like show neither. My advice would be to give it a shot, even if you have some reticence, because you could be surprised.
GRADE: 3,5/5
"Reign" will air tomorrow at 9/8c on The CW
