Reign – 2.05 – Blood for Blood – Review: “The Hunter with the Butterfly Tattoo”

Hey, Royals! It’s time to discuss another episode of Reign. There were quite a few twists and turns that left me scratching my head as well as clutching my pearls. I found it to be another solid outing. Shout out to the Frary folk, it’s always darkest before the dawn and as a member of Team Castelroy I’m happy to say it looks like we have scored the definitive win (for now). Well, let’s just jump straight into the review.

This week’s episode was written by P.K. Simonds & Nancy Won, who are brand spanking new writing team it seems. I thought they did a great job, no character felt off and there was a great variety in types of scenes as well as emotional highs and lows. Not to mention every single character got a chance to shine. The directorial reigns were handed over to Norma Bailey who always does a wonderful job and this week no exception. Both the scoring and the soundtrack were pleasantly well done once again this week. The song that kept playing in my head after the episode ended was “Starts” by Charles William.

If I had to make a long story short here’s how I would sum up the episode’s course of events: Tensions rose between Catholics and Protestants. During one confrontation Louis' Protestant nephew was killed. It's revealed that Caroline was in the pay of Narcisse, and she faked being possessed in order to get Francis to confess to his father's murder. Narcisse heard the confession and used it to blackmail Francis into letting the Catholic murderers of Louis' nephew go free. Mary demanded to know why Francis was acting strange, and Francis lied to her and told her that it's because he believes she will never give him an heir, which hurt Mary deeply. Greer learned that Castleroy is close to converting to Protestantism, but she accepts this and the pair are wed. Lola is surprised when she's approached by Narcisse, who wishes to pursue her as a potential partner.

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”

Character Contemplation
OK, let’s be real, Bash’s storyline has stalled and I hope I’m not the only that is disappointed. I love Torrance Comb to pieces (just in case you haven’t gathered that information for yourself at my umpteenth time saying it). I thought being the king’s deputy would be a great opportunity for the character. So far it has not been. It keeps Bash on the fringes of the story, out of the castle and away from the two characters (Kenna and Francis) that shine best when he is around them and vice versa. While I am a fan of the potential the new characters have, if they weren’t going to do anything with the old characters they should have just killed them during the plague. There is nothing worse than having a bloated ensemble cast that is primarily for fan service.

OK, it’s been awhile since I have said this… criminal underuse of Megan Follows. Now the little we did see of Catherine was awesome. It was great getting to see Catherine as the comedic relief. I like the light and sarcastic side of Catherine. I really appreciate that even though Catherine is an older woman they still show her as relevant, capable and desirable.

While I am still very much smitten with Sean Teale, I am completely over Louis Conde for now. He has been nothing but duplicitous trouble since he showed up. I know this show is “historical” drama but can we focus more on the historical and just a smidge less on the drama. It’s interesting that Conde now possesses the mark but this character is very ho hum right now. I liked that spark his character first interjected into Francis but much like Bash he has been pushed to the fringes of the current arc and I’m losing interest fast.

I am so happy for Greer. She is married to a man who loves her and wants her to be his full partner in life. I’ve been on Team Castleroy for quite some time. I’ve actually never really been a fan Leith’s (unless he’s spending time with Francis). The wedding was so cute and her dress was fabulous. It’s odd how we never got to see her mother for as much as she was mentioned. But now I’m worried about the thrice scorned Leith being vindictive and outing Castleroy as a secret Protestant. It’s nice to see one of the ladies having a slice of happiness though with it being Reign, you know it can’t last for long.

Finally, some substantive use of the character of Kenna and it quite a fun use of her to boot. The Kenna’s dressing dowdy than ever her spirits seem to be better than most of her friends. I love how Kenna just wants her friends to be happy. It was also refreshing to see them remind us that Kenna is smart and cunning in her own way (we haven’t seen that in a while). Much like Catherine, Kenna is at her best when she is being lighthearted.

Being a single mother in any time period is hard but when you’re the mother of a royal bastard and not the king’s actual mistress I couldn’t even fathom the burden. I’m not sure that I really want to see Lola dating. I love the glow that Anna Popplewell gives to the character of Lola when she is the baby. I would love to see the focus for Lola shift there. But hey, every character has to have a little titillation about them or what’s the point. Am I right?

When Mary hurts, I hurt. This was a brutal episode for Mary. Mary actually wasn’t in this episode very much and I’m OK with that. Her absence makes since story wise and it also allowed for a lot of other things to happen and more character interactions that we haven’t got to see much of as of late. I love that Mary can still hold onto her ideals but I’m going to need her to be more shrewd and pragmatic. You can’t rule with your heart all the time, especially if you want to keep your throne and your head off a pike.

The most succinct manner to describe my feelings about Narcisse is to imagine me letting out the longest and loudest sigh you can imagine. Last week, we learned that he was just unlucky in love and not an actual wife killing monster. This week we get hit with two other ice filled snowballs. The first being that he hired Caroline and it has been a long con, this whole time. The second was that he is interested in Lola. My verdict for this character? Off with his head. Craig Parker is doing the most with this character but the writers are all over the place. Let a bad guy be an unredeemable bad guy. I think those are the kinds that work best for this show, unless it’s Catherine. Actually, to be honest, I think that is what is rubbing me the wrong way, he is very much the male Catherine and well we already have a Catherine and it’s played by Megan Fellows so that space doesn’t need to be filled or retread.

Grade: B-

Awards
Character of the Night
• Francis

Best Character Interactions
• Lola and Kenna
• Greer and Castleroy
• Francis and Mary

Line of the Night
• Kenna: This is smut.

Scene of the Night
• The girls enjoying Greer’s last day as a single woman

Favorite Lady-In-Waiting
• Kenna


Lowlights
• Francis wasn’t being haunted by his father after all.

Miscellaneous

Biggest Surprise of the Episode
• Narcisse expressing interest in Lola.

Friendly Reminder
Don’t forget to live tweet with the show (@CWReign) and me (@lilithhellfire) every Thursday night at 9 pm EST.

Well, now it's your turn to sound off in the comments section below. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

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