What if The Tudors met Gossip Girl and
then had a baby like looked like Game of Thrones? You’d get
the CW’s new show Reign, that’s what. The show takes place
in 1557 France, and focuses on the life of Mary Stuart (also
known as Elizabeth I’s first cousin) played by Adelaide
Kane, and her fiancé Frances, played by Toby Regbo, the
future king of France. This show holds true to the CW
demographic and performs inside the genre really well,
setting the stage for so much teenage angst and melodrama,
that we won’t even notice how historically inaccurate it is.
Mary returns to French court after
being sequestered with nuns for most of her life. An attempt
on her life in the convent leaves the royal taster face down
in the gruel, so she is sent to live with Frances and his
family for her own protection. While they serve out the
remainder of their betrothal, Frances must decide whether or
not the political implications of the marriage are worth it,
if he wants to sacrifice his philandering ways, and even if
he loves Mary at all (although I think we’ve seen enough CW
dramas to know the latter is kind of a given). All these
decisions play out against a back drop of political
double-crossings, romantic indecision and international
intrigue.
The CW can really milk a love triangle,
and Reign is no different. Here, Frances has a bastard
half-brother, Torrence Coombs as Bash, that promises to
deliver on the above mentioned romantic indecision. While
Frances is busy working out all his royal theatrics with the
ladies of the court and visiting dignitaries, Bash is wooing
Mary by finding her dog and offering wise advice on life at
court. This is going to get very messy, which is exactly
how I like my teen dramas.
This show is so visually rich, and the
accents are so seductive that we must ignore some of the
silliness and fact-based blunders. Nostradomus, appearing as
a young, savvy seer to the Queen is one of the most glaring
mistakes, but we will forgive it due to our preoccupation
with the supernatural.
That being said, the supernatural
element may prove to make the show too busy for its own
good. There are so many plot points introduced in this first
hour, that there is enough subject matter to maintain this
season and four more. The pace will have to slow down to
really keep us on the hook, but I have a feeling the
gorgeous costuming and steamy sex scenes will be enough to
sustain us until they can work out the pacing and history
problems.
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