Reign, S2 E1-The Plague

Previously on the last season of Reign: Mary, Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane), came to live in France with her future husband-now-actual-husband and king, Francis (Toby Regbo). Queen (not Queen anymore!) Catherine (Megan Follows) tried to kill Mary in about every episode. A cliche love triangle occurred between Mary, Francis, and his bastard-now-legitimized brother, Bash (Torrance Coombs), but don’t worry…mad King Henry (who’s now dead, thanks to Francis) forced Bash and Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) to wed and they actually make an unlikely adorable pair, and Lola became pregnant with Francis’ child after a regretful night alone together. We last left off with the deadly plague setting in around the kingdom while Francis rode off in search of Lola.

Not much has changed in this season premiere. The plague is still causing chaos, Francis witnesses a plague stricken funeral (Ew! The sores!) as he rides past. He must really love Lola if he’s willing to risk his life. Wait, what am I typing? No, don’t do this CW, I forbid you!

Back at the castle, Mary and Catherine are warning the castle-goers of the recent isolation and forthcoming plague. The symptoms? Fever, aches, pains…your typical sicknesses. Any immediate contact puts you at risk! Duh, beard-less Nostradamus. They’re safe…until someone inside gets sick, then they’re kinda screwed.  In the crowd, Greer notices Leith with her fiancee’s daughter! Oh no he didn’t! He didn’t, the second he realizes the connection he freaks.
Catherine is still wondering about Francis’ whereabouts. Mary informs he’s safe and she needn’t worry. Mary’s ladies are freaking out, too. She fills them in on all of Francis’ baby drama. Leith tells Yvette (Greer’s fiancee’s daughter) that anything that was between them, now can’t be…it’s too weird. Yvette doesn’t get it and is a major stage 5 clinger (“Let’s spend our last days together!” Uhhh, no!).

It doesn’t take long for the plague to spread, courtesy of some man’s desperate need to get laid (of course she’s infected). A cough here and a shared sip of wine there and we’ve got ourselves an infected castle. RUN! Francis finds Lola in some barn, and she’s alive. And so is his newly born son. Welcome to parenthood, King.

Ah, the happy faces of young parents.

Catherine is still going on about Francis being gone and Mary is all, “I’m the Queen, now say thanks to Nostradamus for wanting to find Francis for you and shut it!” It’s funny how Nostradamus thinks he’s immune to the plague. No one is immune, unless perhaps modern medicine and plumbing were featured in this 16th century drama. Suddenly, the sound of illness is strummed throughout the castle via an orchestra and all hope for the kingdom is lost.

Meanwhile, Lola and Francis are talking about how screwed they both are now as parents to this bastard child. The kid’s cute and everything, but Lola has no husband (when did that happen? Refresh my memory) and Francis already has a wife, Mary, who can’t conceive as of yet. Then, Lola and Francis rush to leave after they find the house is infested with the plague. No, not the baby!

Mary and Catherine get a rather strange request from a well-off man named Edward. The demand? To kill a foe of his in exchange for some food for the castle. Catherine is all for it, but Mary wants to be a different queen. The opposite of Catherine, more or less. Mary tells one of the guards to deny the request. Go Mary!

Conde. He practices this face in the mirror daily.

Francis and Lola are still on the run, but they’ve hit a snag. The baby needs to be fed and Lola hasn’t had a drop to drink. Fortunately, they’ve stopped at a lake. Unfortunately, they’ve come across some unexpected guests. We meet Conde (Sean Teale, “Nick” from Skins, who I will probably always wish to call him), a cousin of Francis a millionth times removed and a possible friend? Or foe? (According to history, the real Conde tried to overtake Francis. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.) They seem welcome enough to let them camp with them, while they hide out from the plague. But it doesn’t take long for news to break that Conde has a boat set up the following morning headed to the Netherlands. Thanks, other friendly foe that walked into the episode unannounced (I’m terrible with these names! I apologize).