Reign - Recap: Shotgun Wedding

Yes, they're royals. But they're also a family in turmoil, and it makes for a very interesting dynamic since the fate of nations could rest on whether these four people can find a way to get along. It's no surprise that, with the court in chaos, "Monsters" ends up being such a solid hour of TV. It's far from my favorite of the season, but I can appreciate how Henry's escalating madness is being brought to bear on just about every storyline, such that even stories like those featuring Greer (Celina Sinden) and Lola (Anna Popplewell) feel connected to everything that's going on. The madness of King Henry now means no storyline is allowed to be off on its own in a corner somewhere. It's all connected now, all hands on deck. Well, okay, except for the stuff with Nostradamus (Rossif Sutherland) and Olivia (Yael Grobglas), which has developed into a romance against my own expectations. Here, Nostradamus ushers Olivia back into society, only to find that she wants him to join her. Except Nostradamus is still haunted by the memory of his wife and children, taken from him by the plague. They kiss, but it's the kind of sweet, passionless business that is only matched by the three marriages arranged this episode.

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Yes, it's true. Bash has been forced to marry Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) at the end of an episode that sees King Henry completely succumbing to his madness. Long story short, Bash returns to the castle to enlist the help of Francis in tracking down and killing "The Darkness," yet no one is really all that happy to see him back. The brothers bicker and feud, mostly over Francis's continued suspicion that Bash wants Mary (Adelaide Kane) and has come back to claim her. However, when Francis learns from Nostradamus and ex-flame Olivia that Bash isn't lying about The Darkness, he resolves to help rid the kingdom of the mysterious being. What results is a tale of brothers at odds who slowly come back around to trusting and respecting each other again. It's actually a fairly endearing story, and both Coombs and Regbo are more than up to the dramatic task. They've never felt more like brothers than they do here, particularly after Francis falls through a sheet of thin ice during the search, which prompts Bash to rescue him, and then plead with his younger brother not to die. It's dramatic, sure, but it's also poignant in a way I wasn't expecting. Given their animosity, it's easy to forget just how close these two once were, and how vital that relationship had been in both their lives. As they make up in front of the fireplace back at the palace, Bash finally discards his initial theory that Francis was responsible for ordering the guards to kill him on the night of his exile. Meanwhile, Francis swears to bring The Darkness to justice, while admitting to Bash that he deserves to live a happy life of his own. Of course, little does Bash know that rescuing Francis is pretty much the last act of free will he'd show this week, as Henry decides he's going to take control...

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To get to that climactic end, we have to backtrack a bit, though. Lola is beginning to show, so Mary has to put a rush on finding her a suitor. Kenna, for her part, is equally desperate to be married off, wondering why King Henry hasn't found her a suitable, titled suitor yet. However, Greer has been much more fortunate, in that department. She becomes engaged to Lord Julian (Giacome Gianniotti), a handsome, titled nobleman from Hungary who is intent on acquiring a beautiful, high-born wife. Unfortunately, Greer pretty much blows her good fortune by making out one last time with Leith (Jonathan Keltz), getting caught by Julian in the process. And just like that, the wedding is off, with Greer tearfully condemning her own foolishness. Well, until she comes up with a fairly clever solution: she suggests Lola pair up with Julian, to kill two birds with one stone. Julian has the wife he's desperately looking for, and Lola has a husband to cover up for her child. It works splendidly, and hey, even Greer gets to have an engagement of her own: the kindly Lord Castleroy (Michael Therriault), who hired Leith as an apprentice last week, and saves him from a life in the dungeons this week, proposes to Greer. She realizes that this is pretty much the best she'll do, since no one else is going to marry a woman with rumors about a kitchen boy swirling around her. So she accepts, since at least he's a kind man who loves her desperately. This leaves only Kenna to be engaged. However, King Henry has the solution for all that...

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In attempting to teach Bash a lesson about ownership, and perhaps to compel him to finally get over Mary by giving him a new set of romantic obligations, Henry orders a shotgun wedding between Bash and Kenna. And yeah, I don't think I've ever seen two good-looking people this unhappy to be set up, as Bash grimaces through the entire thing, and Kenna cries herself hoarse, demanding the nobleman she was promised. Henry jokingly declares Bash the Master of Horse and Hunt, which makes him a lord now, although Kenna is far from satisfied ("What does that even MEAN?!"). Not that either has a choice in the matter. Kenna and Bash are married off, even though Bash, seemingly intent on not learning anything, confesses to Mary that he still has feelings for her. I really don't see this ending well at all, although I imagine things will be worse for Henry, whose dementia is taking over his entire life.

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Early in the episode, Catherine is panicked about what Henry might do, and so she obtains a potion from Nostradamus that will induce a coma. Luckily, the upcoming Queen of the Bean festival, in which one lucky servant girl will get to be queen for a day if she finds a bean hidden in a giant cake (just roll with it), presents the perfect opportunity to slip him the drug. And the Queen of the Bean is the perfect culprit to do the job. Penelope (Kathryn Prescott) plays the doe-eyed innocent to a T. In fact, she plays her role so well that even Catherine is fooled, failing to realize the girl's queenly ambitions until it's too late. Instead of dosing Henry with the potion, she doses Catherine, and then reveals the entire plot to the King, winning his favor on a more permanent basis than just a single day. Though Nostradamus is able to bring Catherine out of the coma, it's clear she's finally met someone who might be her match in the whole scheming department.

"Monsters" is not as gripping as past episodes, but it's an hour of TV that was hard for me to find fault with, given how much fun I was having with it. Reign is the kind of historical soap that knows when it's being silly, but also knows when to dial it back and focus on the more human stories at its center. This was far from my favorite episode of the season, but the effective plotting of "Monsters" contributed to my overall confidence in this season, and this series, as a whole.