Reign Season 2 Episode 12 Review: Banished
Carissa Pavlica
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Things certainly are rushing right along, aren't they?
When learning the title of Reign Season 2 Episode 12 was "Banished," I imagined maybe Conde would be threatened with it as a result of his feelings for Mary, putting more strain on the royal marriage or perhaps Narcisse would further condemn himself in some way. It never even occurred to me one of Mary's ladies would ride off.
Earlier in Reign Season 2 the ladies were all a flutter when they found a sex book and giggled, wondering who the man with the tattoo and sexual expertise may be. That man turned out to be a dud, but at least they were having some fun. Those days are, clearly, gone.
While I'll give Mary props for pairing up Lola and Conde, thereby killing two birds with one stone (no actual birds were killed in this process) and later allowed Francis to sleep in her chambers so he could keep watch over her if only to help alleviate her loneliness, earlier it was disappointing when she chose to use the same line on him again about not wanting a man to touch her.
If she had any doubts people would talk, perhaps it was thinking back to laying a hand on Conde in the courtyard that finally forced her to take action in putting distance between her and the man. She willfully lied to Francis when she said she could bear the touch of no man. It was simply untrue and something she had already freely admitted to Greer in Reign Season 2 Episode 11.
Conde was hardly the gentlemen everyone fell in love with after his emotions were laid bare in front of Mary. Lola, however, will make a good match for him. There's a reason the two women are great friends and why Francis turned to her while Mary had taken up with Bash. They're very much alike.
Getting back to Greer, the quickness with which the journal was found, proving her complicity with Castleroy and she was thrust out was amazing. It seems as if she has no reason to worry, doesn't it? Can't she just ride off and find, you know, her husband? They are still married, after all. It's terrible what's happened, but she knowingly made the decision to take up with Protestants even when the Queen she served was Catholic. She hid a lot from Mary and yet the reprimand was just.
As Francis was dividing up Narcisse's assets (he sure has become the upstanding man now, hasn't he?), he gave to Bash a choice of titles and lands. He chose a lesser title to remain near Francis and gave some of his lands away to his mother. He took them back when he realized she murdered the twins.
That was shocking. It's not shocking at all that Catherine figured it out and had her vengeance on Diane. It's hard to imagine which would have been more satisfying, striking her with the fire pokers or strangling her.
Catherine: This is for killing my babies! This is for taking my husband, tearing my family apart and this is for turning my daughter against me!
Diane: I did it for Henry.
Catherine: How perfect! He did it all for Henry, too! You loved him so much, he's... all... yours!
Diane made sure Bash learned an ugly detail about Kenna, however, before she unwisely didn't run away fast enough from the castle. Knowing what a fearless proponent Caitlin Stasey is of women's rights, it's always a lot of fun listening to Kenna champion them on Reign.
Kenna: Is that what you want to hear? Is that what I should have said when we married? That, yes, I loved him; before he went mad.
Bash: You never told me that.
Kenna: Why would I? You asked me to give us a chance, so I did. Bash, you have no idea what it's like to be a girl in this world. Owning nothing, having no power, except the effect that you have on men. The King noticed me and for the first time I mattered. What was I supposed to do? Throw it away? Did you throw away Mary's love when you had it? Besides, why are we even fighting about this? Everybody makes mistakes. It's in the past!
Bash: Some things can't stay in the past. Some things are too unforgivable. When a person is willing to sacrifice lives for their own petty interests, that is one of those things.
Bash and Kenna have fallen in love. What she did by telling Catherine Diane was trying to legitimize Bash with the Pope is not in the same league as Diane killing two baby girls and he knows it. Does it hurt to learn your wife actually loved your father at one time? Sure. But wouldn't it be better knowing that than thinking your wife was a whore who was only sleeping with him out of personal gain? He wasn't executed, so that point is moot.
The bottom line here is they are absolutely forbidden by me to finally lavish air time upon Bash and Kenna, tease us with their happiness at receiving lands and titles only to have them ripped apart. It is not allowed and hereby decreed by me, Queen Carissa of TV Fanatic.
It was quite an eventful installment. I'm ready for a little whimsy. Can some good befall our friends? Do they have to mourn the loss of Greer and Diane and the dissolution of the marriage of Bash and Kenna, or perhaps might they celebrate the joining of Conde and Lola, the reuniting of Mary and Francis (however tentative) and Claude's new found freedom from guilt?
Hmmm...Leith is free, and Greer is gone... perhaps Claude will take a liking in him. Come to think of it, did Francis give him back the land he granted to him, took away to give to Narcisse and took away from Narcisse... inquiring minds need to know.
Hit the comments. What say you of the whirlwind of activity this hour? Are you ready for something a little less dour? Any ideas of what it should be?
Don't forget, you can watch Reign online any time via TV Fanatic to get your fix of Royalty.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
