Reign, “Reversal of Fortune,” was written by the team of Drew Lindo and Wendy Riss Gasiounis and was directed by Anne Wheeler, whose other credits include Heartland, Arctic Air and Bomb Girls. The reversals of fortune are many in the episode. The episode sees what is now, hopefully, the end of Nostradamus’s prophecy, as well as what seems to be the beginning of the end of Conde (Sean Teale) and Mary’s (Adelaide Kane) affair. Narcisse (Craig Parker) solidifies his place with Catherine (Megan Follows), yet ends the episode, presumably, still in the dungeon, awaiting Mary’s wrath.
As Francis (Toby Regbo) lays dying, Mary suddenly seems to be reawakened to her duty as Queen of both France and Scotland. Kane does an excellent job in this episode as she moves between love and contentment with Conde to guilt over Francis, to being torn between her two countries, to commanding – and pretty scary – over Narcisse.
The writing in the episode is fairly clever to arrange for everyone to be where they need to be to move the plot along. Mary sends Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) after Bash (Torrance Coombs), so that Bash can see Francis before the end. Kenna, of course, manages to fall out of her carriage. Once again Kenna shows her utter self-interest when instead of actually going to see if her carriage driver (Kevin Allen) is actually alive, she simply stands in the middle of the road looking annoyed as the carriage disappears.
She ends up stumbling across Renaud’s (Vince Nappo) men, and he offers to take her back to the castle. It certainly seems like there may be some chemistry between Kenna and Renaud too! When he gets a message from the castle, he leaves her to return with the messenger (Brock Morgan), so Kenna is with Conde and Mary when they get the note saying he is two days away and Kenna can tell them it’s a lie – thus sealing Narcisse’s fate.
Catherine is furious with Mary throughout the episode – and it’s hard to blame her. It’s unlikely that a broken heart caused Francis’ illness, as Conde points out to Mary, but it’s also equally true that had Mary been paying more attention to Francis, they would have known of his illness sooner. Mary does help Catherine in keeping the nobles in the dark about Francis’ condition. This is a great scene as Mary plays the perfect diplomat. Conde does tip his hand that he knows all about Mary and Conde. Mary can’t help but realize that Narcisse and Catherine are working together.
Catherine is so concerned with keeping it quiet that she charges Leith (Jonathan Keltz) with getting Claude (Rose Williams) out of the castle, because naturally, if Claude knows about Francis she’ll spill the beans. This ends with Claude drunk at Greer’s (Celina Sinden) new brothel, but does keep Claude quiet. Of course, Catherine parading around dressed in mourning black isn’t exactly subtle.
However, Catherine’s fury only grows when she learns Mary is contemplating taking French troops to defend Scotland after learning of an imminent attack by England. Catherin burst into the strategy meeting between Conde, Lola (Anna Popplewell) and Mary. I thought that this was an excellent scene all around. It was great to see Lola speaking up for Scotland – their home, full of their friends and family. Again, Kane is great in this scene as she shows how torn Mary is now between her two homes and her two responsibilities. She is hesitating to weaken one and put it in danger to save the other. Catherine, however, cares only for France and tells her that she will move heaven and earth to stop Mary from taking French troops.
Conde comes up with the plan to use Renaud’s mercenaries. He was rightly hesitant to want to include Narcisse. I adored the scene between Mary and Narcisse, however. She is able to completely gain the upper hand in the meeting. He thinks he has her where he wants her – in his debt – and she quickly points out that his relationship with a mercenary army is treasonous. She then makes no doubt about her ability to follow through on a threat by reminding him of what she did to his son – a very bold move! She tells him, “Do not test my power. Do not tempt my fury.” And she’s pretty darn scary in this scene. When she learns of Narcisse’s treachery she has him thrown in the dungeon, vowing to tear him apart.
While Narcisse is still in the dungeon at the end of the episode, Catherine will likely be able to save him. After all, he called Renaud off because he told Catherine that she should have his men – or at least if they delayed, Catherine would still have the upper hand with Mary. Narcisse is proving to excel at preying upon Catherine’s fears – of being alone and of losing power. He continually reassures her that she’s not alone, but reinforces that the nobles will move on her without his support of power.
This episode actually spends some time on examining that recurring theme of what power women have in this world. Mary has unexpected power in the episode because of Francis’ illness. The trade off in rediscovering her duty to her country is that she essentially kills her relationship with Conde. She can’t leave with him to go to Scotland because she can do no less than Francis in honoring the agreement between their countries. We see Catherine fall under Narcisse’s power. However, Greer offers some hope.
Leith is still insisting that they can get an annulment while Greer is very excited about the townhouse, which is fairly grand, that she’s just rented. Leith calls it a brothel – it will, after all, be one! Greer is not excited about the annulment and when she finds out that Leith is acting as collector of the Cardinal’s debts, she’d going to be even less so. Greer tells Leith that she wants “a man I love, NOT a man that I have to depend on.” Greer knows firsthand what happens when that support is taken away. She’s done an amazing job of helping both herself and the other women – it’s too bad that they have to use their bodies to do it. Of course, this too is commentary on what it means to be a woman in this time period. What is the difference in selling your body for sex in a brothel or selling your body through marriage at court? At least in this instance, the women have a little more say in the transaction and more direct benefit.
Mary has several touching scenes with Francis. She tells him that she wants him to live. After Renaud turns back, Mary goes to Francis again and tells him that she’s having to send French forces and hopes he will forgive her. As she cries over his body, he finally wakes up.
I loved the scene in which Mary goes to Francis who has already been briefed on her activities by Catherine. Catherine is particularly smug in thinking she now has the upper hand. And it seems as Francis tells them he’s made a decision and it’s final that she has. However, he stuns them both by telling them that he’s already sent 2,000 French troops to Scotland.
However, he also tells Mary that he’s been given a second chance at life and now wants to ensure he has no regrets the next time he faces death. He tells her that he was simply honoring the promise that he made to Scotland. He also tells her that he wants her to go away. He can never trust her again. It seems that just as Mary may be over her ordeal and her affair with Conde over, leaving her open to come back to Francis, he has now moved on from her. Not good news for Frary fans.
Meanwhile, why Francis recovered may or may not be attributed to the mystical elements of the show. Bash is convinced that his being saved by Delphine (Alexandra Ordolis) has played a role because Francis fell ill at the time she saved him. When he finds Clarissa (Katie Boland) about to be hanged and saves her, he determines this was the wrong thing to do because of Nostradamus’ prophecy. He returns to Delphine’s where he’s left the reformed and repentant Clarissa and poisons her. It would seem that her death and Francis waking up are connected. It would also appear that Bash really does believe in the magic of his pagan roots. I have to wonder where that will lead him in the future.
The episode concludes with little hope for Mary and Conde as she returns to sit by Francis’ side as he sleeps and Conde rips apart his rooms. What did you think of the episode? What do you think Francis’ reaction to Narcisse’s part will be? Is this the end of Monde? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
