Reign Season 3 Episode 17 Review: Intruders
Miranda Wicker
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All hail Mary, Queen of Scots! Avenger of Francis! Reclaimer of her throne!
In the final moments of Reign Season 3 Episode 17, Mary burst through the castle at Edinburgh (did that seem too easy to anyone else?) and reclaimed her throne, much to the dismay of Protestant John Knox who was thisclose to having the entire Scottish monarchy dissolved.
Y'all, Mary was a badass tonight. Determined, fierce, courageous, and reassuring, plus about a dozen other adjectives if I had time to list them all.
It was obvious that Munro was going to recognize her somehow, either through having seen her portrait or just through assumption. That her sword, Francis' gift to her, would be the thing which gave her away wasn't something I expected.
Nor did I expect that she would stab him in the jugular with her necklace, but that? That was pretty epic. I appreciated her calm bravery and how upon walking into the room she immediately began looking for a way to kill him having absolutely no idea what she'd find inside.
Her parting words, how he'd ripped out her heart so she was back to do the same? Gah. PERFECT. Also sad. It just made me miss Mary and Francis and their beautiful story all the more.
Plus Bash hasn't really been able to show any interest since he's been parading around the Scottish countryside pretending to be her brother, so, you know. But he was helpful, too.
It was cute how he was all "Mary, this is dangerous!" and she was like "Psh! I got this." He's trying to protect her, but she's not the Queen he met when she first returned to court and Henry tried to force them to get married. So while Mary was doing the heavy lifting (because she wanted to do that part), Bash killed one of Munro's men and set fire to the village so he and Mary could escape.
And escape they did!
I'm admittedly rusty on my actual history at this point, so I don't know much about Mary's attempt to reclaim the Scottish throne and how that played out in the real world, but I have to say that she could not have gotten to Edinburgh at a better time.
Her brother, James, the Scottish Regent, was on the verge of dissolving the monarchy, meaning John Knox would've been a partial ruler of their country.
Or Lord Darnley would've shown up for a fight. Plus that other guy they mentioned. And also Elizabeth.
And there's still no guarantee that's not going to happen, but it probably won't happen on Reign Season 3 Episode 18. A battle that epic will probably kick off Reign Season 4 whenever it returns.
I wouldn't hate it if the show took more liberties with history and instead of seeing Mary eventually captive in Elizabeth's dungeon we saw her securely ruling her country for a long, long time.
It'd be interesting to think about how different the landscape of the world would be if just one significant piece of history were adjusted, you know? And since the show won't even catch up to the present day (and SURELY no one will take it for actual history) what's the harm in letting our heroine win?
I mean, we said alllllll of this and Francis is still dead, so, you know...
Anyway.
Mary's back in Scotland. That's awesome. But Narcisse and Lola are reunited and THAT? That's MORE awesome.
I know I've made mistakes. I lied to you. I chose power time and again and I gained everything I wanted. I'm Lord Chancellor of France. But it's all meaningless without you. Come home to me, Lola.
Narcisse
NARCISSE AND LOLA!
I mean, yes, he's a cheating cad and I definitely hate him for that, but I also think that forgiveness is possible when contrition is pure, and I really, truly believe Narcisse knows how badly he screwed up by sleeping with Catherine. I really, truly believe he loves Lola, and next week, I think we're going to see him on the verge of making the ultimate sacrifice for her.
Just as Mary and Bash were riding to Edinburgh, with no way for her to dispatch a letter to Lola, Lola received a letter written in Mary's code asking her to kill Elizabeth.
I think Lola will try it, believing she's acting for Mary, and Narcisse will take the fall for it. He'll claim he arrived in England for the sole purpose of killing Elizabeth, perhaps never even revealing his identity as Lola's husband to Elizabeth. Or he'll say he tried to kill her because she took Lola away from him.
Something. It will be dreadful and just as soon as Lola has forgiven him for his trespasses against their marriage, he's going to be gone. I think I will probably cry.
CAN'T ANYBODY JUST BE HAPPY? EVER?
Because now there's also Leith and Claude to think about now that her former...dalliance...Martel de Guise, has returned.
I want to believe that Claude and Leith are supposed to be together, but we're kind of going to need someone to make him a Duke or something, and fast, so he can stop going on these dangerous missions and nearly dying before he has a chance to marry Claude.
Somehow, even if Leith is promoted to a higher station, I can see Martel de Guise trying to drive a wedge between Leith and Claude.
And! GAH! What if Claude somehow chooses to keep Catherine's secret about the death of Martel's father and it means marrying Martel instead of Leith!?!?
Claude: Honestly, mother! How many people have you killed?
Catherine: Shhh!
Blah. Now I sort of wish the Red Knights had gotten her. Except they didn't, and I definitely took some joy in her willingness to flay the man Leith kept alive so she could get information about her son.
Whether she got that information or not we don't yet know, but we do know Charles isn't dead. Yet. And we have his friend Thierry to thank for that.
Over/under on Thierry making it out of the next episode alive? Anyone want in on that wager?
What did you think of "Intruders"? Who wins your Epic Heroine of the Evening Award: Catherine, for her cunning against the Red Knights, or Mary, for her ferocious takedown of Munro? Sound off in the comments below and don't forget you can watch Reign online!
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
