Reign - Midseason Finale 2014 - Recap: An Eye for an Eye
Recap and review of Reign - Season 2 Episode 10 - Midseason Finale - Mercy:
After last week's shocker, I wasn't sure I was really in the mood for Reign this week. In a lot of ways, I felt about the show the way Mary (Adelaide Kane) ends up feeling about Francis (Toby Regbo) by the end of "Mercy". There's still love there, but the events of last week have left such a sour taste in my mouth that I feel like I need a break.
Credit: The CW
Of course, after giving it a week to see where the story would go, the rape seems even more unnecessary now. I mean, if nothing else, I could still see how Laurie McCarthy and co. would believe this was something that had to happen. If the story is about driving an insurmountable wedge between Francis and Mary, with the Queen essentially tossing out the love they've shared for the past year because "Look where that love has got us," then yes, something truly awful needed to happen. Something so awful that we would understand why Mary felt she couldn't be with Francis anymore. And so we get this rape storyline, as Mary justifies her coldness and emotional distance towards Francis by saying that she blames him for what happened to her. She even admits that this doesn't entirely make sense, and might not be fair, but that her rape is now inextricably linked, in her mind, to Francis and the actions he took that stirred Protestant aggression in the first place. That's an understandable sticking point for why this formerly strong relationship would come to such an ignominious end.
Credit: The CW
And yet, I still think it's ridiculous that rape is essentially being used as a catalyst for relationship drama, even if Adelaide Kane is doing an absolutely stellar job with the material. Frankly, rape storylines are almost never well-handled, mostly because there's no right way to unpack all the complicated emotions behind the act. People will be uncomfortable, and people will be offended, because rape is an offense to every civilized sensibility in society. Even a relatively well-done rape storyline, like Dr. Melfi's attack on The Sopranos, leaves a sour taste in the mouth. That may ultimately be the point of depicting rape, but I'm not sure it's something a whole lot people are willing to endure on a show that is ostensibly an escapist drama. An historical drama, sure; but one that is so apocryphal with its history that it might as well be pure fiction anyway. My point is, this wasn't really a path Reign needed to go down, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the show already had any number of perfectly valid events that could have been used to split Mary and Francis without resorting to sexual assault. It easily could have been the miscarriage, Francis's lying and secrecy, or even his choice to minimize her role at court. Maybe those choices aren't as irrevocably damaging as rape, but the point doesn't seem to be for any of this to be permanent, since one would presume Mary and Francis end up back together anyway. So why go down such a dark path?
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Well, in this case, it seems to be a way for Mary to also become closer to Conde. They go hunting for Mary's rapist and his accomplices, in what amounts to a frighteningly impulsive decision on both their parts, considering how easily they could have been overtaken and killed. But it results in Mary at least reclaiming some of her agency, in a cathartic moment of sorts, since the rapist shows no remorse for what he did prior to being burned alive by Mary. Granted, it doesn't involve Mary taking the high road, or allowing him to face proper justice, but the show is also illustrating that while Mary is a Queen, she has all the impulsivity of a teenager. Because, well, she is one. Ultimately, it results in Mary gaining some measure of closure, although, as mentioned, she does end up essentially ending things with Francis. They're not going to get a divorce, but Mary says she will only be his wife in name only, and they will only speak when they're working together as monarchs. Francis tries to fight for her, arguing that he was trying to protect her when he killed Montgomery last week, but Mary doesn't really want to hear it. Nor is she all that receptive to his pleas of love, since love hasn't gotten them anything but pain, it seems. And so things come to an end. And, as if on cue, Mary receives a letter from Conde in which he confesses his feelings for her. However, it's also a farewell letter, since he's fleeing from court (and from his promise to marry Claude), if only because it's the only way he can avoid betraying both Mary and his family, since Conde gets a visit from his older brother in which it's revealed he's meant to be spying on Francis. For the moment, it looks like we won't be finding out how Mary feels about Conde. Her face betrays nothing, and even if we did know she carried a torch for him, it's not like there's a whole lot she can do about it with Conde gone. I would have hoped, at the very least, Conde might have realized just what a bad time it was in Mary's life to be bringing up notions of romance. But for all we know, Mary learning she's loved by someone other than Francis is exactly what she needed to hear. Hell if I know.
Credit: The CW
As for the rest of the episode, some stories were more successful than others. I liked Leith (Jonathan Keltz) going to bat for Lord Castleroy (Michael Therriault), and getting him released from prison after Francis detains all Protestants for "questioning" (see also: torture). However, I couldn't possibly have cared less about the ongoing silliness with Catherine (Megan Follows) and the ghosts. Not only does she get overpowered by the ghosts of her dead daughters, they threaten that if she doesn't kill Claude, they will. When her attempts to get Claude to flee court fail, Catherine drugs her (although to what end is uncertain), then she winds up in bed with...the ghost of King Henry? And apparently, they totally get it on, with Henry convincing Catherine he's real, and making her openly voice that she wants him back (because he needs her to, for some reason). I have no idea what in the fresh hell this was all about, and I can't even really say I'm all that intrigued by it, even while I'm stoked to have Alan Van Sprang back, even if just for an episode. It just feels like it veers too far into cartoonish, over-the-top weirdness for me, to where it feels like a storyline out of a different series altogether. Then again, I've seen shows with far stranger tonal shifts than this one, so I guess I'll just see where this all goes before condemning it outright. But once again, I can't think of the end point being worth this being the route they take to get there.
Credit: The CW
"Mercy" isn't exactly an encouraging midseason finale for Reign, but it's not necessarily a bad one either. There's a lot of plot advancement, and it does end on momentous departures from the status quo. I don't love the direction the show is taking, but I've enjoyed Reign too much over the past year to completely write it off just because of one storyline I didn't like or agree with. If nothing else, Francis growing more ruthless shows some promise, as he imprisons Narcisse in the dungeons and essentially strips him of all his power, vowing to use him as a puppet and have him killed in the dead of night once he's outlived his usefulness. That's a new wrinkle in Francis's character, and it instantly makes him a bit more nuanced, if not outright scary. And exploring that change in personality could make for some interesting television. So I'm not ready to give up on Reign just yet.